Metricool Alternatives
Six Metricool alternatives, priced for your brands, channels and team.
Metricool is a strong-value social media tool: it prices by brand, not by user, and its analytics go deep. People leave it when the free plan gets too tight, when X costs $10 a month per connected account, or when they need team approvals, which start on Advanced at $67 a month on monthly billing. Here are the six alternatives that fit Metricool leavers best: Buffer for solo users and small budgets, Vista Social for an all-in-one with an inbox, and four others for recycling, approvals, visual planning and enterprise listening.
The ranking is editorial: a sponsored placement is always flagged on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.
Why people leave Metricool
Metricool has real strengths: its pricing counts brands rather than users, it tracks competitors, and it puts organic posts, paid ads and website analytics in one dashboard. Most people who leave do not leave over the analytics. They leave because the free plan stops fitting, because add-ons change the real price, or because their team grew. Here are the six reasons that come up most, with the numbers behind each.
The free plan is built for one brand
X costs extra on every paid plan
Team features start on Advanced
Brand brackets jump at 10
Automations and the API cost more
Support and reliability complaints in 2026
Buffer
Buffer is the scheduler most people already know, and the easiest swap for a Metricool user who mainly publishes. Its free plan connects up to 3 channels, with 10 scheduled posts per channel at any time and one user. Essentials costs $5 a month per channel, which Buffer bills as $60 a year per channel, and Team costs $10 a month per channel billed yearly ($120 a year per channel) with unlimited team members. Paid plans start with a 14-day free trial.
The pricing unit is what changes your bill. Metricool charges per brand, and one brand can hold one profile on each network. Buffer charges per channel, so a single brand on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and TikTok counts as four channels: $20 a month billed yearly on Essentials, against $20 a month billed yearly for up to 5 brands on Metricool Starter. Buffer wins for one brand on two or three networks. Metricool wins as soon as you run several brands. One catch when you upgrade: Buffer bills every connected channel, including the three you had on the free plan. If you later outgrow Buffer too, our Buffer switch guide lists where people go next.
- Free plan with 3 channels and 10 queued posts per channel
- Team plan with unlimited team members
- Queue and calendar that are quick to learn
- ✓Very low cost for one brand on a few networks
- ✓Clean queue and calendar that a new hire learns in minutes
- ✓Paid plans include a 14-day free trial
- ✗The bill grows with every channel you connect
- ✗Essentials includes a single user
- ✗Analytics are lighter than Metricool's competitor tracking
| Criterion | Buffer | Metricool |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing unit | Per channel | Per brand |
| Free plan | 3 channels, 10 queued posts each | 1 brand, 20 posts a month |
| Entry paid price | $5 per channel/mo, billed yearly | $20/mo for 5 brands, billed yearly |
| Team members | Unlimited on Team | Team management from Advanced |
Pick Buffer if you run one or two brands and want a scheduler you never have to think about. Stay on Metricool, or pick Vista Social, if you juggle many brands or need deep reporting.
Vista Social
Vista Social is the closest thing to Metricool with a stronger engagement side. One dashboard schedules posts, gathers comments and messages in a shared inbox, answers reviews from sites such as Yelp, TripAdvisor and Trustpilot and sends scheduled reports, which our Vista Social review covers in detail. Professional costs $99 a month billed monthly, or $950 a year, for 15 social profiles and 2 users. Advanced costs $199 a month for 30 profiles and 3 users, and Scale $449 a month for 70 profiles and 4 users.
Read the add-ons before you compare. X costs $29 a month per X profile on Vista Social, against $10 a month per connected X account on Metricool, and listening across social, web and news starts at $75 a month on top of the plan (listening on your own profiles is included). For an agency with 15 profiles and two people, Professional at $80 a month billed yearly ($950 a year) sits close to Metricool Advanced at $53 a month billed annually for 15 brands, with more engagement tools and fewer brands. The full grid is on our Vista Social pricing page.
