If you love geeking out over the numbers, Metricool is a good fit. It’ll tell you what's working, how your competitors are doing, and where your traffic is coming from. Plus, it gives you plenty to work with at a starting price that's easy on the wallet.
That said, Metricool gets trickier to stick with as your setup grows. Some of the features people reach for sit behind add-ons or higher plans, so the price you start with isn't always the price you end up paying. For example:
- Platform access: LinkedIn and X/Twitter are missing from the Free plan entirely, and while X is available for paid plan users, it’s a paid add-on for each account you connect
- Analytics: the full analytics suite and custom reports need an upgrade or a paid add-on, and complete X analytics are available on the higher tiers only
- AI features: AI credits are capped on every plan, and when you run out, you either move up a plan or wait for it to reset next month
- API and agency features: API access and white label sit on the higher tiers, while the MCP has limits on lower ones
- Expensive hashtag tracking: While it's one of the few tools that support hashtag tracking on X and Instagram, it comes at an eye-watering cost of €25/day per social media channel (but only for the days you use it)
If you're looking for a Metricool alternative, there are many social media management tools that do everything it does. I've tested a whole bunch of them, both as a creator and as someone who works in marketing, and each of the seven options below brings its own strengths to the metaphorical table.
Even if Buffer isn't your pick, this list should help you land on the tool that fits the way you work.
Key takeaways
- Best overall value: Buffer has a free plan, paid plans from $6/channel per month, and X/Twitter and LinkedIn are included on every plan.
- Best for tracking competitors: Hootsuite's competitive benchmarking sits right next to your own performance data.
- Best for high-volume comments and DMs: Sprout Social's Smart Inbox pulls messages from across your social channels and ads into one stream.
- Best for in-depth analytics and ROI reporting: Agorapulse ties social activity to tangible results.
- Best for agencies that want a white-labeled platform: SocialPilot lets you hand clients a dashboard on your own domain, with your branding.
- Best for visual planning, especially on Instagram: Later's drag-and-drop calendar and grid preview show your feed before anything goes live.
- Best for multi-step client approvals: Planable's approval workflows are strong, so posts only publish once everyone has signed off.
- Pricing reality: Metricool's Starter plan for one user runs from $25 per month billed monthly, and Advanced plan for teams from $67 per month. But X/Twitter costs $10/month more per account, advanced analytics is a paid add-on, and white label needs a custom plan — the alternatives here bundle those features differently, so check which ones you'd actually be paying extra for.
Metricool alternatives at a glance
| Tool | Best for | Starting price |
|---|---|---|
| Buffer | Creators, small businesses, and growing agencies that want a flexible, affordable social media management tool | Free (paid plans from $6/channel/month) |
| Hootsuite | Teams tracking competitors alongside their own brand | 14-day free trial, then $149/user/month |
| Sprout Social | Teams handling a high volume of comments and DMs across networks | 30-day free trial, then $99/seat/month |
| Agorapulse | Teams that need in-depth analytics and ROI reporting | 30-day free trial, then $99/user/month |
| SocialPilot | Agencies that want a white-labeled platform for clients | 14-day free trial, then $30/month |
| Later | Brands focused on visual planning, especially on Instagram | Free, (paid plans start from $25/month) |
| Planable | Teams and agencies that run multi-step client approvals | Free (paid plans from $39/workspace/month) |
Jump to a section:
1. Buffer
Best for creators, small businesses, and growing agencies that want a flexible, affordable social media management tool.
| Pricing information | Details |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes |
| Paid plans | Starting at $6/channel per month (billed monthly) |
| Annual billing | 20% off on all paid plans |
| Free trial | Yes, 14 days |
Buffer is the tool I keep returning to, no matter how many others I try. It covers what most creators and small teams need day-to-day, from generating and publishing content to tracking its performance and staying on top of comments and mentions across platforms.
That's not just me saying it because this is the Buffer website — I've been a Buffer user both as a creator and part of a small team managing a brand, so I speak from experience here.
