The Hootsuite alternative built for higher ed
Reach is built only for colleges and universities. Standard is $199 a seat with approvals, unlimited accounts, benchmarks against every school and free Editor seats for students and approvers. Hootsuite only includes approval workflows on Advanced, up to $399 per user, and caps competitor tracking at 20 accounts on Professional.
- Team of 2 managers and 4 contributors
- $398 a month
- Up to $2,394 a month
- Seats for students and approvers
- Free
- Paid
- Approvals
- Standard
- Advanced only
- Benchmarks against peer schools
- Every school
- 5 to 20 you pick
- Built for
- Higher ed only
- Every industry
Hootsuite prices from its public pricing page, October 2026
8,883
institutional socials analyzed
across platforms
354,743
higher education posts
tracked and indexed
237.7M
total engagements
monitored
What higher ed teams tell us about Hootsuite
We talk with social teams at colleges every week. These are the problems that come up again and again.
Three seats isn't enough, so departments sit outside the tool and you chase them for content
With Reach. Managers pay. Departments, athletics and student workers get free Editor seats and draft right in Reach.
The renewal quote went up while features like listening got cut
With Reach. Approvals, benchmarks, inbox and link in bio are all in Standard. No add ons to negotiate.
Accounts disconnect, a post goes out wrong, and nobody gets back to you
With Reach. Every post can pass an approval stage before it publishes, and you talk to the team that builds Reach.
It is built for every industry, so you can only track the 5 or 20 competitors you pick
With Reach. Reach already tracks thousands of college accounts. Compare against any peer group on day one.
One team or the whole campus, you only pay for the people who publish
Hootsuite charges for every login. Reach charges your managers and gives everyone else a free Editor seat, so adding a department never needs a budget request.
One social team
Standard
$199
per manager seat a month, billed annually
- Two seats come to $4,776 a year, under many campus purchasing limits
- Student workers and interns get free Editor seats
- Approvals, benchmarks, inbox and link in bio all included
Central team plus departments
Standard with free editors
$0
for every department contributor and approver
- Admissions, athletics and colleges draft in the same workspace
- Everything routes through your approval stage before it posts
- You pay for the people who publish, nobody else
The whole institution
Enterprise
Custom
one campus agreement instead of a contract per office
- Single sign-on with SSO and SAML
- Volume pricing for department seats and a dedicated success manager
- Completed HECVAT for your IT security review
Run the numbers for your team
Social media managers
People who publish
Contributors and approvers
Student workers, department leads, reviewers
Hootsuite Standard and Professional do not include approval workflows, so a team with student workers needs Advanced.
2 paid seats at $199. Contributors are free
6 paid seats at $399 per user, billed annually (Hootsuite lists up to $399)
$23,952 a year less with Reach
Hootsuite is one tool. Reach replaces the rest of your stack too
Most college social teams pay for a scheduler and then patch the gaps with spreadsheets, forms and shared drives. Reach puts it all in one place.
Spreadsheets of what peer schools posted
Research and benchmarks across every college account
See how
Google Forms and shared drives for student photos
Content sourcing forms that drop media into your library
See how
A separate scheduler, project board and approval chain
Ideas board, calendar, approvals and publishing in one place
See how
A link in bio tool and a takeover password handoff
Link in bio with click tracking and takeovers with approval
See howBuilt with higher-ed, for higher-ed.
MeetYourClass partners with universities across the country helping social teams engage their community. Reach is what came out of hundreds of conversations — built straight from the gaps social media managers kept naming.
