Hootsuite vs. Meltwater

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Hootsuite
Score 7.9 out of 10
N/A
Hootsuite is a social media management platform for building brand awareness, engaging with customers, and driving business results. Users can schedule posts across multiple social networks (including Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and YouTube ), manage organic and paid social content together, keep track of customer conversations, integrate with over 200+ applications, and gain actionable real-time insights from social media to make critical business decisions from…
$99
per month (billed annually) Starts at 1 user, 10 social accounts
Meltwater
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
Meltwater Media Intelligence platform is a set of public relations software tools for media monitoring, social media monitoring, and collecting brand insights. The four areas of functionality are Monitor, Analyze, Distribute, and Engage. (Note that this product combines features from the vendor Meltwater's former Buzz, Press, and News products.)N/A
Pricing
HootsuiteMeltwater
Editions & Modules
Standard
$99
per month (billed annually) Starts at 1 user, 10 social accounts
Advanced
$249
per month (billed annually) Starts at 1 user, unlimited social accounts
Enterprise
Custom Pricing
per year
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
HootsuiteMeltwater
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsPlans can be paid monthly or annually, with a discount for annual pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
HootsuiteMeltwater
Considered Both Products
Hootsuite
Chose Hootsuite
We chose Hootsuite over Buffer, Sprout Social, and Later for its comprehensive dashboard, robust analytics, and support for multiple team members and social networks. While Buffer and Later are great for simplicity and visuals, and Sprout excels in CRM, Hootsuite offers a …
Chose Hootsuite
I was introduced to Hootsuite by a colleague and quickly adopted it because it meets all my social media management needs. Its scheduling, monitoring, and analytics tools allow me to maintain a consistent and engaging presence without daily effort. Since it streamlines my …
Chose Hootsuite
SproutSocial comes out on top but the (much) higher price point reflects that. I chose Hootsuite as a more budget friendly solution, with similar features
Chose Hootsuite
Compared to Later, Hootsuite offers greater flexibility in content creation and planning, allowing for more comprehensive and tailored strategies across various social platforms. Additionally, Hootsuite excels in providing a wider array of training resources and detailed …
Chose Hootsuite
Hootsuite offered everything we needed at a much more competitive price.
Chose Hootsuite
Hootsuite is all-encompassing and does not try to hide features behind paywalls. When you do not have a feature based on your chosen plan, it does not present the option like other platforms tend to do.
Chose Hootsuite
More simplicity in use.Offer to manage several social networks very competitive, but with a structure that is not always transparent. The biggest handycap of this platform (from Hootsuite) is its price.
Chose Hootsuite
With Meta Business Manager, you are limited to posting on Facebook and Instagram. Whereas with Hootsuite, you do not have these limitations and can post beyond these two platforms. I do enjoy using Meta Business Manager. It has some of the same features as Hootsuite and there's …
Chose Hootsuite
B2BSprout Suite and AWS Outposts
Chose Hootsuite
I do find Hootsuite to be more user-friendly, cleaner, and includes much more reporting for the price. Sprout Social charges quite a bit more for fewer reports and fewer included aspects, like listening and ads. The interface is more aesthetically pleasing, as well, and seems …
Chose Hootsuite
Sprout is a superior product and has more in-depth features, however, they are more expensive than Hootsuite. Sprout has great customer support and also offers many training options. I haven't noticed that with Hootsuite. It's easy to navigate both of their interfaces - I don't …
Chose Hootsuite
For those who have limited time to spend scheduling, analyzing, and reporting on social media metrics, Hootsuite makes it easy to get the job done, done well, and impress leadership. For our nonprofit, it offers all of the benefits that many others offer, but makes it easy to …
Chose Hootsuite
Sprinklr is far superior for user engagement. However, as far as I know, it does not have post scheduling or maintenance. I would recommend Hootsuite over Khoros and Social Studio.
Chose Hootsuite
HubSpot and SocialPilot suck they're not that easy to use. Later does stack up against Hootsuite with features already mentioned. They also have more color and branding on their website and I know that's a small thing but I'm surprised Hootsuite is all white.
Chose Hootsuite
Our team had a budget of $1000 annually for a social media management tool. We wanted functionality like Sprout Social but we couldn't afford the price tag. Hootsuite was our next best because we got almost all or similar functions of Sprout Social within our budget and more! …
Chose Hootsuite
Tried trials of other software and was disappointed compared to Hootsuite.com. Buffer and Later.com had limited functionality. MetaBusiness Suite and MailChimp offer a limited number of platforms you can post too. HubSpot and SproutSocial were extremely costly and geared toward …
Chose Hootsuite
There's no doubt that Hootsuite is the industry leader when it comes to social media scheduling and monitoring. I find integrating channels easiest on Hootsuite (once you can find where to do it on your dashboard). In the past year I've also noticed fewer and fewer …
Chose Hootsuite
Metricool is free and we can shedule up to 50 posts per month, however Hootsuite allows us to do just a little bit more. For the price Agorapulse and Hootsuite are in tight competition but we prefer the Hootsuite format, although some chamber partners do find it a bit on the …
Chose Hootsuite
I think the two are extremely comparable, however, the social listening on sprout is more advanced and they can use your account data from up to two years back. Hootsuite is B Corporation though, which is preferred for our vendors.
