Here are the best free social media tools for 2019.
If you’re looking to grow your business and promote yourself or your brand on social media, there are a lot of options out there. Some are great, some are terrible, and most are somewhere in between. If you don’t have the budget for paid tools, don’t worry—there are still plenty of free options available to help you do the job right.
In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the best free social media tools currently available. These tools will help you manage your accounts, engage with your audience more effectively, and even automate some parts of the process so you can focus on what really matters: creating awesome content!
Free Social Media Tools 2019
Time-consuming. That’s one way to describe posting to social media, reviewing analytics for each platform, and handling other aspects of social media marketing manually. No wonder social media management tools are in such high demand.
But with so many to choose from—and some with hefty price tags—you may struggle to figure out which tools are both good and affordable. This list will end that struggle, breaking down both the zero-cost features of the best free social media management tools and their paid options.
Best free social media management tools in 2022
Buffer
Friends+Me
Later
CoSchedule
Hootsuite
Crowdfire
Tailwind
Buffer: Best for scaling
Buffer is one of the top contenders in the social media management space.
Number of users: 1
Number of profiles: 3
Platforms supported: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest
Scheduling: Available for up to 10 posts per channel
best free social media management tools – buffer
Noteworthy free features
Buffer’s free plan includes:
Posting schedules. Set the next content in your queue to automatically publish on the next scheduled day and at the time you choose.
Shuffle queue. Especially if you create social media content in batches on the same topic, you may want to shuffle your posts so that they’re published in a random order and add variety to your feeds.
Google Analytics Campaign tracking. See how much traffic your social media posts are driving so you can adjust your strategy accordingly.
Start Page. Create short landing pages to tell people about your business, direct them to your website and content outside of social media or provide information specific to your latest social media marketing
While the free version is fairly standard, Buffer is a great tool to start out with if you plan to scale your social media marketing efforts up. Take a look at some of the perks of its paid options.
Paid plans & features
As your social media marketing needs and team change, Buffer can grow with you.
Essentials at $6 per channel per month: Includes unlimited social media channels with up to 2,000 scheduled posts per channel features, custom video thumbnails, multi-channel campaigns, and more.
Team at $12 per channel per month: Includes unlimited users, exportable and branded reports, custom access and permissions, and more.
Agency at $120 per month for first 10 social channels ($6 per channel per month for additional channels): Includes Google Analytics integrations, custom UTM parameters, and approval workflow tools.
Friends+Me: Best for beginners
Friends+Me is a lesser-known social media tool but a good one if you’re looking for a simple tool to get you started.
Number of users: 2
Number of profiles: 2
Platforms supported: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest
Scheduling: Available for 5 posts per queue (2 queues included on the free plan)
best social media management tools – friends and me
Noteworthy free features
Free features of Friends+Me include:
Bulk scheduling. Upload several posts to a queue of your choice at once to save time on manual scheduling.
Flexible usage. Use the browser extension, desktop app or mobile app (Android or iOS) to share content easily.
Zapier integration. Automate actions like creating and scheduling new posts or streaming new content from RSS feeds to your Friends+Me account for publishing.
Since the number of profiles, platforms supported, and scheduled posts per queue are relatively low compared to some other free plans, Friends+Me is good if you’re just getting started building a social media presence. On the bright side, even the free plan allows for team collaboration with up to one member, which is uncommon among free social media management tools.
Paid plans & features
If you need a more flexible Friends+Me plan, you have four options.
Individual at $9 per month: Includes up to five queues, 500 scheduled posts per queue, 10 additional team members, and priority support.
Small at $29 per month: Includes 15 queues, 1,500 scheduled posts per queue, and 20 additional team members.
Medium at $$59 per month: Includes up to 30 queues, 3,000 scheduled posts per queue, and 30 additional team members.
Large at $259 per month: Includes up to 120 queue, 5,000 scheduled posts per queue, and 50 additional team members.
Later: Most platforms supported
Later, which started out solely as an Instagram scheduling tool (when’s the best time to post on Instagram anyway?), is now more of an all-in-one social media scheduler.
