If you opened this post, you’re probably a social media manager tired of constantly switching between platforms to schedule posts. Or maybe you need a better platform that can accommodate your business’s needs. Maybe you just need an alternative to Meta Business Suite (I won’t judge).
I’ve been there, too. Social media marketing was my first foray into digital marketing, and as a social media marketer at heart, I’ve been on the hunt for the best social media schedulers that make it easier and more convenient.
Back when I started, many of these tools hadn’t existed yet, but today, you have tools like Buffer, which is a great option for small teams. Or tools that use AI to optimize posts or write captions, like Metricool and Planable. There are also platforms with more advanced social media capabilities, like Sprout Social and Hootsuite, that are a good fit for larger organizations.
Those are just some of my top picks. The following are the best social media scheduling tools from my experience and research, why I chose them, and what they’re best for.
- Sprout Social: Advanced end-to-end social media marketing and reputation management
- Later Social: Best visual scheduling and organic social media marketing features
- Buffer: Great free tool for beginners and small teams
- Metricool: Good social media analytics
- SocialBee: Efficient content creation, repurposing, and organization for content creators
- CoSchedule: Best built-in content marketing tools for writers and bloggers
- Hootsuite: Excellent bulk content scheduling tools
- Planable: Simple scheduling tool with great team collaboration features
Featured partners
Best social media schedulers: An overview
| Best for | Supported platforms | Starting cost | Difficulty level | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sprout Social | Advanced, end-to-end social media marketing and reputation management | Facebook, X, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Threads, Pinterest, YouTube | $199/seat/month | Advanced |
| Later Social | Visual scheduling and organic social media marketing | Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Pinterest, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, Snapchat | $18.75/month | Beginner |
| Buffer | Beginners and small teams that need a free tool | Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, Threads, Google Business Profile, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Mastodon | Free | Beginner |
Metricool | Teams that prioritize analytics | Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, Threads, Twitch, Google Business Profile, Pinterest, LinkedIn | Free | Intermediate |
| SocialBee | Efficient content creation, repurposing, and organization | Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, TikTok, Threads, Google Business Profile, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Bluesky | $24/month | Intermediate |
| CoSchedule | Built-in content marketing tools for writers and bloggers | Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, TikTok, Threads, Google Business Profile, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Mastodon | Free | Intermediate |
| Hootsuite | Bulk content scheduling | Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, X, LinkedIn, Threads, Pinterest, WhatsApp | $99/user/month | Intermediate |
| Planable | Simple scheduling platform with great team collaboration | Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, Google Business Profile, YouTube, Pinterest, Threads, TikTok | Free | Beginner |
Sprout Social: Advanced end-to-end social media marketing and reputation management
Supported social media platforms: Facebook, X, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Threads, Pinterest, YouTube
What’s great:
- Comprehensive, end-to-end social media tools for content publishing, reputation management, and customer acquisition
- Keyword and location monitoring, brand crisis alerts
- Detailed reports including post performance, profile performance by platform, and competitor insights
- Automated message replies and priority messages
What it lacks:
- Tools for setting up paid social ads
- An easy-to-navigate interface (which can slow down onboarding time)
- Key features (like spike alerts and sentiment analysis) in starter plans
- Google Business Profile or Bluesky management
Who I would recommend it for:
- Large enterprises with full social media teams
- Any business with a big social media following that needs to maintain a brand reputation
My thoughts on Sprout Social:
Sprout Social’s on every “best social media schedulers” list, and it’s earned its stars. Sprout Social has arguably the most extensive social media management tools on the market, with tools for:
- Publishing content.
- Engaging with DMs and comments.
- Monitoring brand reputation (and setting up crisis alerts).
- Tracking your post performance with detailed analytics on organic vs paid performance, hashtags, and campaign ROI.
It’s not just a content scheduling tool, but a complete end-to-end social media management platform.
