Before you move
- Check whether your team uses Hootsuite for publishing. discatch is listening only.
- Note that Hootsuite listening is enterprise-only.
- Try the free tier. Catches that fire nothing cost nothing.
Hootsuite pricing, dated
| Professional | Team | Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $99/mo | $249/mo | custom |
| Users | 1 | 3 | unlimited |
| Social accounts | 10 | 20 | unlimited |
| Listening | no | no | yes (Talkwalker) |
The management platform shape
Hootsuite is a social media management platform. Its core is publishing, scheduling, and analytics. Listening is an enterprise feature powered by Talkwalker. If you want listening as a standalone product with per-unit pricing, an API, and developer sources, Hootsuite’s shape does not fit.
What Hootsuite does well
Hootsuite is the most widely used social media management platform. Its three live MCP servers (Perch, Nest, Lumen) with OAuth 2.0 make it one of the few platforms with first-party agent surfaces. Basic brand monitoring on the Standard plan ($99/mo) covers Facebook, X, Bluesky, YouTube, Quora, podcasts, news, blogs, and forums without an enterprise contract. The Talkwalker integration on Enterprise gives access to 30+ social channels and 150 million websites. The API at developer.hootsuite.com is free with developer account approval.
What a switch costs
- Publishing and scheduling. discatch is listening only. If your team uses Hootsuite for publishing, you need both tools.
- MCP servers. Hootsuite’s Perch (content) and Nest (inbox) MCP servers have no equivalent in discatch. discatch’s MCP server is listening-only when it ships.
- Enterprise contract. Hootsuite Enterprise auto-renews for one-year periods with 60-day written notice to cancel. Check the notice window.
- Data export. Export scheduled posts and analytics before the plan expires.
How to move in an afternoon
- Get a trial key: `curl -X POST https://api.discatch.com/v1/keys/trial`
- Price a search: `curl -X POST https://api.discatch.com/v1/search -H "Authorization: Bearer $DISCATCH_KEY" -d '{"query": ""your brand"", "sources": ["web", "news", "hackernews", "discourse"], "dry_run": true}'`
- Review the quote and run the search if the price works.
- Create a catch for each monitoring topic: `curl -X POST https://api.discatch.com/v1/catches -H "Authorization: Bearer $DISCATCH_KEY" -d '{"name": "brand alerts", "query": ""your brand"", "sources": ["web", "news", "hackernews", "discourse", "github", "stackexchange"], "interval": "1h", "destination": {"type": "webhook", "url": "https://your-server.com/hook", "secret": "whsec_..."}}'`
- Test the destination: `curl -X POST https://api.discatch.com/v1/catches/{id}/test -H "Authorization: Bearer $DISCATCH_KEY"`
- Verify delivery. Keep Hootsuite for publishing if needed. Cancel Enterprise listening at the next notice window.
Who should stay
A marketing team that uses Hootsuite for publishing, scheduling, and analytics across multiple social accounts should stay. The basic brand monitoring on Standard ($99/mo) is enough for simple mention tracking without an enterprise contract. A developer, an agent, or a team that wants listening as the core product with per-unit pricing and developer sources is a different buyer.