$4.99/mo vs a $99/user seat, unlimited connected profiles
Hootsuite is a full social media management suite, and its REST API is a way into a Hootsuite account. If you came looking for the Hootsuite API because you want to publish from code, Bulkit is that API on its own: $4.99 a month, a cent per action, unlimited connected profiles, and no suite to buy first.
Start with what the Hootsuite API actually is. Hootsuite's own docs say you need an active Hootsuite user account and a developer account that Hootsuite approves, and the people you publish for authorise with their Hootsuite credentials. Paid plans start at $99 per user per month, billed annually. That is a sensible design for teams who live in Hootsuite and want to automate it. It is the wrong shape if what you want is a publishing API for your own product: your users should not need a Hootsuite seat for your app to post on their behalf. Hootsuite's Publishing API also doesn't post to TikTok, YouTube or Bluesky. Bulkit is $4.99/month with 500 posts and comments included, $0.01 per action after that, unlimited connected profiles, and all 12 of its networks on the one plan. Stay with Hootsuite if your team needs its inbox, monitoring, advocacy and reporting, and the API is a side door into that.
The honest grid, including the rows where Hootsuite has more than Bulkit does today.
| Feature | Bulkit | Hootsuite |
|---|---|---|
| Standalone publishing API | Yes | Into a Hootsuite account |
| End users need a vendor account | No, they connect social accounts | Yes, Hootsuite login |
| Developer onboarding | Self-serve API key | Developer account approval |
| Scheduling & queues | Yes | Yes |
| Unified analytics API | Yes | Yes |
| TikTok, YouTube, Bluesky via API | Yes | Not in the Publishing API |
| MCP server that publishes | Yes | Drafts only (advocacy MCP can share) |
| Webhooks | All plans | Yes |
| Unified inbox / DMs | No | Yes |
| Brand / competitor monitoring | No | Yes |
| Employee advocacy | No | Yes |
| Unlimited connected profiles | Every plan | Professional and up |
Hootsuite sells seats in a social media suite; the API comes with the account. Bulkit sells the API alone, on one plan metered by usage.
| Bulkit | Hootsuite | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry paid plan | $4.99/mo | $99/user/mo (Standard, billed annually) |
| What you pay for | API usage: 500 posts & comments/mo included | Suite seats and features |
| Overage | $0.01 per action | Priced per user seat |
| Connected profiles | Unlimited on every plan | 10 on Standard, unlimited from Professional ($199/user/mo) |
| Higher tiers | None, the same plan scales | Professional $199 · Advanced up to $399 · Enterprise custom |
| API rate limit | 600 req/min, every plan | 20 req/sec, 100,000 calls/day |
| Free option | No free plan; 14-day free trial, then $4.99/mo | 14-day free trial, no credit card |
Bulkit is ~10.0× cheaper at this volume
A product publishing 2,000 posts a month to 20 connected accounts
On Bulkit that's the flat $4.99 plus 1,500 metered actions at $0.01, and the 20 accounts are free. On Hootsuite, Standard caps you at 10 social accounts, so 20 means Professional at $199 per user per month, billed annually, before any extra seats. That buys a lot of suite you may genuinely want; if you only wanted the API, it's the gap on this page.
The API is the product, not a feature of a seat
On Bulkit nothing about the API depends on how many people log in or which suite tier you're on. One plan, $4.99/mo, 500 actions included, a cent each after, and unlimited connected profiles. Your users connect their own social accounts; they never need an account with us, let alone a seat.
Last verified · Check Hootsuite's pricing page →
The Hootsuite API doesn't have a price of its own: it rides on a Hootsuite subscription, and Hootsuite's plans page sells seats and suite features rather than API volume. Standard is $99 per user per month billed annually with 10 social accounts; Professional is $199 with unlimited accounts. Bulkit prices the API itself: one flat plan, metered by the posts and comments you actually send, with every connected profile free. If the suite is what you need, Hootsuite's price is buying real software. If the API is what you need, you are paying for a lot of software you won't open.
Bulkit ships a real dashboard with a drag-and-drop scheduling calendar, so API-first doesn't mean you lose the UI. It means the order things are built in: the REST API is designed, versioned and documented first, and every other surface, the calendar included, is a thin shell over the same endpoints. There is no developer-account approval, no redirect URI to email anyone about, and no plan on which the API is switched off. You get all of it at $4.99/month with a 600 requests/minute limit.
Start with the Bulkit API quickstart, where an API key and one request is the whole first step.
Being upfront about when Hootsuite wins is what makes the rest of this page worth trusting.
Hootsuite has invested in MCP: it publishes servers for its inbox, for employee advocacy and for publishing and analytics. The publishing one is careful by design. Hootsuite's docs say it 'does not provide tools to publish or schedule posts directly': an agent saves a draft, and a person publishes it inside Hootsuite. That's a reasonable choice for a marketing team with approvals. If you want an agent that actually ships, Bulkit's MCP server publishes and schedules, reads and replies to comments, and pulls post metrics, on the same $4.99 plan as everything else.
Read the MCP docsBulkit Agent
Online
Sign up and create a key. No developer-account approval and no redirect URI to request by email.
Where you scheduled a Hootsuite message per social profile, send one Bulkit post listing every channel. TikTok, YouTube and Bluesky can sit in the same call.
Add your own platform app credentials (Bulkit is BYOK today), then run each account through Bulkit's OAuth flow once. Your users never need a Hootsuite seat.
Yes. Hootsuite runs a REST API at developer.hootsuite.com covering publishing, media, analytics and more. According to Hootsuite's docs you need an active Hootsuite user account and a developer account that Hootsuite approves, and the users your app acts for sign in with their Hootsuite credentials. Hootsuite's plans page doesn't list API access per plan, so check with Hootsuite which tier you need.
It isn't sold separately; it comes with a Hootsuite subscription. Hootsuite's paid plans start at $99 per user per month (Standard, billed annually, 10 social accounts), then $199 (Professional) and up to $399 (Advanced), with Enterprise priced on request. Bulkit is $4.99/month with 500 actions included and $0.01 per action after that.
Not through the Publishing API: Hootsuite's API overview lists TikTok, YouTube and Bluesky as unsupported. Bulkit publishes to all three, along with X, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Threads, Pinterest, Vimeo, Reddit and Google Business.
Only for the API part. Hootsuite is a management suite with a unified inbox, brand monitoring, employee advocacy and reporting; Bulkit has none of that beyond a scheduling calendar, a comments API and post analytics. If your team uses the suite, keep it. If you were only ever after the API, Bulkit is the cheaper, simpler fit.
Yes, for now. Bulkit is bring-your-own-keys (BYOK) today: you add your own developer app credentials for each platform, then connect accounts through Bulkit's OAuth flow. Bulkit-managed platform apps are on the roadmap.
Yes, several. Its publishing and analytics MCP saves drafts that a person then publishes in Hootsuite; its docs say it doesn't publish or schedule directly. Its inbox MCP can't send outbound replies, and its employee-advocacy MCP lets advocates share approved content. Bulkit's MCP server publishes, schedules, replies to comments and pulls metrics on the $4.99 plan.
Grab an API key, send one request, publish everywhere. No suite seat required.
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