One of my favorite features is the inbox automation that can automatically reply to common messages and prioritize the most important ones. This saves a ton of time and allows teams to focus on the messages that need real human attention, like support inquiries or if a customer had a negative experience.
That’s just one of the features it’s capable of — there are about a dozen more, which is why it’s many corporate organizations’ platform of choice and is hard to beat when it comes to comprehensiveness.
If social media plays a central role in your audience engagement, this is the best tool to invest in for long-term growth, in my experience. It works alongside your team for virtually any social media marketing task.
Pricing and features
Enterprise plans are also available at custom prices — contact Sprout Social’s sales team for more.
| Standard | Professional | Advanced | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost (annual billing) | $199/user | $299/user | $399/user |
| Managed social profiles | 5 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Keyword and location monitoring | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Centralized inbox | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Analytics | Content and profile | Content and profile, competitor, paid ads | Content and profile, competitor, paid ads |
| Engagement analysis | X | ✓ | ✓ |
| Message spike alerts and priority messages | X | X | ✓ |
Later Social: Best visual scheduling and organic social media marketing features
Support social media platforms: Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Pinterest, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, Snapchat
What’s great:
- Searches for user-generated content (UGC) through tags, mentions, and hashtags
- Mimics each social platform’s native features — great for organic social media marketing
- An Instagram visual planner can preview posts on a grid before publishing
- Unlimited media storage on all plans, plus one-click Canva export
What it lacks:
- Analytics outside of the standard (engagement, audience insights, and page growth) — and only up to two years
- Support for X, Google Business Profile, and Bluesky
- Share of voice analysis
- Comments management and tracking tools
Who I would recommend it for:
- Very visual brands that use social media regularly for branding
- Brands with a strong focus on organic social media marketing to bring business value, especially UGC
My thoughts on Later Social:
Later Social is another great tool for beginners, but I particularly like its visual-first approach to social media. This is a platform that understands that social media is a visual-first channel.
For instance, with its Instagram scheduler, it’s possible to preview how posts look on a grid before posting, which is super helpful for managing very visual-forward brands. For that matter, it can also schedule Stories, Reels, and carousels — and posts on TikTok and Snapchat, Gen Z’s favorite hotspots.
That’s my favorite thing about Later Social: It mimics each platform’s native posting features and makes them all more convenient and accessible via desktop. It adapts to each platform’s features and doesn’t provide one generic posting interface like most other tools, which is a real gift for organic social media marketing.
Finally, Later Social has creator-friendly tools; a particular highlight is the UGC finder feature that works by searching through tags, hashtags, and mentions, which is a huge help if UGC is part of your social strategy.
While its pricing has increased in the past few years, it’s also continually upgraded its features, which is why it’s still one of my best social media schedulers.
Pricing and features
| Starter | Growth | Scale | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost (annual billing) | $18.75 | $37.50 | $82.50 |
| Managed social sets (aka brands)* | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Scheduled posts per profile | 30 | 180 | Unlimited |
| Analytics | 3 months | 1 year | 2 years |
| Unlimited media storage | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Visual planner | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| UGC search by profile and hashtag | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| UGC search by tags and mentions | X | ✓ | ✓ |
| Centralized inbox for Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok | X | ✓ | ✓ |
| Competitor analysis | X | X | ✓ |
*Each social set can connect and manage up to eight social media profiles connected to one email address.
Buffer: Great free tool for beginners and small teams
Supported social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, Threads, Google Business Profile, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Mastodon
What’s great:
- Easy to set up and navigate with all the content scheduling essentials
- Content calendar, ideas board, and analytics tab are helpful for consistent content publishing
- Integrates with Canva, Google Drive, and Dropbox for files
- Link in bio page creator
- Supports 11 social media platforms, including Threads and Bluesky
What it lacks:
- A unified inbox for replying to and managing DMs
- “Best time to post” recommendations outside of Instagram
- Social listening or influencer management features; not an all-in-one platform
Who I would recommend it for:
- Small businesses and solopreneurs
- Anyone who’s a one-person marketing team
My thoughts on Buffer:
Buffer is a great free tool for beginners and the one I’d recommend most to anyone who needs an easy, no-fuss tool that gets the job done — just a simple, straightforward social media scheduling tool. It’s also my top recommendation for small business owners or small teams for the same reason.
