Hootsuite has shocked their longest-serving customers with the kind of price increase that makes Martin Shrekli look benevolent. We look at what is driving the staggering 10x price increase for long-serving customers and the alternative tools available to social media managers and agencies
Like thousands of Hootsuite users we recently received an email that our subscription would be rising from $7.99 to $75. per month. A staggering increase of up to 1000% affects long-standing customers on legacy pricing structures the most.
So what is driving this change?
Text of the email we received from Hootsuite
Whilst Hootsuite would point to it’s product roadmap and its increase in functionality and associated costs, this masks a deeper story. As social media evolves rapidly so has the way that businesses should use social media and scheduling alone no longer has the pull it once had. Heck even Twitter has joined the bandwagon, you can now schedule posts directly on Twitter removing the core functionality for lots of the lower price bracket subscribers.
This means that the company has been forced to pivot to the higher-level enterprise level where it has been outmatched for years by SproutSocial, Sendible and Agorapulse.
Hootsuite has been struggling to keep up with other players in the industry for some time now and it looks like they are going to try and cover the shortfall in new accounts by targeting those who are paying the same amount they were when they started.
On the surface, this sounds understandable, a lot has changed in social media, and the service and the value offered has changed.
However, increasing prices for the most loyal and longest serving customers by 1000% in one go is a bold strategy. One that is likely to alienate some of their biggest advocates.
We don’t know the ins and outs of Hootsuite and what is driving this change.
Yet, I fear this PR faux pas at the height of a pandemic will stain the legacy of the great work the company has done to support the small business community over the last decade.
We were proud to be Hootsuite ambassadors at the start of our business journey, and it was with a heavy heart that we started transitioning our business away from the tool last year.
The company share great content and have a product that was perfect for small businesses and agencies alike dipping their toe into social media and needing something to manage everything in one place.
We fear that many others will be joining us in looking for alternatives.
Alternatives To Hootsuite
We have long been looking at alternatives to Hootsuite and have the following recommendations for social media management tools that you might find useful
Sendible
More modern and user-friendly than Hootsuite the software is perfect for small agencies with multiple clients looking to scale. Importantly the reporting tools are included in the price, a weakness that has seen Hootsuite lagging for quite some time.
Perfect for – If you are managing the social media accounts of a small business or growing your agency.
Current offer – Try the software with a two-week FREE trial
Arkflux
A UK bases software company offering marketing automation in the form of CRM, email marketing and social media management all in one place at a rate lower than the announced Hootsuite rise.
Based near us we have had the founder talk at our events regularly and the product road map is exciting.
Perfect For – Small businesses that want an all in one solution for their marketing at an affordable price. A UK based company so you can support local business at the same time.
Current Offer – Request a demo and find out that this product is so cost-effective there is no need for an introductory offer
SproutSocial
If it is cost alone that is putting you off Hootsuite then Sproutsocial is unlikely to be the solution you are looking for. However with excellent reporting, team management and a easy to use interface they are a good fit for larger agencies.
Perfect for – Mid to large agencies
Current Offer – 30 day free trial
AgoraPulse
This is a tool that we have only just started testing out so it is too early for us to give you a full review. However, we are giving it a go due to the reviews from Katherine George at Oh So Social who continuously raves about it.
Perfect for – Agencies managing lots of social media accounts at once needing high-quality reporting and inter-team management tools
Current Offer – Get a 14 day FREE trial -here – GET FREE TRIAL
Hello,
Thanks for this update – great to have the above list to hand in order to check the alternatives. At first glance, I thought the email from Hootsuite must be spam as it was such a price hike and emailed them to check – no reply! You have confirmed that it is, sadly, genuine.
I was just wondering if you have advice on the transfer. Did you lose historical data stored on Hootsuite when you moved provider? Will I need to run lots of reports in advance of changing!?
Many thanks,
Sue
I was pleasantly surprised to see someone had already written a post on this topic, thank you Kristian. We’ve been Hootsuite customers for over 6 years and managed various numbers of social media accounts and had different user numbers. We’ve upgraded/downgraded accordingly and found the platform simple and affordable for our needs. Its a side venture to our core business but helps our smaller customers out who want a social media presence and don’t have in house digital.
I missed the above email (my bad) but a hike of this magnitude doesn’t stack up for us or our customers and sadly, we’ll be looking elsewhere. It’s a bold move and sad to see. All good things must come to an end.
Al
Hey Kristian,
We fully expected HootSuite to send another email saying that it was a mistake and they have decided to let their users stay on the old prices. But we don’t think it will happen now.
We are not a fan of such price changes. I guess they wanted to create a stir in the market and get mentioned on a bunch of blogs like this. If so then it worked, but the brand reputation has taken a big hit.
Thank you for putting the list together. If I may ask, could you list RecurPost as an alternative as well? We are one of the best alternatives out there and have a page dedicated to the differences if it helps you:
Oh wow what a dodge job! I had 50 profiles and they cut me to 10! After saying I would have the same benefits. Yes I agree we were there at the beginning and I am sure I helped several people join way back in time! If they really were going after the big fish, why alienate the small ones? I’m sure my little profiles were not that much data. But after reading up on them I can see that after this I wouldn’t take them back or trust them in the future! I’m over it! They offered me two months back and all the be,LS and they can keep them and their HO HO HO! DONE! lol that was a HOOT!