Hootsuite vs. Meltwater: Which Is the Right Choice? (2025 review)

Social media monitoring has become essential for businesses seeking to understand their digital presence and track brand conversations, with Hootsuite and Meltwater emerging as leading solutions in this space.

While both tools help organizations gather valuable social insights, choosing between them requires careful consideration of specific business needs, available resources, and desired outcomes.

This analysis examines how Hootsuite and Meltwater compare across crucial factors including data coverage, core functionality, pricing structures, and ease of use.

You will gain clear insights into how each tool performs in real-world scenarios, from basic social monitoring to advanced analytics and reporting capabilities. 

Pricing & Plans

Hootsuite and Meltwater offer distinctly different pricing structures for social media management and monitoring. Hootsuite provides transparent pricing with three tiers: Professional ($99/month), Team ($249/month), and Enterprise (custom pricing). In contrast, Meltwater takes a more customized approach with their Essentials, Suite, and Enterprise plans, though they don’t publicly disclose pricing.

Free Trial and Demo Availability

Hootsuite provides a 30-day free trial across all plans, though it’s worth noting that advanced features like comprehensive social listening aren’t included in the trial period. The platform offers live demos to help potential customers understand the full feature set. Meltwater doesn’t offer a free trial but provides detailed product demonstrations to showcase their solution’s capabilities.

Plan Features and Limitations

Hootsuite’s Professional plan includes 10 social accounts and one user, featuring unlimited scheduling, AI-powered tools, and basic listening capabilities. The Team plan expands to 20 social accounts and three users, adding team collaboration features and custom-branded URLs. Meltwater’s tiered approach starts with Essentials for small teams, scaling up to Suite for cross-departmental needs, and Enterprise for global organizations requiring comprehensive solutions.

Add-ons and Customization

Hootsuite offers several add-ons including advanced social listening, additional users, AI chatbot capabilities, and Salesforce integration. Each add-on comes with separate pricing that can significantly increase the total cost. Meltwater’s approach integrates most features within their custom plans, though specific pricing for additional services isn’t publicly available.

Payment and Billing Options

Hootsuite accepts major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, JCB) and PayPal, offering both monthly and annual billing options. Meltwater’s payment methods aren’t publicly disclosed, but they typically require annual commitments for their services.

Refund Policies

Both platforms maintain strict refund policies. Hootsuite officially states they don’t offer refunds but may consider requests on a case-by-case basis. Meltwater’s policy is more rigid, explicitly stating no refunds will be provided under any circumstances during or after agreement termination.

For organizations seeking scalable social media management, Hootsuite offers more transparent pricing and flexibility for smaller teams, while Meltwater’s enterprise-focused approach might better suit larger organizations requiring comprehensive media intelligence solutions.

Features

Dashboard Experience

Hootsuite’s dashboard emphasizes real-time social media management with a clean, intuitive layout focused on engagement metrics. Meltwater’s interface provides a more comprehensive view, incorporating both social and traditional media monitoring in a data-rich environment. Both platforms offer customizable widgets, though Meltwater’s dashboard presents more detailed analytics at first glance.

Alert Creation Capabilities

Both platforms offer sophisticated Boolean search capabilities, with Meltwater providing a slight edge through its case-sensitive options and visual analytics operators. Hootsuite excels with its proximity-based and demographic-related Boolean operators, while Meltwater’s setup process might require a steeper learning curve. Hootsuite offers immediate mention volume preview, enabling users to refine searches before finalizing alerts.

Metrics and Analytics

Meltwater offers a broader range of metrics, including unique KPIs like EMV (estimated media value) and conversion tracking through clicks and coupon codes. Hootsuite’s strength lies in its sentiment analysis capabilities, supporting 186 languages with up to 90% accuracy. Both platforms track essential engagement metrics, though Meltwater provides more granular filtering options across source types and custom categories.

Data Coverage and Sources

Meltwater demonstrates superior source coverage with access to 270,000 global news sources and 15 social media channels, including niche platforms like KakaoTalk and LINE Voom. Its historical data reach is particularly impressive, extending back to 2009 for editorial content. Hootsuite, powered by Talkwalker, monitors 150 million data sources across 30+ social networks, though with more limited historical data of up to 12 months.

Sentiment Analysis and AI Features

Meltwater leverages Google’s BERT model for sentiment analysis across 218 languages and dialects, while Hootsuite employs deep learning and NLP across 186 languages. Meltwater’s AI capabilities are more extensive, featuring an AI search assistant, contextual analysis cards, and AI-powered influencer discovery. Hootsuite focuses on AI mention forecasting but lacks the comprehensive AI toolset found in Meltwater.

