Later vs Hootsuite: Which One is Best in 2023? (Updated)

The social media marketing automation market offers an abundance of tools to help you manage your social profiles. However, with such abundance comes the pain of choice. Which solution should you opt for? Which one will be better for your business?

Take Later and Hootsuite, for example. Both these platforms have the same goal to help you improve your social media presence. However, their functionalities differ greatly. 

If you’ve been considering these two social media management tools lately, here’s everything you need to know about them to make a well-informed purchase decision. 

Disclaimer: The information below is accurate as of February 28, 2023.

Later vs Hootsuite: Comparison Table

If you don’t have time to stick around and read through our extensive guide, here’s the TL;DR of what both tools have in store for you:

Now, let’s break down both Later and Hootsuite and their functionalities.

What is Later?

Later is an all-in-one social media management platform allowing you to plan, publish, analyze, and improve the content on your social media profiles. Its main goal is to help you grow your business and save time on social media management. 

Some of the key features of this platform include the following:

• Scheduling
• Analytics
• Hashtag performance
• Content planning and curation
• Reporting
• Later for creators

Although Later connects to several social media networks, including LinkedIn, Pinterest, and TikTok, most of its features cover Instagram marketing. It offers advanced Instagram analytics, a Stories scheduler, and a Hashtag Analyzer. The tool also recommends a unique time to post, allowing you to boost reach, engagement, and brand visibility on social media. 

Later also has an app that runs on iOS and Android.

What is Hootsuite?

Hootsuite is a social media management solution with a user-friendly interface. It helps you plan and schedule posts, interact with your followers, track social media performance, manage organic and paid content, run ads, and improve your online presence altogether. 

Essentially, Hootsuite is a marketing toolkit with the following features:

• Content curation and publishing
• Social Inbox
• Social listening
• Social media advertising
• Analytics and reporting

Hootsuite integrates with Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and TikTok. You can connect it to messengers like WhatsApp and manage live chat for more scalable customer care. As of November 2021, you can also schedule emails and compare mention volume benchmarks, which helps understand how social media users see your brand.

Later: Advantages and Disadvantages

As you might have noticed, there is little difference between Later and Hootsuite in terms of the features they offer. Both these platforms have the primary functions of content planning and scheduling, analytics, and brand monitoring. 

However, since it’s a comparative article, we need to put these two solutions against each other. Besides, users themselves point out several pros and cons of both platforms. 

What do they say about Later?

Take a look.

Advantage #1: Usability

Later describes itself as a visual platform. Indeed, its dashboard has a very user-friendly interface. If you look at the screenshot below, you will see that it’s very easy to jump between the features, browse your media assets, and schedule posts for the entire month ahead. And, if you get stuck somewhere, a friendly chatbot is there to guide you. You can also use the learning center with useful tutorials:

The post editor is also pretty easy to use – all you have to do is upload visuals from your collection, content library, or computer and write a caption. All that’s left is to set the time and day for the post and save it.

Most reviewers are also pleased with Later’s intuitive dashboard. For instance, this verified user from G2 says that the tool makes it very convenient to run a multi-channel social media strategy, including communications with followers or subscribers:

Another similar review comes from a social media marketer who praises Later’s “very modern” user interface and the fact that all the features are available to the same extent via an app as in the desktop version:

Since versatility is vital in social media automation, and Later clearly excels at it, we can safely say that this tool could be among the best ones for inexperienced marketers.

Advantage #2: Great for Instagram

As we’ve mentioned before, Later is one of the best social media and content management solutions for Instagram primarily because most of its features are dedicated to this platform. 

For example, the Analytics tool is only available for Instagram profiles, and so is the hashtag performance tracker.

What do people say about Later’s Instagram management toolkit?

Some users emphasize that this platform is one of the best for Instagram. This reviewer, who switched from Social Pilot, says Later makes it very easy to run an Instagram strategy and schedule posts and Stories:

It’s also important to note that Later has been approved by Instagram as one of the ‘legit’ post schedulers – all pre-scheduled posts won’t be uploaded to your feed by a third-party app. This review proves that:

All in all, most users say that Instagram planning features on Later are worth the price.

