Hootsuite vs Later | TrustRadius

What users are saying about

Score 7.9 out of 10

Based on 381 reviews and ratings

Score 7.8 out of 10

Based on 9 reviews and ratings

Feature Rating Comparison

Hootsuite

7.2

Later

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Boolean keyword searches

7.3

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Filtering out noise/spam

6.5

—

Sentiment analysis

6.8

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Broad channel coverage

8.2

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Hootsuite

7.8

Later

—

Content planning and scheduling

8.9

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Audience targeting

6.9

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Content optimization

7.5

—

Workflow management

8.0

—

Hootsuite

7.4

Later

—

Automated routing and prioritization

7.5

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Customer interaction histories

7.3

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Bulk actions

7.6

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Hootsuite

7.1

Later

—

Lead generation

6.8

—

Content marketing

7.8

—

Paid media management

6.5

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Campaigns and promotions

7.4

—

Hootsuite

8.5

Later

—

Twitter

9.3

—

Facebook

8.8

—

LinkedIn

8.2

—

Google+

8.7

—

Instagram

7.7

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Pinterest

8.5

—

YouTube

8.5

—

Hootsuite

7.3

Later

—

Campaign success analytics

7.1

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Real-time tracking

8.1

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Competitor analysis

6.8

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Hootsuite

8.4

Later

—

Role-based user permissions & privileges

8.4

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Mobile access

8.3

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Pros

Mobile App is very intuitive
Easy to schedule content
It is very simple to add social media accounts

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Administrative Assistant

Murray State UniversityHigher Education, 51-200 employees

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The link in my bio is easy to use.
Hashtag generator helps me gain keywords to searchable by users.
The tagging feature is in compliance with Instagram's laws.
The multi-post feature is nice.
I like the time to post suggestions.
Easy to drag and drop.
You're able to save captions for later use.

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Josephine Stafford

Owner

Sixpence Events & Planning, LLCHospitality, 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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I haven't noticed any improvement in results, and so far no one has used the link in the bio.
Make it even easier or quicker to bulk schedule.
Save websites for easy auto-fill.

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Josephine Stafford

Owner

Sixpence Events & Planning, LLCHospitality, 1-10 employees

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Likelihood to Renew

Hootsuite 6.4

Based on 67 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

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Usability

Hootsuite 10.0

Based on 22 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 9.0

Based on 1 answer

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

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Performance

Hootsuite 7.5

Based on 15 answers

Performance is very good considering how much data is being passed back and forth from various social networks (who are likely the bottleneck).

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Vice President

Kono SocialMarketing and Advertising, 1-10 employees

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No score

No answers yet

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Support

Hootsuite 10.0

Based on 18 answers

Everyone we ever dealt with on staff was totally fantastic!

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Vice President

Kono SocialMarketing and Advertising, 1-10 employees

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Later 5.0

Based on 1 answer

I haven't had to use any support for Later, so I can't speak directly to it. However, I can say that their newsletters and blog content are extremely helpful. I stay subscribed to them (which I rarely do for any company) because they are so on top of when IG releases (or is going to release) new features AND provides instructions/advice on how to capitalize on these new features as a business.

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Meredith Walter

Marketing Manager

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

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Online Training

Hootsuite 8.0

Based on 7 answers

They were available whenever we needed them, or they provided tutorials, videos, Hootsuite University, etc.

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Vice President

Kono SocialMarketing and Advertising, 1-10 employees

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No score

No answers yet

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Implementation

Hootsuite 10.0

Based on 21 answers

Ensure that all members of the team are committed to participating in the training sessions offered

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Jaime Hunt, MS IMC

Director of Web Strategy and Interactive Media

Radford UniversityHigher Education, 1001-5000 employees

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No score

No answers yet

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Alternatives Considered

I first evaluated Hootsuite seven years ago in a past life. I evaluated it against Buffer and Sprout Social. I found it to be generally better than Buffer in most ways. I like Buffer's clean interface more but it's heavily limited compared to Hootsuite. The pricing of Buffer is better, but you do get what you pay for. We currently use Buffer in my main job and it has reliability issues that Hootsuite does not. I loved Sprout Social and it offered some features that were really cool and an attractive user interface but the pricing was prohibitive for a business that doesn't make quota via social channels. Bottom-line, if you need a low-budget option, probably go with Buffer knowing that you'll have issues—especially with LinkedIn frequently disconnecting itself. If you have the budget and social is a core part of your marketing strategy, I'd say definitely go with Hootsuite. If you have a lot of budget, and social is the main revenue stream for your business, then maybe look at Sprout too.

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Marketing Advisor

Victoria Marquez MusicEntertainment, 1-10 employees

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Later is great specifically for Instagram. If you're looking for something to manage all of your social channels in, Later is not the tool for you.

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Meredith Walter

Marketing Manager

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

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Return on Investment

Thanks to Hootsuite Pro and its long term scheduling capabilities, my team can focus their effort on growing the business and not just mainlining. We have more time and energy for creative marketing development.
Hootsuite allows my team to interact with audiences easily. Multiple conversations in one setting saves time and eliminates confusion. This increases workflow and and decreases downtime.
Social media marketing and management is easily contained and controlled so there is little fear of falling behind. My team always feels as if they their efforts are productive and not rushed.

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Owner, founder

Self-employedFine Art, 1-10 employees

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It's hard to tell an overall ROI, but I feel it has been positive for the most part.
There are times that I have to reauthorize Facebook - sometimes I don't see or don't receive this alert in a timely manner so some posts go unposted that are scheduled.
Using the link in the bio feature better - so far I haven't had any results as I did with other products.
I wish there was auto-fill for website links used more than once.
I wish Instagram would allow users to be found when tagging.
The tagging function isn't intuitive, I wish I had gotten a tutorial on using it.

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Josephine Stafford

Owner

Sixpence Events & Planning, LLCHospitality, 1-10 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Additional Pricing Details

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General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Additional Pricing Details

—

Rating Summary

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