Metricool review: scheduling and analytics on one flat rate
Metricool is the best-value social tool for a creator who wants scheduling and real analytics in one flat rate, and overkill for somebody posting to two channels. Our 6 October 2026 check records Free for one brand and 20 posts a month, Starter at $20 and Advanced at $53.
The short answer
Buy Metricool Buy Metricool Starter if you post often, manage more than one brand, and want analytics rather than a queue alone. Starter is $20 a month, or $16.67 billed annually, verified against metricool.com/pricing on 6 October 2026, and covers up to 10 brands with unlimited publishing.
Skip it if you post to two channels and never read a report. Buffer Essentials is $5 a month per channel, verified 1 October 2026, which is $10 for two and cheaper than Metricool until you reach four channels or care about the numbers.
Where Metricool fits
Metricool fits the creator who has outgrown a posting queue but cannot justify an agency suite. Scheduling, competitor tracking and reporting sit in one subscription at a flat rate, so the bill does not move when you add a channel. That is the specific job it does better than the per-channel tools underneath it.
The flat rate is the whole argument against Buffer, which charges $5 a month per connected channel on Essentials, verified 1 October 2026. Buffer is cheaper to three channels and Metricool is cheaper from five upward, with the crossover at four where both land near $20. Count your channels and the decision makes itself.
The free plan is narrow but honest. Our 6 October 2026 check records one brand with 20 scheduled posts a month, which is enough to test the interface and the analytics on real data and not enough to run a publishing schedule. Twenty posts is roughly five a week.
Starter at $20 a month covers up to 10 brands with unlimited publishing and competitor analysis for up to 100 accounts on our check, which is more than most solo creators and small agencies will use. The brand count is the thing that makes this plan good value: ten clients on one $20 subscription is unusual in this category.
Advanced at $53 a month covers up to 50 brands and adds team management, post approval and full Twitter and X analytics. That is an agency purchase rather than a creator one, and the honest trigger for it is somebody else needing to approve a post before it goes out.
Annual billing saves about 17% on both paid tiers. Starter falls from $20 a month to $16.67 and Advanced from $53 to $43.58, which totals about $200 and $523 across a year against $240 and $636 paid monthly: savings of roughly $40 and $113.
The fit weakens if you need a shared inbox and approval chains across a department. That is where Sprout Social at $99 per seat a month and Hootsuite at $99 a month on annual billing live, both verified in early October 2026, and the social media scheduling category covers the full range.
Metricool pricing
Metricool publishes a free plan, two flat paid tiers and a quoted custom plan, with brand count as the main limit. The figures below were verified against metricool.com/pricing on 6 October 2026, and the Metricool pricing breakdown carries the longer version.
| Plan | Price | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | One brand, 20 scheduled posts a month. Enough to test on real data |
| Starter | $20/mo | $16.67/mo billed annually. Up to 10 brands, unlimited publishing, competitor analysis to 100 accounts |
| Advanced | $53/mo | $43.58/mo billed annually. Up to 50 brands, team management, post approval, full X analytics |
| Custom | Custom | Quoted. Adds white labelling and a dedicated account manager |
Channel count does not move Metricool's price, which is the point of it. Four things that do:
- The number of brands you manage, which is what the tiers cap. Up to 10 on Starter and up to 50 on Advanced, so an agency crosses tiers on client count rather than on posting volume.
- Whether anyone needs to approve a post. Approval workflow and team management sit on Advanced, which is the $33 a month step from Starter.
- Posting volume only on the free plan, where 20 scheduled posts a month is the cap. Both paid tiers are unlimited on our check.
- Billing period. Annual billing saves roughly $40 on Starter and $113 on Advanced across a year, about 17% on each.
Metricool pricing against the schedulers
Metricool is the value option once you pass three or four channels. Buffer is $5 a month per channel on Essentials, verified 1 October 2026, so six channels is $30 against Metricool's flat $20. Later is $25 a month on Starter, verified 1 October 2026, and leads on visual planning. Hootsuite at $99 a month on annual billing and Sprout Social at $99 per seat, both verified in early October 2026, are team tools priced for departments. For a creator wanting analytics, Metricool is the cheapest credible answer.
