Best Social Media Management Tools 2026: Compared
We rank social media scheduling and management tools using only facts from their own sites: the monthly price of the cheapest paid plan with monthly billing, how many social accounts that plan includes, whether there is a permanent free plan and how many accounts it covers, a shared inbox for comments and messages, approval workflows, an AI writing assistant, a built-in link-in-bio page, publishing to TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Threads and Bluesky, two-factor authentication, single sign-on, a SOC 2 audit and the year the company started. Every fact links to an official page with a check date. We do not test the tools ourselves and do not use reviews or user scores, and paid placements never change the Score.
| # | Company | Who it serves | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Buffer | 83 | $6.00 | 1 | Yes | 3 | Yes | Free plan Inbox Approvals Link in bio Bluesky |
| 2 | Metricool | 70 | $25.00 | Not verified | Yes | Not verified | Yes | Free plan Inbox Approvals Link in bio Bluesky |
| 3 | Agorapulse | 69 | $99.00 | 10 | Yes | Not verified | Yes | Free plan Inbox Approvals Link in bio Bluesky |
| 4 | Sprout Social | 68 | $99.00 | 5 | No | 0 | Yes | Inbox Approvals Link in bio Bluesky |
| 5 | SocialPilot | 68 | $30.00 | 7 | No | 0 | Yes | Inbox Approvals Bluesky |
| 6 | Vista Social | 66 | $99.00 | 15 | No | 0 | Yes | Inbox Approvals Link in bio Bluesky |
| 7 | SocialBee | 61 | $29.00 | 5 | No | 0 | Yes | Inbox Approvals Bluesky |
| 8 | Planable | 60 | $39.00 | 4 | No | 0 | Yes | Inbox Approvals |
| 9 | Loomly | 58 | $65.00 | 12 | Not verified | Not verified | Yes | Inbox Approvals |
| 10 | Later | 54 | Not verified | 8 | No | 0 | Yes | Inbox Approvals Link in bio |
-
- Cheapest paid plan, monthly billing
- $6.00
- Social accounts on the cheapest paid plan
- 1
- Free plan
- Yes
- Social accounts on the free plan
- 3
- Shared inbox for comments and messages
- Yes
Pros
- Low monthly price
- Reply to comments and messages in one place
- Posts can go through approval
- AI helps write posts
Details Visit site ↗ 90% backed by facts
-
- Cheapest paid plan, monthly billing
- $25.00
- Social accounts on the cheapest paid plan
- Not verified
- Free plan
- Yes
- Social accounts on the free plan
- Not verified
- Shared inbox for comments and messages
- Yes
Pros
- Reply to comments and messages in one place
- Posts can go through approval
- AI helps write posts
- Own link-in-bio page
Details Visit site ↗ 75% backed by facts
-
- Cheapest paid plan, monthly billing
- $99.00
- Social accounts on the cheapest paid plan
- 10
- Free plan
- Yes
- Social accounts on the free plan
- Not verified
- Shared inbox for comments and messages
- Yes
Pros
- Reply to comments and messages in one place
- Posts can go through approval
- AI helps write posts
- Own link-in-bio page
Cons
- High monthly price
Details Visit site ↗ 85% backed by facts
-
- Cheapest paid plan, monthly billing
- $99.00
- Social accounts on the cheapest paid plan
- 5
- Free plan
- No
- Social accounts on the free plan
- 0
- Shared inbox for comments and messages
- Yes
Pros
- Reply to comments and messages in one place
- Posts can go through approval
- AI helps write posts
- Own link-in-bio page
Cons
- High monthly price
- No permanent free plan
- Few or no free accounts
Details Visit site ↗ 95% backed by facts
-
- Cheapest paid plan, monthly billing
- $30.00
- Social accounts on the cheapest paid plan
- 7
- Free plan
- No
- Social accounts on the free plan
- 0
- Shared inbox for comments and messages
- Yes
Pros
- Reply to comments and messages in one place
- Posts can go through approval
- AI helps write posts
- Two-factor authentication for accounts
Cons
- No permanent free plan
- Few or no free accounts
Details Visit site ↗ 84% backed by facts
-
- Cheapest paid plan, monthly billing
- $99.00
- Social accounts on the cheapest paid plan
- 15
- Free plan
- No
- Social accounts on the free plan
- 0
- Shared inbox for comments and messages
- Yes
Pros
- Reply to comments and messages in one place
- Posts can go through approval
- AI helps write posts
- Own link-in-bio page
Cons
- High monthly price
- No permanent free plan
- Few or no free accounts
Details Visit site ↗ 95% backed by facts
-
- Cheapest paid plan, monthly billing
- $29.00
- Social accounts on the cheapest paid plan
- 5
- Free plan
- No
- Social accounts on the free plan
- 0
- Shared inbox for comments and messages
- Yes
Pros
- Reply to comments and messages in one place
- Posts can go through approval
- AI helps write posts
- Publishes to TikTok
Cons
- No permanent free plan
- Few or no free accounts
Details Visit site ↗ 79% backed by facts
-
- Cheapest paid plan, monthly billing
- $39.00
- Social accounts on the cheapest paid plan
- 4
- Free plan
- No
- Social accounts on the free plan
- 0
- Shared inbox for comments and messages
- Yes
Pros
- Reply to comments and messages in one place
- Posts can go through approval
- AI helps write posts
- Single sign-on available
Cons
- No permanent free plan
- Few or no free accounts
- Bluesky not confirmed
Details Visit site ↗ 84% backed by facts
-
- Cheapest paid plan, monthly billing
- $65.00
- Social accounts on the cheapest paid plan
- 12
- Free plan
- Not verified
- Social accounts on the free plan
- Not verified
- Shared inbox for comments and messages
- Yes
Pros
- Reply to comments and messages in one place
- Posts can go through approval
- AI helps write posts
- Two-factor authentication for accounts
Details Visit site ↗ 70% backed by facts
-
- Cheapest paid plan, monthly billing
- Not verified
- Social accounts on the cheapest paid plan
- 8
- Free plan
- No
- Social accounts on the free plan
- 0
- Shared inbox for comments and messages
- Yes
Pros
- Reply to comments and messages in one place
- Posts can go through approval
- AI helps write posts
- Own link-in-bio page
Cons
- No permanent free plan
- Few or no free accounts
- Bluesky not confirmed
Details Visit site ↗ 70% backed by facts
Not ranked yet: not enough verified data
These services are known to us, but we haven't verified enough facts to rank them fairly.
