Not sure the posting is the problem? We check how your business shows up on Google, in Maps and in AI answers, then tell you what to fix first. Get a free visibility check.
SocialPilot: three users and approvals for $110 a month
Standard's $50 includes 15 accounts, three users, approval workflows and a social inbox; 15 extra accounts at $4 each cover six brands on five networks.
See SocialPilot's plansWhy Hootsuite costs more as the team grows
Hootsuite prices every plan per user. Its plans page lists Standard at $99, Professional at $199 and Advanced at $399 per user a month, billed annually. Its FAQ says monthly billing exists for all three and costs more per user, but the page doesn't publish that price, so every Hootsuite figure here is the annual one.
Three things push a team's bill up. Standard manages up to ten social accounts, so six brands on five networks need Professional at least. Reviewing and approving content with your team first appears on Advanced, so a team that wants sign-off inside the tool pays $399 for every person, including the ones who only draft. And each new hire adds a full seat. The plans page also groups "MCP connectors" with Wisdom, the AI assistant it says runs on every plan, without listing what those connectors do on each plan.
Who should stay on Hootsuite
Hootsuite is more than a scheduler, and the seat price pays for that. Every plan includes one inbox for messages and brand and competitor monitoring. Professional adds unlimited accounts, automated inbox replies and workflows, trend forecasting and custom reports. Advanced adds message assignment and routing alongside approvals, and Enterprise adds advanced listening, single sign-on and compliance tools.
Stay if your team answers customers in that inbox all day, depends on the DM automations or the listening, or works with clients who expect a name they already know. If you want an inbox-and-reports suite for less, Agorapulse and Sprout Social are the closest matches below, though both also charge per user.
What a team of three pays on each tool
We priced one setup on every tool: three people, six brands, each on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok and X, which makes 30 accounts, on the cheapest plan that covers it. It's the brand mix from our comparison of scheduling tools for agencies, with a team of three added.
| Tool and plan (how we got the number) | Approvals | Billed monthly | Billed yearly, per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hootsuite Professional 3 users × $199 | No | Not published | $597 |
| Hootsuite Advanced 3 users × $399 | Yes | Not published | $1,197 |
| 1. SocialPilot Standard $50 + 15 extra accounts × $4 | Yes | $110 | $102.50‡ |
| 2. Publer Professional Its calculator: 30 accounts, 2 extra members | Yes | $124 | $89.60 |
| 3. SocialBee Pro $99 + 5 extra profiles ($15) + 1 extra workspace ($10) | Yes | $124 | $103.33 |
| 4. Metricool Advanced $67 for 15 brands + 6 X accounts × $10 | Yes | $127 | $113‡ |
| 5. Zoho Social Premium $65 + 5 extra brands × $23 | Yes | $180 | $137.50 |
| 6. Sendible Plus $99 + 3 extra workspaces × $30 | Yes | $189 | $160.65 |
| 7. Buffer Team 30 channels at its tiered per-channel rates | Yes | $195 | $162.50 |
| 8. Vista Social Advanced $199 + X add-on $29 | Yes | $228* | $188.17*‡ |
| 9. Planable Pro 6 workspaces × $59 | Yes | $354 | $294 |
| 10. Agorapulse Professional 3 users × $149 + 20 extra profiles × $15 (yearly: × $119 and × $10) | Yes | $747† | $557† |
| 11. Sprout Social Professional 3 seats × $399, or × $299 yearly | Yes | $1,197 | $897 |
| 12. PostWharf Plus 10 brand workspaces, unlimited channels | Not listed | $67 | $54 |
Every alternative that keeps approvals costs no more than three Hootsuite Advanced seats. Seven of them come in under $200 a month on monthly billing. The four that don't are priced up by an X surcharge (Vista Social), per-workspace pricing (Planable), per-user pricing plus extra profiles (Agorapulse) and per-seat pricing (Sprout Social).
How we ranked them
We ranked on one question: what is the lowest published monthly price, on monthly billing, for a team of three to keep an approval workflow on this 30-account setup? Approvals are the Hootsuite feature most tied to the seat price, because they start on Advanced. Where two tools tie, the lower yearly price goes first, which is why Publer sits above SocialBee.
