The Hootsuite alternative that doesn't charge per seat.

No. Hootsuite killed its free plan in March 2023 and has not brought it back. The cheapest way in is now $99 per user per month, billed annually. Zilfu plans start at $19/month for 10 connected accounts, with unlimited posts, team members, and approvals.

As of June 2026, Hootsuite Standard is $99 per user per month and Advanced is $249 per user per month, both billed annually: roughly $1,188 and $2,988 per person per year. Enterprise is custom-priced and commonly reported at $15,000+/year. Zilfu's plans are flat regardless of team size: $19/mo for 10 accounts, $79/mo for 100, $179/mo for 300.

Yes. Every additional user costs the full plan price again, with no bundled team discount: a second person on Standard is another $99/month, on Advanced another $249/month. Zilfu includes unlimited team members on every plan.

Approval workflows are only available on Hootsuite Advanced ($249/user/mo) and Enterprise. On Zilfu, approvals are included on every plan, along with internal and client-visible comments and approve-only client reviewers who never need a paid seat.

Yes. The 30-day trial requires a credit card and auto-converts to a paid, often annual, subscription when it ends, which is a recurring theme in Hootsuite's billing complaints. Zilfu plans start at $19/month and can be cancelled anytime.

Both tools allow it. The difference is the meter: on Hootsuite Standard each Page or profile counts against a 10-account cap per $99 user, so one multi-page client can nearly exhaust it. On Zilfu each account counts against your plan's pool (10 on Pro, 100 on Business, 300 on Scale) at one flat price.

Yes, but access requires developer-account approval and practical use is effectively tied to Enterprise plans. Zilfu ships a full REST API with personal access tokens, webhooks, and a hosted MCP server for AI agents on every plan.

Anything Hootsuite hasn't published yet stays inside Hootsuite until you cancel. You can let those posts go out and switch fresh, or rebuild the queue in Zilfu in a few minutes. Already-published posts keep living on each social platform either way.

Not yet, honestly. Zilfu covers Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Threads, Pinterest, Facebook, and X, with YouTube in development. Hootsuite additionally supports Bluesky, WhatsApp (inbox), Google Business Profile, and Reddit, plus DMs in its inbox and Talkwalker-powered listening Zilfu doesn't have. If those are core to your workflow, Hootsuite may be worth its price. If scheduling, approvals, and reporting are, Zilfu does it for a fraction.