Number of users: 1
Number of profiles: 6 (1 per platform listed below)
Platforms supported: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, TikTok, LinkedIn
Scheduling: Available for 10 posts per profile per month
best free social media management tools – later
Noteworthy free features
What are some cool features you’ll have access to in Later?
Media library. Upload or collect your visual content in one place for easy access, organization, and re-sharing later.
Visual Instagram Planner. Drag and drop media onto the Visual Instagram Planner to design eye-catching posts that match your brand aesthetic.
Bio. Add a Linkin.bio page to your social media bios to drive traffic your website and make sales.
Most free social media management tools support three to five platforms with TikTok often left out. Later currently supports six major social platforms—TikTok included! (And the best time to post on TikTok? When’s that?)
Paid plans & features
If ever you consider upgrading for paid features, you can try any of the following plans free for 14 days:
Start at $15 per month: Includes one user, one social set and 30 posts per social profile.
Growth at $40 per month: Includes up to three users, three social sets, 150 posts per social profile, and add-ons for social sets and users.
Advanced at $80 per month: Includes up to six users, six social sets, and unlimited posts.
CoSchedule: Best beyond just social media content
CoSchedule—a popular marketing management tool—finally has a free forever version of it’s Marketing Calendar. It doesn’t disappoint.
Number of users: 1
Number of profiles: 2
Platforms supported: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest
Scheduling: Available for up to five messages
best free social media management tools – coschedule
Noteworthy free features
Some cool features of the forever free Marketing Calendar are:
Messages and campaigns. Schedule a single post across multiple social networks or schedule series of messages to post across multiple networks over time.
Best time scheduling. Let CoSchedule publish your posts whenever they’re most likely to get good visibility and engagement.
Sit back and relax while your evergreen content is automatically reshared according to your publishing schedule.
Historical social messages imports. Upon adding a new profile, CoSchedule imports the last 60 days of messages or up to 100 past messages so that you can measure or reschedule them.
This tool isn’t just great for social media scheduling; it’s built for overall marketing content management. So, if you prefer scheduling content for social media networks, email campaigns, blogs, and so on through a single marketing platform, this is the software you need.
Paid plans & features
Thinking of upgrading to a paid version of Marketing Calendar? Here are your options.
Pro at $39 per month: Includes unlimited social media publishing, bulk scheduling, automation, campaign templates, and priority support.
Business, which requires a custom quote: Includes multi-channel campaigns, workflow automation, asset and file management storage, team performance reporting, and more.
Hootsuite: Best for paid post promotion
Hootsuite, one of the most popular social media tools available, has a solid, reliable free version.
Number of users: 1
Number of profiles: 2
Platforms supported: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest
Scheduling: Available for up to 5 messages at a time
best free social media management tools – hootsuite
Noteworthy free features
Hootsuite’s straightforward free plan includes:
Content customization. You can schedule a post across the most popular social networks simultaneously but tweak the post for each platform.
Streams and boards. For each of your feeds, you can set up boards to monitor activity on your social media accounts or discover new content, conversations, and trends.
Promoted posts. Reach more of your target audience on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram with the Boost Feature.
While the free plan doesn’t have many bells and whistles, it handles the basics flawlessly and, in contrast to many other tools, allows for paid advertising on social. So if promoted posts are part of your strategy but you don’t want to spend beyond your ad budget, this is the go-to free tool.
Paid plans & features
If you’re considering upgrading, these are your options.
Professional at $49 per month: Includes one user, 10 social accounts, access to messages in one inbox, and post prescheduling.
Team for $129 per month: Includes up to three users, 20 social accounts, team access and roles with permissions, etc.
Business at $739 per month: Includes up to five users, 35 social accounts, extended functionality with premium apps, and more.
Enterprise, which requires custom pricing. Includes automatic assignment of posts or comments to team members, quarterly business reviews, Hootsuite Social Advertising, unlimited post promotion, and more.
Crowdfire: Best for curation
Crowdfire is a great free social media management tool if curation (and redistribution of your own content) are part of your content marketing strategy.
