HootSuite, that wonderful social media dashboard, will now require users to select a plan which best suits your needs. Don’t panic, there is still a free version, but there are also premium plans that run from the Bronze at $4.99 monthly to the top of the line Platinum, which runs $99.99 monthly.
Each plan of course, will have a higher level of service and tools associated with it. You can review the various plans here at HootSuite.com/plans.
Depending on your business needs and budget, this could be a pretty good service for monitoring conversations and tracking the results of your campaigns.
For most bloggers, particularly those in the early stages of their blogging careers, the free version will be sufficient. But here’s a nice feature; you can try before you buy with their 30-day free trial period.
I think I will test drive the Platinum tier service to see how robust it is, but only if they throw in the branding of URLs feature that will cost an additional $49.99 monthly if you go that route. If not, the Gold tier will do since the only difference I can see between Gold and Platinum is URL branding and the number of team members allowed to use the tool.
Both Gold and Platinum levels will have enhanced statistics which I’d love to see. I hope I don’t get spoiled and find myself feeling poorly, having to return to the freebie when the trial expires. 
So if you have never used HootSuite I can tell you that it beats the sox off of Twitter’s web-based interface, so you may want to sign up and try the free service.
Veteran users will have to choose a plan to continue using the service, even if it’s the free one.
For the big-dogs, there is the quite robust Enterprise Edition ($1499./monthly) which includes a HootSuite Certification Program with 10 seats.
I’ve been using HootSuite for more than a year now and this social media dashboard has continually gotten better.
What about you, have you been using HootSuite and what’s your impression?
6 Responses to HootSuite Expands Features To Better Serve Businesses
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" @Chris_Frailey No problem, Chris. Great weekend to you as well. :-) " — JimiJones
I was disappointed with the HootSuite plans Jimi. I did a detailed write up talking about the reasons, but here’s the gist:
1. Lower down the ladder plans are not attractive. There are others in this space who offer these limited features for less (or free).
2. Ambiguity over what’s really going away. I have no idea – or incentive to find out what’s really being offered in each plan – and how my experience is going to vary.
This is reminding me of the Thesis/GPL war from the last few weeks – and has a lot of resemblance to it. One personal learning for me is – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
That’s the sentiment that takes me back to Seesmic, but I’d sure love to hear from you on how the Platinum test ride feels – and if you plan on staying put with HootSuite.
Hi Kapil.
I’d like to see more flexibility with the features as well. For instance, there should be an option for the URL branding at any level, and for a less expensive cost. My overall impression is that they have aimed more toward the corporations and larger budget operations than the single user.
A more ala carte approach, where you can choose a wider range of features, essentially making your own plan, may draw in more clients from all levels. As you’ve pointed out, the lower tier plans don’t really offer that much.
I’m sure I will end up with the free version and continue to use TweetDeck and HootSuite. I like to stay up with the latest developments on tools so I’ll do the test drive and get a feel for the features not offered in the lower tiered plans, then it’s back to reality.
Well I have been using HootSuite for quite some time because I love it. They rolled out the changes while I was out of town on business so I have not had a chance to check out the plans. I will be doing that this week. Likely though that I will be remaining on the free tier for now.
I will end up back on the free version as well. Will start the trial version of the upscale offerings in a couple days when I have time to really get into it.
HootSuite was my savior for scheduling tweets when TweetDeck was not offering this feature. I really enjoy trying out the various tools on today’s internet, lots of fun.
I switched to HootSuite after I was having problems with Tweetdeck having aggravation with logging in to Twitter. I haven’t looked at Seesmic for a while but my policy with this new PC is to keep as much of the software webside and if that means paying I don’t mind. I’ll keep an eye on the other two but for the moment I’ll be sticking with Hootsuite.
I continue to use both HootSuite and TweetDeck, old habits die hard.
Good idea keeping as much as possible webside. Our systems can get cluttered (and slowed) by all sorts of software before you know it.