Need to up your social media game but feeling overwhelmed by all the tools out there?
Two of the biggest names are Hootsuite and Later.
Both help you schedule posts and manage your accounts, but which one is the best fit for you in 2025?
In this post, we’ll break down the key differences between Hootsuite and Later, comparing their features, pricing, and ease of use.
Let’s get started!
Overview
We didn’t just read about these platforms; we got our hands dirty!
We spent weeks scheduling posts, analyzing data, and exploring every nook and cranny of Hootsuite and Later to bring you this detailed comparison.
Want an affordable way to manage all your social media in one place? Start your free 30-day Hootsuite trial!
Pricing: 30 days free trial available. Paid plan Starts at $99/month
Key Features:
- Wide range of integrations
- Bulk scheduling capabilities
- Simple content creation tools
Later’s visual planner and Best Time to Post feature help you get the most out of your content. Explore it’s features today!
Pricing: It has a free trial. Paid plan Starts at $16.67/month
Key Features:
- Visual Planner
- Best Time to Post
- Linkin. bio
What is Hootsuite?
Hootsuite is like the veteran in the social media management world.
It’s been around forever, and tons of businesses rely on it. Why?
Because it’s powerful and packed with features to help you manage all your social stuff in one place.
Also, explore our favorite Hootsuite alternatives…
Key Benefits
- Stay organized with streams: Monitor multiple social feeds, hashtags, and keywords in real time.
- Never miss a message: Manage all your social conversations from a unified inbox.
- Amplify your impact: Boost your top-performing posts directly within the platform.
- Collaborate seamlessly: Assign tasks, approve content, and manage permissions across your team.
- Get the big picture: Track your progress with comprehensive analytics and custom reports.
Pricing
Hootsuite offers a limited free plan for basic needs.
- Professional ($99/month): Unlimited post scheduling, Best time to post recommendations, Competitive benchmarking tool.
- Team ($249/month): for three users with 20 social accounts.
- Enterprise Custom: Start with five users and 50 social accounts.
Pros
Cons
What is Later?
Later is like the cool, visual kid on the social media block.
It’s known for its awesome visual planner and focus on Instagram, but it works with other platforms too.
If you’re all about making your social feed look amazing, Later is your new best friend.
Also, explore our favorite Later alternatives…
Our Take
Later is a great choice for businesses that prioritize visual content and Instagram marketing. It’s easy to use, affordable, and offers a range of features to help you create & schedule beautiful, engaging content.
Key Benefits
- Features: Later offers scheduling, publishing, analytics, and a visual planner for creating and previewing your social media content.
- Supported social networks: It integrates with Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and TikTok.
- Ease of use: The interface is drag-and-drop and very visual, making it easy to plan and schedule your content.
- Customer support: Later offers email and chat support, as well as a comprehensive help center.
- Integrations: It connects with a few key tools, such as Canva, Unsplash, and Dropbox.
- Scalability: Later offers plans for businesses of all sizes, from solopreneurs to large teams.
Pricing
Later has a free plan with limited features. Paid plans start at $18/month and go up depending on the number of social profiles and users you need.
- Starter: $16.67/month
- Growth: $30/month
- Advanced: $53.33/month
Pros
Cons
Feature Comparison
This comparison provides a quick review of Hootsuite and Later, two top social media management software options. We examine how they can meet your social media marketing needs and improve your overall social media strategy.
1. Target Audience and Focus
- Hootsuite is a social media management solution built for large organizations and marketing teams managing multiple social media accounts. Its comprehensive features and scalability are designed to handle complex social media campaigns and various social media networks.
- Later is a social media management platform that focuses on visual content, especially for Instagram posts. It is a social media management software that caters to individual social media users, content creators, and small businesses who prioritize a clean, user friendly interface and visual planning.
2. Social Media Management and Scheduling
- Hootsuite allows users to schedule social media posts & manage multiple personal social media accounts from a single dashboard. It supports a large variety of social media networks and provides extensive social media scheduling tools.
- Later, a popular social media management app, is known for its visual content calendar with a drag and drop interface. It is particularly effective for visually planning Instagram posts and can schedule content across several social media platforms.
3. Content Creation and Curation
- Hootsuite offers content creation tools and a media library. Its focus is on streamlining social media efforts and providing a unified dashboard to manage social media tasks. It also has a hashtag suggestions feature.
- Later excels at content curation and visual planning. It allows users to easily find and repost user generated content from social media channels. Its media library and hashtag suggestions tools are integral to its visual-first approach.
4. Team Collaboration
- Hootsuite is known for its robust team collaboration features. It offers a variety of team collaboration tools, including complex approval workflows and the ability to assign tasks to different team members, making it ideal for a large social media team.
- Later offers team collaboration features on its paid plans, with tools for getting content approved. While useful for small teams, its collaboration capabilities are not as extensive as Hootsuite’s robust team collaboration features.
5. Analytics and Reporting
- Hootsuite’s social media analytics capabilities are a key strength. It offers detailed reporting, including a competitive analysis feature and integration with tools like google analytics, to provide valuable insights into social media campaigns and overall social media strategies.
- Later provides strong analytics, with a focus on post performance and audience engagement. It also offers hashtag analytics to track the effectiveness of your hashtags. However, its analytics are generally less comprehensive than Hootsuite’s in-depth reporting.
6. Social Listening and Engagement
- Hootsuite’s social media management solution includes advanced social listening features that help a social media manager or multiple social media managers track brand mentions and keywords across multiple networks. It also has a unified inbox to manage all social media engagement.
- Later’s engagement tools are more basic, focusing on managing comments and direct messages from the social media management platform. It does not have the same level of social media monitoring or listening capabilities as Hootsuite.