Aside from being very easy to navigate, I can schedule multiple posts on multiple platforms — even up to 10 posts a month on the free plan, enough to keep a personal page alive and running. However, for a brand account, you may need to upgrade to a paid plan to schedule more (paid plans start at $5/month for one channel).
Nonetheless, Buffer covers all the basics: a content calendar to see all your scheduled posts at a glance, a content library for saving ideas on the fly, and the ability to reply to comments. The content library is a personal favorite; it’s like a digital notebook for jotting and saving content ideas.
All these features are helpful for small-time brands and creators for whom social media is a primary channel for promotion and building an audience.
As mentioned, Buffer also has one of the most generous free plans, although I wouldn’t recommend it for larger organizations, as it’s not the most comprehensive tool. For instance, it lacks social listening tools that are necessary for reputation management. But for an easy, reliable social media scheduling tool, Buffer is always my go-to.
Pricing and features
| Free | Essentials | Team | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost (per channel) | $0 | $5 | $10 |
| Social media channels | 3 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Scheduled posts | 10 | 2,000 | 2,000 |
| AI caption assistant | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Link-in-bio site builder | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Users | 1 | 1 | Unlimited |
| Comments management | X | ✓ | ✓ |
| Post analytics | X | ✓ | ✓ |
Metricool: Good social media analytics
Supported social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, Threads, Twitch, Google Business Profile, Pinterest, LinkedIn
What’s great:
- Automatically compiles analytics into ready-to-download reports
- Analyzes top-performing posts to recommend optimal posting times
- Competitor analysis, historical data, and integration with Looker Studio
- Built-in tracked campaign link generator
- Easily handle multiple brands, where one “brand” counts as one email address connected to a profile.
What it lacks:
- Audience sentiment and share of voice analysis
- A content ideas board
- An intuitive interface
Who I would recommend it for:
- Social media marketers who lean on data and reports
- Agencies that handle multiple brands
My thoughts on Metricool:
Metricool is one of my recent favorite social media scheduling tools, particularly for its analytics (which, as any social media marketer knows, is an essential part of social media strategy). It shows all the social analytics in one tab — I don’t need to switch between platforms and create separate reports for each.
It can also automatically generate reports to download as CSV files, a lifesaver for compiling monthly reports and tracking social performance (and for anyone who’s not a numbers person like me).
These reports include follower and visitor growth over time, clicks, demographics, and interactions. It can also show competitors’ analytics, although you’ll need to add your competitors yourself.
But unfortunately, it doesn’t show metrics for sentiment analyses or share of voice, which are its biggest drawbacks, and why I primarily find it more helpful for small and medium-sized businesses rather than large enterprises that need that detailed data.
Like Buffer, it also has a content calendar, plus a feature that analyzes and suggests optimal posting times based on past performance, which is one of my favorite features. Overall, Metricool is the data-driven social media marketer’s best friend — data is at the center of all its tools.
Pricing and features
Enterprise plans are also available with custom pricing.