Number of users: 1
Number of profiles: 3
Platforms supported: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram
Scheduling: Available for up to 10 posts per account
best free social media management tools – crowdfire
Noteworthy free features
Some standout features of Crowdfire’s free plan include:
Unlimited article and image curation. Easily curate and share your own content, as well as high-quality content produced by others. This will keep your profiles and your audience engaged while also easing the pressure to create all social media content from scratch.
Advanced analytics. Although you can only access one day of advanced analytics data, it’s better than nothing. Most free social media software plans only allow access to basic analytics!
Chrome extension. Share articles with your followers on the fly without having to open Crowdfire or the social network of your choice to create and publish a post.
This tool is best if you’re interested in curation. It reduces the manual legwork, helping you find owned and unowned content based on the topics you typically cover.
Paid plans & features
Crowdfire has three paid versions to choose from.
Plus at $9.99 per month: Includes up to five accounts, 100 scheduled posts per account, 90 days of advanced analytics data, and more.
Premium at $49.99 per month: Includes up to 10 accounts, bulk scheduling, calendar view, up to 15 RSS feeds, the ability to track and reply to mentions, analysis of two competitors per account, and so on.
VIP at $99.99 per month: Includes up to 25 accounts, 800 scheduled posts per account, up to two team members per profile, priority support, and more.
Tailwind: Best for visual platforms
With no credit card required, you can create a free account with Tailwind, which has a focus on post design for visual platforms like Instagram.
Number of users: 1
Number of profiles: 3 (1 per platform listed below)
Platforms supported: Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook
Scheduling: Available for up to 20 posts per month
best free social media management tools – tailwind
Noteworthy free features
Some great features of Tailwind’s free plan include:
Photo and video support. Stop users mid-scroll with eye-catching images and videos. (Most other social media management software only allows video and images for paying users.)
Post designs. Upload images and Tailwind Create will automatically design professional-quality posts according to your brand colors, fonts, and logos.
Bulk uploads. Stop copying and pasting posts into the scheduler one by one and save tons of time with bulk uploads.
Does your social media strategy involve a lot of visuals and videos? If so, and if you don’t use more text-based platforms like LinkedIn, Tailwind is a great pick for you. Especially since you can create multiple post types from a single design, which is a huge time-saver.
Paid plans & features
Tailwind’s paid options are as follows:
Pro at $19.99 per month: Includes up to 100 posts per month, 200 post designs, advanced analytics, and more.
Advanced at $49.99 per month: Includes up to two accounts each for Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook, up to 1,000 posts per month, unlimited post designs, two users, and the list goes on.
Max at $99.99 per month: Includes up to three accounts per social network, unlimited posts, and up to five users.
Which is the best free social media management tool?
As you can see, there are several good, free social media management tools out there. The seven we’ve covered here are worth looking into especially if you plan to expand your social media efforts in the future. Starting with a tool that can grow with you will save you the hassle of switching and adjusting to a new tool later.
But where should you start? Here’s a recap of our list.
Buffer: best if you plan to scale your social media efforts for scaling.
Friends+Me: best if you’re just getting started with social media.
Later: best for scheduling posts to most of the major social platforms.
CoSchedule: best if you want an all in one platform for social media and other marketing campaigns.
Hootsuite: best if you want to schedule organic posts and have a budget for promoted posts.
Crowdfire: best if you’re interested in curation as a way to keep your social media calendar full and heighten engagement.
Tailwind: best if your focus is on visual platforms like Instagram and Pinterest.
best social media management tools
How do you stay on top of all your social media marketing tasks?
From creating and publishing content to analytics and reporting, it can be pretty overwhelming to think of all the jobs social media marketers have to complete every day.
Thankfully, there are a bunch of awesome social media management tools available to help. These tools can streamline your workflows, help you save some time and even ensure your content reaches the right audience at the right time.
But how do you decide which product to use?
With so many great social media management tools out there, we thought it would be great to showcase some of the top ones to help you pick what’s best for your business.
Here are 25 of the very best social media management tools out there.
Best Social Media Management Tools
The 25 top social media management tools and platforms
The list is broken down into two sections:
Tools more suitable for small-to-medium businesses and
Tools more suitable for enterprise businesses (Click here to skip to this list.)
