Metricool Alternatives: Why People Switch and What to Compare
The short version: if you have an app and your Metricool planner is empty most weeks, use Spreadcast. It designs each post from your App Store listing and publishes it for you, and Metricool's free plan can measure the results. If you want a simpler queue, use Buffer. If X is one of your main networks, use Publer. If analytics is the main job, use Iconosquare.
For the longer answer, start with what you would be giving up. Metricool's pricing page lists a free plan for 1 brand and a Starter plan from $25 a month for up to 5 brands, as of October 2026. Starter keeps your whole analytics history, tracks up to 100 competitors and exports PDF and PPT reports. That is the bar every alternative has to clear.
The complaints that send people looking are consistent, and each one can be checked against Metricool's own pages. X is not included: it is an add on at $10 a month per connected account since July 13, 2026, double the earlier price, according to Metricool's guide to the X add on. The free plan cannot connect LinkedIn or X. Team roles, post approval, the API and the Data Studio connector all start on Advanced, from $67 a month. Deeper analytics is a separate add on from $12 a month, per Metricool's plans and add ons article.
A second group leaves for the opposite reason. Metricool shows a lot of numbers, and a solo founder who only wants to queue a week of posts can find a simpler tool for less. A third group never had posts to schedule in the first place.
So this list of Metricool competitors compares on three things: how far back the analytics go, what the reports can do, and what one brand costs. We make Spreadcast, and it comes first because it is the only tool here that designs your posts from your App Store listing and publishes them. The other seven are tools like Metricool: they schedule and measure the posts you create, and they appear roughly from cheapest to most expensive for a single brand. Before you compare reports, settle which social media KPIs you need to see.
Metricool Alternatives Compared: Price for One Brand and Free Plan
Metricool is included as the baseline, and Spreadcast comes first for the reason given above. Price for one brand assumes one person and about four social profiles. Monthly billing unless the vendor shows only a yearly rate.
| Tool | Pick it when | Price for one brand | Free plan | Main limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metricool, for reference | You want analytics and reports on a small budget | $25 a month, and it covers 5 brands | Yes, 1 brand | X is a $10 add on per account |
| Spreadcast | You have an app and want the posts designed and published for you | $29 a month flat for 1 app, with design, captions and publishing to 8 networks included | Yes, every post drafted for you | Built for apps on the App Store. Keep Metricool beside it for reports |
| Buffer | You want the simplest scheduler | $20 a month for 4 channels | Yes, 3 channels | No competitor tracking on the pricing page |
| Publer | You need X without an add on | From $5 a month for one account | Yes, 3 accounts | Analytics only on the Business plan |
| Iconosquare | Analytics is the main job | From €9 a month for 3 profiles, billed yearly | Yes, 2 profiles | 30 posts a month on Starter |
| Later | Instagram and TikTok are your main networks | $18.75 a month, billed yearly | Not on the pricing page, 14 day trial | 30 posts per profile on Starter, X is not on its list of networks |
| Agorapulse | A team answers comments and messages | $99 per user per month, $79 on annual billing | A free AI content plan only | 10 social profiles per plan, and X is a paid add on |
| Sprout Social | You need the deepest reporting | $99 per seat per month, $79 on annual billing | No, 30 day trial | Premium Analytics is a paid add on |
| Hootsuite | You need listening and benchmarking | $99 per user per month, billed annually | No, 14 day trial | Priced per user |
Prices checked on October 11, 2026. Iconosquare lists prices in euros.
The 8 Best Metricool Alternatives in 2026
Spreadcast is ours and comes first, because it is the only one that designs the posts from your App Store listing and publishes them for you. The seven tools after it are ranked for someone who wants to schedule and measure their own posts. Each entry covers the analytics you get, the price for one brand, and the limit you are most likely to hit.
- 1
Spreadcast
Free, then $29 a month with publishing includedBest if you have an app: it designs the posts and publishes them for you
Spreadcast designs the post for you. Paste your App Store link at the start page and it checks the listing every day. A new version, a 5 star review or a rating milestone becomes a finished 1080 by 1350 post, designed from your icon, your screenshots and your colors, with a caption written for each network. On Pro it publishes to Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, Threads, Pinterest, Bluesky, Mastodon, Telegram and Discord, plus YouTube for video posts, after one tap of approval or on full autopilot. A post that quotes a reviewer waits for your approval, because Apple's ratings and reviews guidance requires the reviewer's permission. That is the difference from the seven tools below: they schedule and measure posts, and making each post stays with you. On price, Pro is $29 a month flat with X and LinkedIn included. Metricool Starter with one X account is $35 a month ($25 plus the $10 add on) before anyone has made a post. The free plan drafts every post for one app, and Studio is $79 a month for 5 apps. It is built for apps on the App Store and shows basic stats for each post, so keep Metricool or one of the tools below for reports and competitor tracking.
Setup is one link. Spreadcast reads the public listing, so there is no SDK to install and nothing to connect in your developer account. In a week with no update it drafts a post about one of the app's features, which keeps the feed moving. Every post takes the next free slot on a calendar, and you can drag it to another day.
Free drafts carry a small Spreadcast mark, Pro posts are clean, and Studio gives each of its 5 apps its own brand and adds 3 seats. Spreadcast suits app founders, indie developers and small studios who ship often and rarely post. Google Play is next on the list and not available yet.