Chose Hootsuite
Hootsuite lacks many features as i've said before. I think their reporting is also not as great as other platforms. I find the interface really messy and hard to navigate. The metrics also vary a lot between platforms which makes comparing success between channels very …
Meltwater
Chose Meltwater
We chose Meltwater because we can create actual queries and search on forums, which many other platforms lack. We found that other services tend to focus only on social media.
Chose Meltwater
Meltwater does not limit competitive searches in the same way that Crayon and Klue do. Meltwater also captures different sources of information than aggregation tools. While Meltwater doesn’t provide access to expert reports like a different platform that I rely on for deep …
Chose Meltwater
I believe they are fairly evenly matched, Meltwater has better search options but it really goes back and forth on who has the most updated contacts.
Chose Meltwater
Meltwater has more detail in its analytics, and is far more complex.
Chose Meltwater
Meltwater serves as an all-in-one platform, so it has benefitted us greatly in being able to service a variety of needs in one place. Having a streamlined platform is important to our team since it can feel counterproductive to visit a variety of products to service one …
Chose Meltwater
Cision PRWeb has a more robust toolset and provides more precise metrics and analysis, as well as a better media outreach database of journalists.
Chose Meltwater
I started using Meltwater because of a client. I do find it much easier to use than Cision. I hear good things about Muck Rack and recently had a demo. That's probably the one I would use if I were to leave Meltwater. Cision has always been difficult to use, in my opinion.
Chose Meltwater
I have tried several platforms but continue coming back to Meltwater. Even though we are a national company, I like the global reach that Meltwater offers.
Chose Meltwater
We actually use both Cision and Meltwater Media Intelligence Platform. I prefer Cision over Meltwater Media Intelligence Platform in that the analytics are better, plus the competitor tracking has made my job SO much easier. After working with the customer service/technical …
Chose Meltwater
I was looking for a full-service option. I did some research. What really sold me was the presentation. They offered products that were helpful, and I wasn’t even aware of them. It is more expensive than the other products that are out there, but you get more. The other …
Chose Meltwater
Meltwater is our primary tool, however, we have engaged TVEyes as broadcast media has not been a strength of Meltwater. We would love to see that change and use Meltwater for all needs.
Chose Meltwater
Meltwater is a do-everything platform so it automatically ranks above these two programs. That said, due to these two programs focusing on both incredibly thorough reporter contact databases and tv/radio monitoring, their specialties are reliable when needed.
Chose Meltwater
Cision and LexisNexis are better for accessing articles behind paywalls. I've found that social-specific tools like Sprout Social or Sprinklr seem to be better for monitoring social media mentions. However, Meltwater Media Intelligence Platform may have upped its "social game" …
Chose Meltwater
Sprout Social was only limited to social media publishing. Not what we needed as a PR firm that works in the media landscape.
Chose Meltwater
[In my opinion,] Meltwater [Media Intelligence Platform]'s media database simply doesn't stack up to what Cision offers. It doesn't matter how nice the interface is if the data included in the database you're pulling from isn't complete or well organized. Cision can be clunky, …
Chose Meltwater
The functionality, customer service, and quality of databases are all better with Meltwater Media Intelligence Platform. I have used Cision in the past and have not been as happy with it.
Chose Meltwater
Crayon [Intel Pro] is slightly better, but not by much. If you are set on using a service like this, I'd choose it, but Crayon [Intel Pro] is more expensive. [In my opinion, it is] best to use an intern [where] you can target their efforts, not some hit-and-miss AI program.
Chose Meltwater
We've used Cision [PRWeb] for their media database for a long time, and then we've used TrendKite for media tracking [and] reporting, as well. While we're new to [Meltwater Media Intelligence Platform], [concerning] media tracking [and] reporting, it seems to be as good or …
Chose Meltwater
Cision acquired TrendKite which we loved. I was worried that TrendKite would not be supported as well so we switched to Meltwater.

Years ago Meltwater was a fine choice. Now ... it is so bad it's hard to even imagine how they get by with the state of the product and the very …
Chose Meltwater
Meltwater is the most expensive option with the worst customer service. Terrible experience.