Disadvantage #1: Limited features on the free plan

Later has a forever-free plan, which gives access to the following perks:

• Visual Instagram planner
• Linkin.bio
• Instagram analytics with limited data from the past three months
• Multi-profile content scheduling
• Saved captions
• Media editing
• Media storage

However, all these features are so limited, almost to the point of being unusable.

For instance, the free version says Instagram analytics comes with limited data, which, in reality, only shows the number of posts made (which we can track on the Instagram profile without third-party aid). It’s impossible to get a glimpse at audience activity:

There is also no data to show post performance. To be precise, the platform offers incorrect information – the post below has engagement data (according to Instagram Analytics), while later says it has none:

Users agree that Later’s free plan looks too basic compared to other social media schedulers. This reviewer also adds that the freemium is a bit clunky, making you upload all your visuals to the media bin first before allowing to add them to the posts:

That’s a good point – the social media automation market is pretty competitive nowadays, and publishing speed is sometimes essential (e.g., if you want to post urgent updates), so creating extra obstacles on the way would only ruin the user experience.

Disadvantage #2: Integrations

When we first tried to schedule a post via Later, we were surprised to learn it doesn’t integrate with tools like Canva and only offers native features such as Hashtag Suggestions and Saved Captions:

An experienced social media marketer knows how handy it is to have integrations with other solutions when creating a post via an SMM platform. This user from TrustRadius seems to agree with us – they, too, lack integration with solutions like Canva and Lightroom:

This G2 user also mentioned it could be great if Later integrated with CRM solutions, such as HubSpot, too – that would simplify things for the brands with more extensive social media marketing strategies:

However, integration with HubSpot might be missing because it can be considered a competitor of some sort.

Hootsuite: Advantages and Disadvantages

Now, what about Hootsuite? What do people say about this platform?

Being one of the most popular social media tools, Hootsuite is beloved by many social media marketers. That said, this tool is not perfect either – users report multiple issues, such as a complicated setup process and high prices. 

So, let’s take a look at the biggest advantages and the most pressing disadvantages to help you understand if Hootsuite is the right social media monitoring tool for you.

Advantage #1: Scheduling

Much like Later, Hootsuite is also primarily a social media scheduling app. And, we have to say, its content planning feature is quite impressive – you can schedule social media posts across multiple networks and automatically review them. You also get the best recommended time to publish a post:

The Hootsuite dashboard interface makes it effortless to map out entire social media campaigns and collaborate on them with your team members in real time. It’s also possible to suspend scheduled posts if you need to upload something more urgent. 

Most reviewers also praise Hootsuite’s scheduling feature – all thanks to the intuitive UI:

In particular, reviewers also like that Later makes it possible to schedule Instagram Reels besides posts and Stories (something that not many social media tools can offer):

In general, marketers appreciate Hootsuite for giving them the ability to organize all their social media content assets and retrieve them whenever needed.

Advantage #2: Manage multiple social media accounts

As we mentioned, Hootsuite integrates with 20+ social media channels, and the most popular include:

As you can see from the screenshot above, Hootsuite has also recently integrated with TikTok and introduced scheduling and analytics features.

The extensive list of integrations with social media networks is what users particularly admire:

This feature helps social media managers run all profiles from one dashboard. You can schedule posts across multiple networks, collaborate on the content schedule with your teammates, and interact with your followers via Social Inbox – a tool that collects all incoming DMs from your social media accounts. 

On top of that, integration with each social media platform has unique features. For instance, if you connect your Instagram account, you can schedule carousel posts. You can also connect a feature called Panoramiq Multiview, which allows you to track all brand mentions on Instagram (a similar tool is available for other channels, too).

Disadvantage #1: Free trial available only after sharing payment details

As a platform with several million users, Hootsuite is undoubtedly worth its value. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be trusted by so many people. 

That said, unfortunately, Hootsuite’s free trial is some of those points that don’t speak in favor of this tool.

Actually, the platform used to have a free version with limited capabilities, then took it down, and now users can give a trial run for 30 days.

