As all the businesses using Instagram know, regularly posting is the most significant factor in growing an Instagram page. So, the brands plan to post once or twice a day besides creating stories to be always on top. However, designing posts and stories every day is not a simple task. If you want to post at the optimal time, it gets even worse because you have to be online at that specific time unless you use an Instagram scheduler. That’s what famous brands do. They design their posts and stories from days or even months before and schedule them for different occasions. In this article, we are going to discuss two well known Instagram scheduling platforms and compare them in various aspects, Later vs Hootsuite.
Here, we are going to talk about their Instagram services so, if you are wondering which Instagram managing platform is more suitable for you, make sure to read this article.
Later Visual Marketing Platform
Later is a managing platform that supports Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. It began its work by managing Instagram accounts, formerly known as Latergramme. Then, it developed to other social networks and became popular rapidly. They offer efficient and practical services to simplify social accounts’ management for their clients.
Hootsuite Social Media Managing Platform
Hootsuite is one of the most popular managing platforms around the world. It supports almost all of the social networks, which means you can manage all of your accounts through one platform. It’s a hefty platform providing many many services to help their clients have access to anything they want.
Now, let’s see Later vs Hootsuite and compare them in different aspects.
The Signing Up Process
The signup process is usually the same in all managing platforms. You signup on their website and create an account using your email. Then, you connect your Instagram page by logging into your Instagram account. However, there is a point that we found unusual about Hootsuite.
Later vs Hootsuite
When you want to create a Hootsuite account, it asks for your payment details! It has a 30-day free trial plan, but you have to enter your credit card details to use it, and after the trial plan, Hootsuite will automatically charge you unless you cancel your it! Isn’t that strange? Doesn’t it make you feel unsafe?
Most of the platforms try to make the signup process as easy as possible. Have a look at the AiSchedul Instagram managing platform’s website; they have a free plan too, but they don’t take your card details to let you use it! You can see a comparison between Hootsuite and AiSchedul here.
On the other hand, we had no difficulties creating an account on the Later website. Everything works fine, a straightforward procedure with no hidden billing that makes you uncomfortable.
The User Interface
The user interface design has a major role in attracting users. The accessibility of the options and the simplicity of the design should be considered to help the user have a smooth experience working with it. Also, the options should be named in a way that is understandable for the users, or there should be a help to introduce them to the users.
Later vs Hootsuite
One of the strengths of the Later platform is its modern, appealing interface. It designed artistically in a way that you not only have straightforward access to all the features but also is not confusing at all. Moreover, there is a tutorial that introduces you to the features step by step. We enjoyed the modern view and simplicity of the design.
The Hootsuite’s interface is not as simple as Later, but it’s reasonable since it offers more services, and they wanted to include them in the design. However, the too many panels opening in columns next to each other is not desirable by everyone. It gets a little perplexing when you add multiple accounts, and you can’t find your way with too many windows open on the screen.
Content Scheduling
As we mentioned before, Content scheduling is a feature that lets you create content from days or even months before and plan them to be posted on a specific time. This service is one of the most practical services of each platform that helps the user save so much time.
Later vs Hootsuite
Hootsuite does a perfect job in content scheduling. You simply design your post and see a preview. Then, you select which accounts you want it to be posted on and just set the date. The content will be published automatically at the time you specified.
On the other hand, when you want to connect your Instagram account to Later, you have to download the app on your cellphone. 
The app is available for both Andriod and iOS. After downloading the app and logging into your account, you can schedule posts both on the PC and your cellphone. Although, it doesn’t provide the auto-publish feature for Instagram stories. You design the story, and you receive a notification at the planned time; then, the photo and your edits will be copied to your phone to post it manually.
However, many platform support story scheduling without the need to install the app on your cellphone, such as AiSchedul. This platform is designed especially for Instagram and provides various services to help account managing more efficiently. You can get to know them better, watching the following video.
You can read a comparison between AiSchedul and Later here.
Price
Price of the service another point that you should consider when you look for a managing platform. You should find the one that is more appropriate for you in terms of both your budget and your need. Now, let’s discuss the prices of these two platforms.
Later vs Hootsuite
Hootsuite offers different plans for different businesses. The prices for the most basic plan is a little more expensive compared to its competitors. But, the costs for the Business and Enterprise plan are shocking!!
As you can see, the prices are not affordable for many businesses. The reason behind these prices is the long list of services that they provide. However, many of these features aren’t that popular, and you won’t use most of them even if you subscribe to the business plan.
Later’s prices are more reasonable than Hootsuite. They offer multiple services too, but the difference between the prices is not that high.
They even have a free plan that you can use without any cost, which is useful for individual account owners.
But to have a better comparison, you should have a look at AiSchedul’s prices.
AiSchedul provides a free plan too, and the plan with all the unlimited features costs only $29 per month. So if Instagram is the network that you focus on, we definitely recommend you check out the AiSchedul platform.
Other Features
Both of these platforms provide many other services too. We are going to mention some of them here, but you can always get to know them better by visiting their website or using their trial plan.
Hootsuite has features to target the audience. Additionally, there are some tools to track social campaigns and add social ads. Since Hootsuite supports more social networks, it has more users than Later too.
Later has a bio link feature that you can’t find in the Hootsuite package. Using this tool, named Linkin.bio, you can design landing pages to target your followers to the links you want. You can find more about bio link tools here.
Also, it’s worth mentioning that AiSchedul provides bio link support too. In fact, its bio link tool has features like adding links to social media account or even clickable posts, which makes it one of the most equipped bio link tools among all the platforms.
Conclusion
We compared Later and Hootsuite in this article and pointed both their strengths and weaknesses. Also, we introduced the AiSchedul Instagram managing platform, which outranks these platforms in some aspects. If you want to find the most suitable platform, the first step is to assess your needs and budget.
We hope you find this article helpful. Share your ideas with us in the comment section.