> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://efreedirectory.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Hootsuite Has No Free Plan, Only a 14-Day Trial - URL: https://efreedirectory.com/hootsuite-free-plan-limits/ - Published: 2026-10-20T07:53:23.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-20T08:11:21.000Z - Description: The most recognised name in social scheduling has no free tier at all. Fourteen days, no card, then a hundred dollars a month. - Author: Chintan Dhokai - Tags: tool, Marketing **Hootsuite does not offer a free plan. New accounts get a 14-day trial with no payment card required and no automatic charge at the end. After that, Standard costs $99 per user per month billed annually and covers ten social accounts. Professional at $199 removes the account limit, and Advanced at $399 adds approvals and routing.**[1](#sources) This is the only tool in this series with no free tier whatsoever. Everything else, including enterprise-leaning products like HubSpot, offers something at zero. Hootsuite used to have a free plan. It was withdrawn, and the product is now positioned squarely at teams with a budget. ## What you actually get | | Trial | Standard | | ------------------ | -------------- | -------------------- | | Price | $0 for 14 days | $99/user/mo annually | | Social accounts | Limited | 10 | | Users | 1 | Per seat, 1 each | | Posts per day | 10 to 20 | Higher | | Bulk scheduling | No | Yes | | Approval workflows | No | Advanced only | | Analytics | Basic | Included | | Card required | No | Yes | | Free plan | None | None | Professional at $199 per user monthly is the tier that removes the account ceiling. Advanced at $399 adds the compliance features large teams need. ## The trial is genuinely card-free Fourteen days, no credit card, and no automatic conversion to a paid plan at the end. That is better behaved than most free trials, which quietly charge on day fifteen. The trial is capped at ten to twenty posts a day and bulk scheduling is disabled, so it cannot be used to front-load a month of content and walk away. Fourteen days is enough to evaluate the composer, the analytics screens and the inbox. It is not enough to judge whether the approval workflows justify $399. ## What happened to the free plan Hootsuite's free tier was discontinued, and the company has not reintroduced one. The plans page now lists a trial and three paid tiers. This is a strategic choice rather than a temporary experiment. The product is built around team workflows, and a free single-user plan does not exercise the features that differentiate it. The consequence for anyone reading this is simple: Hootsuite is a purchasing decision, not a free option. There is nothing to evaluate at zero beyond two weeks. ## Why $99 is defensible and who it suits Hootsuite's pricing buys compliance, not scheduling. Approval chains, user roles and audit trails are what a regulated brand is actually paying for. For a single operator, none of that is relevant and the price is indefensible against Buffer's free three channels or Metricool's free plan. For a marketing team of six at a company where a wrong post is an incident, the price is a rounding error against the risk. ## How it compares [Buffer](https://efreedirectory.com/buffer-free-plan-limits/) offers three channels, ten queued posts each and one user at no cost, permanently. [Metricool](https://efreedirectory.com/metricool-free-plan-limits/) covers one brand with twenty monthly posts and competitor tracking for free, though without LinkedIn or X. Both are viable free replacements for a solo user. Neither attempts the enterprise approval layer Hootsuite sells. The gap is not a missing feature so much as a different buyer. Buffer and Metricool sell to the person doing the posting. Hootsuite sells to the person who has to sign off on it. ## When the trial is worth taking When you are evaluating an enterprise purchase and need to see the approval interface with your own accounts connected. When a team is migrating from a competitor and needs two weeks of parallel running before committing. When you want to confirm that the analytics your agency promised are actually in the product. Fourteen days will answer that. ## When it stops making sense The moment the trial ends and you are a solo user. $99 a month for scheduling three networks is not a rational purchase in 2026. When the account limit of ten bites before the approval features become useful. When your team has no approval requirement, in which case Standard at $99 buys nothing that a free tool does not. ## Frequently asked questions **Does Hootsuite have a free plan?** No. Hootsuite offers a 14-day free trial and three paid plans, with no permanent free tier. **Does the trial require a credit card?** No card is required, and the account is not automatically charged when the trial ends. **How much does Hootsuite cost?** Standard $99 per user a month billed annually, Professional $199, Advanced $399. **How many social accounts does Standard include?** Ten social accounts per user on the Standard plan. **Is there a limit on posts during the trial?** Yes, ten to twenty posts a day, and bulk scheduling is not available. **What is the best free alternative to Hootsuite?** Buffer for scheduling across three networks, or Metricool for analytics and competitor tracking. *Plan structure, trial terms and per-user pricing verified against Hootsuite's plans page on 20 October 2026\. The absence of a free plan was confirmed against the same page, which lists a trial and three paid tiers only.* ## Sources 1. Hootsuite plans: [www.hootsuite.com/plans](https://www.hootsuite.com/plans?ref=efreedirectory.com). Used for: Confirmation there is no free tier, only a 14-day trial. *All sources are the vendor's own plan or documentation pages, checked on 20 October 2026\. Plan terms change without notice, so confirm current limits before you rely on them.*