Salesforce Social Studio was one of best enterprise level social monitoring tool.
It offered deep integration with Salesforce Marketing Cloud, allowing teams to publish, engage, and monitor social conversations from a single hub.
For enterprises already inside the Salesforce ecosystem, it felt like the obvious extension.
But Salesforce pulled the plug. Legacy customers now face the challenge of finding a modern tool that blends publishing, listening, and analytics without the clunkiness or the steep enterprise price tag.
Tools built leaner, smarter, and sharper.
Tools that actually work for founders, sales teams, and marketing squads who don’t have time to wrestle with bloated software.
| Tool | Product Summary (One-liner) | Best For | Free Trial | Freemium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OutXAI | AI-powered LinkedIn growth engine with real-time social listening & B2B signal detection. | - Founders spotting market demand - Sales teams prospecting with intent - Marketers maximizing ROI | ✅ | ✅ |
| Hootsuite | All-in-one scheduling, monitoring & reporting across multiple platforms. | - Founders who want “set & forget” publishing - Sales teams monitoring mentions - Marketing teams running multi-channel | ✅ | ❌ |
| Sprinklr | Enterprise-grade CX platform with advanced sentiment analysis & global campaign management. | - Founders at enterprise SaaS - Sales teams mining deep insights - Marketing teams managing global ops | ❌ | ❌ |
| Oktopost | B2B-focused platform for employee advocacy, lead gen & ROI tracking on LinkedIn. | - Founders in B2B SaaS - Sales targeting decision-makers - Marketing tracking ROI | ✅ | ❌ |
| Sendible | Agency-first tool for multi-client publishing, collaboration & white-label reporting. | - Founders of agencies - Sales teams with multiple brands - Marketing managing client campaigns | ✅ | ❌ |
| Zoho Social | Budget-friendly tool with CRM integration & easy scheduling/monitoring. | - Founders on tight budgets - Sales teams using Zoho CRM - Marketing in SMBs | ✅ | ✅ |
OutXAI runs from $39 to $249/month, making it one of the most affordable LinkedIn-first platforms. You get lead intelligence, job change tracking, AI-driven comment suggestions, and powerful monitoring tailored for B2B.
OutXAI isn’t a “do-everything” tool. It’s laser-focused on LinkedIn. That means every feature is designed to uncover intent signals — profile changes, buyer movements, and conversations you’d otherwise miss.
The job change tracker and AI comment assistant. Forget spraying generic messages. OutXAI helps you engage with precision, showing up at the exact right time in your ICP’s journey.
Compared to Salesforce’s $1,250/month bill, OutXAI is a fraction of the cost. And unlike enterprise tools, you can actually start small and scale up.
If LinkedIn is your hunting ground, OutXAI is the unfair advantage you’ve been looking for. Salesforce Social walked so OutXAI could run.
Hootsuite pricing starts from $99–$249/month, with free trial.
Hootsuite’s biggest asset? 200+ integrations. You get scheduling, monitoring, reporting, and paid + organic content management all under one roof.
It’s not LinkedIn-specific. The platform is broad, sometimes bloated. If you just want sharper B2B LinkedIn insights, you’ll be paying for features you don’t need.
For founders, Hootsuite is the Swiss Army knife. It covers more than LinkedIn, which is perfect if you’re building multi-channel presence. For sales teams, it helps balance LinkedIn with X, Facebook, and Instagram. For marketers, it gives scalable reporting that agencies love.
Sprinklr pricing starts from $199–$299/month (Not official), with free trial.
Sprinklr is enterprise-grade without being Salesforce-heavy. It supports 35+ digital channels, with advanced advocacy and governance features built in.
It’s big. Too big for a lean founder team. Unless you’ve got complex workflows and compliance needs, you’ll barely scratch the surface.
Founders may find it overkill, but sales teams in regulated industries (finance, healthcare, SaaS) benefit from Sprinklr’s governance. Marketers love its employee advocacy suite for scaling reach authentically.
