If you want to continue using Hootsuite, yet don't want to swallow the dramatic price increase, there's a temporary work around.
If you're currently on a pay monthly plan you can switch to a pay annually plan at the current rate. There's an added bonus of making this change - a 10% discount on your fee for paying annually. Although you'll have to pay a larger sum upfront rather than spreading the cost over 12 months as you do now.
The new charges are due to come into effect on 1 June so be quick if you want to take advantage of the lower rate.
Of course, this is only a temporary fix. You'll be facing the same price hike next year but at least this gives you 12 months to look at the alternatives. Or decide to suck up the extra cost! Don't forget to cancel your plan, or switch back to pay monthly, next year if the new costs are too much.
Hootsuite alternatives
If you're hacked off with Hootsuite and would like to try out a different platform, here are some alternatives. We haven't tested these ourselves but they were recommendations on a LinkedIn post. And they aren't necessary less expensive. We plan to
Of course, even if you find a cheaper alternative there's no guarantee that they won't hike their prices in the future. I think the fundamental issue is that we've come to expect too much on the cheap and now we're being asked to pay a more realistic price for it. I'm sure, at some time, they'll all come to a similar price point.