Metricool billing terms worth knowing
Brands rather than channels are the unit that forces an upgrade, which is the opposite of most of this category.
- Free plan
- One brand, 20 scheduled posts a month, on our 6 October 2026 check.
- Starter
- $20 per month, or $16.67 billed annually. About $240 or $200 across a year.
- Advanced
- $53 per month, or $43.58 billed annually. About $636 or $523 across a year.
- Brand limits
- Up to 10 on Starter, up to 50 on Advanced.
- Publishing volume
- Unlimited on both paid plans. Only the free plan is capped.
- Annual saving
- Roughly $40 on Starter and $113 on Advanced, about 17%.
- Per-channel charges
- None. The rate is flat however many channels you connect.
If Metricool costs more than you expected, the cause is brand count rather than channels or posting volume, since those are the only limits on the paid tiers. Our creator tool cost calculators will set a flat rate against per-channel billing at your own channel count, which is the comparison that decides between Metricool and Buffer.
What Metricool gives up
It is not the cheapest option for a small channel set. At two or three channels Buffer Essentials costs $10 or $15 a month against Metricool's $20, verified 1 October 2026, and a creator who posts to two platforms and reads no reports is paying for the half of Metricool they do not use.
The interface carries the feature count. Scheduling, analytics, competitor tracking and ad reporting in one product means more to navigate than a queue, and a creator who wanted a simple posting tool will feel that on day one.
The free plan's 20 posts a month is too small to run anything. It is a genuine test tier rather than a working one, which is fine as long as you do not plan around it, and it means the real starting cost is $20 a month.
Approval workflow sits on Advanced at $53 a month, so a two-person setup where one person checks the other's posts pays $636 a year for that single feature. That is a steep step from Starter for a small team.
Competitor analysis is capped at 100 accounts on Starter, which is generous and still a cap. An agency tracking many clients' competitors can meet it, and our check does not record what happens beyond it.
Analytics depth is good for the price and not a match for the department tools. If you need cross-team workflows, API access or the reporting a client's marketing lead expects, Sprout Social exists at $99 per seat a month for that reason, verified 6 October 2026.
Metricool schedules and measures and does not help you make anything. The editing and clipping work sits upstream in the short-form video tools category, so this is one subscription in a stack rather than a tool that replaces several.
How Metricool compares
The four tools below are the ones a creator weighs against Metricool, and the axis is flat rate against per channel or per seat. Prices are the vendors' published rates with the date each was checked against its own pricing page. The wider field sits in the social media scheduling category.
| Tool | Best for | Price | Where it breaks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metricool | Scheduling plus analytics on a flat rate, several brands | Free, $20/mo Starter | Dearer than Buffer below four channels; approvals cost $53/mo |
| Buffer | Two or three channels as cheaply as possible | Free, $5/mo per channel | Per-channel billing, and thin analytics |
| Later | Visual planning for Instagram-led accounts | $25/mo Starter | No permanent free plan |
| Hootsuite | Teams needing bundled accounts and approvals | $99/mo Standard, annual billing | Five times Metricool Starter, priced for a department |
| Sprout Social | Agencies needing seat-based reporting and a shared inbox | $99/seat/mo Essentials | Per-seat pricing puts it out of a creator's range |
What to test on the Metricool free plan
The free plan is one brand and 20 scheduled posts a month on our 6 October 2026 check, which is enough to judge the analytics on your own data. That is the thing to test, because the scheduling is not in doubt.
- Connect your real accounts and look at the analytics on your own history rather than a demo. Metricool's case over a cheaper queue is the numbers, so judge the numbers.
- Count your channels and multiply by $5 for Buffer Essentials, verified 1 October 2026. Below four channels Buffer is cheaper; above five Metricool is.
- Count the brands you manage. Starter covers up to 10, which is the thing that makes it good value for anyone handling clients.
- Schedule a week of posts and hit the 20-post cap deliberately. That tells you how quickly the free tier stops being useful for your cadence.
- Check whether anybody needs to approve your posts. If so, the real price is Advanced at $53 a month rather than Starter at $20.
- Try the competitor tracking on three accounts you care about. It is the feature most likely to justify the subscription and the one creators forget to test.