Oktopost pricing has custom pricing starting from $55–$560/month(not official), free trial.
Oktopost is purpose-built for B2B social in complex industries. Its strongest card is compliance-friendly employee advocacy, which helps scale trusted voices.
It’s not SMB-friendly. The learning curve and price point make it a stretch for founders and small sales teams.
For founders, it’s a signal of “where you’ll graduate to.” For sales, it shines in tracking buyer journeys. For marketing, the advocacy features multiply distribution without ads.
Sendible pricing starts from $22–$675/month, with free trial.
Sendible’s white-labeling makes it ideal for agencies. You can rebrand dashboards, offer reporting, and manage LinkedIn + other platforms at scale.
Like Hootsuite, it’s not deep on LinkedIn-specific intelligence. Think breadth over depth.
Founders can leverage it for brand + LinkedIn consistency. Sales teams gain multi-account management. Marketers in agencies love it for scalability and client-facing reporting.
Zoho Social starts from $10–$65/month, freemium available.
Zoho Social is the budget-friendly surprise. Despite its price tag, it offers full social management, scheduling, and reporting within the Zoho ecosystem.
It’s not LinkedIn-obsessed like OutXAI. Insights are broad and lightweight, better for general presence than deep monitoring.
For founders, it’s a low-cost entry point. Sales teams can integrate it into existing Zoho CRM workflows. For marketers, it’s a simple add-on if you’re already in Zoho’s ecosystem.
With Social Studio sunsetted, migrating to a new platform is unavoidable. Ask yourself these three questions to narrow the field:
Looking for alternatives to other tools? Check out our comparisons of Hootsuite alternatives, Brand24 alternatives, and Sprout Social alternatives.
Salesforce retired Social Studio as part of its transition to the new Marketing Cloud suite. Legacy customers can no longer purchase new licenses, and existing users are encouraged to migrate to alternative tools or Salesforce’s updated products.
Social Studio was part of Salesforce Marketing Cloud, which typically started at around $1,250/month for enterprise packages. Pricing was custom and often bundled with other Salesforce products, making it one of the most expensive social monitoring options.
Social Studio excelled at integrating social listening directly into Salesforce CRM workflows. Teams could publish content, monitor conversations, and tie social engagement back to customer records, all within the Salesforce ecosystem.
Beyond the sunset forcing migration, Social Studio was often criticized for being overly complex, slow to adapt to new platforms, and expensive for teams that only needed social monitoring without the full Marketing Cloud suite.
Sprinklr is the closest enterprise-grade alternative with 35+ channel support, employee advocacy, and governance features. Oktopost also serves enterprise B2B teams well, especially in regulated industries that need compliance-friendly social tools.
Zoho Social starts at just $10/month and offers basic scheduling and monitoring with CRM integration into the Zoho ecosystem. For teams that need more monitoring depth at a reasonable price, OutX.ai starts at $39/month with LinkedIn-specific intelligence.
OutX.ai is the most LinkedIn-focused option, offering job-change alerts, AI-powered engagement, and real-time prospect tracking. For teams that need LinkedIn monitoring alongside other channels, Hootsuite and Sprinklr provide broader but shallower coverage.
Several alternatives offer Salesforce integrations. Sprinklr, Oktopost, and Hootsuite all connect with Salesforce CRM, though the depth of integration varies. None replicate the native Social Studio experience exactly, so expect some workflow adjustments.
OutX.ai is a LinkedIn-first monitoring and intelligence platform. While Social Studio offered broad social management within Salesforce, OutX.ai focuses on LinkedIn with features like job-change tracking, AI comment suggestions, and prospect monitoring at a fraction of the cost.
Not necessarily. Many teams find that splitting functions across specialized tools works better than replacing Social Studio with another monolithic platform. For example, you might use Hootsuite for scheduling and OutX.ai for LinkedIn intelligence.