Reporting and Collaboration

Meltwater offers more diverse reporting templates, including specialized options like Audience Insights and Campaign Reports. Reports can be exported in multiple formats including Google Slides integration. Hootsuite’s collaboration features shine through its Inbox 2.0 and team permissions system, while Meltwater emphasizes influencer content collaboration. Both platforms support automated report scheduling, though Meltwater provides more flexible scheduling options.

For global enterprises requiring comprehensive media monitoring, Meltwater’s extensive source coverage and advanced AI capabilities make it a compelling choice. Hootsuite remains better suited for organizations primarily focused on social media management with needs for strong team collaboration and straightforward sentiment analysis.

Customer Service

Hootsuite Customer Service

Hootsuite’s help center offers comprehensive coverage across 15 major categories, with detailed guides spanning from basic setup to advanced features like social listening and team collaboration. The platform provides support in 6 languages for its help center documentation, though direct support is limited to English, French, and Spanish via email. Support hours are structured around regional time zones but aren’t available 24/7, with specific windows for different regions like PST, GMT, and AEDT.

Training resources are particularly strong through Hootsuite Academy, which includes social media bootcamps and specialized webinars for skill development. However, direct support access is somewhat restricted – users must message through their dashboard or submit tickets, with dedicated account managers reserved exclusively for Enterprise plan subscribers.

Key Takeaway: Hootsuite’s support system is best suited for businesses operating within standard business hours who value comprehensive self-service resources and structured training programs.

Meltwater Customer Service

Meltwater maintains a focused help center with 371 articles, covering essential topics from boolean search techniques to advanced analytics and media relations. The platform demonstrates strong global accessibility with support in 6 languages including specialized options like Suomi and Japanese. Their standout feature is 24/7 availability through live chat and email support, ensuring continuous assistance regardless of time zone.

The learning infrastructure includes Meltwater Academy, complemented by webinars and ebooks, while the Meltwater Community provides an additional layer of peer support. Account managers are available to all clients, not just premium tiers, offering more personalized support accessibility compared to Hootsuite.

Key Takeaway: Meltwater’s support structure is ideal for global organizations requiring round-the-clock assistance and personalized support, with a particular strength in serving multilingual teams.

Customer testimonials

Hootsuite User Reviews

Based on a substantial 8,713 combined reviews from G2 and Capterra, Hootsuite maintains a strong average rating of 4.29/5. The platform received 4.2/5 from 4,927 G2 reviews and 4.4/5 from 3,786 Capterra reviews, demonstrating consistent performance across platforms.

“The customer service is focused on the success of their clients. Not on how much money clients must spend to get quality services… We feel confident with our social media success because we feel supported by Hootsuite’s amazing employees every step of the way,” shares Jeff C., an Online Content Specialist. However, some users face challenges, as noted by Marketing Manager Wanda C.: “The social listening tool doesn’t work for a company like us… Our industry is very niche and our brand name is a common name depending on the country, which makes it difficult to filter.”

Meltwater User Reviews

Meltwater has garnered 2,283 total reviews across platforms, maintaining a solid 4.0/5 average rating. This score reflects 4.0/5 from 2,187 G2 reviews and 4.0/5 from 96 Capterra reviews.

Marketing and Communications Manager Megan D. praises the platform: “Meltwater provides us with invaluable data and insights. With the Explore function, we can monitor online conversations about our organization and related areas.” On the flip side, Senior Product Manager Troy W. notes: “Although the interface is user-friendly, there is still a learning curve to fully utilize all the advanced features.”

Looking at user feedback, Hootsuite’s strength lies in its exceptional customer service and platform evolution, though it may struggle with niche industry monitoring. Meltwater excels in providing comprehensive data insights but requires more time investment to master its full feature set.

Meltwater vs Hootsuite: Final verdict

Hootsuite and Meltwater each bring distinct advantages to social listening. Hootsuite excels in comprehensive social media management with intuitive scheduling and engagement features, making it ideal for teams prioritizing unified social presence. Meltwater stands out with its expansive media monitoring capabilities and advanced analytics, serving enterprises needing deep market insights and PR tracking.

However, both platforms come with notable limitations. Hootsuite’s social listening features are relatively basic compared to dedicated monitoring tools, while Meltwater’s steep learning curve and premium pricing can be prohibitive for smaller organizations. Users have also reported challenges with historical data access and real-time monitoring accuracy in both platforms.

For teams seeking a balanced alternative that addresses these gaps, Mention offers comprehensive monitoring across traditional and emerging channels, including full TikTok coverage and two years of historical data access. With 82% sentiment accuracy and diverse reporting options at a competitive price point, teams can either start a free trial or schedule a demo to experience Mention’s capabilities firsthand. It’s particularly valuable for organizations needing both depth of analysis and user-friendly operation without enterprise-level investment.