- Hootsuite (69% backed by facts)
- Publer (53% backed by facts)
- Sendible (52% backed by facts)
- Zoho Social (59% backed by facts)
How we calculate the Score
30%
Price
Monthly list price in USD of the cheapest paid plan with monthly billing: $0 scores 100, $100 or more scores 0 (weight 3). Annual-billing prices, promotions and discount codes are ignored; for per-channel or per-seat pricing we take the price for one channel or one seat. If the official pricing page shows the monthly price only after a script runs or in a currency chosen by our visitor location, the fact stays empty; a machine-readable pricing page the vendor links from its pricing page counts. Also how many social accounts the cheapest paid plan includes, on a logarithmic scale up to 20 (weight 1), a permanent free plan (weight 1) and how many accounts it covers, on a logarithmic scale up to 10 (weight 1). A free trial does not count as a free plan.
30%
Engagement and teamwork
A shared inbox where you reply to comments or messages from several networks (weight 2), approval workflows before posts go out (weight 1), an AI assistant that writes or rewrites posts (weight 1) and a built-in link-in-bio page (weight 1). A fact shows that the feature exists on some plan or as a paid add-on, not that the cheapest plan has it; third-party integrations are not counted.
20%
Networks
Whether the official site lists publishing to TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Threads and Bluesky (weight 1 each). Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn are supported by every tool in the ranking and are not scored. X (Twitter) is not scored either: several tools sell it only as a paid add-on because of the cost of its API.
20%
Account security and track record
Two-factor authentication for user accounts (weight 1), single sign-on through SAML or another identity provider (weight 1), a SOC 2 audit of the vendor itself, not only of its cloud provider (weight 1), and how long the company has been running: 15 years or more scores 100 (weight 1).
How to choose a social media management tool
Count accounts and people
List every profile you post to, on every network, and everyone who needs access, including clients. Then compare the price of a plan that covers all of them: per-channel, per-user and per-workspace prices grow in very different ways.
Check your networks on your plan
TikTok, YouTube, Threads, Pinterest and Bluesky are not supported everywhere, and X is often a paid add-on. Check that publishing, analytics and replies work for each network you use, not only scheduling.
Decide whether you need an inbox
If you answer comments and messages every day, a shared inbox saves time. Check which networks it covers and whether direct messages are included or only comments, and whether the inbox is part of the plan or a paid add-on.
Protect access for a team
Your social accounts are your brand. Look for two-factor authentication, user roles and approval steps before posts go out, and for larger teams single sign-on and a SOC 2 report.
Frequently asked questions
Which social media management tool is best?
The tool in first place has the highest Score under our open method, but the Score does not measure ease of use or the quality of analytics. Count the accounts and people who will use the tool, check that your networks are supported on the plan you can afford, then try the free plan or trial with your own accounts.
How do you compare prices?
We take the cheapest paid plan with monthly billing, in US dollars, as shown in the text of the vendor's official pricing page or of the machine-readable pricing page it links. Tools are priced in different ways: per channel, per user, per workspace or per brand, so we also show how many accounts the entry plan includes. Annual billing is usually 15 to 25 percent cheaper; the note on each tool's page shows the annual price when we saw it.
Why is the price empty for some well-known tools?
Some pricing pages show the monthly price only after a script runs, show only the annual price, or do not say whether a number is the monthly or the annual rate. We record only what is readable on the official page and do not work out prices ourselves, so the fact stays empty and lowers data completeness. That is why some popular tools rank lower or are listed outside the ranking.
What is a social account or channel?
Usually one connected profile, page or account: a Facebook page, an Instagram profile, a LinkedIn page and a TikTok account are four. Some tools sell a set of profiles instead, one on each network, and call it a brand, a social set or a workspace; the note on each tool's page explains its unit.
Do you test the tools ourselves?
No. How well posting, the inbox and analytics work depends on the networks' own APIs, which change often, and a fair test is hard to repeat. We use only facts that anyone can check on the vendor's own pages, each with a link and a check date.