Buffer doesn't charge extra for any of the supported platforms. If you're coming from Metricool, that's one thing you'll notice right away: X/Twitter and LinkedIn are included on every plan, free included, at no extra cost.
Here's what you get on the Free plan:
- Post to 12 social media platforms: Connect X/Twitter, LinkedIn , Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Substack, Pinterest, YouTube, Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon, and Google Business Profile.
- Schedule posts across three channels: Keep up to 10 posts queued per channel, and a slot opens back up every time one publishes. Crossposting lets you write a post once and tweak it for each platform from the same composer.
- Save ideas in Create Space: Save up to 100 content ideas, tag them, sort them in a Kanban view, and turn them into drafts when you're ready. The template library gives you a starting point when you're stuck.
- Use the AI Assistant as much as you like: There's no credit cap on any plan for using AI in content generation. Draft posts, repurpose old content, brainstorm ideas, write alt text, or test different hooks without watching a counter.
- Reply from one inbox: The Community inbox pulls comments and mentions from Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, X/Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Mastodon, and Google Business Profile into one place, with five AI reply suggestions a week.
- Get analytics that tell you what to do next: Insights shows 30 days of history, and the AI-powered takeaways give you suggestions for what to do next based on what's working and where you could use a little nudge.
- Build your own workflows with the API and MCP: The API is available on every plan, including Free. The MCP connects Buffer to tools like Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Notion, Zapier, Cursor, n8n, and Raycast.
- Talk to a human when you need help: Support is handled by people, with 24/7 coverage on every plan, so you'll always have a human to help you out. Buffer's AI chatbot helps you search the docs, with an easy way to reach the team if you need more help.
If you need more than three channels, unlimited scheduled posts, unlimited AI reply suggestions, unlimited analytics history, and exports, the Essentials plan starts at $6/channel per month.
For teams, the Team plan starts at $12/channel per month and adds unlimited team members at no extra cost, permission levels set per channel, comments to collaborate on drafts, and approval workflows so nothing goes out without the right person seeing it first.
Both come with a 14-day free trial, so you can try every feature before you commit.
2. Hootsuite
Best for teams that want competitor benchmarking alongside their own analytics.
| Pricing information | Details |
|---|---|
| Free plan | No |
| Paid plans | Starting at $149/user per month (billed monthly) |
| Annual billing | Between 20% and 34% off depending on your plan |
| Free trial | Yes, 14 days |
If competitor tracking is the Metricool feature you'd miss most, Hootsuite is a good fit. It's an enterprise-grade platform built for marketing teams with the budget to match.
Competitor tracking lets you build a private watchlist of competitor accounts and follow their posts, engagement, and follower growth. Competitive analysis is where that data becomes useful. You can benchmark against those competitors or your wider industry, spot gaps in what you're posting, and set goals based on what's realistic in your space.
On the flip side, Hootsuite lets you track 20 competitors to Metricool's 100 on the higher tiers. If you need more, the Enterprise plan has you covered.
Hootsuite also brings bulk scheduling and more than 100 integrations, including Canva, Salesforce, and Zendesk. That's a lot of tool — and starting at $149/user per month, it's priced for teams that will use most of it.
3. Sprout Social
Best for teams that handle a high volume of comments and DMs across networks.
| Pricing information | Details |
|---|---|
| Free plan | No |
| Paid plans | Starting at $99/seat per month for up to 5 social profiles |
| Annual billing | Between 20 and 25% off, depending on your plan |
| Free trial | Yes, 30 days |
Sprout Social is great for teams that spend a big chunk of their day replying to people on social media. If your channels regularly field comments, questions, and DMs, Sprout Social is worth a close look.
The Smart Inbox gathers incoming comments, mentions, messages and even Meta and TikTok ad comments in a single feed so your team can manage paid and organic conversations in one place. Teammates can hand off conversations to someone else and tag them by topic or sentiment. You can also set spike alerts and inbox rules to notify the team if there's an unusually large number of conversations or a keyword in a message triggers a rule. On X, you can even pull in posts that name your brand without tagging it.