The distinction is largely made based on the price and isn’t clear-cut. If you are a small-to-medium business, a tool on the second list might suit you, and vice-versa.
The 15 top social media management tools for small-to-medium businesses
The tools are not arranged in any particular order and they’re all great in their own unique ways. If there’s a reason you love a tool and I didn’t mention it, feel free to give it a shout in the comments section to help others understand more about that particular tool.
Compare the tools easily with this spreadsheet
To make it easier for you to compare the tools, I’ve created a spreadsheet with the following information of each social media management tool:
The prices
Free plan or free trial?
Product offering
Social networks supported
Unique value
Let’s look through each tool!
- Buffer
The platform for successful social media management
Prices: Forever free plan, $5, $10, add $10 per month per social channel connected (with a 14-day free trial).
Description: Buffer is an intuitive, streamlined social media management platform trusted by small businesses and individuals to help drive meaningful engagement and results on social media.
We have a suite of products for publishing, engagement, analytics, simple landing pages, and team collaboration. Our products are carefully considered and highly refined in order to help social media marketers and teams work more efficiently and effectively.
Unique value: What we’ve heard from our customers is that they love how clean and intuitive our tools are, how friendly and timely our customer support is, and how helpful our content is.
Want an independent Buffer review? Check out this post.
Once you’ve researched all your options and if you think Buffer might suit your needs, we would love for you to give it a try and see the difference it can make for your social media management.
- Hootsuite
Manage all your social media in one place
Hootsuite
Prices: Free plan, $29, $129, $599 per month, and enterprise pricing (with a 30-day free trial)
Description: Hootsuite, probably the biggest social media management tool, is used by over 15 million people and more than 800 of the Fortune 1000 companies.
There’s a good reason for their success: it’s an all-in-one platform that allows you to curate and schedule content, measure your social ROI, run social media ads, and more.
Unique value: Being such a comprehensive platform, there are several things that people love about Hootsuite: being able to monitor multiple accounts and keywords, connect with over 35 social networks, and bulk-schedule social media posts.
- Sprout Social
Real people. Real brands. Real connection.
Sprout Social
Prices: $99, $149, and $249 per user per month (with a 30-day free trial)
Description: Similar to Hootsuite, Sprout Social combines several social media tools into one platform — from social media scheduling to monitoring, to reporting.
Sprout Social is one of the few social media management tools that provides customer relationship management (CRM) features. Having a complete profile of your customers help you serve them better and build stronger relationships with them.
Unique value: The most common praise I’ve heard about Sprout Social is its amazing reports. Many social media managers found the reports so great and beautiful that they would download and send them to their managers or clients without editing them.
- Agora Pulse
Social media management simplified
Prices: Free, $79 per month, $159 per month, plus enterprise options
Description: Like the social media management platforms mentioned above, Agora Pulse is also an all-in-one social media platform with scheduling, responding, and reporting features.
Unique value: Unlike the rest, Agora Pulse has several unique features such as competitor analysis and Facebook contest apps at a very affordable price point.
- Sendible
The #1 social media management tool for agencies
Sendible
Prices: $29, $99, $199, $299 per month, and enterprise pricing (with a 30-day free trial)
Description: Sendible is a social media management tool built specifically for agencies with several clients. On top of most features that social media management tools provide, Sendible allows you to customize your dashboard according to your branding to attract new clients.
Unique value: Sendible has some impressive integrations such as the Canva graphics editor, royalty-free image search, and YouTube search. It also provides some automation for those who want to save time on repetitive tasks.
- eClincher
Best in class social media management tool
eClincher
Prices: $49, $99, $199 per month, and enterprise pricing (with a 14-day free trial)
Description: Like most social media management tools, eClincher allows you to schedule and publish posts, respond to social messages, and analyze your social media performance.
Unique value: What makes eClincher different from other tools is that it enables you to auto-post with smart queues and RSS feeds, has a media library for your images, and lets you search for social media influencers.
