Social media scheduling · 2026
Best social media scheduling tools for social inbox 33 tools ranked by verified data
Data checked Oct 14, 2026 against the vendors' own pages. How we verify
We scored 37 social media scheduling tools for social inbox with the same 8-criterion scorecard; 33 have enough verified data to be ranked.
Only tools with a verified social inbox feature are included.
Buffer ranks first with 98/100, followed by Zoho Social (96) and Posterly (94).
The lowest starting price among ranked tools (the least you can pay for a paid plan, for one user or account) is Buffer's: $5 per social account per month billed yearly on the Essentials plan.
The ranking
| # | Tool | Score | Coverage | From, billed monthly | From, billed yearly | Free plan | Platforms | Integrations | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Buffer | 98/100 | 80%6 of 8 criteria | Not offered | $5/account/mo | Yes, 3 social accounts | – | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 2 |  Zoho Social | 96/100 | 90%7 of 8 criteria | Not offered | $10/mo | Yes, 1 workspace | 14 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 3 |  Posterly | 94/100 | 95%7 of 8 criteria | Not offered | $6/mo | No | 12 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 4 |  Iconosquare | 93/100 | 100%8 of 8 criteria | Not offered | $10/mo | Yes, 2 social accounts | 8 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 5 |  RecurPost | 85/100 | 85%6 of 8 criteria | $9/mo | Not offered | No | 10 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 6 |  social-media-skills | 81/100 | 100%8 of 8 criteria | Not offered | $6/mo | Yes, 15 scheduled posts per month | 2 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 7 |  Pallyy | 79/100 | 90%7 of 8 criteria | $25/mo | Not offered | Yes, 1 workspace | 10 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 8 |  ContentStudio | 77/100 | 95%7 of 8 criteria | Not offered | $19/mo | No | 11 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 9 |  Metricool | 77/100 | 90%7 of 8 criteria | $25/mo | $20/mo | Yes, 1 workspace | 10 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 10 |  Later | 73/100 | 85%6 of 8 criteria | Not offered | $18.75/mo | No | 8 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 11 |  Aidelly | 73/100 | 85%6 of 8 criteria | Not offered | $29/mo | No | 11 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 12 |  Planable | 72/100 | 85%6 of 8 criteria | $33/mo | Not offered | Yes | 9 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 13 |  PostPlanify | 71/100 | 95%7 of 8 criteria | Not offered | $31/mo | No | 10 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 14 |  Social Champ | 70/100 | 95%7 of 8 criteria | $29/mo | $23.20/mo | Yes | 6 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 15 |  SocialPilot | 68/100 | 95%7 of 8 criteria | $30/mo | $85/mo | No | 10 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 16 |  OneUp | 64/100 | 95%7 of 8 criteria | $1,000/mo | $15/mo | No | 12 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 17 |  Statusbrew | 63/100 | 60%5 of 8 criteria | Contact sales | Contact sales | No | 4 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 18 |  CoSchedule | 63/100 | 90%7 of 8 criteria | $39/mo | $29/mo | Yes, 15 scheduled posts total | 11 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 19 |  SocialBee | 62/100 | 75%5 of 8 criteria | $29/mo | Not offered | No | – | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 20 |  Sendible | 61/100 | 85%6 of 8 criteria | $35/mo | Not offered | No | 9 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 21 |  openpost | 60/100 | 95%7 of 8 criteria | $29/mo | Not offered | No | 2 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 22 |  brightbean-studio | 58/100 | 100%8 of 8 criteria | $119/mo | Not offered | Yes, unlimited workspaces | 10 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 23 |  Agorapulse | 55/100 | 95%7 of 8 criteria | $99/user/mo | $79/user/mo | No | 10 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 24 |  NapoleonCat | 55/100 | 95%7 of 8 criteria | $79/mo | Not offered | No | 7 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 25 |  Edgar | 55/100 | 85%6 of 8 criteria | $29.99/mo | $24.91/mo | No | 9 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 26 |  Sked Social | 53/100 | 95%7 of 8 criteria | Not offered | $58/mo | No | 7 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 27 |  Ocoya | 52/100 | 95%7 of 8 criteria | $29/mo | Not offered | No | 2 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 28 |  Multifeed | 51/100 | 85%6 of 8 criteria | $29/mo | Not offered | No | – | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 29 |  Post.Buzz | 46/100 | 85%6 of 8 criteria | $19/mo | $15/mo | No | 1 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 30 |  Hootsuite | 43/100 | 95%7 of 8 criteria | Not offered | $99/user/mo | No | 3 | 100 | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 31 |  Sprout Social | 42/100 | 95%7 of 8 criteria | $99/user/mo | $79/user/mo | No | 7 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 32 |  SuperX | 41/100 | 95%7 of 8 criteria | $49/mo | Not offered | No | 2 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 33 |  Simplified | 35/100 | 75%5 of 8 criteria | $79/mo | Not offered | No | – | 30 | Oct 14, 2026 |
| – |  Mixpost | Not ranked | 50%4 of 8 criteria | Not offered | Not offered | Yes | – | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| – |  Schedulala | Not ranked | 35%3 of 8 criteria | – | – | – | 12 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| – |  Moonya AI | Not ranked | 25%2 of 8 criteria | – | – | – | 9 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| – |  Vista Social | Not ranked | 25%2 of 8 criteria | – | – | – | 6 | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
Each value links the vendor page it was read from (hover for the check date). Coverage is the share of the scorecard's weight with verified data, and "N of M criteria" how many criteria the score is based on; a tool is ranked at 60% or more.