Sprout Social also plugs into helpdesk tools like Zendesk, Salesforce, and HubSpot so you can turn your social media conversations into a full customer support workflow. In all, it's a pretty strong set of inbox tools for teams that spend a lot of time interacting with their audience.
Some of these inbox features sit on Sprout's higher tiers, so check the pricing page for the plan that includes what you need.
4. Agorapulse
Best for teams that need in-depth analytics, from ROI reporting to a Looker Studio connection.
| Pricing information | Details |
|---|---|
| Free plan | No |
| Paid plans | Starting at $99/user per month (billed monthly) for up to 10 social profiles |
| Annual billing | 20% off on all paid plans |
| Free trial | Yes, 30 days |
If reporting depth is the Metricool feature you'd miss most, Agorapulse is a good fit.
Agorapulse's ROI reports tie your social activity back to results, which makes it easier to show leadership that the time and budget going into social is paying off. On top of that, you get data about your post performance, audience demographics, ads performance, and even community management to see your team's response rate and time.
You can turn all this data into incredibly detailed custom reports to share. Its read-only API is laser-focused on data, so you can export it into an external tool of your choice for analysis. And if Metricool's Data Studio connection (formerly known as Looker Studio) is what's keeping you, Agorapulse has you covered here too.
You also get bulk scheduling, Facebook post boosts, and Archie, an AI content creation studio that repurposes your blog posts, YouTube videos, podcasts and the like into posts for your socials.
5. SocialPilot
Best for agencies that want a fully white-labeled platform to give clients.
| Pricing information | Details |
|---|---|
| Free plan | No |
| Paid plans | Starting at $30/month for 1 user and 7 social accounts |
| Annual billing | 15% off on all paid plans |
| Free trial | Yes, 14 days, no credit card required |
SocialPilot is a strong tool for agencies that want to offer clients a fully white-labeled social media platform.
You can run the whole platform on a custom domain, with a branded login page, dashboard, and custom emails. White-labeled reports round it out, so your analytics reports also contain your agency's logo and colors. White label isn't on the $30 entry plan, so you'll need one of SocialPilot's higher tiers to unlock it.
Beyond that, you get bulk scheduling with CSV uploads, granular team permissions, and an asset library to store your images and videos.
6. Later
Best for brands that plan their content visually, especially on Instagram.
| Pricing information | Details |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes |
| Paid plans | Starting at $25/month for 1 user and 1 social set (up to 8 social profiles) |
| Annual billing | 25% off on all paid plans |
| Free trial | Yes, 14 days |
Later is a good fit for creators and brands that plan by how their feed looks, and it's especially handy if Instagram is where most of your content lives.
The drag-and-drop calendar makes it easy to shuffle posts around, and the Instagram grid preview shows exactly how your feed will look before anything goes live. Plus, there are some solid features for Instagram: tagging products, scheduling collab posts, creator marketplace, and a whole influencer marketing platform (that's a separate cost).
Later's strongest for Instagram, but it isn't limited to it. You can use it to manage your social media presence across most major social networks, including TikTok, Pinterest, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Threads, and it's one of the few tools on this list that supports Snapchat.
7. Planable
Best for teams and agencies that need multi-step content approvals with clients.
| Pricing information | Details |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes (50 posts total) |
| Paid plans | Starting at $39/workspace per month for 1 workspace and unlimited users |
| Annual billing | Two months free |
| Free trial | No (the free plan works as a one-time trial) |
Planable is a social media management tool that takes the guesswork out of content approvals. If your team has strict controls for sign-off before anything publishes, Planable has approval workflows for exactly that.
You've got different approval levels to choose from: none, optional, and required. At the most comprehensive end is multi-level approval, where a post moves from one reviewer to the next and only publishes once everyone on the list has signed off.
Team members can leave internal comments and keep drafts private before anything goes in front of a client. Clients can leave feedback directly on posts without signing in to Planable at all.
The more advanced approval chains sit on Planable's higher plans, so check which approval types your plan includes. And if you need analytics and a social inbox, factor in that those are paid add-ons, not part of the plans' listed prices.