Pros
- Designs each post from your icon, screenshots and colors
- Publishes to 8 networks, with a caption written for each
- Starts from one App Store link, with no SDK
- Free plan drafts every post
- Flat $29 a month, with LinkedIn included
- MCP server so Claude or ChatGPT can design posts, write captions and schedule them, drafts only by default
Cons
- Built for apps on the App Store
- Still image posts, so keep an editor for video
- 2
Buffer
Free for 3 channels, then $6 a month per channelBest when you want fewer numbers and a simpler queue
Buffer is where people go when Metricool feels like more dashboard than they need. Buffer's pricing page charges $6 a month per channel on Essentials and $12 on Team when billed monthly ($5 and $10 billed yearly), and X counts as an ordinary channel with no surcharge. For analytics, the free plan keeps 30 days of insights history and the paid plans keep it without a limit. Essentials adds advanced analytics, custom analytics and reports, and Team adds branded reports and unlimited team members. One brand with four channels costs $24 a month, or $20 on yearly billing. Five brands with four channels each means 20 channels, which is where Metricool's flat $25 for 5 brands wins clearly. The limit for analytics minded users: the pricing page lists no competitor tracking. The Buffer comparison has more detail.
Buffer's Insights view covers follower growth, engagement, impressions and post performance. Paid plans can export the current view as a CSV, Markdown or PDF file, and free accounts can download the charts as images, per Buffer's Insights help article. The same article says that when you connect a channel Buffer imports your most recent posts and backfills followers and reach as far as the network allows.
The free plan allows 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time and 1 user. Team adds approval workflows and access levels, and paid plans start with a 14 day trial. Buffer suits a solo founder with a handful of channels who wants a queue and a few charts. On Metricool vs Buffer, the deciding point is competitors and ads: neither appears on Buffer's pricing page.
Pros
- X is a normal channel, with no add on
- Insights history without a limit on paid plans
- CSV, Markdown and PDF export on paid plans
Cons
- Priced per channel, so 8 channels cost $48 a month
- No competitor tracking on the pricing page
- Free plan keeps 30 days of insights
- 3
Publer
Free for 3 accounts, then from $5 a monthBest low cost pick when X is one of your main networks
Publer bills per social account and includes X on its paid plans. Per Publer's plans and pricing article, Professional starts at $5 a month and Business at $10 a month for one account, with 20 percent off on yearly billing and every tenth account free. Analytics is the catch. Advanced analytics, downloadable reports, competitor analysis and best times to post are Business features, so the price that compares with Metricool Starter is the Business one. The free plan covers 3 accounts, cannot connect X, and keeps published posts in your history for 24 hours, so there is little to look back on. See the Publer comparison.
Publer's Business plan article lists what Business adds to Professional: analytics for your accounts, downloadable and automatic reports, best times to post, competitor analysis, recurring posts, and roles with approval workflows. Reports export as PDF or as Excel or CSV, and only the PDF version can be emailed on a schedule, per Publer's guide to downloading analytics reports.
Professional comes with a 7 day trial and Business with a 14 day one. Paid plans keep the full history of published posts and add bulk scheduling and automatic posting from RSS feeds. Publer suits a founder who posts on X and wants the lowest entry price. Skip Professional if you came to Metricool for the numbers.
Pros
- X included on paid plans, with no add on
- From $5 a month for one account
- PDF, Excel and CSV reports on Business
Cons
- Analytics start on Business, the dearer plan
- Free plan cannot connect X
- Free plan keeps 24 hours of post history
- 4
Iconosquare
Free for 2 profiles, paid from €9 a month billed yearlyBest when analytics matters more than scheduling
Iconosquare is the closest in spirit to Metricool: an analytics product with a scheduler attached. Iconosquare's pricing page shows a free plan with 2 profiles and 1 month of analytics history. Starter, from €9 a month for 3 profiles, gives 1 year of history, custom dashboards and an AI analyst. Launch, from €33, adds automated reports, an inbox and X. Scale, from €69 for 5 profiles, extends history to 2 years and adds competitor and hashtag monitoring, approval workflows and 3 users. White label reports and the API are on the Custom plan. The limits: Starter caps you at 30 posts a month and Launch at 100, prices are in euros on yearly billing, and competitor monitoring sits two plans above the entry price.
Iconosquare covers 8 networks: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, X, Pinterest, Threads and YouTube. Reports download as PDF or XLS, and the listening tools on Scale compare you with 5 competitors per profile. Iconosquare's note on historical data says likes, comments and saves on past Instagram posts arrive accurate, reach and impressions can usually be pulled from up to two years before you add the profile, and earlier follower growth is estimated.
Yearly billing equals two months free, and Iconosquare notes that pricing varies by region. Starter is €15 a month for up to 5 profiles, and Scale runs from €69 for 5 profiles to €219 for 20. Paid plans start with a 14 day trial without a card. One caution: the plan cards cap Starter at 30 posts a month and Launch at 100, while the comparison table on the same page says up to 150 and up to 500 scheduled posts, so ask which applies.
Pros
- 1 year of analytics history from €9 a month
- Reports in PDF or XLS
- Free plan for 2 profiles
Cons
- X starts on Launch, from €33 a month
- Competitor monitoring only on Scale
- Bluesky is not on its list of networks
- 5
Later
From $18.75 a month, billed yearlyBest for creators who plan Instagram and TikTok first
Later sells social sets, and a set is one profile on each network it supports. Later's pricing page lists Starter at $18.75 a month on yearly billing with 1 set, 1 user and analytics going back 3 months. Growth, at $37.50, has 2 sets, 2 users, 1 year of analytics, a social inbox and approvals. Scale, at $82.50, has 6 sets, 2 years of analytics, custom analytics, competitive benchmarking and Meta ads analytics. Later supports Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Threads, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Snapchat. The limits: no free plan on the pricing page, 30 posts per profile on Starter and 180 on Growth, and X is not on the list of networks. Metricool gives more history for less money, so pick Later for its Instagram and TikTok features, such as Reels audio, best time to post and link in bio. The Later comparison covers those.