| Free | Starter | Advanced | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost (annual billing) | $0 | $18 | $45 |
| Brands | 1 | 10 | 50 |
| Scheduled posts | 50 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Competitor analysis | 5 profiles | 100 profiles | 100 profiles |
| Social media analytics | 3 months | Lifetime | Lifetime |
| Inbox management | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| LinkedIn and X management | X | ✓ | ✓ |
| Link-in-bio site builder | X | ✓ | ✓ |
| Post approvals | X | X | ✓ |
SocialBee: Efficient content creation, repurposing, and organization for content creators
Supported social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, TikTok, Threads, Google Business Profile, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Bluesky
What’s great:
- Integrates with Canva, GIPHY, and Unsplash for one-stop content creation and publishing
- Create multiple variations of one post in one go for easy repurposing
- Customize content to each platform before posting
- Organize content into categories
- AI chatbot-style customized social media consultant
What it lacks:
- Inbox management
- A modern, updated interface
- The ability to manage more than five workspaces (aka brands) on the highest plan
Who I would recommend it for:
- Content creators or personal brands, especially those with profiles on multiple platforms
- Brands that repurpose a lot of content (or post a lot of evergreen content)
My thoughts on SocialBee:
SocialBee’s a lesser-known social media management platform I’ve been liking recently — primarily for its integrations with Canva and GIPHY directly within the posting tool.
The tool makes it easy to design and publish posts all in one go, particularly if you regularly design content on those platforms. Uploading your own content is also easy, particularly with the live post preview.
Another great SocialBee feature is its ability to categorize posts as I’m scheduling them, whether by topic or content bucket, and it automatically archives them into a queue. Even better, the “Add Variation” tool can create multiple variations of one post, making them easier to repurpose later.
This is such a great feature that I haven’t seen in many other platforms, which makes it much simpler to store a content bank, especially for evergreen content. My main criticism is that it’s not the smoothest experience and takes some tinkering before you figure out how the tool works.
Other highlights include image editing, ALT text, and video thumbnail selection tools — little details that can make a world of difference in post performance. Overall, it’s a particularly helpful tool for content creators or brands that publish a wide mix of content regularly.
Pricing and features
| Bootstrap | Accelerate | Pro | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost (annual billing) | $24 | $40 | $82 |
| Social profiles | 5 | 10 | 25 |
| Historical data | 3 months | 2 years | 2 years |
| Workspaces | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Users | 1 | 1 | 3 per workspace |
| Canva, Unsplash, and GIPHY integration | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Create multiple post variations | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Content categories | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI social media advisor | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
CoSchedule: Best built-in content marketing tools for writers and bloggers
Supported social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, TikTok, Threads, Google Business Profile, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Mastodon
What’s great:
- Content and social media calendar in one — great for solo bloggers
- Integrates with WordPress and HubSpot to publish blogs from inside the platform
- ReQueue automation can automatically repost the best-performing social media posts
What it lacks:
- Social listening or comments management
- A simple, uncomplicated UI
Who I would recommend it for:
- Bloggers, especially solo bloggers who are starting to build an online presence and use WordPress or HubSpot
- Publishing teams that want to switch to a content management platform that can publish blogs and social media posts
My thoughts on CoSchedule:
CoSchedule’s a little different from the other social media scheduling tools in that it’s primarily for promoting blogs and articles. It even has SEO and AI content outlining tools within the platform, which makes it possible to publish blogs and promote them on social at once.
It even integrates with WordPress and HubSpot’s publishing tools (no others yet, unfortunately). In a sense, it’s like having an online content marketing and social media calendar in one.
But that’s also its biggest flaw, for me, and why I haven’t fully integrated CoSchedule into my content marketing processes, even as I write. I have a bunch of other tools I’ve used to manage content workflows, like Notion and Clickup, and using CoSchedule kind of defeats their purpose.
That said, if you don’t have a content organization system yet and are building your social presence as a blogger from the ground up, definitely look into CoSchedule and get a feel for it (the UI can take some getting used to), because its features are genuinely helpful — particularly if you’re solo.