How to find the right Metricool alternative for you
There's no one tool on this list that's right for everyone. It comes down to how you use Metricool today and what you want more (or less) of. Here are a few questions to help you build a shortlist:
- What's your budget? Buffer's paid plans are flexible, starting at $6/channel per month, so you only pay for the channels you actually use. There's also a free forever plan for up to 3 channels if you'd like to start there. Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and Agorapulse charge per user, which adds up as your team grows.
- Which networks are you active on? If X/Twitter, LinkedIn, or Substack are in your mix, Buffer includes them all on every plan, Free included. Later is worth a look if Instagram gets most of your attention, and it supports Snapchat, too.
- How deep does your reporting go? If you report ROI to leadership, Agorapulse's integrations, custom reports, and API make that easier. If competitor benchmarking is part of the job, Hootsuite covers it. If you need raw data turned into insights, Buffer turns the data into plain-language takeaways, so you know what to post more of, what to repurpose, and where to engage.
- Are you an agency or managing your own brand? Agencies get the most out of SocialPilot's white label and Planable's client approvals, where clients can leave feedback without signing in. If it's your own brand, Later is a good fit for Instagram, and Buffer is a flexible, easy-to-use option if you post across several networks.
- How busy is your inbox? If your team spends a big part of the day replying to comments, mentions, and DMs, including on ads, Sprout Social's Smart Inbox and spike alerts help you keep up.
Every tool on this list has a free trial, and some — including Buffer — offer free plans. Pick two or three that fit and run them alongside Metricool for a couple of weeks to get a feel for them.
Using them with your real accounts is the fastest way to see which reports, calendar, and workflow actually suit you.
If Buffer turns out to be the one, we'd be glad to have you. If not, I hope this list helped you land on the right tool for your brand.
FAQs about Metricool alternatives
Is there a free alternative to Metricool?
Yes. Buffer's Free plan includes three channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time (refilled as they publish), unlimited AI Assistant, analytics and insights, the Community inbox, and API access. X/Twitter and LinkedIn are both included at no additional cost, as is Substack. Planable also has a free plan, capped at 50 posts total. Later's free plan is limited to 12 posts per month per social channel.
Does Metricool have a free plan?
Yes. Metricool's Free plan covers one brand and up to 20 posts a month, with tracking for up to five competitor profiles. LinkedIn and X/Twitter aren't available on the Free plan, and some analytics and custom reports require an upgrade.
Does Metricool charge extra for X/Twitter?
Yes. On Metricool's paid plans, X/Twitter is a paid add-on that costs $10/month for each X account you connect. It isn't available on the Free plan at all. Buffer includes X/Twitter on every plan, including Free, with no add-on.
Is Metricool cheaper than Hootsuite?
Generally, yes. Metricool has a free plan, and its Advanced plan for teams starts at $67/month billed monthly for up to 15 brands. Hootsuite has no free plan and starts at $149/user per month billed monthly. Metricool's add-ons for X/Twitter and advanced analytics may close some of that gap, depending on your setup.
What is the best Metricool alternative for agencies?
There are many social media management tools well suited for agencies looking for a Metricool alternative. SocialPilot offers a white-labeled platform with a custom domain, branded login, and white-labeled reports on its published plans. Planable is a good fit for agencies that need structured approval workflows. Buffer's Team plan includes unlimited users, customizable permission levels, and approval workflows if you mostly need a flexible way to manage client content.
Can I switch from Metricool without losing my content?
Your published posts and accounts live on the social platforms themselves, so switching tools won't remove them. Connect your accounts to the new tool before you cancel Metricool, then recreate any posts still scheduled there. Some tools, including Buffer, also pull in past post data when you connect a channel, though how far back that goes depends on what each platform allows.
More resources
- Buffer vs. Metricool in 2026: An Honest Comparison
- 20+ Social Media Management Tools
- 22 Top Social Media Analytics Tools
- 8 Sprout Social Alternatives to Try in 2026
from Buffer Resources https://ift.tt/eqfZsLG
If you love geeking out over the numbers, Metricool is a good fit. It’ll tell you what's working, how your competitors are doing, and where your traffic is coming from. Plus, it gives you plenty to work with at a starting price that's easy on the wallet.