But don’t get excited just yet – every person subscribing to the free trial should provide their credit card details first:

So, that is something you should keep in mind when deciding between this option and Later.

Nevertheless, Hootsuite still caters to all the needs of its users and keeps introducing new features like streamlined workflows and ad analytics.

Disadvantage #2: Bugs and errors

Much like any SaaS product, Hootsuite is not perfect and can get buggy at times.

For instance, the review below shares that the platform sometimes won’t post content at the given time:

Now, is it problematic?

It can be, but Hootsuite usually responds and fixes all the problems in a timely manner. You can read more about the recent improvements on Hootsuite’s news board.

Comparison Point #1: Features

Now, to the main part – the features that make Hootsuite and Later special. 

We’ll start with Later and discuss the top functionalities it offers to let you run your social media strategy. Then, we will go over to Hootsuite and see how its features can help you cover your social media marketing needs. 

Let’s dive in.

Later

As we’ve already mentioned, Later has tools for managing several social networks – Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. However, most of its features are centered around Instagram:

Let’s discuss Later’s scheduling tools and other social media management features.

Feature #1: Scheduling

You can use Later to create a social media calendar and plan content for one month ahead. The scheduling tool works for Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. 

Later’s dashboard is a visual planner where you can preview all your posts. It has a drag-and-drop user interface, and you can use visuals you already have in the library or upload some from your device:

When it comes to posting on Instagram, you can also schedule Stories and multi-photo (carousel) posts. There is a live editor you can use to tweak your Stories, and once they are ready to be published, the Later app will send them automatically to your phone:

If you’re making a sponsored post or Instagram Story, you can add links or captions. The platform also offers the best time to make a post based on your audience activity and what’s generally optimal for your industry. 

What about other platforms?

Let’s take TikTok, for example. Essentially, the scheduling tool works in the same way as it does for Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn – you drop your content to your calendar, add a caption, and schedule your post.

Is it difficult to operate several schedules in Later?

No. Once you connect all your profiles, they will appear on the left bar of the dashboard. You can switch between them easily. It’s also possible to store all your visual content in a library and retrieve it whenever needed.

Feature #2: Linkin.bio

If you own an e-commerce business and want to turn your social media account into an asset for online shopping, the Linkin.bio feature is what you need. It turns your posts into clickable images that showcase your products and redirect potential buyers to your website. 

As a result, you get more social traffic to your online shop and learn what your followers are interested in the most. You can later use this information to run campaigns, such as contests and sweepstakes. It also gives you insights on how to plan your content strategy better. 

So, how does Linkin.bio work exactly?

When you connect this feature, it breaks your profile into customizable blocks:

These blocks help highlight your top content, allowing your followers to find your most relevant posts. And, if you upgrade to a paid plan, you can also customize the background of your profile, turning it into a miniature version of your e-commerce store. 

Here are a few cool perks of using Linkin.bio:

• It helps drive sales. This tool takes people past your profile (as it highlights only the most relevant content) and brings them to the pages with products they are interested in. It’s an excellent opportunity to gain more new customers. 
• Track purchases. Since Later integrates with Shopify, the links you add from your Shopify store to your posts will be trackable, helping you see which content has brought more sales. 
• Go past social media. Linkin.bio allows you to add your shoppable feed anywhere, thanks to the Gallery feature, which you can reuse in any way you want.

All in all, Linkin.bio is a great tool that can help you get extra benefits from your social media marketing strategy. Besides, it’s available to free trial users.

Feature #3: User-generated content

We already mentioned that Later allows you to track brand mentions. However, you can also use this platform to spot user-generated content that could drive more visits to your social media accounts and raise brand awareness. 

Generally speaking, user-generated content is a great asset to bring more engagement. It’s even more effective (and cheaper) than paying influencers to promote you – consumers find UGC 9.8 times more impactful than influencer content. 

So, how does Later help you find UGC?

You can track posts that feature your brand using these two methods:

• By hashtags
• By @mentions and tags

Next, you can reuse these posts, and Later will automatically credit the author of the content. It is crucial to maintain proper attribution to honor your fans and maintain a strong relationship with them. 

