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Metricool Review 2026: Is It Actually Worth It? My Honest Take After Testing It

If you manage social media for yourself, clients, or a small business, you have probably seen Metricool pop up in every "best tools" list this year. But most of those lists are written by people who used the tool for about 20 minutes, took some screenshots, and called it a day. I have been using Metricool properly — scheduling real posts, tracking real analytics, running competitor reports — to find out if it actually lives up to all the hype. Here is what I found.

Quick Verdict

Metricool is a solid all-in-one tool for freelance social media managers and small businesses who need scheduling, analytics, and competitor tracking without selling a kidney to afford it. The free plan is genuinely useful — and I do not say that lightly, because most "free plans" in this space are about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.

The paid plans are significantly cheaper than competitors like Hootsuite or Sprout Social. That said, it has real limitations that might matter depending on your workflow. I will cover those honestly below.

Best for: Freelance SMMs, solo creators, and small business owners managing 1-5 social accounts who want analytics and scheduling without Hootsuite prices.

Not ideal for: Large agencies needing complex approval workflows, or anyone who relies heavily on YouTube Shorts scheduling.

Pricing: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $18/month.

Try Metricool Free — https://thesmmstack.com//go/metricool

What Is Metricool?

Metricool is a social media management platform that combines three things most tools sell separately: post scheduling, analytics, and competitor tracking. It supports nine platforms — Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, Threads, and Google Business Profile. The company was founded in 2016 by two Spanish software engineers and now has over a million users.

What makes it different from the dozens of other scheduling tools out there is the analytics and competitor tracking side. Most scheduling tools let you post and forget. Metricool actually shows you what is working, when your audience is online, and what your competitors are doing — which is the kind of information that actually changes how you plan content rather than just confirming what you already know.

Who Is Metricool For?

Based on my testing, Metricool fits these people best:

Freelance social media managers handling a small number of client accounts. The ability to see all your scheduled posts across all platforms in one calendar saves a ridiculous amount of tab-switching. If you are managing 1-5 brands, the free or Starter plan covers you without breaking a sweat.

Solo creators who post across multiple platforms and want to understand what content actually performs. The analytics are not just vanity metrics — Metricool shows you which posts drove engagement, when your audience is most active, and how your follower growth trends over time. No more guessing why that Tuesday post flopped.

Small business owners who do their own social media. If you are running a local business and posting to Instagram, Facebook, and Google Business Profile, Metricool's free plan genuinely handles that without needing to upgrade. Seriously, the free plan.

Marketing students learning the craft. The free plan gives you access to real analytics tools without needing to spend money, which is rare. Most competitors lock analytics behind paid plans because apparently wanting to learn should cost you $99 a month.

Pricing Breakdown

This is where Metricool really separates itself from the pack.

FREE PLAN — $0/month

1 brand (1 account per platform), 50 scheduled posts per month, basic analytics for all connected platforms, competitor tracking for 5 competitors, community management inbox. No LinkedIn though — that is locked behind paid.

STARTER PLAN — $25/month

5 brands, unlimited scheduled posts, full analytics with historical data, competitor tracking for 100 competitors, LinkedIn included, custom reports, SmartLinks (link in bio tool).

ADVANCED PLAN — $67/month

15 brands, everything in Starter, advanced reporting, team collaboration features, API access, priority support.

For comparison: Hootsuite starts at $99/month for a single user, and Sprout Social starts at $249/month. Read that again. Metricool's Starter plan at $18/month gives you most of what those tools offer at a fraction of the cost. That is not a typo.

The free plan is the real standout. Unlike most "free plans" that are basically useless trials designed to annoy you into upgrading, Metricool's free tier gives you real scheduling (50 posts a month is enough for most solo users) and real analytics. The main limitation is one brand only, which means one Facebook page, one Instagram account, one X account, and so on.