That said, Metricool gets trickier to stick with as your setup grows. Some of the features people reach for sit behind add-ons or higher plans, so the price you start with isn't always the price you end up paying. For example:
- Platform access: LinkedIn and X/Twitter are missing from the Free plan entirely, and while X is available for paid plan users, it’s a paid add-on for each account you connect
- Analytics: the full analytics suite and custom reports need an upgrade or a paid add-on, and complete X analytics are available on the higher tiers only
- AI features: AI credits are capped on every plan, and when you run out, you either move up a plan or wait for it to reset next month
- API and agency features: API access and white label sit on the higher tiers, while the MCP has limits on lower ones
- Expensive hashtag tracking: While it's one of the few tools that support hashtag tracking on X and Instagram, it comes at an eye-watering cost of €25/day per social media channel (but only for the days you use it)
If you're looking for a Metricool alternative, there are many social media management tools that do everything it does. I've tested a whole bunch of them, both as a creator and as someone who works in marketing, and each of the seven options below brings its own strengths to the metaphorical table.
Even if Buffer isn't your pick, this list should help you land on the tool that fits the way you work.
Key takeaways
- Best overall value: Buffer has a free plan, paid plans from $6/channel per month, and X/Twitter and LinkedIn are included on every plan.
- Best for tracking competitors: Hootsuite's competitive benchmarking sits right next to your own performance data.
- Best for high-volume comments and DMs: Sprout Social's Smart Inbox pulls messages from across your social channels and ads into one stream.
- Best for in-depth analytics and ROI reporting: Agorapulse ties social activity to tangible results.
- Best for agencies that want a white-labeled platform: SocialPilot lets you hand clients a dashboard on your own domain, with your branding.
- Best for visual planning, especially on Instagram: Later's drag-and-drop calendar and grid preview show your feed before anything goes live.
- Best for multi-step client approvals: Planable's approval workflows are strong, so posts only publish once everyone has signed off.
- Pricing reality: Metricool's Starter plan for one user runs from $25 per month billed monthly, and Advanced plan for teams from $67 per month. But X/Twitter costs $10/month more per account, advanced analytics is a paid add-on, and white label needs a custom plan — the alternatives here bundle those features differently, so check which ones you'd actually be paying extra for.
Metricool alternatives at a glance
| Tool | Best for | Starting price |
|---|---|---|
| Buffer | Creators, small businesses, and growing agencies that want a flexible, affordable social media management tool | Free (paid plans from $6/channel/month) |
| Hootsuite | Teams tracking competitors alongside their own brand | 14-day free trial, then $149/user/month |
| Sprout Social | Teams handling a high volume of comments and DMs across networks | 30-day free trial, then $99/seat/month |
| Agorapulse | Teams that need in-depth analytics and ROI reporting | 30-day free trial, then $99/user/month |
| SocialPilot | Agencies that want a white-labeled platform for clients | 14-day free trial, then $30/month |
| Later | Brands focused on visual planning, especially on Instagram | Free, (paid plans start from $25/month) |
| Planable | Teams and agencies that run multi-step client approvals | Free (paid plans from $39/workspace/month) |
Jump to a section:
1. Buffer
Best for creators, small businesses, and growing agencies that want a flexible, affordable social media management tool.
| Pricing information | Details |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes |
| Paid plans | Starting at $6/channel per month (billed monthly) |
| Annual billing | 20% off on all paid plans |
| Free trial | Yes, 14 days |
Buffer is the tool I keep returning to, no matter how many others I try. It covers what most creators and small teams need day-to-day, from generating and publishing content to tracking its performance and staying on top of comments and mentions across platforms.
That's not just me saying it because this is the Buffer website — I've been a Buffer user both as a creator and part of a small team managing a brand, so I speak from experience here.
