9 Best Hootsuite Alternatives for Social Listening

Hootsuite has been a staple in social media management for over a decade, but its pricing has steadily climbed while its social listening capabilities remain locked behind expensive add-ons. The Professional plan starts at $99 per month and only covers one user. Team and enterprise plans cost significantly more, and the social listening module that many teams actually need is a separate purchase on top of your base subscription. For many marketers, researchers, and small teams, that math simply does not work anymore.

The good news is that the landscape of social media tools has matured considerably. Whether you need better social listening, more affordable scheduling, deeper Reddit analysis, or a combination of all three, there are strong alternatives that can replace Hootsuite entirely or handle specific functions better at a lower cost. This guide covers nine Hootsuite alternatives worth evaluating in 2026, organized from most specialized to most general.

Why People Switch from Hootsuite

Before diving into alternatives, it helps to understand the common pain points that push teams away from Hootsuite. Three issues come up repeatedly:

Price escalation. Hootsuite's pricing has increased significantly over the years. Features that were once included in lower tiers have been moved to premium plans. Social listening, which is arguably the most valuable capability for market research, requires an enterprise-level add-on. Small teams and solo marketers often find themselves paying more than $100 per month for features they could get elsewhere for a fraction of the cost.

Complexity and bloat. Hootsuite tries to be everything for everyone: scheduling, analytics, inbox management, advertising, social listening, employee advocacy, and more. This breadth means the interface is cluttered and the learning curve is steep. If you only need two or three of these capabilities, you are navigating around a lot of features you will never use.

Shallow social listening. Even with the listening add-on, Hootsuite's social listening is not as deep as dedicated tools. It works well for tracking brand mentions across mainstream social platforms, but it struggles with nuanced analysis. Reddit analysis in particular is limited -- Hootsuite can surface Reddit mentions but cannot analyze individual threads for sentiment, pain points, or feature requests the way specialized tools can.

The 9 Best Hootsuite Alternatives

1. Reddily -- Best for Reddit Analysis and Social Listening

If your primary reason for considering social listening tools is to understand what people say on Reddit, Reddily is the most focused and capable option available. It is an AI-powered Reddit analysis platform that uses Google Gemini AI to extract structured insights from Reddit threads and discussions. Unlike Hootsuite's broad but shallow approach to Reddit, Reddily is built from the ground up around Reddit's unique structure of threads, comment hierarchies, upvote patterns, and community dynamics.

Reddily works through two interfaces: a Chrome extension that lets you analyze any Reddit thread with a single click while you are browsing, and a web dashboard where you can run batch analyses across up to 25 threads using keyword search. Every analysis produces structured output including sentiment breakdowns, pain point detection, feature request extraction, recurring themes, key quotes, and actionable recommendations. The results can be exported to PDF for sharing with stakeholders.

Key strength: The deepest Reddit-specific analysis of any tool on this list. Thread-level sentiment, comment hierarchy analysis, and AI-powered insight extraction that general social listening platforms cannot match.

Pricing: Pay-per-analysis with no subscription. 5 free credits on signup, then $2.99 for 10 credits ($0.30 per analysis). No monthly fees, no contracts.

Best for: Product teams, startup founders, market researchers, and anyone who needs deep Reddit insights without enterprise pricing.

2. Buffer -- Best Free Alternative for Scheduling

Buffer is the most straightforward Hootsuite alternative for social media scheduling. Its free plan supports up to three social channels with basic scheduling and publishing, making it genuinely useful without paying anything. The interface is clean and focused: you create posts, schedule them, and track basic performance. There is no feature bloat.

Buffer's paid plans start at $6 per month per channel, which is dramatically cheaper than Hootsuite for teams that primarily need scheduling. The analytics on paid plans are solid, covering engagement metrics, best posting times, and audience growth. However, Buffer does not offer social listening at all. If you need to monitor conversations or track mentions, you will need to pair Buffer with a dedicated listening tool.

Key strength: The best free plan for social media scheduling. Clean, simple interface that does not overwhelm.

Pricing: Free for 3 channels. Paid plans from $6/month per channel.

Best for: Solo marketers and small teams who need affordable, no-frills scheduling.

3. Sprout Social -- Best Enterprise Alternative

Sprout Social is the most direct enterprise-grade alternative to Hootsuite. It covers scheduling, publishing, analytics, inbox management, and social listening in a polished, well-designed interface. The listening module is significantly stronger than Hootsuite's, with better sentiment analysis, trend detection, and competitive benchmarking. It also handles team workflows and approval chains well, making it suitable for organizations with multiple people managing social channels.