Where can you use user-generated content?

Some brands launch UGC campaigns, such as contests, and then reward their followers for their creativity and dedication. However, you can simply repost people’s creations on your profile to boost engagement and showcase your loyal fanbase.

Feature #4: Instagram hashtags

Later prides itself on its Instagram Hashtags feature – a tool that helps you find and track relevant hashtags to improve visibility on social media. 

In fact, this feature includes an entire collection of tools:

• Instagram First Comment – schedule the first comment under your posts and include hashtags in it to avoid cluttering the caption. 
• Hashtag Suggestions – get hashtag recommendations for your posts based on the message you want to share. 
• Saved Captions – this tool organizes all your hashtags into different categories. 
• UGC Search – track branded hashtags and find featured posts. 
• Instagram Hashtag Analytics – see which hashtags bring the most engagement and are currently trending in your industry.

All in all, this Later feature significantly cuts the time of creating a post. If you make several Instagram posts, you will definitely enjoy this tool.

Feature #5: Later for creators

Not so long ago, Later introduced a new part to its platform with tools specially made for creators. This tool provides assistance with community management and helps influencers get their content noticed.

How does this feature differ from the standard Later toolkit?

• Creator database. By joining it, influencers can tap into more opportunities to get noticed by brands. The platform generates your profile automatically using your Instagram page. You can also add some details to the bio.
• Media kit tool. You can use it to showcase your social media profiles and some essential social media KPIs, such as follower count, engagement rate, reach, post impressions, etc. Your media kit can also feature past collaborations, your offer, and rates.
• Campaigns. Brands can use Later to create and manage campaigns. As an influencer, you can take advantage of it, cherry-pick a campaign, share your goals and offer, and brands will consider you if they are interested.

All these perks are available with the special Creator plan, which you can also try out for free.

Hootsuite

Now let’s turn to Hootsuite and the toolkit it offers. In general, Hootsuite’s features cover more aspects of running a social media marketing strategy. 

So, what will you get if you purchase Hootsuite? Here’s a screenshot of what its toolkit includes:

Let’s break down its key features one by one.

Feature #1: Content curation and publishing

Hootsuite also uses a drag-and-drop interface for its content calendar. You can review all your scheduled posts on one dashboard and use it to plan campaigns and fill in the content gaps. The intuitive UI also allows you to collaborate on the content schedule with your colleagues in real time. 

If you want to temporarily suspend some of your planned uploads and make an urgent post, Hootsuite’s scheduling tool allows that, too. This way, you can react to brand mentions and other opportunities outside of your content schedule. 

In terms of content creation, Hootsuite’s scheduler has an editor, allowing you to preview your posts before publishing. It includes a library with visual assets and integrations (such as Canva) to help you craft posts without leaving Hootsuite’s dashboard.

Need to upload posts in bulk?

You can do it using Hootsuite’s Bulk Composer. This tool helps you remain consistent across multiple social media networks without spending too much time planning and creating content.

Feature #2: Social Inbox and engagement tools

One of the must-do activities for every brand that wants to build an active social media following base is to stay in touch with its audience. However, it can be a real challenge, especially if you’re using multiple social channels. 

Hootsuite has a feature that connects all your profiles into one Social Inbox and allows you to respond to all DMs in a timely manner. You can also filter out the messages that require immediate attention, such as customer support queries, and assign your teammates to deal with them. 

The coolest thing about this Hootsuite tool is that you can actually review all brand mentions from every social media profile on one dashboard:

Why should you regularly keep in touch with your followers?

It might seem redundant and a waste of time, but checking in with how people feel about your brand is vital for your online image. Even replying to negative reviews is crucial – it means that you care about the experiences people have with your business and want to improve them.

Feature #3: Advertising

Contrary to popular belief, the costs of social media advertising are not that high. You can run an ad campaign on a minimal budget and still get solid results. If you track and improve your efforts along the way, of course. 

So, having a reliable tool for advertising campaign management could be of great help, and Hootsuite is a great option. It allows you to manage all your paid and organic promotions on one unified dashboard. 