Buffer doesn't charge extra for any of the supported platforms. If you're coming from Metricool, that's one thing you'll notice right away: X/Twitter and LinkedIn are included on every plan, free included, at no extra cost.
Here's what you get on the Free plan:
- Post to 12 social media platforms: Connect X/Twitter, LinkedIn , Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Substack, Pinterest, YouTube, Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon, and Google Business Profile.
- Schedule posts across three channels: Keep up to 10 posts queued per channel, and a slot opens back up every time one publishes. Crossposting lets you write a post once and tweak it for each platform from the same composer.
- Save ideas in Create Space: Save up to 100 content ideas, tag them, sort them in a Kanban view, and turn them into drafts when you're ready. The template library gives you a starting point when you're stuck.
- Use the AI Assistant as much as you like: There's no credit cap on any plan for using AI in content generation. Draft posts, repurpose old content, brainstorm ideas, write alt text, or test different hooks without watching a counter.
- Reply from one inbox: The Community inbox pulls comments and mentions from Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, X/Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Mastodon, and Google Business Profile into one place, with five AI reply suggestions a week.
- Get analytics that tell you what to do next: Insights shows 30 days of history, and the AI-powered takeaways give you suggestions for what to do next based on what's working and where you could use a little nudge.
- Build your own workflows with the API and MCP: The API is available on every plan, including Free. The MCP connects Buffer to tools like Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Notion, Zapier, Cursor, n8n, and Raycast.
- Talk to a human when you need help: Support is handled by people, with 24/7 coverage on every plan, so you'll always have a human to help you out. Buffer's AI chatbot helps you search the docs, with an easy way to reach the team if you need more help.
If you need more than three channels, unlimited scheduled posts, unlimited AI reply suggestions, unlimited analytics history, and exports, the Essentials plan starts at $6/channel per month.
For teams, the Team plan starts at $12/channel per month and adds unlimited team members at no extra cost, permission levels set per channel, comments to collaborate on drafts, and approval workflows so nothing goes out without the right person seeing it first.
Both come with a 14-day free trial, so you can try every feature before you commit.
2. Hootsuite
Best for teams that want competitor benchmarking alongside their own analytics.
| Pricing information | Details |
|---|---|
| Free plan | No |
| Paid plans | Starting at $149/user per month (billed monthly) |
| Annual billing | Between 20% and 34% off depending on your plan |
| Free trial | Yes, 14 days |
If competitor tracking is the Metricool feature you'd miss most, Hootsuite is a good fit. It's an enterprise-grade platform built for marketing teams with the budget to match.
Competitor tracking lets you build a private watchlist of competitor accounts and follow their posts, engagement, and follower growth. Competitive analysis is where that data becomes useful. You can benchmark against those competitors or your wider industry, spot gaps in what you're posting, and set goals based on what's realistic in your space.
On the flip side, Hootsuite lets you track 20 competitors to Metricool's 100 on the higher tiers. If you need more, the Enterprise plan has you covered.
Hootsuite also brings bulk scheduling and more than 100 integrations, including Canva, Salesforce, and Zendesk. That's a lot of tool — and starting at $149/user per month, it's priced for teams that will use most of it.
3. Sprout Social
Best for teams that handle a high volume of comments and DMs across networks.
| Pricing information | Details |
|---|---|
| Free plan | No |
| Paid plans | Starting at $99/seat per month for up to 5 social profiles |
| Annual billing | Between 20 and 25% off, depending on your plan |
| Free trial | Yes, 30 days |
Sprout Social is great for teams that spend a big chunk of their day replying to people on social media. If your channels regularly field comments, questions, and DMs, Sprout Social is worth a close look.
The Smart Inbox gathers incoming comments, mentions, messages and even Meta and TikTok ad comments in a single feed so your team can manage paid and organic conversations in one place. Teammates can hand off conversations to someone else and tag them by topic or sentiment. You can also set spike alerts and inbox rules to notify the team if there's an unusually large number of conversations or a keyword in a message triggers a rule. On X, you can even pull in posts that name your brand without tagging it.
