Hootsuite
Comprehensive social media management for enterprise teams managing multiple brands
Featured in: Best AI tools for crisis communications in 2026 and Best AI tools for social media in comms teams in 2026
Hootsuite is one of the most established social media management platforms, offering a complete suite for scheduling, inbox monitoring, analytics, and even paid campaign management. Since June 2026 it has been sold as Hootsuite Social OS, split into modules for publishing, the inbox, listening, employee advocacy and AI, with listening supplied by Talkwalker, which Hootsuite bought in 2024. Best suited for larger teams and agencies managing multiple accounts across clients or brands who need multi-step workflow approvals and detailed reporting. We used it hands-on on the Standard plan in live agency work in October 2026, after the Social OS relaunch.
For comms teams: medium to large PR and marketing teams.
Best for
- • Medium to large PR and marketing teams
- • Agencies managing multiple client accounts
- • Organisations needing formal approval processes
Pricing
Standard £89/user/month (up to 10 social accounts); Professional £169/user/month (unlimited accounts); Advanced £349/user/month; Enterprise custom. 14-day free trial, no card required.
Verified on Hootsuite's UK pricing page, September 2026. Hootsuite localises, so these are the sterling figures a UK buyer sees. The ladder was rebuilt in June 2026: £89 is now the entry Standard tier, not Professional. The rates carry an asterisk on the vendor page, so confirm the billing basis at checkout. Re-checked 22 October 2026: Standard £89 a user a month confirmed in GBP (annual billing, ex VAT) on the UK plan page; the US page shows Standard $99, Professional $199 and Advanced $399. Listening powered by Talkwalker sits on Enterprise.
Pricing last verified Oct 2026 – check vendor site for current rates.
What works well
- + Comprehensive features in one suite
- + Talkwalker listening included as Lumen
- + Extensive integrations
- + Strong X support
- + Multi-step approval workflows
Watch out for
- - In our use, day-to-day work felt little changed from a decade ago
- - Module names (Perch, Nest, Lumen, Parliament, Wisdom, Vigil) do not say what each one does
- - The Wisdom AI assistant sits in its own section of the menu, easy to forget while drafting
- - On Standard, Parliament opened onto a sales page and Vigil onto a coming-soon screen
- - Expensive for what it delivered in our use
- - Steep learning curve
When to choose this
Choose Hootsuite when you manage several brands or clients and need publishing, inbox, approvals, reporting and Talkwalker listening in one place, with the budget to match.
Who should look elsewhere
Hootsuite is expensive, and the ladder was rebuilt in June 2026: Standard is £89 a user a month, Professional £169 and Advanced £349. That is difficult to justify unless you are managing several brands or need the reporting to demonstrate value to clients and senior stakeholders. Solo practitioners and small teams should look at Buffer or Agorapulse first. If community and inbox management dominate your day, Agorapulse handles that better for the money. If you want AI woven into everyday drafting and scheduling, test that in the trial before committing, because in our use it sat apart from the publishing workflow.
Key features
- • Comprehensive dashboard integrating publishing, monitoring, analytics
- • Full X (Twitter) support with advanced features
- • Approval workflows for team collaboration
- • Paid campaign management
- • Social listening from Talkwalker, built in as Lumen
- • 150+ third-party app integrations
- • Customisable streams and advanced scheduling
Governance & data
Governance information is based on publicly available vendor documentation. Verify with your vendor before procurement decisions.
Integrations
Available on
More in Distribution & Publishing
Deciding whether to adopt it?
Three free templates take you from a review to a decision you can defend, and a record of it.
Making the call across a whole team or tool stack? Deploy Comms With AI builds the policy and the register with you.