What we didn't do: we haven't tested these tools side by side, so we didn't score ease of use, inbox quality or support. A tool that can't run this setup is listed under "Left off on purpose" with the reason. PostWharf lists no multi-user access or approval workflow on its pricing page, so it fails the test and sits last, on a separate criterion it does win.
The 12 alternatives
1. SocialPilot: the cheapest switch that keeps approvals
Best for: a team of three that schedules and approves, and wants the lowest bill.
Essentials $30 · Standard $50 · Premium $100 · Ultimate $200 a month (monthly billing)
Standard includes 15 accounts and three team members, with approval workflows, manager approval and a social inbox. Extra accounts are $4 a month and extra users $5, which makes $110 for our setup. If clients sign off too, Premium ($100 with 25 accounts and six users, so $120 here) adds unlimited client seats, client approval workflows, client management and white-label reports. Its plans page lists an MCP server. Weaker: API access is listed on Enterprise only, and extra people cost $5 each once you pass the plan's included users. socialpilot.co/plans
2. Publer: approvals for the price of the accounts
Best for: teams that want approvals and don't need reports inside the scheduler.
Free · Professional from $5 · Business from $10 a month, plus accounts and members
Publer prices by account and by extra member, and its calculator puts our setup (30 accounts, two members on top of the owner) at $124 a month on Professional, or $89.60 billed yearly. Approval workflows start on Professional. Weaker: analytics, competitor analysis, the API and the MCP server are Business features, and the same setup on Business costs $216 a month ($156 yearly). The free plan can't connect X. publer.com/plans
3. SocialBee: five client workspaces on one plan
Best for: a small agency that wants each client in its own workspace.
Bootstrap $29 · Accelerate $49 · Pro $99 a month (monthly billing)
Pro includes 25 social accounts, five workspaces and three users per workspace, and the post approval system starts on Accelerate. Add-ons are published: five more profiles for $15 a month and one more workspace for $10, so our six brands cost $124 a month, or $103.33 a month on yearly billing. It supports TikTok and Google Business Profile among its networks. Weaker: the pricing page lists no API or MCP, and yearly plans and add-ons are bought inside the app rather than from the pricing page. socialbee.com/pricing
4. Metricool: unlimited team members at a per-brand price
Best for: teams that expect to add people and want the API included.
Free · Starter from $25 · Advanced from $67 a month (monthly billing)
Metricool prices per brand. Advanced covers up to 15 brands for $67 with unlimited team members, team and client management, roles, a post approval system, a Looker Studio connector and its API (Zapier, Make and MCP). X costs $10 a month per connected account, which takes our setup to $127, or $113 on yearly billing. It also posts to Google Business Profile, one location per brand. Weaker: the X surcharge grows with every brand, team features are Advanced-only, and white label needs the Custom plan. metricool.com/pricing
5. Zoho Social: priced in dirhams for UAE teams
Best for: UAE businesses that want to pay in AED, or already use Zoho CRM.
Standard $10 · Professional $30 · Premium $40 a month billed yearly; Premium $65 billed monthly
Premium includes one brand with up to 16 channels, three team members, content approvals and workflow, an inbox, custom reports and Zoho CRM and Zoho Desk integrations. Extra brands on Premium are $23 a month, so six brands cost $180 a month, or $137.50 billed yearly. Visiting from the UAE, the pricing page switches to dirhams: Premium is AED 146 a month billed yearly, with extra brands at AED 71.17, which makes about AED 502 a month for our setup. For agencies, a separate Agency plan starts at $230 a month billed yearly for 10 clients. Weaker: every extra person past the three included is $12 a month, and the page says local taxes such as VAT are added on top. zoho.com/social/pricing
6. Sendible: unlimited users on every plan
Best for: agencies that give clients their own logins.