- Shared inbox for comments, messages and reviews
- 15 profiles and 2 users on the entry plan
- Multi-step approvals for agencies from Advanced
- ✓Engagement and review management in the same tool as publishing
- ✓Profile-based plans that suit agencies
- ✓14-day trial with no credit card
- ✗Entry plan costs $99 a month on monthly billing
- ✗X and wider listening are paid add-ons
- ✗Many modules to learn before the team is at ease
| Criterion | Vista Social | Metricool |
|---|---|---|
| Entry plan, monthly billing | $99/mo | $25/mo |
| What the entry plan covers | 15 profiles, 2 users | Up to 5 brands |
| X | $29/mo per X profile | $10/mo per connected account |
| Free plan | Trial only | Yes, 1 brand |
Pick Vista Social if comments, messages and reviews are a daily job for your team. Pick Buffer or SocialBee instead if you mostly publish and want to pay less; our SocialBee vs Vista Social comparison weighs the two.
Planable
Planable is a collaboration tool first: posts appear the way they will look on each network, reviewers comment on them in place and approve them in one click. That is the gap many Metricool users hit, since approvals and roles only arrive on Metricool Advanced. Basic costs $39 a month per workspace on monthly billing, or $33 billed yearly, with unlimited users, 60 posts per workspace per month and 4 social pages per workspace. Pro costs $59 a month per workspace on monthly billing ($49 billed yearly) for 150 posts a month, 10 social pages and three approval levels: none, optional and required. The free plan gives you 50 created posts in total, not per month, to try the workflow.
Read the price per client. One workspace is usually one client or brand, so five clients on Pro cost $295 a month on monthly billing, against $67 a month for 15 brands on Metricool Advanced. Analytics are a paid add-on, $14 per workspace a month on monthly billing. Planable is worth it when approval time costs more than the tool.
- Unlimited users on every paid plan
- Post previews that clients understand
- Up to three approval levels on Pro
- ✓Reviewers comment directly on post previews
- ✓No per-user cost for reviewers
- ✓Free plan to run a real approval cycle
- ✗Per-workspace pricing adds up with many clients
- ✗Post caps per workspace each month
- ✗Analytics cost extra per workspace
| Criterion | Planable | Metricool |
|---|---|---|
| Entry plan, monthly billing | $39 per workspace | $25 for up to 5 brands |
| Approvals | From Basic, 3 levels on Pro | From Advanced |
| Users | Unlimited | Team management from Advanced |
| Analytics | Paid add-on | Included |
Pick Planable if every post goes through a client or a manager before it is published. Stay on Metricool Advanced if you run many brands and approvals are occasional.
Sked Social
Sked Social is a visual planner built for brands whose work happens on Instagram, TikTok and other visual networks. Its plans include seats rather than charging per user: Grow costs US$69 a month on monthly billing, or US$690 a year, for 3 users and 6 profiles; Accelerate costs US$199 a month on monthly billing for 6 users and 10 profiles; its yearly price reads US$1,990 in the plan comparison and the FAQ but US$2,490 on the plan card, so check it at checkout. Extra profiles cost US$80 a year each on Grow and US$100 a year each on Accelerate, and an extra user US$150 a year on Accelerate. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial and no credit card.
Against Metricool, Sked is a step up in price for a step up in team features. Three users and 6 profiles for US$69 a month is more than Metricool Starter, but Metricool only adds team and client management on Advanced, at US$67 a month on monthly billing. If your team is three people on one or two brands, Sked can cost about the same as Metricool Advanced, with seats and a visual grid built in.
- Seats included in every plan
- Visual grid planning for Instagram
- Extra profiles sold by the year
- ✓Team of three from the entry plan
- ✓Visual tools built around Instagram and TikTok
- ✓14-day trial with no card
- ✗Entry plan at US$69 a month is well above Metricool Starter
- ✗Only 6 profiles on Grow
- ✗Accelerate jumps to US$199 a month
| Criterion | Sked Social | Metricool |
|---|---|---|
| Entry plan, monthly billing | US$69/mo | US$25/mo |
| Users included | 3 | Team management from Advanced |
| Profiles or brands | 6 profiles | Up to 5 brands |
| Annual price, entry plan | US$690/yr | US$240/yr |
Pick Sked Social if your team of two or three plans Instagram and TikTok visually every day. Pick Buffer or SocialBee instead if one person does it all on a tight budget.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is the enterprise answer for teams that report to leadership. Standard costs $99 per user a month billed annually and manages up to 10 social accounts from one calendar, with analytics, competitive benchmarking against five competitors and social listening. Professional costs $199 per user a month billed annually and removes the account cap, and Advanced costs $399 per user a month billed annually for approvals across teams. There is a 14-day free trial.
