Hootsuite API
Hootsuite runs a REST API with OAuth2, webhooks, and SCIM at developer.hootsuite.com, but production keys require developer-account approval. Ow.ly, Amplify, and Inbox APIs are Enterprise-only via a CSM. The Publishing API cannot post to TikTok, YouTube, or Bluesky.
Frequently asked questions
Hootsuite scores D+ on the API Report Card. Hootsuite runs a REST API with OAuth2, webhooks, and SCIM at developer.hootsuite.com, but production keys require developer-account approval. Ow.ly, Amplify, and Inbox APIs are Enterprise-only via a CSM. The Publishing API cannot post to TikTok, YouTube, or Bluesky.
Without a usable official API, teams fall back on manual exports, file drops, or one-off vendor integrations. The other option is an unofficial API layer like Supergood that automates the authenticated web app directly.
Hootsuite is a cloud-based social media management and intelligence platform that lets brands and agencies schedule and publish posts, monitor mentions and reviews, manage incoming DMs/comments in a unified inbox, analyze performance and competitor benchmarks, run employee advocacy programs (Amplify), and conduct social listening across 30+ social networks, 300+ review sites, and 150+ million websites.
Vertical: Social media management and social intelligence (horizontal SaaS, not industry-specific). Marketing teams connect their brand's social accounts (LinkedIn Pages, Facebook Pages, Instagram Business, X/Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Threads, Bluesky, etc.), draft posts in a calendar/composer with AI caption help, schedule across networks at optimal times, and route drafts through approval workflows for legal/compliance review.
Hootsuite reports 22+ million users historically across 175+ countries and is consistently named alongside Sprout Social, Sprinklr, Buffer, and Khoros as one of the top social media management platforms by analysts (Gartner, Forrester, G2, IDC).
Yes, for any brand or agency that runs its social presence on Hootsuite, it is the system of record for: every scheduled and published post across all connected networks (with media assets, copy variants, targeting, and approval history), the unified social inbox (every DM, comment, mention, and review-site reply with assignment/SLA/sentiment tags), the Amplify employee-advocacy content library and per-employee share history, social listening boards and historical mention archives (Brandwatch-powered, often years deep), competitor benchmark data, paid/organic analytics with custom reports, audience and team org structure (SCIM-provisioned users, custom permissions, approval workflows), Ow.ly link archives and click analytics, and the connection tokens themselves to every linked Meta/X/LinkedIn/TikTok/YouTube account.
Founded 2008 in Vancouver by Ryan Holmes as 'BrightKit,' renamed Hootsuite shortly after. Raised $300M+ across rounds led by Insight Partners, Accel, OMERS, and Fidelity, peaking at a reported ~$1B valuation.
Publishing API does not support TikTok, YouTube, or Bluesky, three of the most important modern networks. Ow.ly URL shortener API is Enterprise-only and requires Customer Success Manager intervention to enable. Full sourced list under Sources below.
Common alternatives include Sprout Social, Sprinklr, Buffer, Khoros, Brandwatch (Cision), Meltwater. Graded alternatives appear under "More from the report card" below.
Grades measure one thing: can a customer's engineering team get their own data out programmatically? We check six things (whether a real API exists, how access is gated, data coverage, auth quality, docs and developer experience, and stability) and roll them into a letter grade. Grades get re-verified, and they only move on evidence.