Core $35 · Plus $99 · Premium $199 · Elite $299 a month (monthly billing)
Sendible sells workspaces, one per client or brand, each with six profiles, and no plan charges per user. Plus ($99 for three workspaces) adds assignment and approvals, and Sendible says client users only ever see their own dashboards. Six brands fit on Plus with three extra workspaces at $30 each: six workspaces and 36 profiles for $189 a month, or $160.65 billed yearly. Premium ($199 for seven workspaces) adds content libraries and custom branded reports. Weaker: content libraries and custom branded reports need Premium, no API or MCP appears on its pricing page, and white label costs extra on Elite and Enterprise; Sendible quotes Elite with it from $349 a month. sendible.com/pricing
7. Buffer: pay per channel, invite anyone
Best for: teams whose number of channels changes from month to month.
Free · Essentials from $6 · Team from $12 per channel a month (monthly billing)
Team adds unlimited team members, access levels and content approval workflows. The per-channel rate falls with volume ($12 for the first ten, $4 for the next 15, $3 after that), so 30 channels cost $195 a month, or $162.50 billed yearly. Every paid plan includes API access and a community inbox for comments. Weaker: the rate is per channel, so a sixth network for every brand adds six charges, and its pricing page describes the community inbox as a place to manage and reply to comments. We compare it in more depth in our Buffer alternatives guide. buffer.com/pricing
8. Vista Social: approvals on every plan
Best for: teams that want multi-stage approvals for clients.
Professional $99 · Advanced $199 · Scale $449 a month (monthly billing)
Every plan has single-stage approvals and MCP; Advanced adds multi-stage approvals, Zapier and Make, with 30 profiles and four users. X is a $29 a month add-on, so our setup costs $228 a month, or $188.17 on yearly billing ($1,910 a year for Advanced). Weaker: Advanced can't add profiles, so a seventh brand means Scale at $449, and the X add-on's page doesn't say whether the fee is per profile. vistasocial.com/pricing
9. Planable: approvals that clients actually use
Best for: agencies whose clients insist on signing off every post.
Basic $39 · Pro $59 per workspace a month (monthly billing)
Planable charges per workspace with unlimited users on every plan. Pro gives each workspace ten social pages, 150 posts a month and a "required" approval mode where at least one approver must sign off before anything publishes, plus a public API and an MCP connector. Six brands cost $354 a month, or $294 billed yearly. Weaker: analytics ($14) and the social inbox ($9) are extra per workspace per month, Basic's four pages per workspace can't hold five networks, and multi-level approvals are Enterprise-only. planable.io/pricing
10. Agorapulse: the inbox and reports, priced per user
Best for: teams that want Hootsuite's inbox and reporting at a lower seat price.
Standard $99 · Professional $149 · Advanced $199 per user a month (monthly billing); $79, $119 or $149 billed annually
Each self-serve plan includes ten social profiles, and extra profiles are $15 a month each ($10 on yearly billing). Simple, one-step approval workflows start on Professional, along with post and inbox assignments and team performance reports; every plan has the social inbox. Our setup needs Professional for three users plus 20 extra profiles: $747 a month, or $557 billed yearly. Weaker: people and profiles are both charged, so this is the priciest route here after Sprout Social; multi-step approvals, unlimited profiles and API access sit on the Custom plan, which has no published price. agorapulse.com/pricing
11. Sprout Social: if you need the inbox, not just the calendar
Best for: teams that answer customers on social all day.
Essentials $99 · Standard $249 · Professional $399 · Advanced $499 per seat a month (monthly billing)
Sprout is the closest like-for-like suite: an inbox, keyword and location monitoring and review management from Standard, with a message approval workflow from Professional. Standard caps at five profiles, so our setup needs Professional: three seats cost $1,197 a month, or $897 billed yearly ($299 a seat). Billed yearly, that beats three Hootsuite Advanced seats ($1,197) if you need approvals, but costs more than Hootsuite Professional ($597) if you don't. Weaker: every extra person is another full seat, and the Sprout API and external approval workflows start on Advanced. sproutsocial.com/pricing
12. PostWharf: replaces Hootsuite's publishing only
Best for: one person publishing for many brands, often from Claude or ChatGPT. We describe that setup in how to automate social media posting with AI.
