# Hootsuite Alternatives 2027: 13 Paid, Free & Open-Source

Source: https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/hootsuite/
Prices checked: 2026-11-10 (Zekai Price Ledger)

The best Hootsuite alternatives in 2027 are Sprout Social (best overall, $79/seat/mo billed yearly), Buffer (best free plan: 3 channels, 10 posts each) and Postiz (best open source, AGPL-3.0). Hootsuite itself starts at $99/user/mo. Zekai checked these prices on vendor pages on 10 Nov 2026; 10 more are compared below, including 1 with a free plan and 4 open source.

| Tool | Type | Starting price | Free plan limit | Licence | Best for | Price checked | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hootsuite (the tool being replaced) | — | $99/user/mo | No | — | — | 2026-11-10 | [pricing](https://www.hootsuite.com/plans) |
| Sprout Social | Paid | $79/seat/mo billed yearly | No free plan | — | Larger teams needing reporting depth | 2026-11-10 | [site](https://sproutsocial.com) [pricing](https://sproutsocial.com/pricing/) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/sprout-social/) |
| Buffer | Free plan + paid | $5/channel/mo | Up to 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel, 1 user | — | Small teams on a tight budget | 2026-11-10 | [site](https://buffer.com) [pricing](https://buffer.com/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/buffer/) |
| SocialPilot | Paid | $20/mo | No free plan | — | Agencies wanting low per-account cost | 2026-11-10 | [site](https://www.socialpilot.co) [pricing](https://www.socialpilot.co/pricing) |
| Agorapulse | Paid | $79/user/mo billed yearly | No free plan | — | Social inbox and review management | 2026-11-10 | [site](https://www.agorapulse.com) [pricing](https://www.agorapulse.com/pricing/) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/agorapulse/) |
| Later | Paid | $18.75/mo billed yearly | No free plan | — | Visual planning for Instagram and TikTok | 2026-11-10 | [site](https://later.com) [pricing](https://later.com/pricing/) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/later/) |
| Publer | Free | Free plan; paid price not published | 3 social accounts (not X), 10 scheduled posts per account, 25 drafts | — | Freelancers starting scheduling at no cost | 2026-11-10 | [site](https://publer.com) [pricing](https://publer.com/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/publer/) |
| ContentStudio | Paid | $19/mo billed yearly | No free plan | — | Agencies needing many workspaces | 2026-11-10 | [site](https://contentstudio.io) [pricing](https://contentstudio.io/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/contentstudio/) |
| FeedHive | Paid | $15/mo billed yearly | No free plan | — | Solo creators scheduling short-form content | 2026-11-10 | [site](https://www.feedhive.com) [pricing](https://www.feedhive.com/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/feedhive/) |
| Postiz | Open source | $29/mo (hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | AGPL-3.0 | Self-hosted scheduling with agent integrations | 2026-11-10 | [site](https://postiz.com) [pricing](https://postiz.com/pricing) [code](https://github.com/gitroomhq/postiz-app) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/postiz-app/) |
| Mixpost | Open source | $299 one-time (hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | MIT (Lite edition) | Self-hosted Laravel publishing app | 2026-11-10 | [site](https://mixpost.app) [pricing](https://mixpost.app/pricing) [code](https://github.com/inovector/mixpost) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/mixpost/) |
| TryPost | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | AGPL-3.0 | Self-hosted scheduler driven by AI agents |  | [site](https://trypost.it) [code](https://github.com/trypostit/trypost) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/trypost/) |
| OpenPost | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | AGPL-3.0 | Scheduling plus image and video editing |  | [site](https://openpo.st) [code](https://github.com/getopenpost/openpost) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/openpost/) |
| Socioboard | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | GPL-3.0-or-later | Older open GPL multi-network social platform |  | [site](https://socioboard.com) [code](https://github.com/socioboard/Socioboard-5.0) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/socioboard/) |