7. Supported Platforms and Integrations
- Hootsuite supports a very wide range of social media networks and offers a large number of integrations with other marketing tools, including various app integrations for all your social media efforts.
- Later focuses on several social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. It also offers a dedicated link in bio feature, social media calendar and supports the Google business profile.
8. User Interface and Ease of Use
- Hootsuite is a powerful & successful social media marketing platform with several features, which can make its user interface seem cluttered and complex for new users.
- Later is widely praised for its user friendly interface and clean design. Its simple and intuitive layout makes it one of the easiest social media tools to learn and use, especially for visual planning.
9. Pricing and Plans
- Hootsuite is typically a more expensive social media management platform, reflecting its focus on enterprise features and managing a large number of social media accounts. Its pricing tiers start at a higher point than Later.
- Later offers more accessible pricing, with a free trial and affordable paid plans. Its pricing structure, based on social sets and post limits, makes it a budget-friendly option for content creators and small businesses.
What to Look for in a Social Media Management Tool?
Choosing the right social media management tool can be a game-changer. Here are some extra factors to consider:
- Customer Support: What kind of support does the platform offer? Do they have helpful resources, responsive customer service, and a knowledgeable support team?
- Integrations: Does the platform integrate with other tools you use, like your CRM, email marketing platform, or analytics dashboards?
- Mobile App: Do you need to manage your social media or multiple social media networks on the go? Check if the platform has a mobile app that meets your needs.
- Security: How secure is the platform? Do they have strong security measures in place to protect your accounts and data?
- Scalability: Can the platform grow with your business? Will it still meet your needs as your social media presence expands?
By considering these factors, you can choose a social media management tool that helps you achieve your goals and streamline your workflow.
Final Verdict
So, which platform takes the crown? It’s a tough call, but we’re leaning towards Hootsuite!
It’s the more powerful of the two social media management tools, especially if you manage multiple social media platforms.
Hootsuite gives you more control over scheduling and offers in-depth analytics to track your social media performance.
While Later is great for visual planning and Instagram.
Hootsuite is better for managing a complex social media platform strategy across various networks.
We’ve tested both platforms extensively so that you can trust our judgment. If you’re serious about social media, Hootsuite is the way to go!
More of Hootsuite
- Hootsuite vs Sprout Social: It’s standout feature is its robust project management and in-depth analytics for large teams.
- Hootsuite vs Metricool: It’s standout feature is its focus on a more user-friendly interface and team collaboration.
- Hootsuite vs SocialPilot: It’s standout feature is its comprehensive scheduling and valuable features for multi-location brands and agencies.
- Hootsuite vs Sendible: It’s standout feature is its agency-focused design with custom dashboards and white-label reporting.
- Hootsuite vs Content Studio: It’s standout feature is its powerful content discovery and curation tools for creators.
- Hootsuite vs Heropost: It’s standout feature is its AI writing assistant and ability to create branded short links.
- Hootsuite vs Agorapulse: It’s standout feature is its unified social inbox and transparent, user-friendly approach to customer support.
- Hootsuite vs Zoho Social: It’s standout feature is its SmartQ predictions for optimal scheduling and a highly user-friendly interface.
- Hootsuite vs Buffer: It’s standout feature is its simplicity and ease of use, making it ideal for small businesses.
- Hootsuite vs Sprinklr: It’s standout feature is its advanced social listening and deeper customer engagement capabilities for enterprises.
- Hootsuite vs Later: It’s standout feature is its visual-first approach, especially for Instagram, with its visual planner and Linkin.bio.
- Hootsuite vs Loomly: It’s standout feature is its daily post inspiration and a streamlined, collaborative content approval workflow.
- Hootsuite vs Blaze: It’s standout feature is its AI-first approach, specializing in creating high-quality AI images and content.
- Hootsuite vs Planable: It’s standout feature is its focus on intuitive collaboration and an in-depth, visual content planning process.
More of Later
- Later vs Sprout Social: It offers comprehensive social listening and advanced analytics, making it a more robust, but complex tool.
- Later vs Metricool: It offers broader analytics and ad management.
- Later vs Socialpilot: It supports more platforms and has a social inbox.
- Later vs Sendible: It has robust collaboration and reporting.
- Later vs Content Studio: It excels in content discovery.
- Later vs Heropost: It uses AI for content creation.
- Later vs Agorapulse: It offers strong social listening.
- Later vs Zoho Social: It integrates with the Zoho suite.
- Later vs Buffer: It is known for its simplicity.
- Later vs Sprinklr: It is an enterprise-level platform.
- Later vs Loomly: It focuses on team content workflows.
- Later vs Blaze: It depends on Blaze’s specific features.
- Later vs Hootsuite: It is a more comprehensive tool with a wider range of platform integrations and in-depth analytics.
- Later vs Planable: It is a collaboration-first tool, with a strong focus on content approval workflows for teams
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use Hootsuite or Later to manage my TikTok account?
Yes! Both platforms support TikTok scheduling. Later, it focuses more on visual content for TikTok, while Hootsuite offers more in-depth analytics.
Which platform is better for small businesses with limited budgets?
Later is generally more affordable, with cheaper paid plans. Hootsuite can get pricey, especially if you need access for a team.
Do I need a separate tool for Instagram analytics if I use Hootsuite or Later?
Nope! Both platforms provide basic Instagram analytics, although Hootsuite’s are more detailed.
Can I schedule stories with Hootsuite and Later?
Yes, you can schedule Instagram Stories with both platforms. Later makes it easy to visually plan your stories, while Hootsuite offers more scheduling flexibility.
Which platform is easier to learn?
Later is generally more user-friendly, with a simpler interface and intuitive features. Hootsuite has a steeper learning curve due to its extensive functionalities.
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