Social media management · 2026
Free social media management tools 17 tools ranked by verified data
Data checked Oct 14, 2026 – Oct 15, 2026 against the vendors' own pages. How we verify
Disclosure: TrackMedia is made by the team behind this site. It is scored by the same scorecard and code as every other tool, with no custom weights. Methodology
We scored 22 tools with a free plan among social media management tools with the same 7-criterion scorecard; 17 have enough verified data to be ranked.
Every listed tool has a free plan; the table shows exactly what each free plan allows, as the vendor states it.
Buffer ranks first with 96/100, followed by Pallyy (93) and Publer (91).
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.
Free plans compared
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 96/100Social 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. Pallyy 93/100Social 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): 13 of 21 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, competitor analytics
From $25 per month billed monthly on the Pro plan.
3. Publer 91/100Social media scheduling and management tool with a calendar, bulk scheduling, analytics, workspaces and link in bio across many networks.
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
- Verified features (100/100): 12 of 21 tracked features verified: bulk scheduling (csv or multi-post), calendar view, first-comment scheduling, direct auto-publishing, media library, ai caption assistant, post and account analytics, best-time-to-post suggestions, approval workflows, separate client workspaces, content repurposing, competitor analytics
4. Metricool 91/100Social 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): 11 of 21 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, competitor analytics
From $25 per month billed monthly ($20 billed yearly) on the Starter plan.
5. TrackMedia 90/100Our productSocial media publishing tool that posts one draft to many networks with per-network versions, queues, link tracking, analytics, an API and an MCP server.
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
- Pricing transparency (100/100): 3 of 3 plans have a public price
From $8.25 per month billed yearly on the Creator plan.
6. Zoho Social 89/100Social 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): 14 of 21 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), social listening
From $10 per month billed yearly on the Standard plan.
7. Antwork 88/100Social media manager that works inside AI assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT, drafting posts in each account's own voice and publishing them on schedule to eight networks.
- Entry price (100/100): $5/month per account billed monthly on Per account (scored on the monthly price)
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
From $5 per social account per month billed monthly on the Per account plan.
8. Planable 87/100Social media planning and collaboration tool with feed and calendar views, step-by-step approvals, scheduling, inbox, analytics and social listening.
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
- API, integrations and export (100/100): public API
From $33 per month billed monthly on the Basic plan.
9. social-media-skills 87/100BlackTwist 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.
10. Iconosquare 85/100Social 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): 12 of 21 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, social listening, competitor analytics
From $10 per month billed yearly on the Starter plan.
How we picked
Every one of these social media management tools is scored by the same 7 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 management 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 management tools on the same billing basis (monthly-billed prices against monthly, annual-billed against annual).Log scale. Billed monthly: $9/month or less = 100, $599 or more = 0. Only billed annually: $6/month or less = 100, $79 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 21 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, social listening, competitor analytics). This counts verified features only: a tool that documents less scores lower here, and only here.Linear: verified features / 11 (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 | 15% | Category | Monthly price per connected account on the cheapest paid plan that allows at least 5 social accounts and 2 users.Log scale: $3 per account or less = 100, $60 or more = 0. Plans that do not state an account limit are not used. |
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 free social media management tool?
Buffer, with 96/100 on our scorecard; Pallyy is second with 93/100.
What is the cheapest free social media management tool?
By entry price among ranked tools, Buffer: $5 per social account per month billed yearly on the Essentials plan.
Which free plan allows the most social accounts?
brightbean-studio's free plan allows unlimited social accounts, the most among the tools listed here.
How did you rank these social media management 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.