Privately held Canadian technology firm Hootsuite is ending its free social media management tool as it tries to shore up its finances.
The Vancouver-based technology company said the tool, which allows people to browse, manage and schedule social media posts for free will come to an end on March 31 of this year.
As of April 1, users who want to continue using the social media tool will need to switch to one of four paid plans that will start at a cost of $99 per month.
The cheapest plan will enable people to manage 10 social media accounts with unlimited postings, scheduling, and access to messages, said Hootsuite.
Higher tiers of the social media plan will allow additional users and accounts and offer more features. However, those plans will cost several hundreds of dollars per month.
The move away from the free social media plan comes as Hootsuite struggles financially.
The company recently cut 7% of its workforce, about 70 people, which was the third round of layoffs in the past year.