Every current paid plan includes Instagram analytics with a performance report and CSV export, according to Later's help page on Instagram analytics by plan. The plan changes the window: 3 months on Starter, 1 year on Growth, 2 years on Scale. Scale is also where benchmarking against up to 20 competitors and brand mentions sit.
Billed monthly the plans cost $25, $50 and $110, and yearly billing takes 25 percent off. Growth and Scale accept add ons, such as an extra social set for $11.25 a month on yearly billing. Starter accepts none. Later's plan reference guide still lists a Free tier with 12 posts per profile a month, which the pricing page does not show. Later suits a creator or a shop that lives on Instagram and TikTok. On Metricool vs Later, skip Later if you post on X or run several brands.
Pros
- One social set covers a profile on each of 8 networks
- Instagram analytics with CSV export on every paid plan
- Approvals and a social inbox from Growth
Cons
- 30 posts per profile a month on Starter
- X is not on its list of networks
- 3 months of analytics on Starter
- 6
Agorapulse
From $99 per user per month, or $79 on annual billingBest for teams that need an inbox and reports together
Agorapulse makes sense when the thing you outgrew is Metricool's team side. Agorapulse's pricing page lists Standard at $79 per user per month on annual billing with 10 social profiles, a unified inbox, basic audience and content reports and branded report export. Professional, at $119, adds assignments and team performance reports. Advanced, at $149, adds advanced reports, return on investment analysis and competitor benchmarking. It costs several times what Metricool does, and what you pay for is the inbox workflow. The limits: all three plans stop at 10 profiles, pricing is per user, and competitor benchmarking is on the top plan where Metricool includes competitors from the free plan up.
Every plan schedules without a post cap and exports reports as PDF or CSV. How long your data stays depends on the plan: 6 months on Standard, 12 on Professional and 24 on Advanced. Advanced also adds PowerPoint export, scheduled report emails and ads reporting for Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Looker Studio and an import of up to 24 months of past data belong to the Custom plan.
Billed monthly the plans are $99, $149 and $199 per user, and the trial runs 30 days without a card. X is separate. Agorapulse's article on its X add ons prices X Lite, for publishing only, at $29 a month per connected X profile and X Plus, with inbox and reports, at $69. Agorapulse suits a team that shares an inbox and answers customers daily. A solo founder pays $99 a month for 6 months of data, where Metricool Starter keeps the full history for $25.
Pros
- Unified inbox on every plan
- PDF and CSV reports on Standard, PowerPoint on Advanced
- Ads reporting for Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn on Advanced
Cons
- Priced per user
- 6 months of data on Standard
- X is a paid add on, from $29 a month per profile
- 7
Sprout Social
From $99 per seat per month, or $79 on annual billingBest reporting depth if the budget allows it
Sprout Social is the choice for a marketing team that reports to executives. Sprout Social's pricing page starts with Essentials at $79 per seat per month on annual billing: 5 profiles, publishing, and reporting at profile and post level. Standard is $199 and adds the inbox and keyword monitoring. Professional, at $299, adds competitor, tag and paid insights with unlimited profiles. Advanced, at $399, adds team productivity and customer care reports. Premium Analytics and Listening are add ons on top, from Standard up. The trial runs 30 days. The limit is plain: one Essentials seat costs more than three months of Metricool Starter, and it covers 5 profiles for one brand.
Reporting depth is the reason to pay. Advanced also adds sentiment in the inbox and the Sprout API. The Premium Analytics add on brings advanced filtering, custom comparisons and report links you can share. Every plan includes Trellis, Sprout's AI agent, with 100 credits per seat a month.
Essentials and Standard each connect 5 profiles, so a brand on six or more networks needs Professional, at $299 per seat a month on annual billing. Sprout suits a marketing team with a budget for social and a manager who reads the reports. A founder with one brand pays about four times the Metricool Starter price for the entry plan: $99 against $25 on monthly billing.
Pros
- Competitor, tag and paid insights on Professional
- Unlimited profiles from Professional
- 30 day trial without a card
Cons
- Priced per seat, from $79 on annual billing
- 5 profiles on Essentials and Standard
- Premium Analytics and Listening cost extra
- 8
Hootsuite
From $99 per user per month, billed annuallyBest when you need social listening next to analytics
Hootsuite covers ground Metricool does not try to: brand and competitor monitoring on every plan and an inbox built for customer care. On Hootsuite's plans page, Standard is $99 per user per month on annual billing with 10 social accounts and benchmarking against up to 5 competitors. Professional, at $199, has unlimited accounts, custom and scheduled reports, benchmarking against up to 20 competitors and trend forecasts up to 90 days ahead. The limits: there is no free plan, only a 14 day trial, and every extra person is another seat. Metricool Starter analyzes up to 100 competitors, so on that single measure the cheaper tool covers more. The Hootsuite comparison has the full pricing table.
Standard already includes a unified inbox, analytics, and posts and images written with AI. Professional adds report export, a search across the last 30 days of conversations, automatic boosting of your best posts and inbox automation. Advanced, at $399, adds content approvals, message routing and reports with your logo that can be emailed outside the team.
The trial needs no card. On Metricool vs Hootsuite the split is plain. Metricool Starter costs $20 a month on annual billing against $99 per user for Hootsuite Standard, and it gives one person more competitor data. Hootsuite gives a team listening, routing and approvals. Skip it if you work alone and mainly want charts.
Pros
- Brand and competitor monitoring on every plan
- Benchmarking against 5 competitors on Standard, 20 on Professional
- Unified inbox on every plan
Cons
- No free plan
- Priced per user, from $99 on annual billing
- Custom and scheduled reports start on Professional
Metricool Pricing in 2026: Plans, Brands and the X Add On
Metricool is a social media tool built around analytics, with a planner, an inbox and ads reporting attached. It bills per brand, and a brand holds one profile on each network. The Free plan is free forever according to Metricool's pricing page. The gap between Metricool Free and Starter is the big one: Metricool's article on Free and paid plans says Free users cannot download PDF or PPT reports, cannot swap the 5 competitors they chose and get no daily sync of ads data.