The trade-off is price. Sprout Social's Standard plan starts at $249 per user per month, and the Professional plan (which includes listening) costs $399 per user per month. For teams of three or more, you are looking at well over $1,000 per month. This is justified for large organizations that need a comprehensive platform, but it is out of reach for small teams.

Key strength: The most complete all-in-one platform with genuinely strong social listening and analytics.

Pricing: From $249/user/month. Listening features start at $399/user/month.

Best for: Mid-size to large marketing teams that need enterprise-grade social management with built-in listening.

4. Later -- Best for Visual Content Scheduling

Later started as an Instagram scheduling tool and has expanded to cover TikTok, Pinterest, Facebook, X (Twitter), and LinkedIn. It is particularly strong for visual-first content planning, with a drag-and-drop visual calendar and media library that makes it easy to plan and preview posts across platforms. The Linkin.bio feature helps drive traffic from social profiles.

Later does not offer social listening. Its strength is purely in content planning, scheduling, and basic analytics for visual platforms. If you are switching from Hootsuite primarily because you need better Instagram or TikTok scheduling at a lower price, Later is a solid choice.

Key strength: Visual content planning with an intuitive calendar interface. Strong Instagram and TikTok support.

Pricing: Free plan available. Paid plans from $25/month.

Best for: Content creators, e-commerce brands, and teams focused on visual platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest.

5. Brand24 -- Best Affordable Social Listening

Brand24 is a dedicated social listening tool that monitors mentions across social media, news, blogs, forums, podcasts, and review sites. It is one of the most affordable ways to get real social listening capabilities without committing to enterprise pricing. The platform tracks sentiment, identifies influencers, and provides alerts when mention volume spikes. It covers Reddit as one of many sources.

Brand24's Reddit coverage is broader than Hootsuite's listening add-on, but it still treats Reddit as just another data source. It can tell you when your brand is mentioned on Reddit and give you general sentiment, but it does not dive into individual threads the way a Reddit-specific tool would. For general social listening on a budget, though, it hits a strong price-to-value ratio.

Key strength: Real social listening at a fraction of enterprise pricing. Good mention tracking and sentiment analysis across multiple platforms.

Pricing: From $79/month for the Individual plan. Team plans from $149/month.

Best for: Small to mid-size teams that need social listening without enterprise contracts.

6. Mention -- Best for Real-Time Monitoring

Mention is a media monitoring and social listening platform that excels at real-time alerts. It scans the web, social media, forums, blogs, and news sites for mentions of your keywords and delivers alerts as they happen. The platform also includes basic social publishing features, though these are not as robust as dedicated scheduling tools.

Mention is a good middle ground between a simple alert tool and a full enterprise listening platform. Its real-time capabilities are strong, and the pricing is more accessible than Sprout Social or Brandwatch. For teams that need to know the moment their brand or competitors are mentioned online, Mention delivers reliably.

Key strength: Fast, reliable real-time monitoring with instant alerts across web and social channels.

Pricing: From $49/month for the Solo plan. Pro plans from $99/month.

Best for: PR teams, brand managers, and anyone who needs real-time mention alerts across the web.

7. Agorapulse -- Best for Team Inbox Management

Agorapulse is a social media management platform that stands out for its unified inbox and team collaboration features. Every comment, message, and mention from your connected social accounts flows into a single inbox where team members can assign, label, and respond to conversations. It also includes scheduling, publishing, and reporting.

Agorapulse includes basic social listening in its higher-tier plans, but it is not as deep as Brand24 or Sprout Social. Where Agorapulse truly shines is in community management and team workflow. If your main pain point with Hootsuite is managing high volumes of social interactions across a team, Agorapulse handles that well.

Key strength: Unified social inbox with team assignment, labeling, and workflow tools for managing high-volume social interactions.

Pricing: Free plan for 3 social profiles. Paid plans from $49/user/month.

Best for: Teams that handle high volumes of social media comments and messages and need organized workflow.

8. Sendible -- Best for Agencies

Sendible is built specifically for agencies managing multiple clients. It offers white-label reporting, client dashboards, content approval workflows, and the ability to manage many social accounts from a single interface. The scheduling and publishing tools cover all major platforms, and the reporting features are designed to produce client-ready documents.

Sendible does not include social listening in its core plans, though it integrates with Google Alerts and other monitoring tools. Its value proposition is operational efficiency for agencies: managing many clients, producing reports, and keeping content workflows organized. If you are an agency that used Hootsuite primarily for multi-client management, Sendible is a purpose-built alternative.

Key strength: Multi-client management with white-label reporting and client approval workflows designed for agency operations.