- Social Pilot
Simple & cost-effective social media management tool for teams and agencies
Social Pilot
Prices: $10, $24, $40, $80 per month, and enterprise pricing (with a 14-day free trial)
Description: I like how Social Pilot fit many of the social media management tools (such as scheduling and analytics but not monitoring) into a simple dashboard and offer it at very affordable prices. With its client management feature, I believe it’s great for agencies that work with several clients.
Unique value: Social Pilot curates and suggests content from several industries (such as tech, education, and health and fitness), which is great if you want to find relevant content easily.
Another valuable feature is its white label reports, which are especially handy for agencies.
- CoSchedule
1 marketing calendar
CoSchedule
Prices: Starting at $0 – 20, $40, $60, $210, $300, $1,200 per month (with a 14-day free trial)
Description: CoSchedule is more than a social media management tool; it’s a powerful calendar to manage many aspects of your marketing. With CoSchedule, you can manage and collaborate with your team to create your social media posts, content, events, and tasks.
Unique value: CoSchedule is great for marketers who want to organize all their projects (social media, content, events, emails, etc.) in one place.
Their ReQueue feature helps you automatically find optimal posting times and fill gaps in your social media schedule with your best posts.
- MavSocial
Streamlined social media management
MavSocial
Prices: Free, $19, $78, $199, $499 per month (with 7-day free trial)
Description: MavSocial is a social media management tool with a focus on visual content. For the higher-priced plans, it seems that you can also manage your Facebook ads with MavSocial.
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Buffer is the all-you-need social media toolkit that lets you focus on doing what you love for your business.
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Unique value: On top of the common features (such as scheduling, monitoring, and reporting), MavSocial has a digital library where you can manage, use, and edit your multimedia for your social media posts and a search engine where you can browse through millions of stock photos.
If you wish, MavSocial can also help you repeat your social media posts for a specified duration.
- Friends+Me
Share to anywhere
Friends+Me
Prices: Free, $9, $29, $59, $259 per month (with a 15-day free trial)
Description: Friends+Me has a strong focus on Google+ but also allows you to schedule your content to the other major social platforms (except Instagram).
Unique value: Friends+Me supports scheduling for Google+ profiles, collections, communities, pages, and even GSuite Google+ and allows you to set up automations to re-post your Google+ posts onto your other social media accounts, which is great for marketers who focus on Google+.
- Crowdfire
Social media management, simplified
Crowdfire
Price: Free
Description: Crowdfire has been adding new features over the years. Besides scheduling content, it also allows you to manage your Twitter account (follow and unfollow) and suggests articles for sharing.
Unique value: Crowdfire stands out from most social media management tools in that it lets you connect your blogs, YouTube channel, and online shops and will create social media posts for every update you have on your sites.
- SocialBee
Seamless social media posting for all your profiles
Prices: $19/ $39/ $79 per month (with a 14-day free trial)
Description: SocialBee is a social media management tool that promoses to bring you more leads with less effort. Its core functionalities allow its users to add, organize, and share content across several social channels from one place: Facebook (Pages, Profiles, Groups), Twitter (Profiles), LinkedIn (Profiles, Pages), Pinterest (Boards), Instagram (Profiles), and even on Google My Business. And it even integrates with Buffer.
Unique value: Oneof SocialBee’s most-loved features is the possibility to recycle evergreen content while keeping it fresh by using post variations. You can use SocialBee to posts consistently, while having an overall balanced mix of content in each category. More than that, the quality of support and is another valued asset of SocialBee.
- Post Planner
Smarter social media management
Post Planner
Prices: $3, $11, $24, $59, $129, $299 per month, and enterprise pricing
Description: Post Planner wants to help social media marketers with three key jobs: find high-quality content, plan the perfect publishing calendar, and post consistently. It curates and rates content suggestions and allows you to create a content-type-based schedule (more below).
Unique value: With its Find tool, Post Planner makes it super easy to find content that has proven to engage people.
Also, instead of just picking your time slots in your schedule (to form your sharing plan), you can select the content type for each time slot and Post Planner will fill the slots with your chosen content accordingly. (You can also schedule posts outside of this plan.)