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly, per month | Brands | Analytics history | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 1 | 30 days | 20 scheduled posts a month, 5 competitor profiles and an AI assistant. LinkedIn and X cannot be connected |
| Starter | $25 for 5 brands, $45 for 10 | $20 for 5 brands, $36 for 10 | 5 or 10 | Unlimited | No monthly post cap under a fair use policy, LinkedIn, up to 100 competitors, PDF and PPT reports, several link in bio pages |
| Advanced | $67 for 15 brands, $107 for 25, $210 for 50 | $53 for 15 brands, $85 for 25, $159 for 50 | 15, 25 or 50 | Unlimited | Team and client management, roles, post approval, report templates, the Data Studio connector and the API with Zapier and Make |
| Custom | On request | On request | More than 50 | Unlimited | White label and a dedicated account manager |
| X add on | $10 per connected X account | $120 a year per account | One X account per brand | 30 days of stored metrics for X | Starter or higher only. The price rose from $5 on July 13, 2026 |
| Advanced Analytics add on | From $12 on Starter and $36 on Advanced | Not stated | Covers every brand in the account | Not stated | Metricool Studio, plus campaign dashboards past the 3 a plan includes |
Prices in US dollars, without VAT, read on Metricool's pricing page on October 11, 2026. The X add on is described in Metricool's guide to the X add on and the analytics add on in Metricool's plans and add ons article. A hashtag tracker is sold separately at $25 a day.
Social Media Analytics Tools Compared: History, Reports and Competitors
If analytics is the reason you are comparing, these three columns decide which is the best social media analytics tool for you. Cells come from each vendor's pricing page, and export formats from its help center, such as Metricool's guide to reports. Spreadcast makes the posts and leaves the measuring to an analytics tool, so its row says what to pair it with.
| Tool | Analytics history | Reports | Competitor data |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metricool | 30 days on Free, unlimited on paid plans | PDF and PPT from Starter, a monthly report by email, the last 100 kept for download, templates on Advanced | 5 profiles on Free, up to 100 on paid plans |
| Spreadcast | Basic stats for each post it publishes | Pair it with any tool in this table for reports | Pair it with Metricool, which tracks 5 competitors on its free plan |
| Buffer | 30 days on Free, unlimited on Essentials and Team | PDF, CSV or Markdown export on paid plans, branded reports on Team | Not stated |
| Publer | Analytics on Business only, length not stated | PDF, Excel or CSV on Business, PDF by email on a schedule | Competitor analysis on Business |
| Iconosquare | 1 month on Free, 1 year on Starter and Launch, 2 years on Scale | PDF or XLS, automated reports from Launch, white label on Custom | 5 competitors per profile on Scale |
| Later | 3 months on Starter, 1 year on Growth, 2 years on Scale | Instagram performance report and CSV export on paid plans, custom analytics on Scale | Up to 20 competitors on Scale |
| Agorapulse | 6 months on Standard, 12 on Professional, 24 on Advanced | PDF and CSV on Standard, PowerPoint and scheduled emails on Advanced | Benchmarking on Advanced |
| Sprout Social | Not stated | Profile and post reports on Essentials, Premium Analytics as an add on | Competitor insights on Professional |
| Hootsuite | Not stated | Custom, scheduled and exported reports on Professional | 5 competitors on Standard, 20 on Professional |
Checked on October 11, 2026. Not stated means the vendor's pricing page gives no figure, so ask before you rely on it.
Tools Like Metricool Compared: Scheduling, Ads Reporting, Inbox and Data Export
This second half of the feature by feature comparison covers what sits around the charts. Metricool reports on three ad platforms and includes an inbox, so check these columns before you call another tool a full replacement.
| Tool | Scheduling limit | Ads reporting | Inbox | Data export and Looker Studio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metricool | 20 posts a month on Free, no monthly cap on paid plans | Facebook Ads, Google Ads and TikTok Ads, synced daily on paid plans | Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Google Business Profile, plus LinkedIn on paid plans. X needs the add on | API and Data Studio connector on Advanced, per Metricool's API article. Its reports guide lists no CSV download |
| Spreadcast | Spreadcast designs each post and publishes it for you | Organic posts. Keep Metricool beside it for ads reports | Replies stay in each network's app or in Metricool's inbox | Basic stats for each post |
| Buffer | 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time on Free, no cap on paid plans | Not stated | Comment replies on every plan | CSV, Markdown or PDF on paid plans. Looker Studio not stated |
| Publer | 10 scheduled posts per account at a time on Free, no cap on paid plans | Not stated | Not stated | Excel or CSV on Business. API for Business customers in good standing |
| Iconosquare | 10 posts a month per profile on Free, 30 on Starter, 100 on Launch, no cap on Scale | Paid performance tracking on Scale | Comments, messages and mentions from Launch | XLS and PDF. API on Custom. Looker Studio not stated |
| Later | 12 posts per profile a month on Free, 30 on Starter, 180 on Growth, no cap on Scale | Meta ads analytics on Scale | Social inbox from Growth | CSV export of Instagram analytics. Looker Studio not stated |
| Agorapulse | No post cap on any plan | Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn ads on Advanced | Unified inbox on every plan | CSV on Standard. Looker Studio and reports API on Custom |
| Sprout Social | Not stated | Paid insights on Professional | From Standard | API on Advanced. Looker Studio not stated |
| Hootsuite | Not stated | Automatic boosting of top posts on Professional. Ads reports not stated | Unified inbox on every plan | Report export on Professional. Looker Studio not stated |
Checked on October 11, 2026. Not stated means we found no statement on the vendor's pricing page or help center.
