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The short answer
Later is $18.75/mo Starter (annual, 25% off). Hootsuite is ~$99/user/mo (Standard, list). Later suits visual planning for Instagram-led brands, while Hootsuite suits enterprise listening, ads, support inbox. Work out which description fits how you actually post, because the feature lists overlap far more than the pricing models do.
Later vs Hootsuite at a glance
| Later | Hootsuite | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry paid price | $18.75/mo Starter (annual, 25% off) | ~$99/user/mo (Standard, list) |
| Free plan | No | No, discontinued |
| Best for | Visual planning for Instagram-led brands | Enterprise listening, ads, support inbox |
Later
Built around visual planning: a drag-and-drop grid preview, a media library, and Linkin.bio as a real product with shoppable images and tracked links. Starter covers 8 social profiles in one Social Set, with a 30 posts per profile monthly limit that catches people out. Strongest for Instagram-led and TikTok-led brands where feed layout matters as much as schedule. Adds Snapchat, which most of this list does not.
Hootsuite
The enterprise default since the early 2010s, and priced like it. Social listening via Talkwalker, ad management, and a support inbox with auto-routing and agent collision avoidance. The free plan is gone and Standard is per-user and billed annually, which is what sends most people looking. Worth the money only if you genuinely use the listening and inbox depth.
If neither fits
These two are not the only options, and for a lot of people they are not the right two. Everything below is a working alternative, cheapest first.
| Tool | Entry paid price | Free plan | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Publer | $5/mo Professional ($4/mo billed yearly) | Yes, free forever tier | The cheapest paid tier with a real free plan |
| Post Bridge | Around $7.50 to $9/mo (Starter) | Yes, 5 posts/mo | Deliberately minimal publishing |
| Zoho Social | $10/mo (Standard, billed annually) | No | Teams already inside the Zoho suite |
| PostNext.io | 11 EUR/mo (Premium, 15 channels) | Yes, 1,000 posts/mo fair use | AI post and blog generation on a flat price |
| Planoly | Around $16/mo Starter (annual) | Yes, limited to 1 user and 1 social set | Instagram-first visual planning |
| Tailwind | $17.99/mo annual Pin Scheduling ($29.99 monthly) | Yes | Pinterest, and Pinterest SEO in particular |
| FeedHive | $19/mo (Creator, 4 social accounts) | No | Solo creators who want AI recycling |
| CoSchedule | $19/mo Social Calendar (annual) | Yes, Free Calendar with 1 user and 1 profile | A marketing calendar that happens to post |
| Metricool | $20/mo (Starter, 5 brands) | Yes, 1 brand and 20 posts/mo | Analytics depth at a small-team price |
| SocialPilot | $20/mo Essentials ($17/mo annual) | No | Agencies managing many client accounts |
| Buffer | $5/mo per channel (Essentials) | Yes, 3 channels and 10 scheduled posts | The cheapest way to start on one or two channels |
| Sprout Social | $79/seat/mo Essentials (annual), $99 monthly | No, 30-day trial | Enterprise reporting and workflow |
| SocialBee | $29/mo Bootstrap ($20.17/mo annual), 5 profiles | No, 14-day trial | Category-based evergreen recycling |
| MeetEdgar | $29.99/mo Eddie ($24.91/mo annual), 5 accounts | No, 30-day trial | Set-and-forget evergreen automation |
| Sendible | $29/mo Creator (1 user, 6 profiles) | No | White-label agency reporting |
| Planable | $33/workspace/mo Basic | Yes, 50 free posts with no time limit | The cleanest approval and review experience |
| HeyOrca | $35/mo per calendar (Agency Basic) | Yes, light posting on 1 calendar | Client approval workflows |
| Kontentino | $39/mo (Basic, billed annually) | No | Approvals with a brand-safety review step |
| Loomly | $49/mo Starter ($65/mo monthly) | No, trial only | Unlimited calendars and a post-ideas board |
| eClincher | $65/mo (Basic, 10 profiles, 1 user) | No | The closest all-in-one to Hootsuite itself |
| Agorapulse | $79/mo Standard (annual) | Yes, limited | A social inbox without enterprise pricing |
| Mixpost | $299 one-time (Pro), self-hosted | Yes, Lite is open source | Owning your data on your own server |
Read the full comparisons
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