Pricing and features
| Free Calendar | Social Calendar | Agency Calendar | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost(annual billing) | $0 | $19/user | $59/user |
| Scheduled posts | 15 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Managed social profiles | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Publish to WordPress and HubSpot | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI social assistant | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Plan social media campaigns | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Social media analytics | X | ✓ | ✓ |
| Link-in-bio site builder | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Hootsuite: Excellent bulk content scheduling tools
Supported social media platforms: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, X, LinkedIn, Threads, Pinterest, WhatsApp
What’s great:
- Schedule weeks’ worth of content with the bulk-scheduling tool
- Pause scheduled posts anytime, in case of crises or pivots
- Centralized inbox with message assignments
- Detailed data, including Industry and competitor benchmarks
What it lacks:
- Keyword and location monitoring
- Bluesky and Google Business Profile support
Who I would recommend it for:
- Any social media team that wants to save time by scheduling several posts at once
- Social media teams that need to spend more time on brand reputation
My thoughts on Hootsuite:
Hootsuite has all the features you need from a social media scheduling tool, and it does the job well. It’s the first scheduling tool I used when I was starting out.
And the interface follows a similar feed-style interface as other social media platforms, making it easy to navigate — much easier than its top competitor, Sprout Social. These days, it also integrates with Canva and Copysmith to create and publish content more efficiently.
The main reason I’ve included Hootsuite here, however, is its bulk-scheduling ability, which is a real time-saver for keeping content calendars on track. For instance, I can upload two weeks’ worth of content in advance.
And if ever priorities shift or a brand crisis happens, I can temporarily pause scheduled posts. Hootsuite is the only platform I’ve seen with this capability so far.
Like Sprout Social, Hootsuite has brand and audience sentiment analyses and a unified inbox, although it doesn’t have keyword or location monitoring. The bulk scheduling is really its star feature — the rest are mostly standard stuff you’ll find with other platforms. But it can help save a lot of time.
Pricing and features
| Standard | Advanced | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost (annual billing) | $99/user | $249/user |
| Managed social media accounts | 5 | Unlimited |
| Canva integration | ✓ | ✓ |
| Centralized inbox with automated message replies | ✓ | ✓ |
| Unlimited scheduled posts | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bulk scheduling up to 350 posts | X | ✓ |
| Pause scheduled posts | X | ✓ |
| Automated message replies | X | ✓ |
Planable: Simple scheduling tool with great team collaboration
Supported social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, Google Business Profile, YouTube, Pinterest, Threads, TikTok
What’s great:
- Simple tool with just the essentials: scheduling, analytics, and a centralized inbox
- Efficient team collaboration and workflow approval features
- Generates analytics reports shareable via link or PDF
What it lacks:
- Social listening and crisis notification features
- Advanced analytics for keyword tracking and share of voice
Who I would recommend it for:
- Social media teams that need post approvals
- Teams that only need simple post scheduling and analytics, and nothing more
My thoughts on Planable:
Planable has a clean interface and is super easy to use, with all the most essential features: post scheduling, a content calendar, and comments management, which is why I like it. It’s a fuss-free tool that gets the job done.
The other thing I like is that it’s designed for team collaboration. There’s an internal communications platform where you can work with teammates on posts and create approval workflows, and once posts are approved, they go straight to publishing (or scheduling). It’s one of the easiest social media scheduling tools I’ve used by far.
The main thing it lacks is an integration with any kind of online storage, like Google Drive. This means every piece of content will need to be uploaded manually or imported from Canva. However, the Canva integration isn’t one-click like others, so I often find it simpler to upload content myself.
Apart from that, though, Planable is a very reliable and simple social media scheduling tool, a good option if you only need to schedule content, monitor performance, reply to DMs, and work with your team easily.
Pricing and features
Enterprise plans are available at custom prices — contact Planable’s sales team to learn more.
| Free | Basics | Pro | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost (annual billing) | $0 | $33/workspace | $49/workspace |
| Scheduled posts | 50 total | 60/month | 150/month |
| Brands | 1 | 1* | 1* |
| Media storage | 100GB | 10GB | 50GB |
| Centralized inbox and comments management | X | ✓ | ✓ |
| Team collaboration and approvals | X | ✓ | ✓ |
| Page, post, and audience analytics | X | Add $9/month | Add $9/month |
*Expandable at extra costs.
