Hootsuite vs Later | TrustRadius

What users are saying about

Score 7.8 out of 10

Based on 470 reviews and ratings

Score 8.6 out of 10

Based on 23 reviews and ratings

Feature Rating Comparison

Hootsuite

Later

Boolean keyword searches

Filtering out noise/spam

Sentiment analysis

Broad channel coverage

Hootsuite

Later

Content planning and scheduling

Audience targeting

Content optimization

Workflow management

Hootsuite

Later

Automated routing and prioritization

Customer interaction histories

Bulk actions

Hootsuite

Later

Lead generation

Content marketing

Paid media management

Campaigns and promotions

Hootsuite

Later

Twitter

Facebook

LinkedIn

Google+

Instagram

Pinterest

YouTube

Hootsuite

Later

Campaign success analytics

Real-time tracking

Competitor analysis

Hootsuite

Later

Role-based user permissions & privileges

Mobile access

Pros

When it works, the ability to write ONE post and apply it to multiple platforms is great. Huge timesaver, and ensures consistency of content across your platforms.
The customizability of streams is a cool feature. You can really dial in a dashboard that fits your unique needs, instead of trying to adapt yourself to a default vanilla setup. Whichever content streams (both existing and scheduled) are important to you can be placed front and center and edited as needed.

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Vice Creative Executive

BRAVE GIRLS CLUB LLCE-Learning, 1-10 employees

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Later is great at Instagram marketing thought leadership. I love their newsletters they send out on Instagram marketing tips and new features to take advantage of.
I love the ability to manage my visual content in once place in later. I can connect to Drive or Dropbox to bulk upload my images and categorize them with tags.
I also love the ability to store captions so that I can have a repository of captions and just connect them to an image.
It's really easy to tag others in my posts.

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Meredith Walter

Marketing Manager

Meredith Walter FitnessHealth, Wellness and Fitness, 1-10 employees

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Cons

I personally don't like the way Hootsuite displays multiple social channels on the interface. It's very utilitarian and it does have a modern look, but there's just something about the multiple column look that really bugs me. It feels a bit dated and cluttered.
I've used both the free and the pro versions before. Pro is somewhat overpriced for the value that it provides and the free version limits you to too few social profiles which puts you in a position to either overpay or go to another option like Buffer which is cheaper but isn't as reliable. I'd say somewhere around $12-15/mo. would make the single-user Pro tier more palatable.

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Marketing Advisor

Victoria Marquez MusicEntertainment, 1-10 employees

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It currently doesn’t post videos to a Pinterest via the mobile app, only via the desktop version.
Provides scheduling for Instagram stories but only via push notifications so you’ll have to use your mobile to actually post to Instagram stories.

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Ayo Bamgbose, Assoc CIPD, MSc

Social Media & Digital Marketing Educator

Social Media Design SchoolE-Learning, 1-10 employees

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Likelihood to Renew

Hootsuite 8.0

Based on 68 answers

At this time we are satisfied that Hootsuite offers the most of what we are looking for at the most reasonable price point. As the social media landscape and monitoring/scheduling software changes, so do our needs. We re-evaluate our tools semi-annually or as new tools emerge onto the market. If we find at any point that we aren't gaining an advantage, then we are open to switching products.

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President/Owner

Social Savvy Geek, LLCMarketing and Advertising, 1-10 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Usability

Hootsuite 10.0

Based on 23 answers

The layout of horizontal columns for each stream or search is a very cumbersome way to display information. There isn't an easy way to sort, filter, or otherwise re-organize the streams to limit the current view to relevancy. This is one of the primary reasons why we plan to move to another platform.

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Matthew Hardesty

Founder

UpticaMarketing and Advertising, 1-10 employees

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Later 9.3

Based on 3 answers

Later is extremely easy to use. I love the visual planner portion of the tool so I can see ahead of time what my images will look like next to and stacked amongst each other! The posts are so easy to set up, tag, and schedule. UX and UI are great!