Check Metricool Pricing — https://thesmmstack.com//go/metricool

What I Actually Liked

The Analytics Are Genuinely Useful

This is where Metricool pulls ahead of pure scheduling tools like Buffer. When you connect your social accounts, Metricool pulls in performance data and presents it in a way that is actually actionable — not just a wall of numbers that makes you feel like you need a data science degree.

You can see which posts got the most engagement, when your audience is online (displayed as a visual heatmap which is honestly quite satisfying to look at), and how your follower count is trending. For each platform, you get different relevant metrics — impressions and reach for Instagram, retweets and link clicks for X, subscriber growth for YouTube.

The competitor tracking deserves special mention. On the free plan you can track up to 5 competitors. On paid plans, up to 100. You add their social profiles and Metricool shows you their posting frequency, engagement rates, follower growth, and most popular content. If you are managing social media for clients, being able to show them "here is how you stack up against your competitors" in a report is a strong selling point. Clients love that stuff.

The Content Planner Is Clean

The scheduling interface uses a visual calendar that shows you everything queued across all platforms at a glance. You can drag and drop posts to reschedule, preview how they will look on each platform, and use the "Optimal Time" feature that suggests posting times based on when your audience has historically been most active. I found the optimal time suggestions to be roughly aligned with what I would expect — mornings and evenings for Instagram, midday for LinkedIn.

One feature I appreciated was the ability to schedule a first comment on Instagram posts. If you use hashtags in a first comment rather than the caption (a common strategy to keep captions clean), Metricool handles that automatically. Small feature, but it saves a surprising amount of time when you are scheduling a week of content in one sitting.

The Free Plan Is Honest

I keep coming back to this because it is genuinely rare. Most SaaS tools use "free plans" as bait — they are so limited that you essentially have to upgrade within five minutes of signing up. Metricool's free plan lets you genuinely manage one brand's social media with 50 scheduled posts per month and full access to basic analytics. For someone just starting out as a freelancer or a small business owner doing their own social media, that is enough to get real value without paying a cent.

Reporting Is Strong

Metricool generates automated monthly reports in PDF and PowerPoint formats. You can customise which sections to include and add your own logo on paid plans. If you are a freelancer sending monthly reports to clients, this feature alone could save you hours of manual reporting work. I have used other tools where creating client reports meant screenshotting each platform individually and pasting them into a Google Doc like some kind of digital scrapbook. Metricool handles it in about two clicks.

What Could Be Better

YouTube Shorts Scheduling Is Limited

This was my biggest frustration. You can technically schedule YouTube Shorts through Metricool, but you cannot select a thumbnail — it just grabs a frame from the video. This is actually a YouTube API limitation rather than something specific to Metricool, but it is still annoying. Metricool also does not provide "best time to post" data for YouTube the way it does for Instagram and TikTok. If YouTube is your primary platform, you will still need to use YouTube Studio alongside Metricool.

Instagram Video Sizing Can Be Finicky

I ran into an issue where some Instagram Reels failed to schedule because of file size limitations. Metricool's support said I needed to resize my videos before uploading. This was not an issue with competitors I tested — Buffer handled the same files without complaint. It is not a dealbreaker, but it adds an extra step to your workflow if you work with larger video files for Instagram.

The Interface Takes Time to Learn

Metricool is not complicated, but the sheer number of features means the dashboard can feel overwhelming when you first log in. The left sidebar has navigation for each connected platform plus analytics, competitors, ads, reports, and more. It took me about an hour of clicking around before I felt comfortable navigating everything. If you have ever opened a new tool and immediately thought "where do I even start" — that is the first hour with Metricool. After that, it clicks. A simpler tool like Buffer has a much shorter learning curve, though it also does much less.

LinkedIn Is Not on the Free Plan

LinkedIn access is locked behind the Starter plan at $18 a month. Metricool says this is because LinkedIn charges for API access, which is fair enough. But if LinkedIn is one of your primary platforms you will need to pay from day one. Every other major platform is available on the free plan.