My evaluation criteria for the best social media schedulers
There are many great social media scheduling tools out there, so choosing the best of the best requires clear criteria.
I specifically looked at the features each platform offered — for scheduling social media content, but also for other social media-related tasks, like monitoring comments, responding to messages, and tracking post analytics.
I also didn’t want you to have a hard time, so I evaluated the usability and navigation of each platform. Finally, I looked at platform scalability and customer support.
- Basic multi-platform scheduling and content calendar tools: All the tools above have, at the very least, the ability to schedule posts and plan them out on a content calendar
- Extra social media capabilities: As mentioned, I looked for the best social media marketing tools that can perform more tasks, like social listening, monitoring comments, responding to messages, and team collaboration.
- Navigation and usability: Ease of use is a large factor in any good social media platform, so I made sure to pick tools with interfaces that wouldn’t be a headache to navigate.
- Scalability: I also looked at the scalability of each platform (i.e., if their plans are flexible enough to allow room for growth). All the platforms on my list have tiered pricing and monthly or annual billing options.
- Customer support: A friendly team and smooth onboarding process can do wonders, which is why I included customer support in my evaluation. If you ever run into any hitches with any of the platforms above, support is usually either a call, chat, or email away, and all have an online support library.
Final thoughts and how to choose the best tool for your organization
After researching and evaluating the best social media schedulers for this guide, what’s most clear to me is that all these tools are very capable of the basics of social media scheduling.
Where they really differ is in their advanced features and level of usability. So, how do you find the best one for your business or organization?
Some of the most important things to consider, in my experience, are your primary objectives with social media (or your social media strategy), the size of your team, your level of familiarity with social media tools, and the analytics you need.
- Social media objectives and overall strategy: A business with a strong focus on UGC and organic social would fare well with a tool like Later Social, which has capabilities for both. Meanwhile, bloggers and creators will find CoSchedule’s content marketing tools useful, and large organizations with a reputation to manage will benefit from Sprout Social’s social listening tools.
- Team size: Some platforms are meant for single-person use, like Buffer, and others for full teams, like Planable. I always advise estimating how many people from your team will be using the platform, and if approval workflows are necessary, as not every tool has those capabilities.
- Brands to manage: The same goes for the number of brands you’ll be managing. Some tools only allow up to a certain number of brands. For instance, Later Social only allows up to six, which narrows down your choices significantly.
- The analytics you’ll need: One of the biggest mistakes I made early on, as a social media manager, was failing to consider the analytics offered in each platform. For instance, some platforms only allowed up to three months of analytics reporting, when I needed data for the whole year to measure my page’s growth accurately.
Aside from the data time frame you need, consider the specific metrics you need to measure, from engagement rates to more advanced ones like share of voice or competitor analyses. - Familiarity with social media tools: It’s also worth considering your team’s familiarity with different social media platforms. Most of these platforms are plug-and-play and will be easy enough for anyone to navigate, but others will require a longer onboarding process, like Sprout Social.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
For small and medium-sized businesses, my top picks are Buffer, Metricool, and Planable. All these have easy-to-navigate interfaces and free plans to get started. For enterprise businesses and larger organizations, tools like Sprout Social, Hootsuite, and Later Social have advanced social media marketing tools that include social listening, audience analysis, and comments management, along with content scheduling.
The 70/20/10 rule for social media is a common guideline for posting content on social media: 70% should offer value to audiences (for example, helpful blogs, carousels, and infographics), 20% should be content shared from other sources to build your credibility, and only 10% should promote your product or service. This has, historically, worked for many brands. But it’s only a general guideline, not a strict rule. It’s more important to have a clear social media strategy built around your objectives.
It depends. Buffer is better for beginners, smaller teams, and solopreneurs as it’s easier to navigate and has less expensive plans (including a free forever plan). Meanwhile, Hootsuite is better for larger organizations, as it’s built for teams and has more advanced social media features, like audience sentiment analysis and bulk scheduling.