Metricool Alternatives by Need: Match Your Reason to a Tool
Match your own complaint to the tool that answers it. Each card pairs a common reason for leaving Metricool with the tools that solve it.
You Have Nothing to Schedule
No analytics tool fixes an empty calendar. If you have an app, Spreadcast designs the posts from your releases and reviews and publishes them, and Metricool's free plan can measure them once they go out. The guide on how to market an app puts social posts in context with the rest of the work.
X Costs Extra on Metricool
At $10 a month per connected account, X can cost almost half of a Starter plan by itself. Buffer treats X as a normal channel at its usual price and Publer includes it on paid plans from $5 a month. Agorapulse is no escape, since it sells X as an add on too. If X is your main network, Buffer or Publer is the pick from this list: Spreadcast does not post to X.
You Want a Simpler Tool That Is Cheaper Than Metricool
A solo founder who schedules five posts a week does not need competitor charts. Buffer's free plan covers 3 channels with a plain queue, and each added channel is $6 a month. Publer starts at $5 a month for one account. Both are cheaper than Metricool for one or two channels, and Buffer passes Metricool's $25 at five channels, which cost $30.
You Want Deeper Analytics
Iconosquare is the analytics first pick at a small price: 1 year of history and custom dashboards from €9 a month. Sprout Social goes deepest, with competitor, tag and paid insights on Professional at $299 per seat a month on annual billing. Before you leave, price Metricool's own Advanced Analytics add on, from $12 a month on Starter.
You Send Reports to Clients
Metricool already exports PDF and PPT reports from Starter and emails one every month, so another social media reporting tool has to add something. Agorapulse exports branded PDF and CSV reports on Standard and PowerPoint on Advanced. Iconosquare automates PDF or XLS reports from Launch.
You Need Approvals and Roles for a Team
Metricool keeps roles and post approval on Advanced, from $67 a month. Later includes approvals on Growth at $37.50 a month on yearly billing, with 2 users. Agorapulse is built around team assignments and costs $79 per user on annual billing.
You Run an Agency With Several Clients
On price per client Metricool is hard to beat: Advanced is $67 a month for 15 brands, with client access and approvals. Agencies leave for a shared inbox, and Agorapulse charges per user with 10 profiles a plan, so count seats first. If the clients are apps, the Spreadcast page for agencies explains Studio: $79 a month for 5 apps, with the posts designed and published.
You Want Listening or a Support Inbox
Metricool has an inbox, but monitoring what people say about your brand is suite territory. Hootsuite includes monitoring on every plan and Sprout Social sells Listening as an add on. The roundup of Hootsuite alternatives compares the suites.
Instagram and TikTok Are the Whole Plan
Later's Reels audio, link in bio page and best time to post for Instagram, Facebook and TikTok suit a feed that is mostly images and short video. The list of Later alternatives covers similar tools.
Which Tools Are Cheaper Than Metricool: Price per Brand Compared
These tools bill on five different units, which makes headline prices hard to compare. Metricool bills per brand. Buffer and Publer bill per channel or account. Later bills per social set. Iconosquare bills by a band of profiles. Agorapulse, Sprout Social and Hootsuite bill per user.
For one brand with four profiles and one person, the low cost group lands close together: Buffer at $20 a month, Later at $18.75 on yearly billing, Iconosquare at €15 for up to 5 profiles on yearly billing, and Metricool at $25. The suites start at $79 to $99 for the same setup.
The gap opens when you add brands. Metricool Starter still costs $25 a month with five brands, which is $5 a brand, and $45 with ten. Buffer on yearly billing at $5 a channel comes to $100 for 20 channels at list price, a little less with its discount above 10 channels. Later comes to $71.25 for five social sets: Growth at $37.50 plus three extra sets at $11.25 each, on yearly billing. For a freelancer or a small agency with several clients, that is the strongest argument for staying where you are.
Adding people works the other way. On a per user suite, three teammates triple the bill. Buffer's Team plan includes unlimited members at $10 a channel on yearly billing, and Metricool's team management arrives with Advanced at $67 a month.
Spreadcast bills a flat price per plan: $29 a month on Pro for one app and its 8 networks. That is $4 more than Metricool Starter and $5 more than Buffer for four channels at $24, and it includes the part those prices leave to you: the post designed, a caption written for each network, and the publishing. Add one X account to Metricool Starter and the order flips, because $25 plus $10 is $35.
Metricool vs Buffer Free Plan, Row by Row
Metricool vs Buffer is the comparison people search most, and the free plans are where most of them start. The two give away different things: Metricool gives one brand on many networks with charts, Buffer gives three channels of your choice. Rows come from Metricool's pricing page and Buffer's pricing page, read on October 17, 2026.
| Free plan | Metricool Free | Buffer Free |
|---|---|---|
| What you connect | 1 brand, with one profile on each network except LinkedIn and X | Up to 3 channels from Buffer's list, which includes X, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Mastodon and Substack |
| Posting limit | 20 posts a month for the brand, reset on the 1st | 10 scheduled posts per channel at any one time, refilled as posts go out |
| Analytics history | 30 days | 30 days of insights |
| Competitor tracking | 5 competitor profiles, fixed once chosen | Not listed on the pricing page |
| Reports | Read on screen. PDF and PPT downloads start on Starter | Not included. Reports start on Essentials |
| AI help | AI assistant with 5 credits per brand a month | AI Assistant, plus 5 AI reply suggestions a week |
| Comments and messages | Inbox for your connected networks | Community inbox for replying to comments |
| AI assistants and API | The Metricool MCP works on Free. The API needs Advanced | API access with 1 key and 3,000 requests a month |
| First paid step | Starter: $25 a month for up to 5 brands, or $20 billed yearly | Essentials: $6 a month per channel, or $5 billed yearly |
Pick Metricool Free for one brand spread across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Threads, Bluesky, Pinterest and YouTube, with charts and a look at competitors. Pick Buffer Free when one of your three channels is LinkedIn or X, which Metricool Free cannot connect. On monthly billing after the free plan, Buffer costs less for one brand on up to four channels and Metricool costs less from five, as the price per brand section above works out.