Sprout Social also plugs into helpdesk tools like Zendesk, Salesforce, and HubSpot so you can turn your social media conversations into a full customer support workflow. In all, it's a pretty strong set of inbox tools for teams that spend a lot of time interacting with their audience.
Some of these inbox features sit on Sprout's higher tiers, so check the pricing page for the plan that includes what you need.
4. Agorapulse
Best for teams that need in-depth analytics, from ROI reporting to a Looker Studio connection.
| Pricing information | Details |
|---|---|
| Free plan | No |
| Paid plans | Starting at $99/user per month (billed monthly) for up to 10 social profiles |
| Annual billing | 20% off on all paid plans |
| Free trial | Yes, 30 days |
If reporting depth is the Metricool feature you'd miss most, Agorapulse is a good fit.
Agorapulse's ROI reports tie your social activity back to results, which makes it easier to show leadership that the time and budget going into social is paying off. On top of that, you get data about your post performance, audience demographics, ads performance, and even community management to see your team's response rate and time.
You can turn all this data into incredibly detailed custom reports to share. Its read-only API is laser-focused on data, so you can export it into an external tool of your choice for analysis. And if Metricool's Data Studio connection (formerly known as Looker Studio) is what's keeping you, Agorapulse has you covered here too.
You also get bulk scheduling, Facebook post boosts, and Archie, an AI content creation studio that repurposes your blog posts, YouTube videos, podcasts and the like into posts for your socials.
5. SocialPilot
Best for agencies that want a fully white-labeled platform to give clients.
| Pricing information | Details |
|---|---|
| Free plan | No |
| Paid plans | Starting at $30/month for 1 user and 7 social accounts |
| Annual billing | 15% off on all paid plans |
| Free trial | Yes, 14 days, no credit card required |
SocialPilot is a strong tool for agencies that want to offer clients a fully white-labeled social media platform.
You can run the whole platform on a custom domain, with a branded login page, dashboard, and custom emails. White-labeled reports round it out, so your analytics reports also contain your agency's logo and colors. White label isn't on the $30 entry plan, so you'll need one of SocialPilot's higher tiers to unlock it.
Beyond that, you get bulk scheduling with CSV uploads, granular team permissions, and an asset library to store your images and videos.
6. Later
Best for brands that plan their content visually, especially on Instagram.
| Pricing information | Details |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes |
| Paid plans | Starting at $25/month for 1 user and 1 social set (up to 8 social profiles) |
| Annual billing | 25% off on all paid plans |
| Free trial | Yes, 14 days |
Later is a good fit for creators and brands that plan by how their feed looks, and it's especially handy if Instagram is where most of your content lives.
The drag-and-drop calendar makes it easy to shuffle posts around, and the Instagram grid preview shows exactly how your feed will look before anything goes live. Plus, there are some solid features for Instagram: tagging products, scheduling collab posts, creator marketplace, and a whole influencer marketing platform (that's a separate cost).
Later's strongest for Instagram, but it isn't limited to it. You can use it to manage your social media presence across most major social networks, including TikTok, Pinterest, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Threads, and it's one of the few tools on this list that supports Snapchat.
7. Planable
Best for teams and agencies that need multi-step content approvals with clients.
| Pricing information | Details |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes (50 posts total) |
| Paid plans | Starting at $39/workspace per month for 1 workspace and unlimited users |
| Annual billing | Two months free |
| Free trial | No (the free plan works as a one-time trial) |
Planable is a social media management tool that takes the guesswork out of content approvals. If your team has strict controls for sign-off before anything publishes, Planable has approval workflows for exactly that.
You've got different approval levels to choose from: none, optional, and required. At the most comprehensive end is multi-level approval, where a post moves from one reviewer to the next and only publishes once everyone on the list has signed off.
Team members can leave internal comments and keep drafts private before anything goes in front of a client. Clients can leave feedback directly on posts without signing in to Planable at all.
The more advanced approval chains sit on Planable's higher plans, so check which approval types your plan includes. And if you need analytics and a social inbox, factor in that those are paid add-ons, not part of the plans' listed prices.