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Meredith Walter

Marketing Manager

Meredith Walter FitnessHealth, Wellness and Fitness, 1-10 employees

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Reliability and Availability

Hootsuite 5.3

Based on 17 answers

Gliches have made it a bit of a bind, particularly when you just want to 'click and send' a web article after you have read it - and then you have to deal with support (a great team but not always able to solve the problems with the gliches). Gliches with it loading properly, gliches with 'double ups in FB on the posts (the personal page and the business page if both clicked will lead to 2 lots of postings to each page!)

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CEO

Emma McLean KindergartenManagement Consulting, 1-10 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Performance

Hootsuite 7.5

Based on 15 answers

HootSuite does everything it is designed to do very well: the product's performance is very reliable and efficient. Like other tools, there is always a room for new developments and updates, and the HootSuite team recognizes this and focuses on new development as well.

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Junior Analyst

AboutAnalyticsInformation Technology and Services, 11-50 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Support

Hootsuite 10.0

Based on 18 answers

"Help Desk", basically a collection of articles, is clearly outdated and not keeping up with its features set with inaccuracies and errors yet is still the only possible option for finding help. You get what you pay for, they say.

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Frontend Web Developer

Catch New YorkOnline Media, 11-50 employees

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Later 8.3

Based on 8 answers

Customer service is very helpful, and they have blog posts keeping us up to date on trends and what is popular, including when new features are added and how to use them.

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Samantha Crawford

Owner

All Occasion PhotographyPhotography, 1-10 employees

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Online Training

Hootsuite 8.0

Based on 7 answers

HootSuite offers all the necessary online materials, including guidelines on how to use and also optimize usage of the tool. There are numerous video trainings and lots of webinars, so there is no lack of basic training information. Users that want to use HootSuite for professional purposes, like market segment analysis or competitor analysis might need to request private training options.

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Junior Analyst

AboutAnalyticsInformation Technology and Services, 11-50 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Implementation

Hootsuite 10.0

Based on 21 answers

One person of the organization must take the time to understand the product throughly. Next that person should work with the Hootsuite team to maximize the architecture of your platform and mitigate any problems that may crop up. Also, if a team members voices a concern or is having a problem roll your sleeves up and help them if not it can kill support for the product and end any chances of a renewal. Lastly, set aside enough time to allow for training and refresher training. Solve all problems ambiguity can not be permitted

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Edgar Carpenter IV

Director of Social Media

United States Marine CorpsMilitary, 1001-5000 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Alternatives Considered

Main other tool we looked at was Buffer. While I like both of them, the free version of Hootsuite allowed us to connect to 3 social media platforms and we prefer the calendar and stream layouts for management of activity.

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Chief Marketing Officer

South CypressRetail, 11-50 employees

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Sprout Social is a great tool, however, the price for a smaller company like ours was prohibitive. Later doesn't have LinkedIn support the way Sprout Social does, however Later does have unique product offerings for Instagram that ultimately set them apart for our team. We've had no posting errors or issues with Later's reliability like we have experienced in the past with Sprout.

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Director of Content

Platypus LabsMarketing and Advertising, 1001-5000 employees

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Return on Investment

It enables me to spend less time worry about posting and I'm able to schedule and walk away. Saves time, which increases productivity.
Being unable to tag companies and people on LinkedIn impacts the reach and engagement of my posts, which impacts monthly success, which negatively impacts my social efforts overall.
Having an easy, formal review process between us and client is a huge help in saving time for us and the client. Saved time = saved money/productivity.

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Jarad Matula, MBA

Social Media Strategist / Community Manager

Bulldog SolutionsMarketing and Advertising, 51-200 employees

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It saves me time, so I can to do other things.
It saves me mental energy I can use on other things.
It motivates me to keep to a posting schedule, which is good for consistency on social media.

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Verified User

Project Manager in Marketing

Retail Company, 1-10 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Rating Summary

Hootsuite

Later

Hootsuite

Later

Hootsuite

Later

Hootsuite

Later

Hootsuite

Later

Hootsuite

Later

Hootsuite

Later

Hootsuite

Later

Hootsuite

Later

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