The pricing unit is the big change. Metricool charges per brand and never per user; Hootsuite charges per user. A team of three on Hootsuite Standard pays $297 a month billed annually, against $53 a month billed annually for 15 brands on Metricool Advanced. Hootsuite earns that gap only if listening and enterprise reporting are part of the job, not a nice extra.
- Social listening on the Standard plan
- Competitor benchmarking against five competitors
- Unlimited accounts from Professional
- ✓Deep listening and reporting in one suite
- ✓Mature integrations and enterprise controls
- ✓Approvals across teams on Advanced
- ✗Per-user pricing gets expensive for teams
- ✗Standard caps you at 10 social accounts
- ✗Prices shown on annual billing
| Criterion | Hootsuite | Metricool |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing unit | Per user | Per brand |
| Entry plan, annual billing | $99 per user/mo | $20/mo for 5 brands |
| Accounts on entry plan | Up to 10 | Up to 5 brands |
| Listening | Included on Standard | Competitor analysis, tracking at $25/day |
Pick Hootsuite if listening and reporting to leadership justify a per-user bill. Pick Vista Social if you want an inbox and reports at a fraction of the price. Already on Hootsuite and leaving it? Our Hootsuite switch guide covers the move.
6 Metricool alternatives compared
The six alternatives side by side, with the entry price as each pricing page shows it. Watch the pricing unit, because it decides your bill more than the headline price: Metricool charges per brand, Buffer per channel, Planable per workspace, Hootsuite per user, while Vista Social, SocialBee and Sked Social sell plans with a set number of profiles. The edge column says what each tool does better than Metricool.
| Best for | Edge over Metricool | Free plan | Team size | Visit | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Buffer | Best for solo users and small budgets | Free plan, pay per channel | 4.0/5 | $5 per channel/mo, yearly | ✓ | Solo users and small teams | Visit → |
| 2 | Vista Social | Best all-in-one with inbox and reviews | Inbox, reviews and reports in one | 3.9/5 | $99/mo | — | Multi-brand teams and agencies | Visit → |
| 3 | Planable | Best for client approvals | Unlimited users and client approvals | 3.8/5 | $39 per workspace/mo | ✓ | Agencies with client sign-off | Visit → |
| 4 | SocialBee | Best for recycling evergreen content | Evergreen recycling by category | 3.8/5 | $29/mo | — | Solo marketers | Visit → |
| 5 | Sked Social | Best for visual planning and Instagram | Seats included, visual grid | 3.7/5 | $69/mo | — | Visual brand teams | Visit → |
| 6 | Hootsuite | Best for enterprise listening and reporting | Listening and enterprise reporting | 3.5/5 | $99 per user/mo, yearly | — | Large marketing teams | Visit → |
Scores from our reviews where we have one, from each tool's official pages otherwise. Prices read on each pricing page in 2026, in US dollars, on monthly billing unless marked yearly.
Is your tool missing from this page? Email us: hello@hackceleration.com
Which alternative is right for you?
Free for 3 channels, then $5 per channel a month billed yearly.
Comments, DMs and reviews pile upVista SocialShared inbox and review replies from $99 a month.
You recycle evergreen postsSocialBeeContent categories that refill the queue, from $29 a month.
Clients approve every postPlanableUnlimited users and up to 3 approval levels.
Your team plans Instagram visuallySked Social3 seats and 6 profiles on Grow.
Leadership wants listening reportsHootsuiteListening and benchmarking on Standard.
You want the whole categoryBest social media toolsOur wider ranking, beyond Metricool leavers.
You run an agencyTools for agenciesOur ranking built around client work.
How to choose a Metricool alternative
Metricool belongs to the social media management category: software that connects your social accounts, lets you plan and schedule posts in a calendar, publishes them for you, collects comments and messages, and reports on results. Under the hood, each tool connects to the networks through their official APIs, which is why a network can disconnect when its token expires and why some networks cost extra. Tools in this category differ on four things that decide whether one fits you: what they charge for (brand, channel, profile, workspace or user), how strong their analytics are, whether they include an inbox and approvals, and which networks each plan really covers.