Metricool vs SocialBee, Social Champ and Blotato
Three more names come up next to Metricool in search. Each one sells a different thing first: SocialBee sells content categories and AI writing, Social Champ sells low prices per account, and Blotato sells AI generated posts. Prices are the monthly billing figures on each vendor's own pricing page, read on October 17, 2026.
| Tool | Entry price, billed monthly | What the entry plan covers | Analytics and reports | Pick it over Metricool if |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metricool Starter (baseline) | $25 for up to 5 brands, $20 billed yearly | One profile per network for each brand, unlimited posting under fair use, LinkedIn included, X as a $10 add on | Unlimited history, up to 100 competitors, PDF and PPT reports | This is the baseline |
| SocialBee Bootstrap | $29 a month, with 16 percent off yearly | 5 social profiles, 1 user, 10 content categories and unlimited AI content generation. 14 day trial and a 30 day money back guarantee | 3 months of data on Bootstrap, 2 years from Accelerate at $49, report export on Pro at $99 | You plan by content category and want AI writing without a credit count. See the SocialBee alternatives roundup |
| Social Champ | $5 a month per account on Starter, $9 on Growth, or $29 for a 6 account bundle | Starter: unlimited scheduling, 1 user, a social inbox. Growth adds unlimited users, approvals, social listening and competitor analysis. The Standard bundle includes 2 users and MCP access | Analytics and reporting on Starter, advanced analytics on Growth | You run one to four accounts, or you want social listening, which Metricool does not sell, at a per account price |
| Blotato Starter | $29 a month, with a 7 day trial | 20 social accounts, unlimited AI writing, AI image and video generation with 1,250 AI credits a month, and an API | The pricing page leads with generation and lists no report export | You want an AI tool to write and generate video posts in volume and can live without Metricool's reports |
SocialBee, Social Champ and Blotato are schedulers or generators for content of any kind. For an app on the App Store, Spreadcast is the one that starts from your listing and designs on brand posts for $29 a month flat.
The Metricool Alternative for App Founders With an Empty Planner
Analytics tools assume a steady stream of posts. Many app founders have the reverse situation: a release every two or three weeks, good reviews arriving in the store, and a feed that last moved months ago. Buying better charts does nothing for that, because analytics measure a feed that somebody still has to fill.
Spreadcast starts from the other end. It reads the listing you already maintain and designs the post each time something changes, in your app's colors with your screenshots, then writes a caption for each network and publishes it. You approve with one tap or let it run. The page for indie developers shows the flow.
Put numbers on it for one brand with 8 social accounts. Metricool Starter is $25 a month, or $35 with the $10 X add on. Buffer Essentials comes to $48, eight channels at $6. Hootsuite Standard is $99 per user on annual billing. Agorapulse Standard is $99, or $128 with X Lite at $29. Sprout Social needs Professional at $299 per seat on annual billing, because the two plans below it stop at 5 profiles. Later Starter, at $25, lists neither X nor Bluesky, and Iconosquare needs Scale at €119 a month, billed yearly, once you pass 5 profiles.
Every one of those prices buys a planner and charts for posts that you still design, caption and schedule. Spreadcast Pro is $29 a month flat for 8 networks, with the posts designed, captioned and published. The free plan drafts every post, so you can judge the designs before you pay. Plans are on the pricing page.
Once posts go out every week, analytics becomes useful, and pairing Spreadcast with Metricool's free plan is a sensible setup: one makes and publishes, the other measures. The article on where to post between Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn helps you decide which accounts are worth connecting.
Does Metricool Have an MCP? Alternatives That Connect to Claude and ChatGPT
An MCP server lets an AI assistant such as Claude or ChatGPT work inside a social media tool: read the numbers, write a post, put it on the calendar. Metricool has one, and so do several tools on this page. Each card is based on the vendor's own documentation, read on October 17, 2026. The roundup of social media MCP servers covers the wider field.
Spreadcast: Designs the Post in Your App's Brand
Spreadcast's MCP server lives at spreadcast.app/api/mcp. You sign in with Spreadcast from Claude or ChatGPT, and the assistant can design posts and carousels in your app's brand, write a caption for each network and save them as drafts, using the same brand kit and App Store moments the product uses. The MCP page shows how to connect it, and the MCP server guide lists what it can do.
Metricool: Works on Every Plan, Free Included
Yes, Metricool has an MCP. Metricool's MCP limits article says it works on any plan, Free included, inside your plan's limits, so a free account still stops at 20 scheduled posts a month. The assistant can read your brands and analytics, ad accounts included, check best times and create or edit scheduled posts. Inbox messages, comments, SmartLinks, autolists and Canva files are out of reach. Metricool's Claude guide says it is listed in Claude's connectors directory. The separate API still needs Advanced.
Buffer: Claude, ChatGPT and an API Key
Buffer's developer integrations page lists Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and Perplexity among its connections, and any other MCP client can connect with an API key. Buffer's pricing page gives the Free plan API access with 1 key and 3,000 requests a month, Essentials 3 keys and 7,500 requests, and Team 5 keys and 15,000 requests. The Buffer MCP server page goes further.
Publer: Business and Enterprise Plans
Publer's MCP guide puts its MCP on the Business and Enterprise plans, with sign in by OAuth or by an API key whose scopes you choose, such as posts, media or analytics. Business starts at $10 a month for one account, per the plans article cited in the Publer entry above.