Chose Meltwater
Meltwater is a fully reinforced software and its features outweigh the purpose of Mention, but they are similar in that they provide insight into where your brand is being discussed and who is talking about it. I was able to find what I needed out of Mention, within Meltwater, …
Chose Meltwater
We originally had Salesforce/Radian6 and switched to Meltwater Media Intelligence Platform to align with what other similar brands were using, and because at that time, Salesforce was experiencing technical issues. After a year and a half with Meltwater Media Intelligence …
Chose Meltwater
TrendKite is much more flexible with an unlimited amount of dashboards, searches, metrics on a particular dashboard, and more. There are pricing systems with all platforms sure, but to add broadcast is outrageous. Not to mention, their live chat staff has been rude in the past …
Features
HootsuiteMeltwater
Listening/monitoring
Comparison of Listening/monitoring features of Product A and Product B
Hootsuite
6.6
Ratings
16% below category average
Meltwater
-
Ratings
Boolean keyword searches6.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Filtering out noise/spam5.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Sentiment analysis6.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Broad channel coverage8.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Publishing
Comparison of Publishing features of Product A and Product B
Hootsuite
7.6
Ratings
6% below category average
Meltwater
-
Ratings
Content planning and scheduling8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Audience targeting6.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Content optimization7.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow management7.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Engagement
Comparison of Engagement features of Product A and Product B
Hootsuite
7.7
Ratings
3% below category average
Meltwater
-
Ratings
Automated routing and prioritization7.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Customer interaction histories7.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Bulk actions8.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Marketing
Comparison of Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Hootsuite
7.5
Ratings
3% below category average
Meltwater
-
Ratings
Lead generation6.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Content marketing8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Paid media management7.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Campaigns and promotions7.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Channel coverage/integration
Comparison of Channel coverage/integration features of Product A and Product B
Hootsuite
9.2
Ratings
9% above category average
Meltwater
-
Ratings
Twitter8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Facebook9.70 Ratings00 Ratings
LinkedIn9.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Google+8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Instagram9.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Pinterest9.20 Ratings00 Ratings
YouTube8.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting/analytics
Comparison of Reporting/analytics features of Product A and Product B
Hootsuite
8.0
Ratings
1% above category average
Meltwater
-
Ratings
Campaign success analytics8.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Real-time tracking7.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Competitor analysis8.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Account management
Comparison of Account management features of Product A and Product B
Hootsuite
7.7
Ratings
4% below category average
Meltwater
-
Ratings
Role-based user permissions & privileges8.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile access6.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
HootsuiteMeltwater
Small Businesses
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
Score 10.0 out of 10
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud
Score 6.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
Score 10.0 out of 10
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud
Score 6.9 out of 10
Enterprises
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Score 9.4 out of 10
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud
Score 6.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
HootsuiteMeltwater
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.6
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.9
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.8
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.8
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.0
(0 ratings)
7.5
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
6.0
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.0
(0 ratings)
6.1
(0 ratings)
Configurability
7.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
7.6
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.9
(0 ratings)
1.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.3
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
HootsuiteMeltwater
Likelihood to Recommend
Hootsuite is a great tool and we prefer it to some of the others out there. The only negative is the price point and the fact that it keeps going up with no regard to the small non-profits that have been using it for years. After mentioning that the system is great and the fact that we can integrate and customize the posting for each social media site without having to be jumping from one system to the other makes it ideal for a small team doing multiple projects or things at the same time.
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If you practice media relations in your role, Meltwater is helpful. You can do research to find relevant publications and journalists, build media lists, export them to share with a team or client and you can also keep notes on your campaigns. I like using it for research, although I do research outside the platform, as well, to be sure to be thorough (and some of the info in the database is outdated). I would say if you don't practice media relations, it's probably not as useful. There are other tools that do a better job if you want to search for media or social media mentions, for example. If you are looking for an all-in-one media relations tool that's relatively easy to use, Meltwater is probably a good fit.
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Pros
  • The product has a really interactive media library which is very helpful even when we are out of images.
  • Customer support of this tool is also very understandable and interactive due to which the experience goes very smoothly.
  • It would not be wrong to say that the usability of this product is one of the greatest strengths of Hootsuite.
  • With this tool modification of scheduled posts is just so simple and easy to do which yields great results as well.
Read full review
  • Up to date contact information. It is actually relevant and active info, not always the case with others.
  • The user interface is better than most tools. While not perfect, it's pretty easy to figure out how to get what you want.
  • Their support is excellent. Anytime I've needed help I can call, but better than this, they proactively call and assist.
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Cons
  • Because of the way algorithms works, we would have loved to be able to automate making a post with no link and posting the first comment with a link (hello LinkedIn)
  • We would have loved an easy way to post from a main account and repost the post for other accounts we administrate, for instance a corporate post reposted by individuals for LinkedIn, or retweets from one main account by child accounts
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  • Their tracking system for media mentions isn't perfect - we have stumbled across several posts mentioning our company/product that were not picked up by the platform. While frustrating, we send these URLs to our rep and their tech team ensures that that website will be monitored moving forward.