– = not published by the vendor, or not verified yet.
Why each one ranks where it does
- 1. Buffer 98/100
Social media publishing tool with scheduling queues, an idea library, analytics, a community inbox, a link-in-bio page and an AI assistant.
- Entry price (100/100): $5/month per account billed annually on Essentials; no monthly-billed price published (scored against annual-billed prices)
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
From $5 per social account per month billed yearly on the Essentials plan.
Homepage captured Oct 14, 2026 - 2. Zoho Social 96/100
Social media management platform for scheduling, monitoring, analytics and team collaboration across many networks, with Zoho CRM integration.
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
- Verified features (100/100): 13 of 19 tracked features verified: bulk scheduling (csv or multi-post), calendar view, first-comment scheduling, direct auto-publishing, recurring posts, media library, post and account analytics, best-time-to-post suggestions, approval workflows, user roles and permissions, separate client workspaces, unified social inbox, link tracking (utm / short links)
From $10 per month billed yearly on the Standard plan.
- 3. Posterly 94/100
Social media scheduler with AI caption tools, brand voice learning, client approvals, a social inbox and link-in-bio pages for creators and agencies.
- Entry price (100/100): $6/month billed annually on Starter; no monthly-billed price published (scored against annual-billed prices)
- Verified features (100/100): 10 of 19 tracked features verified: bulk scheduling (csv or multi-post), calendar view, media library, ai caption assistant, post and account analytics, report exports (pdf/csv), approval workflows, user roles and permissions, separate client workspaces, unified social inbox
From $6 per month billed yearly on the Starter plan.
- 4. Iconosquare 93/100
Social media management suite for analytics, scheduling, reporting, a shared inbox and listening across several networks.
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
- Verified features (100/100): 10 of 19 tracked features verified: calendar view, first-comment scheduling, direct auto-publishing, media library, ai caption assistant, post and account analytics, approval workflows, user roles and permissions, unified social inbox, white-label reports
From $10 per month billed yearly on the Starter plan.
- 5. RecurPost 85/100
Social media scheduler with recurring and evergreen posting, a content calendar, client approvals, workspaces, a unified inbox and white-label reports.
- Entry price (100/100): $9/month billed monthly on Starter (scored on the monthly price)
- Verified features (100/100): 11 of 19 tracked features verified: bulk scheduling (csv or multi-post), calendar view, direct auto-publishing, recurring posts, post and account analytics, best-time-to-post suggestions, approval workflows, user roles and permissions, separate client workspaces, unified social inbox, white-label reports
From $9 per month billed monthly on the Starter plan.
- 6. social-media-skills 81/100
BlackTwist is a scheduler and analytics tool for Threads and Bluesky accounts, with drafts, a calendar, post templates and AI agent access.
- Entry price (100/100): $6/month billed annually on Starter; no monthly-billed price published (scored against annual-billed prices)
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
From $6 per month billed yearly on the Starter plan.
- 7. Pallyy 79/100
Social media scheduler organised around client social sets, with shared approval links, per-client calendars and reports, a social inbox and link in bio pages.
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
- Verified features (100/100): 12 of 19 tracked features verified: posting queue, calendar view, first-comment scheduling, direct auto-publishing, media library, ai caption assistant, post and account analytics, report exports (pdf/csv), approval workflows, user roles and permissions, separate client workspaces, unified social inbox
From $25 per month billed monthly on the Pro plan.
- 8. ContentStudio 77/100
Social media management platform with AI content creation, a content calendar, analytics, social inbox and agency client approvals.
- Verified features (100/100): 14 of 19 tracked features verified: bulk scheduling (csv or multi-post), calendar view, first-comment scheduling, direct auto-publishing, recurring posts, media library, ai caption assistant, post and account analytics, report exports (pdf/csv), approval workflows, user roles and permissions, separate client workspaces, unified social inbox, white-label reports
- API, integrations and export (100/100): public API, documented data export
From $19 per month billed yearly on the Standard plan.