## How each alternative compares with Hootsuite

- **Sprout Social** (Paid, $79/seat/mo billed yearly, checked 2026-11-10): Prices per seat from $79 billed yearly with 5 profiles on Essentials and a 30-day trial; Hootsuite Standard starts at $99 per user with 10 accounts and a 14-day trial. Switch if you want a 30-day no-card trial and tiered per-seat plans with Trellis AI credits included. Stay with Hootsuite if you need 10 accounts on the entry plan and a single AI assistant bundled in every tier.
- **Buffer** (Free plan + paid, $5/channel/mo, checked 2026-11-10): Charges $5 per connected channel instead of per user, allows unlimited team members on Team, and keeps a free plan of 3 channels with 10 scheduled posts per channel. Switch if you pay by channel, have few profiles, and want a permanent free tier to start. Stay with Hootsuite if you need unlimited accounts on higher tiers, social inbox features and enterprise onboarding.
- **SocialPilot** (Paid, $20/mo, checked 2026-11-10): Essentials costs $20 monthly for 5 accounts and 1 user; Standard adds 3 users and 10 accounts for $40, with a 14-day trial and no card required. Switch if you want flat plans with several users included rather than a per-user charge. Stay with Hootsuite if you prefer per-user plans and Hootsuite's published unlimited accounts on Professional.
- **Agorapulse** (Paid, $79/user/mo billed yearly, checked 2026-11-10): Lists three paid tiers that all include 10 social profiles per user ($79, $119, $149 billed yearly), so higher tiers add features rather than more profiles. Switch if profile count matters less to you than inbox, reporting and approval features per user. Stay with Hootsuite if you need unlimited social accounts, which Hootsuite Professional and Advanced list.
- **Later** (Paid, $18.75/mo billed yearly, checked 2026-11-10): Sells social sets: Starter gives 1 set of 8 profiles and caps posts at 30 per profile each month, with a 14-day trial. Switch if you plan visually around a few brands and fit within 30 posts per profile monthly. Stay with Hootsuite if you publish at volume across many accounts under one workspace.
- **Publer** (Free, Free plan; paid price not published): Free plan connects 3 accounts (not X) with 10 scheduled posts each and 25 drafts; paid pricing uses an account slider where every 10th account is free. Switch if you manage few accounts and want a free-forever tier without X support. Stay with Hootsuite if you need X publishing and unlimited scheduling without a free-plan queue cap.
- **ContentStudio** (Paid, $19/mo billed yearly, checked 2026-11-10): Standard covers 5 accounts and 1 workspace at $19 billed yearly; Agency Unlimited allows unlimited workspaces and users, with only a one-time 7-day trial. Switch if you run client workspaces and want content discovery bundled with scheduling. Stay with Hootsuite if you want a 14-day trial and Hootsuite's established enterprise integrations.
- **FeedHive** (Paid, $15/mo billed yearly, checked 2026-11-10): Creator gives 4 social accounts for $15 monthly billed yearly; Business reaches 100 accounts over 50 workspaces for $69, each with a 7-day trial. Switch if you are a creator or small brand and want a cheaper plan with built-in AI drafting. Stay with Hootsuite if you need seats, approvals and social customer-care tooling beyond creator workflows.
- **Postiz** (Open source, $29/mo (hosted), checked 2026-11-10): Schedules to many networks from one AGPL codebase with a calendar, AI helpers and agent integrations; running it yourself needs Postgres, Redis and a developer app for each network you connect. Switch if you want to own your scheduling data and skip per-seat fees, and can run a server. Stay with Hootsuite if you need paid-ads management, a large app marketplace and vendor support.
- **Mixpost** (Open source, $299 one-time (hosted), checked 2026-11-10): Lite is MIT and free, built on Laravel; the inbox, extra networks and team features are in Pro, a $299 one-time licence per domain, so it is open core rather than fully free. Switch if you prefer a one-time licence on your own PHP server to a monthly subscription. Stay with Hootsuite if you need every network and a social inbox without buying a licence.
- **TryPost** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): Exposes an MCP server with 80+ tools and a REST API so AI agents can draft, queue and publish posts, and its self-hosted build carries every feature of the cloud product. Switch if you want AI agents to draft and queue posts through MCP into a self-hosted calendar. Stay with Hootsuite if you need listening, ad management and enterprise approvals from one vendor.
- **OpenPost** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): Bundles an image editor, video editor and workflow canvas with scheduling, and runs from a single Docker container with SQLite by default; it lists 16 networks including Mastodon, Bluesky and PeerTube. Switch if you want scheduling plus image and video editing in one app you host yourself. Stay with Hootsuite if you need dedicated account support and a mature team permission model.
- **Socioboard** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): Older codebase that supports nine networks with analytics and reporting, but needs Node.js microservices, a PHP front end, MongoDB and MySQL, and its licence header dates from 2014-2021. Switch if you need a free, modifiable GPL codebase and have developers to maintain it. Stay with Hootsuite if you want a maintained product with current network integrations and no servers.