Reach vs Hootsuite, side by side
Of the 25 things higher ed teams ask us about, Reach includes 16 that Hootsuite either leaves out or puts on a pricier plan.
| Feature | Reach | Hootsuite |
|---|---|---|
| Price and seats | ||
| Built for | IncludedOnly colleges and universities | Limited or higher planEvery industry |
| Plan with approval workflows | Included$199 per seat on Standard, billed annually | Limited or higher planAdvanced, up to $399 per user |
| Seats for students and approvers | IncludedUnlimited free Editor seats for students, approvers and contributors | Not includedEvery user is a paid seat |
| Connected social accounts | IncludedUnlimited on Standard | Limited or higher plan10 on Standard, unlimited on Professional |
| Research only option | IncludedResearch Only plan at $99 a seat if you keep your scheduler | Not includedNot offered |
| Free trial | Included30 days, no credit card | Limited or higher plan14 days, with daily posting limits |
| Planning and publishing | ||
| Scheduling and publishing | IncludedInstagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn and X | IncludedMajor networks |
| Approval workflows | IncludedIncluded in Standard | Limited or higher planAdvanced plan only |
| Idea to post project board | IncludedIdeas board with tasks, assignees, comments and version history | Limited or higher planPublishing calendar, no idea to post board |
| AI writing help | IncludedCaptions, alt text and rewrites in your brand voice | IncludedAI post and image generation |
| Best time to post | IncludedAI smart scheduling | IncludedBest time to publish |
| Research and benchmarks | ||
| Peer benchmarks across higher ed | IncludedThousands of college accounts, filtered by school and account type | Not includedYou add each school yourself |
| Competitor tracking | IncludedUnlimited, starting on the $99 Research plan | Limited or higher plan5 on Standard, 20 on Professional |
| Higher ed trends, sounds and hashtags | IncludedTrending posts, sounds and hashtags across higher ed | Not includedNot built for higher ed |
| Content gap analysis | IncludedContent gap analysis in 34 higher ed categories | Not includedNot built in |
| Reports | IncludedCross-network, head to head and scheduled reports | IncludedCustom reports |
| Student content | ||
| Student content sourcing forms | IncludedCustom forms collect student photos and video | Not includedNot built in |
| Asset library | IncludedMedia library with saved inspiration and templates | IncludedContent library |
| Instagram takeovers | IncludedTemporary posting access with approve before post, no password sharing | Not includedNot built in |
| Link in bio | IncludedFour formats with click attribution | Limited or higher planBasic link in bio |
| Engagement | ||
| Unified inbox and moderation | IncludedUnified inbox, labels, saved replies and comment moderation | IncludedIncluded on every plan |
| Social listening | Limited or higher planHigher ed trends today, brand listening coming soon | IncludedIncluded, advanced listening on Enterprise |
| Security and support | ||
| Roles and permissions | IncludedRole based permissions | IncludedIncluded |
| Single sign on | IncludedSSO and SAML on Enterprise, with a completed HECVAT | IncludedEnterprise plan |
| Support | IncludedPriority support, plus a dedicated success manager on Enterprise | Limited or higher planVaries by plan |
Still under a Hootsuite contract?
Get up to 6 months of Reach free, matched to the time left on your contract. Migration help is included, so you never pay for two tools at once.
Frequently asked questions
For teams that need approvals, yes. Hootsuite only includes approval workflows on Advanced, up to $399 per user, and every user is a paid seat. Reach Standard is $199 a seat with approvals included and free Editor seats for student workers and approvers, so a team of 2 managers and 4 contributors pays $398 a month on Reach versus up to $2,394 on Hootsuite.
Yes. Reach Enterprise includes single sign on with SSO and SAML, along with volume pricing for department seats, a dedicated success manager and white glove onboarding. Reach has also completed a HECVAT, so your IT security review can start right away.
Yes. That is what the pricing is built for. Managers pay for a seat and every department contributor and approver is free, so offices can join without a budget request. Enterprise adds one campus agreement instead of a contract per office.
Only on the Advanced plan and above. Standard and Professional don't include them. In Reach, approvals are part of Standard, and takeovers and form submissions can require approval too.
Yes. Reach already tracks thousands of college and university accounts and has no limit on competitors, starting on the $99 Research plan. Hootsuite caps competitor tracking at 5 accounts on Standard and 20 on Professional.
Yes. Schools under an active contract can get up to 6 months of Reach free, matched to the time left on the contract, so you never pay for both. Migration help is included.
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