What can Hootsuite do for you in terms of social media advertising?

• Create boosted posts faster
• Run ads on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn
• Generate reports
• Use targeted ad tactics to improve customer experience at every sales funnel stage

Hootsuite also gives you recommendations regarding the target audience demographics to improve your ad’s visibility and help you reach the right people. It supplies you with data-driven insights into the actions you need to take to improve your advertising efforts. So, it’s an excellent investment if you engage in social media advertising on a regular basis.

Feature #4: Monitoring

Monitoring helps track industry trends and competitor activities. It also enables you to identify the best-performing content and then reuse it, for instance, in advertising campaigns. 

Essentially, you set alerts for the topics of your interest. They appear together on one dashboard, so it’s easier for you to switch between them. 

If you want to learn how people react to certain topics, Hootsuite offers a tool called Hootsuite Insights. You can use it to search for any keyword, filter the conversations around it by date, location, demographics, etc., and see what people have to say about it:

On top of that, Hootsuite integrates with the top brand monitoring tools like Brandwatch and Talkwalker to help you get an accurate understanding of your business’s online presence (not just on social media).

Comparison Point #2: Analytics

Staying updated about your social media performance is crucial for your success. Surely, you have built-in inbound marketing tools, such as Facebook Page Insights or Instagram Analytics, to help you understand your presence better. However, sometimes they are not enough to get the full picture. 

That’s why Later, Hootsuite, and many other Hootsuite alternatives offer advanced analytics tools that can help you get a better idea of how your content is performing. 

So, let’s take a look at what both Later and Hootsuite have to offer in terms of reporting.

Later

Later offers an advanced analytics feature for Instagram. It includes:

• A profile overview – helps understand your Instagram profile’s overall performance. 
• Post performance – shows the activity and engagement each of your posts delivers. 
• Stories analytics – allows you to see how people react to your Stories content. 
• Traffic and sales – shows which posts drive the most traffic to your website and bring paying customers. 
• Hashtag analytics – helps find the best-performing hashtags in your industry and niche.

The same analytics feature provides insights on the best time to make your post by tracking your followers’ daily activity.

The tool gives you seven recurrent weekly time slots, which you can use to boost engagement. You can also use this data to schedule your promotional posts.

Hootsuite

As we’ve mentioned, Hootsuite’s API connects to several social media platforms and collects analytical data from them. All this information is available on one dashboard, and you can actually compare the results from different social media profiles against each other. 

Here’s what you can do with Hootsuite’s Analytics feature:

• Track your activity in general and set performance benchmarks. 
• Understand post performance and get in-depth insights. 
• Calculate ROI. 
• Generate reports. 
• Share important data points with your team.

Similar to Later, Hootsuite also indicates the best time to make your posts. However, it actually shows you why: for instance, by sharing how many impressions a post made on a certain day at a specific time has reached:

As a result, you get an in-depth understanding of your social media presence and valuable ideas on how to improve it.

Comparison Point #3: Integrations

You already know that both Later and Hootsuite integrate with multiple social media platforms. However, these are not the only integrations necessary to manage social media. 

For instance, you will also need some content curation tools as well as access to CRM and CMS platforms to cover all aspects of social media marketing. 

So, which integrations do Later and Hootsuite have to offer?

Let’s take a look.

Later

So, we’ve figured out that Later integrates with the following social media channels:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest
• TikTok

On top of that, it is an actual official partner of Instagram, meaning that all scheduled posts will not be made from a third-party tool. 

In terms of content curation, storage, and other features, Later offers the following cross-platform integrations with:

• Google
• Dropbox
• Adobe
• Unsplash

In fact, the integration with Unsplash allows you to create an entire library of visuals and spend less time searching for relevant images. Unfortunately, there is no integration with Canva and other editing tools, which would simplify the content creation process. 

E-commerce business owners will enjoy Later’s integration with Shopify. You can use it to connect your shop with your Instagram profile and connect the Linkin.bio feature to give your e-commerce website more exposure.