Hootsuite: Four Servers, One per Product
Hootsuite's MCP page lists a server for each part of its suite: Perch for drafting and scheduling, Nest for the inbox, Lumen for insights and listening, and Parliament for employee advocacy. It names ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and Gemini as the assistants they work with. Hootsuite itself starts at $99 per user a month on annual billing.
Social Champ: Included in the Bundles
Social Champ's pricing page lists MCP access on its Standard bundle at $29 a month for 6 accounts and 2 users. Its per account plans do not list it.
Video: How to Run Metricool From Claude
Metricool's own tutorial on the MCP connection described in the Metricool card above.
Free Social Media Analytics Tools You Already Have: Native Analytics by Network
A Metricool alternative free of any charge already sits inside each network. If all you want is numbers for one or two accounts, start there. The native screens lack one view across networks, long history and a report you can hand to someone else. None of them help when nothing was posted, which is the case Spreadcast handles.
| Network | Where to find it | What it shows | Limit to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Facebook and Instagram together | Meta Business Suite, free on desktop and in its mobile app | Trends, activity on your content and audience information, next to a planner and an inbox | Needs a business portfolio and covers Meta's own networks only |
| Insights in the app, free for public accounts per Instagram's insights help page | Views, interactions, new followers, accounts engaged and audience demographics | Timeframes reach back 90 days, and follower trends need at least 100 followers | |
| The analytics of a Page, open to every admin role per LinkedIn's Page analytics help page | Content, followers, visitors, search appearances, competitors and newsletters | A free Page sees data for 1 competitor and a Premium Page for up to 9, per LinkedIn's competitor analytics page | |
| TikTok | TikTok Studio in the app or on the web, per TikTok's guide to its analytics | Post views, profile views, likes, comments and shares, your top posts, and the hours your viewers are active | Ranges of 7, 28, 60 or 365 days or a custom one. A download covers up to 365 days |
| X | The post activity dashboard, which X's dashboard help page calls a free feature | Impressions, engagements and engagement rate for each post, with monthly charts | Shows the last 28 days by default. A CSV export covers up to 30 days and 3,000 posts |
| Pinterest Analytics, which needs a free Pinterest business account | Overall performance, performance over time, top boards and top Pins, for paid and organic content | Custom ranges go back a year and a half, with CSV export on desktop, per Pinterest's analytics help page |
Read on each network's own help pages on October 11, 2026.
How to Switch From Metricool to Another Tool
Plan the move around your data. Reports can be saved, the queue has to be rebuilt, and the history a new tool shows depends on the vendor.
- Step 1
Download Your Reports While the Paid Plan Is Active
Metricool's guide to reports says PDF and PPT downloads start on Starter and that the download manager keeps your last 100 manual reports. Generate one for each month or quarter you care about before you downgrade. The guide lists no CSV download. For raw numbers Metricool points to its API, on the Advanced and Custom plans.
- Step 2
Decide Whether to Keep Metricool Free as an Archive
Metricool's article on Free and paid plans says a downgrade takes effect at the end of the billing period. After it, 1 brand stays active and the others are hidden rather than deleted. That is enough to keep measuring one brand at no cost while another tool does the posting.
- Step 3
Expect Analytics History to Restart, With Exceptions
Buffer backfills followers and reach as far as each network allows. Iconosquare can usually pull Instagram reach from up to two years back. Agorapulse imports past data on its Custom plan only. Metricool is a useful yardstick: its article on historical data says a first connection shows the previous 30 days, and follower counts on Instagram, TikTok and X are recorded only from the day you connect. Save your follower curves before you leave.
- Step 4
Reconnect Every Account During the Trial
Every tool needs its own authorization from each network, so log in to each profile again and check that the numbers arrive. Use the trial for this: 14 days on Buffer, Later, Iconosquare and Hootsuite, and 30 days on Agorapulse and Sprout Social. Later and Buffer both say Instagram analytics need a business or creator account.
- Step 5
Rebuild the Queue, Then Cancel
We found no Metricool import on any of these pricing pages, so plan to recreate what sits in the planner. Metricool lets you cancel at any time and keep the paid plan until the billing cycle ends. If the planner is empty and you have an app, skip the rebuild: paste the App Store link at the start page and Spreadcast designs the next posts and publishes them.
When Metricool Is Still the Best Choice
Stay with Metricool if you manage more than two brands, if you send a PDF report to a client every month, or if competitor tracking is something you look at. No tool on this list matches Starter on those three for $25 a month.
Stay as well if the X add on is your only complaint and you have one X account. At $35 a month in total you still pay less than any of the suites, and you keep the analytics.
Leave when the plan you need is Advanced only for approvals, when you want fewer features and a lower bill for one or two channels, or when the planner is empty and the real gap is content. The single Metricool comparison goes through plan limits in detail.
If you have an app, staying and switching are not the only choices. Keep Metricool, on Free or Starter, for the numbers, and let Spreadcast design and publish the recurring posts.
Metricool Competitors We Left Out, and Why
Five more names come up in searches for Metricool competitors. They stayed out of the ranking because the entry price or the focus sits further from Metricool than the eight above. Prices were read on each vendor's pricing page on October 11, 2026.
Sendible
Sendible's pricing page starts at $35 a month, billed monthly, for Core: 1 workspace with 6 social profiles and no cap on users. Custom reports begin on Premium. It is built around client workspaces, so it fits agencies better than one brand.
SocialPilot
SocialPilot's plans page lists Essentials at $30 a month on monthly billing for 7 accounts and 1 user. Analytics appear on Standard at $50 and white label reports on Premium at $100, so the entry plan lists no analytics.
Zoho Social
Zoho Social's pricing page describes a free plan for 1 brand with 6 channels and 1 team member, and a 15 day trial of the paid plans. Paid prices change by region, so we quote none here.
