What is the best free Metricool alternative?

Buffer's free tier (3 channels, 10 posts each) is the strongest free scheduling option. Metricool's own free plan (1 brand, 20 posts/month) is also worth staying on if your need is minimal. For analytics depth at no cost, there is no strong free alternative; Metricool's free plan is already unusually generous on analytics for its tier.

Why do people look for Metricool alternatives?

The most common complaints: X/Twitter costs an extra $5/account/month on every paid plan, LinkedIn is not available on the free plan, no unified inbox for community management, team features (approval workflows, role management) locked to the Advanced plan ($53/mo), and occasional Instagram post failures with unclear error messages.

Is Metricool better than Buffer?

For analytics: Metricool wins clearly. Competitor tracking, ad reporting, and deeper engagement analytics have no equivalent in Buffer. For scheduling simplicity and free tier generosity: Buffer. For teams where analytics matter as much as publishing, Metricool at $22/mo is a stronger value than Buffer at comparable cost.

Does Metricool have social listening?

No. Metricool does not include social listening or brand monitoring at any pricing tier. For LinkedIn listening, OutX is a common add-on. For broad brand monitoring, Mentionlytics or Mention are separate tools to consider alongside Metricool.

What is the best Metricool alternative for agencies?

Agorapulse ($79/user/mo) for agencies that need inbox management alongside analytics. Sendible ($89/mo for 4 users) for agencies that want plan-based pricing for growing headcount. For analytics-primary agency work without inbox needs, Metricool's own Advanced plan ($53/mo for unlimited team) is often the right answer before switching platforms.

Metricool Alternatives in 2026: 6 Tools Compared (Free vs Paid)

Metricool is one of the best-value social media analytics and scheduling tools on the market: competitor tracking, ad reporting for Meta, Google Ads, and TikTok Ads, and a clean scheduling interface, all from $22/month. The reasons people look for alternatives are specific: X/Twitter as a paid add-on ($5/account), no social inbox for community management, and team collaboration locked behind the Advanced plan. Here are the six alternatives worth knowing if those limitations matter to you.

Quick comparison

Six alternatives, prices in USD, sorted by fit for teams evaluating Metricool.

Tool	Pricing	Best for	Free tier
Metricool	Free; from $22/mo	Data-driven teams wanting best-in-class analytics on a budget	Yes
OutX (recommended)	Free; from $99/mo	LinkedIn signal layer beyond analytics	Yes
Buffer	Free; from $6/channel/mo	Teams that want simpler scheduling without X/Twitter add-on costs	Yes
Later	From $25/mo	Visual-first Instagram brands with grid preview and link-in-bio	No (14-day trial)
Agorapulse	Free; from $79/user/mo	Teams needing inbox management and approval workflows	Yes
Loomly	From $65/mo	Content-calendar-first teams needing approvals from day one	No (15-day trial)
Sprout Social	From $199/user/mo	Enterprise teams needing inbox, listening, and deep analytics combined	No (30-day trial)

Why people look for Metricool alternatives

Metricool is a strong product at its price point. The alternatives searches are driven by specific gaps:

X/Twitter costs extra. $5/account/month add-on on every paid plan, including Advanced. Teams managing X alongside other platforms find this annoying and less transparent than competitors that include it.
No social inbox. Community management, DM handling, and comment responses are completely absent. For teams where inbox management is as important as analytics, Metricool does not cover it.
LinkedIn excluded from the free plan. Metricool's free plan covers 1 brand but excludes LinkedIn, which is where many B2B teams get the most value.
Team features locked to Advanced. Approval workflows, role-based permissions, and team analytics require the $53/mo Advanced plan. Small teams expecting these features on Starter are caught off guard.
Occasional Instagram post failures. Reddit threads in 2026 document intermittent Instagram publishing errors with unclear error messages, which is frustrating for teams relying on consistent posting.

6 Metricool alternatives, in detail

1. OutX (the LinkedIn signal option)

Category: LinkedIn social listening + buying-signal engagement Pricing: Free; paid from $99/mo Best for: B2B teams whose buyers are active on LinkedIn

Metricool shows you how your content is performing. OutX shows you what your buyers are doing when they are not engaging with your content.

Specifically: when a prospect at a target account posts "we are evaluating social media tools, curious what others are using," that signal never shows up in any analytics dashboard. It shows up in OutX, scored for relevance to your offer, with a drafted reply you can send from your real LinkedIn account.

For B2B teams where LinkedIn is a pipeline channel rather than a content distribution channel, the signal layer is the missing piece. Metricool covers the analytics. OutX covers the real-time engagement intelligence.