Metricool vs the Competition

How does Metricool stack up against the tools you are probably also considering?

Metricool vs Hootsuite: Metricool is dramatically cheaper ($18/month vs $99/month) and includes competitor tracking that Hootsuite charges extra for. Hootsuite has a more mature enterprise feature set and social listening capabilities that Metricool lacks. For freelancers and small businesses, Metricool wins on value. It is not even close.

Metricool vs Buffer: Buffer has a simpler, more intuitive interface and handled Instagram video uploads better in my testing. But Buffer's analytics are basic compared to Metricool's, and Buffer has no competitor tracking at all. If you primarily need scheduling and nothing else, Buffer. If you need scheduling plus analytics, Metricool.

Metricool vs Sprout Social: Sprout Social is an enterprise tool starting at $249 a month. It is not really a fair comparison for most readers of this review. If you are a large agency, Sprout Social offers deeper CRM-style features. For everyone else, Metricool does 80% of what Sprout does at roughly 7% of the price.

Who Should NOT Use Metricool

Being fair here — Metricool is not for everyone. Skip it if:

You only manage YouTube. The YouTube features are the weakest part of the platform. Stick with YouTube Studio and a dedicated YouTube SEO tool like TubeBuddy. Metricool will just frustrate you.

You need advanced team collaboration. Metricool's team features exist on the Advanced plan, but they are basic compared to dedicated agency tools. If you have a team of 5+ people working on social media with approval workflows and content pipelines, you will outgrow Metricool quickly.

You want social listening. Metricool tracks competitors but does not do keyword or brand mention monitoring across the wider internet. Tools like Brandwatch or Sprout Social offer that — at a much higher price, obviously.

My Verdict

Metricool is the best value social media management tool I have tested for freelancers and small businesses in 2026. The free plan is genuinely useful (a rarity in this space), the analytics go deeper than most competitors at this price point, and the competitor tracking feature alone makes it worth a look. The main drawbacks — limited YouTube support and occasional Instagram video issues — are real but not dealbreakers for most users.

If you are currently using Hootsuite and wincing every time you see that $99 charge hit your account, switching to Metricool will save you $80+ a month while keeping most of the functionality you actually use day to day. If you are currently managing social media with no tools at all, the free plan is the obvious place to start — you literally have nothing to lose.

If you are a large agency or a YouTube-first creator, look elsewhere. For everyone else, Metricool is worth trying.

Try Metricool Free — https://thesmmstack.com//go/metricool

Related Reading

Want to see how Metricool compares to Hootsuite and Buffer side by side? I broke down the pricing, features, and honest verdict in Metricool vs Hootsuite vs Buffer 2026: Which Is Actually Best?

If you are looking for free options, I also tested every major free scheduling tool and ranked them in Best Free Social Media Scheduling Tools in 2026.

New to Metricool and not sure where to start? Walk through the full setup in my How to Use Metricool: Complete Beginner Tutorial.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Metricool free?

Yes. Metricool has a permanent free plan (not a trial) that includes scheduling up to 50 posts a month, basic analytics, and tracking up to 5 competitors. You can use it indefinitely without paying.

Is Metricool better than Hootsuite?

For freelancers and small businesses, yes. Metricool costs $18/month vs Hootsuite's $99/month and includes competitor tracking that Hootsuite charges extra for. For large enterprises needing advanced social listening and complex team workflows, Hootsuite is still stronger.

Can I schedule Instagram Reels with Metricool?

Yes, though I experienced some file size limitations with larger video files. If your Reels are under the standard size limits, scheduling works fine. For larger files, you may need to resize before uploading.

Does Metricool work with TikTok?

Yes. Metricool supports direct TikTok scheduling, including the ability to add trending music to posts from the content planner. Note that this requires a TikTok Business account.

How many social media accounts can I connect?

The free plan allows 1 brand (meaning one account per platform). The Starter plan at $18 a month allows 5 brands. The Advanced plan at $45 a month allows 15 brands.