- Tailwind
Smarter visual marketing
Tailwind
Prices: Free trial with limited features, $9.99, $799.99 per month, and enterprise pricing
Description: Tailwind is a social media management tool for Pinterest and Instagram. Apart from helping you schedule posts, monitor conversations, and measure results, Tailwind provides recommendations for improving your Pinterest and Instagram performance.
Unique value: Tailwind is great for Pinterest and Instagram marketers as it provides a range of features that are specific to these visual platforms, such as Pinterest content promotion and Instagram UGC content management.
- Later
1 marketing platform for Instagram
Later
Prices: $9, $19, $29, $49 per month, and enterprise pricing
Description: Unlike most social media management tools, Later focuses mainly on Instagram (though you can also connect your Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter profiles).
Unique value: The strength of Later is its visual content calendar, where you can easily drag-and-drop images to schedule them. It also has a free link tool that you can use on your Instagram profile to link to a shoppable Instagram feed or various websites and blog posts.
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The 10 top social media management tools for enterprise-level companies
If none of the tools above suits your social media strategy, perhaps you need something that is more comprehensive.
Here are several social media management tools that are generally designed for larger, enterprise teams.
(Most of these tools do not list their prices on their website but they do offer you a free demo to learn how the tool can help you.)
- Sprinklr
Reach, engage, and listen to customers – at scale
Sprinklr
Sprinklr Social Cloud is part of Sprinklr’s suite of products to help enterprises connect and serve their customers across any channel at scale. It enables teams in enterprises to collaborate effectively and to reach, listen, and engage their customers on more than 25 social channels. - Oktopost
Social media management platform for B2B enterprise
Oktopost is a social media management platform catered for B2B marketers who want to generate leads through social media and quantify the business value of their social media efforts. From social media management to promotion to employee advocacy, Oktopost has all the tools most B2B marketers would want. - Falcon.io
The platform for every kind of social media marketer
Falcon.io combines all the things social media marketers would need in one single platform: social media management, engagement, and analytics, customer experience management, and DIY landing page builder. - HubSpot
All-in-one inbound marketing software
HubSpot
HubSpot’s social media management tools are part of their all-in-one marketing software, which starts at $1,120 per month. As HubSpot integrates all your marketing efforts (such as social media, email, SEO, and CRM) into a single platform, you can easily compare your results across your marketing channels and measure your social ROI. - Salesforce Social Studio
Your social media marketing platform
Salesforce provides probably the most comprehensive set of products for enterprises. Its Social Studio, a part of its Marketing Cloud platform, can help you strengthen your customer relationships by aligning your marketing, customer service, and sales efforts on social media. - Social Hub
Smart social media management software for your team
Social Hub is a social media management software built for businesses, agencies, and governments. Based on its target audience and customers, I believe it provides a solution that is efficient, scalable, and secure. - Spredfast
The platform for enterprise social
Spredfast
Spredfast is a social media software that’s used by some of the world’s biggest companies, such as Patagonia, LinkedIn, and Johnson & Johnson, to handle all aspects of their social media management. - Likeable Hub
Easy & effective social media for your business
Starting at $299 per month, Likeable Hub provides you with thousands of content ideas, helps you generate referrals and leads, allows you to amplify your social media reach, and more. - Social Flow
Data-driven social media management, marketing, and publishing
Social Flow is a social media publishing and advertising tool used by many top publishers such as The New York Times, National Geographical Channel, and Fast Company. Using Social Flow, Fast Company was able to increase their Facebook shares by 30 percent! - NUVI
The world’s most stunning social media marketing suite
NUVI
NUVI provides real-time data visualization and social media insights to help you make decisions on your social media strategy. It also provides you with the tools to publish and engage on social media efficiently.
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What’s your go-to social media management tool?
Social media management tools come in all shapes and sizes, and what suits you best depends on your social media goals and needs. I hope I’ve managed to mention at least one tool that might suit your needs.
I’m sure this list only scratched the surface of the entire ecosystem of social media management tools. If your favorite tool is on the list, I would love to hear what you love about it. If I’ve missed your favorite tool (sorry!), please give it a shout out and share why you love it.
Conclusion
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
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