## Open-source options in detail

- **Postiz** (https://github.com/gitroomhq/postiz-app): Licence: AGPL-3.0; Commercial use: Yes; AGPL-3.0 means sharing changes if you run it as a service.; Runs on: Docker host with Postgres, Redis and media storage.; Setup: moderate: Docker plus a developer app and keys for each network.; Last commit: 2026-11-13; Last release: 2026-11-13; GitHub stars: 41,530 (2026-11-13)
- **Mixpost** (https://github.com/inovector/mixpost): Licence: MIT (Lite edition); Commercial use: Yes for Lite (MIT); Pro and Enterprise need paid licences.; Runs on: A PHP or Docker server with a public domain.; Setup: moderate: Docker, manual PHP or Laravel install; networks need their own app keys.; Last commit: 2026-03-16; Last release: 2026-03-16; GitHub stars: 3,930 (2026-11-13)
- **TryPost** (https://github.com/trypostit/trypost): Licence: AGPL-3.0; Commercial use: Yes; AGPL-3.0 means sharing changes if you run it as a service.; Runs on: A web server running PHP 8.2 or newer with Laravel 13.; Setup: moderate: Laravel application; follow its documentation to set up and connect networks.; Last commit: 2026-11-13; Last release: 2026-11-01; GitHub stars: 860 (2026-11-13)
- **OpenPost** (https://github.com/getopenpost/openpost): Licence: AGPL-3.0; Commercial use: Yes; AGPL-3.0 means sharing changes if you run it as a service.; Runs on: Docker Compose; the default setup is one container with SQLite.; Setup: moderate: One container, but each network needs its own app credentials.; Last commit: 2026-11-13; Last release: 2026-11-13; GitHub stars: 907 (2026-11-13)
- **Socioboard** (https://github.com/socioboard/Socioboard-5.0): Licence: GPL-3.0-or-later; Commercial use: Yes; GPL-3.0 means sharing source if you distribute modified versions.; Runs on: Server with Node.js 14+, PHP front end, MongoDB, MySQL and PM2.; Setup: hard: Several Node microservices plus PHP, MongoDB and MySQL, per its install guide.; Last commit: 2026-08-17; Last release: 2024-01-16; GitHub stars: 1,530 (2026-11-13)

## Questions

### What is the best alternative to Hootsuite in 2027?
Sprout Social is the best overall Hootsuite alternative on this page ($79/seat/mo billed yearly). For no cost, Buffer has a free plan (Up to 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel, 1 user). To self-host, Postiz is open source (AGPL-3.0).

### Is there a free version of Hootsuite?
No. Hootsuite has no free plan; paid plans start at $99/user/mo, checked on 10 Nov 2026.

### Is there a 100% free alternative to Hootsuite?
Yes. Postiz, Mixpost, TryPost, OpenPost, Socioboard are open source and free to self-host. Buffer, Publer have a free plan with limits, shown in the table.

### What is cheaper than Hootsuite?
SocialPilot starts at $20/mo, against $99/user/mo for Hootsuite, as listed on each vendor's pricing page on 10 Nov 2026.

### How much do Hootsuite alternatives cost for a team of 5?
If each of 5 people buys the entry paid plan, at the prices Zekai checked on 10 Nov 2026, the monthly cost is Buffer $25/mo, FeedHive $75/mo, Later $93.75/mo, against Hootsuite $495/mo for Hootsuite. Team and business plans can cost more per seat. The Zekai Cost Finder on this page recalculates for any team size.

### Which is better, Sprout Social or Hootsuite?
Prices per seat from $79 billed yearly with 5 profiles on Essentials and a 30-day trial; Hootsuite Standard starts at $99 per user with 10 accounts and a 14-day trial. Choose Sprout Social if you want a 30-day no-card trial and tiered per-seat plans with Trellis AI credits included. Stay with Hootsuite if you need 10 accounts on the entry plan and a single AI assistant bundled in every tier.

### Why are people leaving Hootsuite?
The documented reasons are: Pricing page shows Standard from $99, Professional $199 and Advanced up to $399 per user a month, with no figures on the plan cards themselves (10 Nov 2026); Trial accounts have daily posting limits of 10 to 20 posts per organization and no bulk scheduling during the 14-day trial (10 Nov 2026). Each is sourced in the section above.

### What is better than Hootsuite?
It depends on the job: Sprout Social for analytics and team workflows, Agorapulse for inbox handling, Buffer for simple scheduling, Later for visual calendars.

## Related on Zekai

- [Sprout Social alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/sprout-social/)
- [Buffer alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/buffer/)
- [Later alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/later/)
- [Metricool alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/metricool/)
- [Taplio alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/taplio/)
- [AI for Marketing & Content Creation](https://zekaiwork.com/professions/ai-marketing-content-creation-automation/)

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Live table, team cost finder and price alerts: https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/hootsuite/