Pricing: From $29/month for the Creator plan. Agency plans from $240/month.

Best for: Social media agencies managing multiple client accounts who need white-label reporting and approval workflows.

9. Zoho Social -- Best for Zoho Ecosystem Users

Zoho Social is a social media management tool that integrates deeply with the broader Zoho ecosystem, including Zoho CRM, Zoho Desk, and Zoho Analytics. It covers scheduling, publishing, monitoring, and basic analytics across major social platforms. The monitoring tab lets you track keywords and hashtags, though it is not as powerful as dedicated listening tools.

Zoho Social's biggest advantage is its integration with Zoho CRM. Social interactions can be linked to CRM contacts, giving sales teams visibility into social engagement. If your organization already uses Zoho products, adding Zoho Social creates a seamless workflow. If you are not in the Zoho ecosystem, the standalone value is decent but not exceptional compared to other options on this list.

Key strength: Deep integration with Zoho CRM and the broader Zoho product suite for unified customer data.

Pricing: From $15/month for the Standard plan. Professional plans from $40/month.

Best for: Organizations already using Zoho CRM and other Zoho products who want social media management integrated into their existing stack.

Comparison Table: Hootsuite vs Alternatives

The table below provides a quick feature comparison across Hootsuite and the alternatives. Reddily is highlighted as the recommended option for Reddit-focused analysis and social listening.

When to Choose a Reddit-Specific Tool Over an All-in-One

The biggest decision when replacing Hootsuite is whether you need an all-in-one platform or a combination of specialized tools. All-in-one platforms like Sprout Social and Agorapulse offer convenience: everything is in one place, one login, one bill. But that convenience comes at a cost, both in dollars and in depth. No all-in-one tool can match a specialized tool at its specific function.

This is especially true for Reddit analysis. Reddit is structurally different from every other social platform. Conversations on Reddit are threaded, anonymous, community-moderated, and driven by upvotes rather than follower counts. The insights buried in Reddit threads -- pain points, product comparisons, feature wishlists, honest sentiment -- are uniquely valuable for market research, product development, and competitive intelligence. But extracting those insights requires a tool that understands Reddit's structure.

General social listening tools like Hootsuite, Brand24, and Mention treat Reddit as just another data source. They can tell you that your brand was mentioned on Reddit and estimate the overall sentiment. What they cannot do is analyze a 200-comment thread to identify the three most-requested features, extract the specific pain points that users describe in detail, or distinguish between heavily upvoted consensus opinions and minority viewpoints. That level of depth requires a Reddit-specific approach.

The practical recommendation for most teams is to use the right tool for each job. Use Reddily for deep Reddit analysis: thread-level sentiment, pain point detection, feature request extraction, and batch analysis across multiple discussions. Use Buffer or Later for social scheduling if you need it. Use Brand24 or Mention for broader web monitoring if you need to track mentions beyond Reddit. This modular approach often costs less than Hootsuite while delivering better results in each area.

Consider a concrete example. A product manager at a SaaS startup needs to understand what Reddit users think about their product category, what competitors users recommend, and what features are most requested. With Hootsuite's listening add-on, they would see that their product was mentioned 47 times on Reddit last month with 62% positive sentiment. With Reddily, they could batch-analyze the 25 most relevant threads and get a detailed breakdown: the top five pain points users describe, the three competitors mentioned most often and why, the specific features users wish existed, and direct quotes they can share with the engineering team. The depth difference is substantial.

Making the Switch

Switching away from Hootsuite does not have to be all-or-nothing. Many teams start by adding a specialized tool alongside Hootsuite, then gradually reducing their reliance on the platform as they build confidence with alternatives. If Reddit analysis is your priority, you can start with Reddily's 5 free credits today -- there is nothing to cancel, no trial to remember, and no contract to negotiate. Run a few analyses on threads that matter to your business and compare the depth of insights to what Hootsuite's listening module provides. Most teams find the difference is immediately apparent.

For scheduling, Buffer's free plan lets you test the workflow before committing any budget. For broader social listening, Brand24 and Mention both offer free trials. The low switching cost of these tools means you can evaluate them in parallel and make an informed decision based on your actual experience rather than marketing materials.

The era of paying $99 or more per month for an all-in-one tool that does everything adequately but nothing exceptionally is ending. The best teams in 2026 are assembling focused toolkits: the best scheduling tool for their workflow, the best listening tool for their channels, and the best analysis tool for their primary research platform. If Reddit is where your customers and market conversations happen, Reddily is the analysis layer that Hootsuite was never built to provide.