Starter $15 · Startup $29 · Plus $67 · Pro $99 a month (monthly billing)
What it wins on: the lowest price we found for publishing to all 30 accounts. High Street has a financial interest in PostWharf (how we handle that). Plus covers ten brand workspaces with unlimited channels for $67 a month ($54 billed yearly), X included, and every plan has a REST API, an MCP server, a CLI and webhooks. Each post gets a delivery receipt per network.
Where it's weaker, plainly: its pricing page lists no multiple users, no approval workflow, no inbox and no analytics, so it replaces Hootsuite's publishing and nothing else. Reddit, Discord, Snapchat and WordPress can't be connected yet, and Plus caps scheduled posts at 1,000 a month. If you'd rather hand the whole calendar to someone, get a free visibility check and we'll tell you what your social and search presence needs first. postwharf.com/pricing
Left off on purpose
Later's social sets cover Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, Threads and Snapchat, but not X, so it fails the setup. later.com/pricing
Which one fits your team
Short answers
Three people schedule and approve in Hootsuite, and that's most of what you use: SocialPilot Standard.
You want the lowest yearly bill with approvals and can live without in-app reports: Publer Professional.
Each client needs its own workspace: SocialBee Pro, or Sendible if clients need their own logins.
Your team will keep growing: Metricool Advanced, Sendible or Buffer Team, which don't charge per person.
You'd rather pay in dirhams, or you run Zoho CRM: Zoho Social Premium.
Clients approve posts too: SocialPilot Premium, Vista Social or Planable Pro.
Your team lives in the inbox and the listening tools: stay on Hootsuite, or trial Sprout Social or Agorapulse.
One person publishes for many brands, often from Claude or ChatGPT: PostWharf.
Or hand the calendar over entirely: our social media automation service plans, writes and publishes posts for UAE businesses, with your approval each month.
Questions people ask
Does Hootsuite have monthly pricing?
Yes. Its FAQ says Standard, Professional and Advanced can be billed monthly or annually, and that annual billing costs less per user. The plans page only publishes the annual prices: $99, $199 and $399 per user a month.
Which Hootsuite alternatives don't charge per user?
Sendible and Planable include unlimited users on every plan, Buffer on its Team plan, and Metricool from its Advanced plan. SocialPilot's Ultimate plan has unlimited users; its Standard and Premium plans include three and six, then charge $5 a month for each extra one. SocialBee includes three users per workspace on Pro and charges $10 a month for each extra user.
Is there a Hootsuite alternative that bills in AED?
Of the tools on this page, Zoho Social is the one whose pricing page switched to dirhams for a visitor in the UAE on 25 September 2026: Premium was AED 146 a month billed yearly, with extra brands at AED 71.17. The others list prices in US dollars.
Sources
Every price above comes from these pages, read 25 September 2026. Prices change often; check before you buy. Spotted something wrong? Email hello@highstreetagency.com and we'll correct it.
- hootsuite.com/plans: per-user prices, account limits, approvals, billing FAQ
- socialpilot.co/plans and socialpilot.co/socialpilot-pricing.md
- publer.com/plans, including its account and member calculator
- socialbee.com/pricing
- metricool.com/pricing
- zoho.com/social/pricing, in USD and AED
- sendible.com/pricing, including its workspace stepper
- buffer.com/pricing and buffer.com/pricing.md
- vistasocial.com/pricing
- planable.io/pricing and its machine-readable pricing
- agorapulse.com/pricing: per-user prices on monthly and yearly billing, profile limit and add-on, approvals
- sproutsocial.com/pricing, including its billing FAQ
- postwharf.com/pricing
- later.com/pricing, for the tool left off
Want the posting handled, approvals included?
We plan a month of posts, write each one for its network, get your sign-off, and publish on schedule, with every post checked after it goes live. It starts with a look at where your business shows up today.
Get a free visibility checkDrafted with AI assistance from our own research and the vendors' pricing pages, and reviewed by the High Street team before publishing. Prices, features and policies change; check the linked source before you act.