Try OutX free for 7 days (no credit card).

2. Buffer

Category: Social media scheduling Pricing: Free (3 channels); from $6/channel/mo Best for: Teams prioritizing clean scheduling without per-platform add-on costs

Buffer's key advantage over Metricool for some teams: X/Twitter is included in all plans with no add-on cost. The trade-off is minimal analytics. If your primary need is reliable scheduling across multiple platforms including X at the lowest cost, Buffer wins on simplicity and pricing transparency. If analytics matter, Metricool is the stronger choice.

3. Later

Category: Visual social media scheduling Pricing: From $25/mo Best for: Visual-first brands where Instagram grid aesthetics are a priority

Later and Metricool are similarly priced at entry level. Later wins for Instagram-specific features: grid preview, Reel scheduling, Stories, and a strong link-in-bio tool. Metricool wins on analytics breadth and multi-platform support. For DTC and creator brands where Instagram is the primary channel and visual planning matters, Later is the natural choice. For multi-platform data-driven teams, Metricool is stronger.

4. Agorapulse

Category: Social media management Pricing: Free (3 profiles); from $79/user/mo Best for: Teams that need inbox management alongside analytics

Agorapulse adds a unified social inbox and approval workflows on top of analytics and scheduling. At $79/user/mo it is significantly more expensive than Metricool, but it covers the inbox gap that Metricool deliberately does not. For teams where community management and analytics are both critical, Agorapulse is the step up. For analytics-only needs, Metricool at $22/mo is the better value.

5. Loomly

Category: Social media calendar and scheduling Pricing: From $65/mo (Starter: 12 accounts, 3 users) Best for: Content-calendar-first teams that need approval workflows from day one

Loomly includes approval workflows from its entry Starter plan, which is the feature Metricool locks to Advanced. For teams where review-before-publish is a requirement and they have 3 or fewer users, Loomly at $65/mo is more accessible than Metricool Advanced at $53/mo with similarly limited team seats. The trade-off: Loomly's analytics are weaker than Metricool's.

Category: Social media management and analytics Pricing: From $199/user/mo Best for: Enterprise teams that need Metricool-level analytics combined with inbox and social listening

Sprout Social is the enterprise upgrade when a team needs Metricool's analytics depth alongside inbox management and social listening in a single platform. At $199+/user, it is 9-10x more expensive than Metricool. The premium is justified only when all three capabilities (analytics, inbox, listening) are genuine business requirements at enterprise scale. For most teams that use Metricool, the analytics-only use case does not justify Sprout's price.

Side-by-side: Buffer vs Metricool (the most common comparison)

Axis	Winner	Why
Free tier	Buffer	3 channels, unlimited posts. Metricool free excludes LinkedIn.
Analytics depth	Metricool	Competitor tracking, ad reporting, hashtag analytics. Buffer is minimal.
X/Twitter cost	Buffer	Included. Metricool charges $5/account add-on.
Multi-user collaboration	Metricool (Advanced)	Unlimited users on Advanced. Buffer Team also unlimited, but per-channel pricing.
Instagram visual planning	Later wins both	Neither matches Later's grid preview for Instagram.
Price for one brand, basic needs	Buffer free or Metricool free	Both have usable free tiers at different trade-offs.
LinkedIn buying signals	Neither (try OutX)	Both are scheduling and analytics tools. Neither monitors intent signals.

Where OutX fits in

Metricool tells you what worked last week. OutX tells you what is happening right now.

For B2B teams, "what is happening right now" on LinkedIn is often more actionable than any analytics dashboard. When someone in your ICP posts "we are switching from [competitor], what should we look at?", that is a live pipeline moment. It does not appear in any analytics tool. It appears in OutX, scored for relevance, with a drafted reply ready.

Metricool and OutX solve different problems in the LinkedIn workflow. Use Metricool to understand what content resonates and optimize your publishing. Use OutX to catch buying signals and convert them into conversations. Together they cover the analytics-plus-intelligence motion for under $125/mo combined.

Bottom line

Teams wanting analytics depth at low cost: Metricool. This is the core use case.
Teams wanting simple scheduling without per-platform add-on costs: Buffer.
Instagram-first visual brands: Later.
Teams needing inbox + analytics together: Agorapulse.
Teams needing approval workflows from day one: Loomly.
Enterprise teams needing everything in one: Sprout Social.
B2B teams that need LinkedIn buying signals alongside analytics: Metricool plus OutX.

Metricool is already strong value. The thing it cannot give you is real-time LinkedIn signal intelligence. That requires OutX as a separate, complementary layer.