Hootsuite

The list of Hootsuite integrations is much more extensive. The list of social media networks alone includes the six most popular channels, namely:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• YouTube
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Pinterest
• TikTok

Hootsuite has a very intuitive and inclusive interface that connects to multiple apps to help you create, plan, and publish content within one unified dashboard. This is possible thanks to the following integrations:

• HubSpot (an integration with CRM)
• Google My Business
• Synapview (a tool for monitoring competitors)
• Canva
• Shopview for Shopify (allows resharing products from Shopify on social profiles)
• HelloWoofy (data monitoring)
• Spotify
• Trufan (influencer marketing)
• Zendesk Pro (connects customer service to social media)
• Adview (ad monitoring)
• Slack 
• ReviewTrackers (creates a board with feedback and brand mentions)

These are only a few examples of apps that integrate with Hootsuite; you can find the complete list here. The best part is that you don’t have to pay for all these integrations – install only those that, in your opinion, are necessary to help you achieve your social media goals. 

It’s also worth mentioning that neither Hootsuite nor Later integrate with RSS Feeds. 

Comparison Point #4: Pricing

Finally, let’s look at one of the most critical points in our comparison – how expensive are Later and Hootsuite?

Going forward, we should add that both platforms have pricing plans for companies of different sizes. Even a small business on a shoestring budget will find a plan that suits its needs.

Later

Here’s the screenshot with all Later plans available:

As you can see, Later is pretty affordable. You can give it a try using the free plan, which doesn’t expire. However, we already mentioned that the features it offers are very limited. 

The Basics plan also limits some tools, such as Stories Scheduling, Best Time to Post, Shopify Connection, etc. But there are enough features to run a basic social media marketing strategy. 

Growth and Advanced plans offer more extensive functionality and allow unlimited scheduling. These plans are the best for businesses that rely on their social media profiles.

Hootsuite

Hootsuite subscription includes the following plans:

Hootsuite used to have a free plan but has recently removed it and introduced a free trial. You can subscribe to it to try out this tool, but credit card details are required. 

The Professional plan is enough for those who are just starting their social media journey. It allows connecting up to ten social accounts (which is more than enough), scheduling unlimited posts, and using Social Inbox. 

The Team plan is necessary if you have several people in your social media marketing department. It shares features with the Professional plan, plus includes collaboration tools. 

The Business plan, which is also the most expensive, includes 24/7 customer support, extended functionality with premium apps (the ones we discussed in the previous chapter), and all the features from the Team and Professional plans. 

If you feel that none of these subscription options work for your needs, you can talk to the sales team at Hootsuite, and they will offer you a customized Enterprise plan tailored to your social media marketing goals.

Now Over to You

Phew! That’s a lot of information, huh? 

It can’t be otherwise – choosing the right social media management software is a tedious process, and you need as many details as possible to make a well-informed decision. 

So, in the Later vs Hootsuite battle, which marketing platform is the best?

It’s not fair to answer this question because of two reasons.

First of all, your business might be tight on money right now. So, you need to choose the right solution based on what you can afford. 

Secondly, it’s crucial to consider your goal before making a choice. You might not need an advanced tool if you’re only using Instagram to promote your brand. 

Thus, don’t make a hasty decision. Instead, weigh out all the pros and cons. And, if you need more information on social media management and digital marketing, in general, we have more articles like this on our blog.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some of the most popular questions people ask if they can’t choose between Later and Hootsuite.

Q1. Is there a better platform than Hootsuite?

Hootsuite is a solid solution for social media marketing. However, your choice should be based on your social media needs and goals. Also, consider the social media networks you want to manage. Similar solutions include Later, Sprout Social, Buffer, and eClincher.

Q2. Can you use Later on Instagram?

Yes, but you need to switch to an Instagram Business profile. Instagram and Later are partners, so this solution has everything you need to run your Instagram strategy smoothly.

Q3. Which is better: Hootsuite or Later?

Consider your social media goals to answer this question. Later is better if your social media strategy relies on Instagram. In its turn, Hootsuite is more inclusive and integrates with many apps. Also, opt for Later if your strategy includes TikTok.