Want More Features in Twitter? Go With Hootsuite or TweetDeck

Comparison table of Hootsuite versus TweetDeck

Within the past couple weeks, we have been trying out different Twitter clients that may extend a regular, individual user's possibilities of Twitter management; and have come down to comparing the two most obvious options – TweetDeck and Hootsuite. These platforms evolve, their features change, so an up-to-date comparison of features and prices is always handy for a newcomer, so here is our breakdown comparison.

Price

Both platforms offer free plans for individual users and small teams. By far, TweetDeck and HootSuite offer a lot more features and convenience as compared to regular twitter web client. However, if you intend to harvest the power of social media to promote your services, or account, or website, you simply must shift to a more powerful social media management platform. In this respect, both TweetDeck and HootSuite are perfect for beginners, while HootSuite also offers a paid version with a free one-month trial so that you can evaluate the difference properly.

At the same time, both platforms free plans offer some of the most sought-after features – post scheduling, timeline filtering, convenient layouts.

Interface

Both clients offer beautiful but similar interfaces, so we are not siding here with any of them.

TweetDeck is available as a standalone download for Windows and Mac, but it is also available as a browser extension. Mobile apps have been discontinued. Its main advantages UI-wise are:

• downloadable standalone application for Windows and Mac
• Column-based layout, all twitter profiles are managed from the same screen
• the possibility to add as many columns as you need
• three color schemes, the possibility to adjust font size and column width

HootSuite make it appear a bit overwhelming for a beginning user, but it’s very intuitive so after a couple of days using it you will sort it out completely. Eventually, HootSuite’s tabbed interface comes out the winner because it allows you to manage a lot more columns and accounts, and organize the layout according to your needs. Here’s what we loved about Hootsuite’s layout:

• no need to download a program, it is a browser-based
• it has mobile apps for android and iOS
• you can organize different social media profiles in different tabs instead of squeezing them all in one window
• each tab can have multiple columns, or streams
• three beautiful color schemes, but this ability to adjust the sizes of the columns

So, which one is better for you? If you need to manage one twitter account only, go ahead with TweetDeck. It’s simple one page layout and intuitive features are perfect for organizing an individual user’s profile, even if you use it for business purposes, even if you have several people managing it – won’t cost you a thing.

However, if you need to manage Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or WordPress, HootSuite is your go-to client. Its tabbed UI with multiple streams is more convenient for managing multiple accounts, even though you can only add one team member for free.

Features

Scheduling is equally convenient in both clients, while you can also check out the automation possibilities. The UI for scheduling looks pretty much the same for TweetDeck and HootSuite, while the latter offers a bit more in Pro paid plan. Namely, the possibility to schedule bulk updates using CSV imported file, but unless you are familiar with the principle, you will have to figure out the bulk import feature, which is not very streamlined and somewhat time consuming.

So, the bottom line is, unless you are a pro marketer in need of that bulk scheduling feature, you can go with whichever of the two. It’s a tie.

Working with multiple Twitter accounts and multiple social networks. Now, HootSuite is clearly the winner here, since it integrates a ton of social networks by default (Facebook, Tumblr, LinkedIn, foursquare, mixi) and bundles a number of awesome apps to integrate WordPress, Instagram and more.

Both clients let you add multiple Twitter accounts, but in TweetDeck you have them all in the same window, while Hootsuite lets you create separate tabs for each account, with multiple streams, too.

Tweeting from websites. Now, HootSuite has an advantage here again. While for most websites both clients still make you copy-paste title and link, HootSuite makes it a tad simpler with Hootlet, which works with Google search results pages, YouTube, Flickr and Facebook.

Filtering is basically the same in both clients, and while TweetDeck lets you mute users, keywords and sources, as well as create columns for searches, HootSuite also lets you filter a column by keyword or user.

Deleting all your existing tweets. An even 0 score, since you still have to resort to yet another third-party app to do that for you. If interested, refer to this guide.

Working with a team. TweetDeck lets you add team members, so that they can view and edit scheduled tweets, while HootSuite only lets you add one team member for free.

Mobile Apps. Even though TweetDeck mobile apps are discontinued, you can access your TweetDeck from your mobile browser and enjoy all the features, while HootSuite does offer iOS and Android apps, so it's a tie here, too.

The Bottom Line

If you want simplicity and no-sweat management of one or two Twitter accounts in a neat interface, try out TweetDeck and you might not want to try anything else. But, if you would like to take full advantage of social media management, go with HootSuite to post updates to all your social profiles from one client. So, in terms of advanced features, HootSuite beats TweetDeck, while in terms of simplicity, TweetDeck takes the lead, allowing small teams co-manage one or multiple Twitter accounts.

Check out our full reviews of HootSuite and Tweetdeck, and let us know which one is your favorite.