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Likelihood to Renew
At this time we are satisfied that Hootsuite offers the most of what we are looking for at the most reasonable price point. As the social media landscape and monitoring/scheduling software changes, so do our needs. We re-evaluate our tools semi-annually or as new tools emerge onto the market. If we find at any point that we aren't gaining an advantage, then we are open to switching products.
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We have had great success with Meltwater Buzz the past 2 years. The reporting has been great for our board reports, seeing the conversations going on between our followers helps us to learn who our audience is and what we can do better on our social media. The analytics we see on Meltwater Buzz we could not get anywhere else
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Usability
Hootsuite is probably the easiest to use social media scheduler of all the ones that I've used. It's been easy to teach clients how to use the software themselves and it can be accessed easily on anyone's phone through their mobile app. Highly recommend for anyone that wants a software that is easy to learn!
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Once you get some basic training it's pretty easy to use. I would like to see training manuals, or instructional videos to help me explore features I'm not currently using.
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Reliability and Availability
Gliches have made it a bit of a bind, particularly when you just want to 'click and send' a web article after you have read it - and then you have to deal with support (a great team but not always able to solve the problems with the gliches). Gliches with it loading properly, gliches with 'double ups in FB on the posts (the personal page and the business page if both clicked will lead to 2 lots of postings to each page!)
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No answers on this topic
Performance
HootSuite does everything it is designed to do very well: the product's performance is very reliable and efficient. Like other tools, there is always a room for new developments and updates, and the HootSuite team recognizes this and focuses on new development as well.
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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
I can manage all of my accounts on one site! It's absolutely amazing!
The dashboard is helpful to see how you are doing as well. Still
getting to understand the analytics and may need to reach out for help
on this
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Our account rep at Meltwater went dark for a long time. Then, a couple of weeks ago, our new account manager reached out to set up a meeting. Apparently, they had a big shakeup in the company, and there were some personnel changes. Our new account rep was great in discussing the platform's capabilities that were available to us and even offered to schedule a follow-up meeting with his technical team to introduce our new social media team members to the platform and how it could help them with their jobs.
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In-Person Training
Very easy to teach and learn
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Again, really in-depth and helpful for a program that is really easy to use.
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Online Training
Would rate it a 10. We received two hours of online training and it was of very high-quality. HootSuite also offers HootSuite University which is an extremely comprehensive training portal with self-paced quizzes, training webinars and videos, best-practice papers, product certification, and access to a network of external experts. This is a fantastic resource.
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Walked step by step through program. Very informative on a program that doesn't require much training.
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Implementation Rating
Simple and easy to use, and have never had any issues. We like how it saves me time and allows me to plan in advance. I plan on using this for as long as I can and will encourage others to use it too. If you haven't tried it you should. I hope my review is helpful to everyone.
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You are only allowed 15 users, so make sure you've identified who will have access to use the tool.
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Alternatives Considered
Hootsuite offers a wide range of tools at a somewhat steeper cost. If you manage multiple platforms and want to survey the content being shared and interacted with across all of them, Hootsuite seems to have an easier platform to do that with. HubSpot CRM allows us to integrate our social platforms into our existing CRM, which is a cost saver, but Hootsuite is social media-focused, so the set-up is easier.
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Meltwater serves as an all-in-one platform, so it has benefitted us greatly in being able to service a variety of needs in one place. Having a streamlined platform is important to our team since it can feel counterproductive to visit a variety of products to service one client's needs. So, Meltwater has been essential in ensuring our needs are met through one destination.
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Scalability
It does more than I need.
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No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • Hootsuite has positively improved our overall engagement of our accounts. We went from an average of a 5% engagement rate across all accounts to a 12% engagement.
  • Hootsuite has positively improved our ability to target certain demographics on social media advertising through their analytics. We have seen CTR increase of 2% which is impressive for our industry.
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  • Improved PR reporting, for sure.
  • Competitor analysis for clients and ourselves.
  • A great ability to track the news and understand particular news drivers for certain industries, allowing us to get our client in front of the media at or before the perfect moment.
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ScreenShots

Hootsuite Screenshots

Screenshot of Monitoring: Monitors social media profiles and tracks the topics that matter to the brand.Screenshot of Publishing: Create, publish and schedule engaging posts across social channels.Screenshot of Customer Engagement: A consolidated stream of messages across networks that can be triaged and assigned to respond to customers faster. Provides optional chatbot handover for automated responses.Screenshot of Scheduling: Social content can be planned as a team with a shared calendar that features collaborative post drafts and built-in approval workflows.Screenshot of Analytics & Reporting: Measures the effectiveness of a social media strategy to help turn strategy into execution with meaningful and actionable insights. Reports can be customized and shared according to unique business goals and objectives.