- 9. Metricool 77/100
Social media planner and analytics dashboard with scheduling, an inbox, reports, competitor tracking, link in bio pages and ad campaign management.
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
- Verified features (100/100): 10 of 19 tracked features verified: calendar view, recurring posts, media library, post and account analytics, report exports (pdf/csv), best-time-to-post suggestions, approval workflows, user roles and permissions, separate client workspaces, unified social inbox
From $25 per month billed monthly ($20 billed yearly) on the Starter plan.
- 10. Later 73/100
Social media scheduler with link in bio, analytics and approvals, sold by social sets of profiles, plus influencer marketing services and software.
- Pricing transparency (100/100): 3 of 3 plans have a public price
- Verified features (90/100): 9 of 19 tracked features verified: calendar view, first-comment scheduling, ai caption assistant, post and account analytics, best-time-to-post suggestions, approval workflows, user roles and permissions, unified social inbox, ugc collection
From $18.75 per month billed yearly on the Starter plan.
How we picked
Every one of these social media scheduling tools is scored by the same 8 criteria (scorecard v2). Each criterion gives 0 to 100 from the vendor's published data; the total is the weighted average. A criterion without verified data is left out and the other weights are re-normalised. A tool with under 60% of the weight covered is listed as not ranked, and so is a tool with no verified price and fewer than 2 verified features (“needs a verified price”); each score shows how many criteria it is based on. The core criteria are the same in every category; the category criteria are specific to social media scheduling tools. Nobody gets custom weights, including our own products.
| Criterion | Weight | Type | What we measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | 25% | Core | Price per month of the cheapest paid plan, against the prices of other social media scheduling tools on the same billing basis (monthly-billed prices against monthly, annual-billed against annual).Log scale. Billed monthly: $9/month or less = 100, $49 or more = 0. Only billed annually: $9/month or less = 100, $58 or more = 0. Only free plans = 100. Usage-priced and one-time plans are not scored. |
| Free plan or trial | 15% | Core | Whether you can use the tool before paying: a free plan, or failing that a free trial, as shown on the vendor's pricing page.Free plan = 100. No free plan but a free trial = 60. The pricing page lists plans but shows neither = 0. No plans read = not scored. |
| Pricing transparency | 10% | Core | How much of the pricing is public: the share of plans with a published price ("contact sales" counts against), and whether there are at least 3 published tiers.80 x (plans with a public price / plans listed) + 20 x (public plans, up to 3) / 3. No plans read = not scored. |
| Verified features | 15% | Core | How many of the 19 features we track for this category the vendor's own pages verifiably show (posting queue, bulk scheduling (csv or multi-post), calendar view, first-comment scheduling, direct auto-publishing, recurring posts, media library, ai caption assistant, post and account analytics, report exports (pdf/csv), best-time-to-post suggestions, approval workflows, user roles and permissions, separate client workspaces, unified social inbox, white-label reports, link tracking (utm / short links), content repurposing, ugc collection). This counts verified features only: a tool that documents less scores lower here, and only here.Linear: verified features / 10 (half the tracked list) x 100, capped at 100. No tracked feature verified = not scored. |
| API, integrations and export | 10% | Core | Whether a public API exists, how many integrations the vendor states, and whether the vendor documents a way to export your data.Average of the parts with data: public API yes = 100, no = 0; integrations on a log scale (100 or more = 100); a documented data export = 100. None verified = not scored. |
| Platform coverage | 10% | Category | How many of the 15 social platforms we track the vendor says the tool supports.Linear: platforms / 10 x 100, capped at 100. No verified platform list = not scored. |
| Cost per connected account | 10% | Category | Monthly price per connected account on the cheapest paid plan that allows at least 3 social accounts.Log scale: $2 per account or less = 100, $40 or more = 0. Plans that do not state an account limit are not used. |
| Free plan limits | 5% | Category | What the free plan allows: connected accounts (full marks at 3), scheduled posts per month (full marks at 100).Each stated limit linear up to its full mark (unlimited = 100), averaged. Tools without a free plan, or whose free plan states none of these limits, are not scored here. |
Sources are vendor pricing pages, docs and changelogs, each with the date we checked it. We did not test these tools hands-on unless a listing says so. Full formulas: methodology.
Questions, answered from the data
What is the best social media scheduling tool for social inbox?
Buffer, with 98/100 on our scorecard; Zoho Social is second with 96/100.
What is the cheapest social media scheduling tool for social inbox?
By entry price among ranked tools, Buffer: $5 per social account per month billed yearly on the Essentials plan.
Which of these have a free plan?
11 of the 37 tools have a free plan; the highest-ranked is Buffer.
How did you rank these social media scheduling tools?
Each tool gets 0 to 100 per criterion from its published pricing, limits and features; the total is the weighted average over the criteria with verified data. Tools with under 60% of the weight covered are not ranked.
Explore related pages
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