How to find the right Metricool alternative for you
There's no one tool on this list that's right for everyone. It comes down to how you use Metricool today and what you want more (or less) of. Here are a few questions to help you build a shortlist:
- What's your budget? Buffer's paid plans are flexible, starting at $6/channel per month, so you only pay for the channels you actually use. There's also a free forever plan for up to 3 channels if you'd like to start there. Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and Agorapulse charge per user, which adds up as your team grows.
- Which networks are you active on? If X/Twitter, LinkedIn, or Substack are in your mix, Buffer includes them all on every plan, Free included. Later is worth a look if Instagram gets most of your attention, and it supports Snapchat, too.
- How deep does your reporting go? If you report ROI to leadership, Agorapulse's integrations, custom reports, and API make that easier. If competitor benchmarking is part of the job, Hootsuite covers it. If you need raw data turned into insights, Buffer turns the data into plain-language takeaways, so you know what to post more of, what to repurpose, and where to engage.
- Are you an agency or managing your own brand? Agencies get the most out of SocialPilot's white label and Planable's client approvals, where clients can leave feedback without signing in. If it's your own brand, Later is a good fit for Instagram, and Buffer is a flexible, easy-to-use option if you post across several networks.
- How busy is your inbox? If your team spends a big part of the day replying to comments, mentions, and DMs, including on ads, Sprout Social's Smart Inbox and spike alerts help you keep up.
Every tool on this list has a free trial, and some — including Buffer — offer free plans. Pick two or three that fit and run them alongside Metricool for a couple of weeks to get a feel for them.
Using them with your real accounts is the fastest way to see which reports, calendar, and workflow actually suit you.
If Buffer turns out to be the one, we'd be glad to have you. If not, I hope this list helped you land on the right tool for your brand.
FAQs about Metricool alternatives
Is there a free alternative to Metricool?
Yes. Buffer's Free plan includes three channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time (refilled as they publish), unlimited AI Assistant, analytics and insights, the Community inbox, and API access. X/Twitter and LinkedIn are both included at no additional cost, as is Substack. Planable also has a free plan, capped at 50 posts total. Later's free plan is limited to 12 posts per month per social channel.
Does Metricool have a free plan?
Yes. Metricool's Free plan covers one brand and up to 20 posts a month, with tracking for up to five competitor profiles. LinkedIn and X/Twitter aren't available on the Free plan, and some analytics and custom reports require an upgrade.
Does Metricool charge extra for X/Twitter?
Yes. On Metricool's paid plans, X/Twitter is a paid add-on that costs $10/month for each X account you connect. It isn't available on the Free plan at all. Buffer includes X/Twitter on every plan, including Free, with no add-on.
Is Metricool cheaper than Hootsuite?
Generally, yes. Metricool has a free plan, and its Advanced plan for teams starts at $67/month billed monthly for up to 15 brands. Hootsuite has no free plan and starts at $149/user per month billed monthly. Metricool's add-ons for X/Twitter and advanced analytics may close some of that gap, depending on your setup.
What is the best Metricool alternative for agencies?
There are many social media management tools well suited for agencies looking for a Metricool alternative. SocialPilot offers a white-labeled platform with a custom domain, branded login, and white-labeled reports on its published plans. Planable is a good fit for agencies that need structured approval workflows. Buffer's Team plan includes unlimited users, customizable permission levels, and approval workflows if you mostly need a flexible way to manage client content.
Can I switch from Metricool without losing my content?
Your published posts and accounts live on the social platforms themselves, so switching tools won't remove them. Connect your accounts to the new tool before you cancel Metricool, then recreate any posts still scheduled there. Some tools, including Buffer, also pull in past post data when you connect a channel, though how far back that goes depends on what each platform allows.
More resources
- Buffer vs. Metricool in 2026: An Honest Comparison
- 20+ Social Media Management Tools
- 22 Top Social Media Analytics Tools
- 8 Sprout Social Alternatives to Try in 2026
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