Before you compare features, write down four numbers: how many brands or clients you manage, how many social accounts in total, how many people need a login, and how many posts you publish a month. Then price each tool with those numbers, on the same billing period. A Metricool user with 8 brands and one person pays $45 a month on Starter with monthly billing; the same setup costs very different amounts per channel, per workspace or per user.
If you mostly publish
If you run client work
If analytics kept you on Metricool
If you are a creator
The traps in the small print
Moving off Metricool
- Count your brands, social accounts, users and monthly posts.
- Price each tool with those numbers, monthly against monthly.
- Check the pricing unit: brand, channel, profile, workspace or user.
- List the add-ons you would need: X, listening, analytics, automations.
- Run your real approval flow during the trial.
- Download your Metricool reports before the plan ends.
- Run both tools side by side for one or two weeks.
- Cancel Metricool after the last scheduled post is live.
Metricool alternatives, the FAQ
What happens to my Metricool account if I cancel?
It becomes a free account. You can cancel at any time, your paid plan keeps running until the end of the billing cycle, and the account then reverts to the free plan, with 1 brand and 30 days of analytics. A downgrade also takes effect at the end of the current billing period.Does Metricool support Threads and Bluesky?
Yes, on every plan. The free plan connects 1 Threads and 1 Bluesky profile, Starter one per brand for up to 10 brands, and Advanced up to 50. X is the exception: it needs the $10 add-on per account and is not available on the free plan, and LinkedIn starts on Starter.Does Metricool have an API?
Yes, on Advanced and Custom. The Metricool API, used to connect Zapier and Make, comes with Advanced, which starts at $53 a month billed annually for 15 brands. Free and Starter include the Metricool MCP for AI assistants, but not the API itself.What counts as a brand in Metricool?
A brand is one business, brand or customer, and it can hold one profile per social network or ad platform. That is why Metricool is generous for agencies: one client with Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and TikTok still counts as a single brand, where per-channel tools count four.Which Metricool alternatives include approvals for less than Advanced?
Planable and Buffer. Approvals start on Planable Basic at $39 per workspace a month on monthly billing, with unlimited users, and Pro at $59 adds a third approval type, required approval. Buffer puts approval workflows on Team, at $12 per channel a month on monthly billing, so four channels cost $48. On Metricool, the post approval system starts on Advanced at $67 a month on monthly billing.Can I keep my Metricool competitor tracking elsewhere?
Partly. Metricool analyses up to 100 competitors from Starter and 5 on the free plan. Hootsuite Standard benchmarks against five competitors, and up to 20 on Professional, at $99 and $199 per user a month billed annually. Planable sells competitor analytics inside its $14 analytics add-on per workspace.Can I export my analytics before leaving Metricool?
Yes, as PDF and PPT reports on Starter and above. Teams that need raw data can use the Data Studio connector or the API on Advanced. Do it before the plan ends, since a free account only keeps 30 days of history visible.Does Metricool track paid ads like these alternatives?
Yes. Metricool connects Facebook Ads, Google Ads and TikTok Ads next to organic posts and website analytics in one dashboard, and that is its main argument against Buffer, Later and Loomly. If ads reporting is why you chose it, check this during each alternative's trial before you cancel, or keep a separate ads reporting tool.
SocialBee
SocialBee is built around content categories: you sort posts into buckets such as tips, promotions or blog posts, set a schedule per category, and SocialBee recycles evergreen posts back into the queue. It suits a Metricool user who spends more time feeding the calendar than reading reports. Bootstrap costs $29 a month billed monthly for 5 social profiles and one user, Accelerate $49 a month for 10 profiles, and Pro $99 a month for 25 profiles and 3 users. Yearly billing brings Bootstrap to $290 a year; our SocialBee pricing page breaks down every plan. An extra team member costs $10 a month on monthly plans.
Against Metricool, the price reads differently: SocialBee counts profiles, Metricool counts brands. Five profiles on Bootstrap can be one brand on five networks, while Metricool Starter at $25 a month on monthly billing covers up to 5 brands. SocialBee earns its price on automation, not on volume. Our SocialBee review scores it 3.8, with support as a bright spot.
Pick SocialBee if keeping a full queue is your main job and you work mostly alone. Pick Planable instead if clients must approve each post before it goes out.