Vista Social
Vista Social's pricing page starts at $99 a month for Professional, with 15 social profiles and 2 users, after a 14 day trial. That is the price of Agorapulse or Hootsuite, about four times Metricool Starter.
Loomly
Loomly's pricing page lists Starter at $65 a month billed monthly, or $49 billed yearly, for 12 social accounts and 3 users, with approval workflows. Scheduled reports start on Beyond at $332 a month.
How We Ranked These Metricool Alternatives
We make Spreadcast, so read the order with that in mind. It comes first because it is the only tool here that designs the posts and publishes them. The other seven are ordered roughly by what one brand costs, from the low cost schedulers to the per user suites.
Each tool was compared on the same six points: price for one brand with about four profiles, how far back the analytics go, report formats and whether reports can be scheduled, competitor tracking, whether X costs extra, and what the free plan or trial allows.
Every price and limit was read on the vendor's own pricing page or help center on October 11, 2026, and each is linked where it is stated. Where a page gave no figure the tables say so. This compares published plans and documented features, so confirm any limit that decides your choice during the trial.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best alternative to Metricool?
It depends on why you are leaving. If you have an app on the App Store and an empty planner, Spreadcast is the Metricool best alternative, because it designs the posts and publishes them for you. Buffer is the simplest scheduler, Publer the low cost pick for X, and Iconosquare the closest match for analytics.
Is Metricool free?
Yes. Metricool's pricing page says the Free plan can be used forever: 1 brand, 20 scheduled posts a month and 30 days of analytics, without LinkedIn or X.
Is there a free alternative for Metricool?
Yes. If you have an app, the free Spreadcast plan designs a post for every update, 5 star review and rating milestone, ready to download. For posts you make yourself, Buffer's pricing page shows a free plan for 3 channels, Publer has one for 3 accounts and Iconosquare has one for 2 profiles.
Is Metricool better than Buffer?
For analytics, yes: Metricool tracks up to 100 competitors and reports on ads, and Buffer's pricing page lists neither. For simplicity and for X, Buffer is the easier choice, because X is a normal channel with no surcharge. For five brands Metricool is cheaper, and for one brand with three channels Buffer is.
Which is better, Metricool or Later?
Metricool gives more analytics for less money and supports X through an add on. Later's pricing page starts at $18.75 a month on yearly billing with 3 months of analytics and 30 posts per profile, and Later does not list X. Choose Later for Instagram and TikTok planning tools.
Metricool vs Hootsuite: which one should you pick?
Pick Metricool if one person needs analytics and reports on a small budget: Starter is $20 a month on annual billing. Pick Hootsuite, from $99 per user a month on annual billing, if a team needs listening and an inbox built for customer care.
Is there an open source Metricool alternative?
Postiz is the main one. The Postiz repository is under the AGPL 3.0 license and can be self hosted. It is a scheduler first, so expect lighter analytics. The Metricool comparison has a table of self hosted options.
Is Metricool worth it?
For most small businesses and freelancers, yes: Starter at $25 a month covers 5 brands with full analytics history and report export. It is worth less to you if X is your main network or if you have no posts to schedule yet, and in that last case, with an app on the App Store, Spreadcast designs and publishes the posts for you.
Prices, plans and features change. This comparison describes each product as its own site described it on the date shown under Sources. Check the vendor's site before you decide. Product names are trademarks of their owners.
Where These Facts Come From
Every outside number, rule and price on this page links to the page it was taken from.
- Metricool plans and pricingMetricool
- Guide to the Metricool add on for XMetricool Help Center
- Metricool plans, add ons and API access explainedMetricool Help Center
- Main differences between Metricool Free and paid plansMetricool Help Center
- How to generate reports in MetricoolMetricool Help Center
- Historical data available in MetricoolMetricool Help Center
- Metricool API access and data exportMetricool Help Center
- Buffer pricingBuffer
- Using Insights in BufferBuffer Help Center
- What are Publer's plans and pricingPubler Help Center
- What is included in Publer BusinessPubler Help Center
- How to download your Publer analytics reportsPubler Help Center
- Iconosquare plans and pricingIconosquare
- Historical and estimated data on IconosquareIconosquare Knowledge Base
- Later pricingLater
- Reference guide to plan availability for Later SocialLater Help Center
- Instagram analytics data by planLater Help Center
- Agorapulse pricingAgorapulse
- X Lite and X Plus add ons explainedAgorapulse Help Center
- Sprout Social pricingSprout Social
- Hootsuite plans and pricingHootsuite
- Postiz source code and licenseGitHub
- Ratings, reviews and responsesApple Developer
- How Meta Business Suite worksMeta Business Help Center
- About Instagram insightsInstagram Help Center
- LinkedIn Page analyticsLinkedIn Help
- Competitor analytics for your LinkedIn PageLinkedIn Help
- Introducing TikTok analyticsTikTok Creator Academy
- Post and video activity dashboardsX Ads Help Center
- Pinterest Analytics overviewPinterest Business Help Center
- Get a Pinterest business accountPinterest Business Help Center
- Sendible pricingSendible
- SocialPilot plansSocialPilot
- Zoho Social pricingZoho
- Vista Social pricingVista Social
- Loomly pricingLoomly
- Metricool MCP limits and plan requirementsMetricool Help Center
- How to connect Metricool's MCP with ClaudeMetricool Help Center
- Buffer API integrationsBuffer Developers
- How to set up and use Publer's MCP serverPubler Help Center
- Hootsuite MCP servers for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and CopilotHootsuite
- SocialBee pricingSocialBee
- Social Champ pricingSocial Champ
- Blotato pricingBlotato
- Video: running Metricool from ClaudeMetricool
Researched and written by Spreadcast. Last checked on October 17, 2026.