In a battle of Buffer vs Hootsuite, who is the best social media manager? When it comes to social media, it is hard to manage all the different accounts, especially when you're trying to grow a brand and manage a business.
Buffer and Hootsuite have set themselves as the new standard in social media management, but which one is actually the best overall for your business?
Social Media Accounts
While Buffer and Hootsuite both offer a lot of social media accounts for management, Hootsuite has the edge with additions like Linkedin Groups, Foursquare, WordPress, Soundcloud, Youtube, Instagram and much more.
Buffer mostly just sticks to the basic Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin And Google+ accounts.
Advantage → Hootsuite
Pricing
For most businesses, the next level up from the free account will be perfect for the daily social media management you need. For this level, Buffer and Hootsuite are tied at $10/month pricing.
After that, for bigger companies, Buffer has more options and Hootsuite does not list the price for its big plan. For big business, Buffer probably wins, but for small, it’s a tie.
If you're a big corporation, you may want to go with Buffer because when companies don't list their price, it's usually a ridiculous number. But, for small business, the $10 plans are perfect.
Advantage → Neither
Dashboard Usability
Usability tends to be an opinion as to what works best for you, but as far as I’m concerned they’re both great. Both dashboards are very simple to use, but if I had to pick one that is better, it would be Hootsuite.
Hootsuite looks better, flows better, and has more options. I love the setup of the Hootsuite back office. Buffer is a classic example of focusing more on simplicity and functionality than looks.
Hootsuite as a modern design with great organization and lots of customization.
Advantage → Hootsuite
Apps
For a long time Buffer dominated with it’s app as opposed to Hootlet by Hootsuite (their app/extension). However, Hootlet has come a long way with its app and scheduling to pretty much get itself on the same level as the Buffer app.
But, Buffer just has a small edge, because of its popularity in getting websites more shares. Buffer’s extension/app is offered as a share button for sites unlike hootlet. They both also have mobile apps for scheduling.
Sites like JeffBullas.com get hundreds of Buffer shares on their articles, so it is a vital part of their branding and social engagement.
Slight Advantage → Buffer
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Feeds
Your dashboard with both Buffer and Hootsuite is simple and easy to use, but how good is the feed option for checking your social media activity? Hootsuite has the best organizer of different social feeds by far.
You can check posts, messages, etc. and organize them in different tabs from all different accounts. Buffer does not really have this, but instead offers quick and easy RSS Feeds.
You can get your favorite site feeds all in one place with Buffer and use them for sharing with just one click.
Slight Advantage → Hootsuite
Posting
Here’s where this rivalry really gets good. Both of these services are known as the best in the industry of social media management and post scheduling, but there are some things you might not know…
Hootsuite has branding on everything you post on social media. Buffer doesn’t. With the regular plan, you can’t get rid of the branding, like it or not. Everyone will know what you are using and that you are not posting in real time.
There are thousands of people always looking for a way to get rid of the branding, but you can’t. On top of that, Buffer has a great way of helping you share your favorite blog posts and articles from you favorite sites.
You just add the RSS feed by typing the site name under “feeds” and you’ll get a long list of its most recent content. With one button you can share it on your accounts as well. It’s always good to share other stuff and not just your own.
Posting Advantage → Buffer
Other Features
Both have very similar features as far as analytics, scheduling, settings, etc., but Hootsuite has more options, and apps that can be downloaded to the dashboard (for a fee of course).
It also has more organization if you want to say separate your personal messages from activity feeds.
Advantage → Hootsuite
Conclusion
Really, I can go either way with these social media management services. But, from the facts I have gone over in this presentation and the experience I have had using both services, I think they can be used together. This is what I recommend:
Use Buffer’s Awesome Plan for posting, sharing, scheduling. Use Hootsuite free or Pro for organizing activity and messages.
Sharing, Posting And Scheduling Advantage → Buffer
Organizing, Messaging And Activity→ Hootsuite
Between Buffer and Hootsuite, what do you think is the best one overall? Or is there another one not mentioned that you prefer?
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9 replies to "Buffer vs Hootsuite | Who Is The Best Social Media Manager?"
I prefer to use Sendible over these two choices.
I’ve never used Sensible. I’ll have to check that out. Thanks for your input Scott!
You should check SocialReport.com as well, it’s a cheaper alternative to some similar services, but it can save you some money on reports and other features that are all included.
Great article but both platforms are way too different. I personally use Reachpod and it’s a better combination of both Hootsuite and buffer. Here is the link if you want have a look ( https://www.reachpod.com )
Thanks for the suggestion Mike. I’ll have to check it out
Nice article Justin,
I was one of those people who never really got right into the social media scene until recently. I was looking for a little help with a service to help me with scheduling posts, misc. tools, etc. and was looking at these 2 services.
I had looked at a couple other articles that compared these 2, but I really like the way that you laid out the info and broke it down into sections.
I found out just what I wanted to.
Thanks for the great article & helping me get the info I needed.
Glad I could help you out
Nice article! but I like to suggest SocialPilot because it is affordable compare to Hootsuite and Buffer as well as really amazing features:
• Totally flexible schedules for posting and campaigns
• I can create unlimited social profiles
• It allows 20 RSS feeds
• Personalized Facebook branding is the pro feature
• It has three plans, starter plan is free, pro pan starts at $ 4.99/month and pro plus starts at $9.99/ month.
• Easily integrate your iOS App Store & Google Play Store accounts
• Google Chrome plug-in with Bitly integration
I suggest to my colleagues and developers as well, I hope this helps you.
Thanks for the suggestion, Digisha.