- Total a year on Starter at $240, or about $200 prepaid, against Buffer at your channel count. The cost calculators will do it, and the free resources library has a content calendar template.
Metricool questions buyers ask
How much does Metricool cost per month?
Metricool had a free plan at $0 a month, Starter at $20 a month, or $16.67 a month billed annually, and Advanced at $53 a month, or $43.58 billed annually, with a Custom tier quoted above those. All four come from our check of metricool.com on 6 October 2026. The rates are per tier rather than per seat, and what each tier limits is the number of brands, up to 10 on Starter and up to 50 on Advanced. Annual billing saves about 17% on both paid tiers, which is roughly $40 across a year on Starter and $113 on Advanced. Twitter and X access is a paid add-on on all plans.
Does Metricool have a free plan?
Yes, and it's genuinely useful. The free plan includes 1 brand, 50 scheduled posts per month, 30 days of analytics history, competitor tracking for Facebook/Instagram/Bluesky/Twitch, the SmartLinks link-in-bio tool, and the AI copy assistant. There's no time limit. It's free forever, not a trial. The main limitations are no report exports, no team features, and restricted analytics history.
Who is Metricool best for?
Metricool is built for freelancers, small agencies, and social media managers who handle multiple brands and want scheduling plus analytics in one tool without paying Hootsuite or Sprout Social prices. It's particularly strong if you need competitor tracking and detailed reporting on a budget. Solo creators who only manage one account may find Buffer or Later simpler and more polished for day-to-day scheduling.
Metricool vs Buffer: which is better?
Buffer has a cleaner interface and more reliable publishing, especially for Instagram and LinkedIn, and it bills on a different unit. Buffer Essentials was $5 a month per channel, verified 1 October 2026, against Metricool's flat $20 a month on Starter, verified 6 October 2026. That makes Buffer cheaper up to three channels, the two land close together at four, and Metricool is cheaper from five channels upward. Choose Buffer if you want simple, reliable scheduling for a few accounts. Choose Metricool if you manage several brands and want analytics and competitor data without paying for a separate tool.
What social media platforms does Metricool support?
Metricool supports scheduling and analytics for Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google Business Profile, Threads, Bluesky, and Twitch. Twitter/X is supported but requires a paid add-on due to API cost changes. The platform also connects with Google Analytics, Google Ads, and Facebook Ads for unified reporting.
Is Metricool good for agencies?
Yes, with caveats. You get white-label reports, role-based permissions, and client-accessible dashboards. The main frustration is the rigid brand structure: each brand allows one account per social network. Clients with multiple accounts on the same platform burn through your brand count faster.
Does Metricool include analytics and reporting?
Yes, and analytics is one of Metricool's strongest features. You get engagement rates, reach, impressions, follower growth, best posting times, hashtag tracking, and audience demographics. Paid plans include exportable PDF and PowerPoint reports with custom branding. The competitor analysis feature lets you track rival accounts and benchmark your performance. Something most schedulers don't offer at this price.
Can teams collaborate in Metricool?
You get role-based permissions, approval workflows, shared brand kits, and the ability to give clients view-only report access. The Starter plan is single-user only. For teams of 2-3 people managing multiple brands, the Advanced plan is reasonable.
Is Metricool worth the money compared to Hootsuite?
For most creators and small teams, yes. Hootsuite is the stronger choice for large organisations that need advanced team workflows, social listening and content tooling at scale. The gap is in the price. Metricool Starter was $20 a month on our 6 October 2026 check, against Hootsuite Standard at $99 a month on annual billing, verified 1 October 2026. For a freelancer or a small agency the scheduling, analytics and competitor tracking you use day to day sit in the cheaper tool. We hold no measured figure for how much of Hootsuite's functionality Metricool matches, so this page does not state one.
Can I cancel Metricool anytime?
Yes. Monthly plans can be cancelled anytime and you keep access until the end of your billing period. Annual plans can be cancelled, but you won't get a prorated refund. You keep access for the remainder of the annual term. One thing to watch: multiple users report frustration with auto-renewal charges, so disable auto-renewal before your billing date if you plan to cancel. The free plan has no commitment at all.