If you’re a small business or a beginner content creator, engaging in social media is no longer an option. You want to engage efficiently using some tools, but you also need to manage your business expenses wisely during its early stages. Many top-tier social media management tools are quite expensive, but fortunately there are still options if you are looking for free social media management tools.
While limited in terms of functionality, these programs can still help you create written and visual content, schedule posts, explore topics, and communicate with fans.
Given that we all started out with nothing, including myself, I know how hard it is to survive on a minimal budget. That’s why I’ve decided to share some of the best free tools for your social channels.
Regardless of your situation, you should be on the lookout for tools with these features:
- Scheduling Content: The best programs allow you to create a short-term and long-term strategy for scheduling posts.
- Social Analytics: Look for programs that measure audience engagement and provide other detailed analytics.
- Content Curation: With the right tool, you should be able to repurpose relevant content for your social media profiles.
- Social Listening: Social media management software should be able to track what users say about your brand online.
- User Interface: Within a single interface, you should be able to easily find all relevant information regarding your social profiles without having to jump through multiple menus.
- Free Version Limitations: Check how features differ between paid and basic plans.
Here are my recommended tools together with some cool and unique free features that each one has.
Buffer is among the best tools on the market for your social media management. Its free plan gives you access to social media content planning and publishing, AI assistant, and page builder. If you ever decide to switch to a paid plan, you have a 14-day free trial to make your decision.
With Buffer, you’re able to run up to 3 social media channels at the same time. You’re able to schedule up to 10 posts per month, but unfortunately, you don’t get advanced social engagement features. The software is a good choice for brands with one or two social media accounts and limited posting needs.
Cool free features: AI-powered social media post generator, link in bio, and UTM generator tools.
Perfect for: Social media beginners who don’t need to schedule too much content in advance.
Further Reading: The 17 Best Social Media Management Tools You Need to Know
Canva is the best visual platform for websites and social media platforms. Content creators love it for its simple drag-and-drop interface and a large number of templates (over 1 million with a free plan). Regardless of all the available options and features, Canva is still very easy and intuitive for beginners.
With this program, you can create unlimited posts per month for social networks. If I really had to complain about something, that would be the fact that some of the templates are paid. Still, that shouldn’t prevent you from using the platform and loving it.
Cool free features: 3 million stock photos and graphics, 1 million professionally designed templates, more than 1,000 design types, and access to AI-generated writing and visuals.
Perfect for: Designing social media posts even if you are not a designer.
Crowdfire is a perfect solution for small influencers who want to boost their social media presence for up to 3 social profiles. The tool comes with a Chrome extension, AI writer (10 posts per profile per month), and a social media scheduling tool.
The worst thing about the free version is that it doesn’t allow the use of the content calendar or team collaboration features that are available with paid plans. Still, access to analytics and the ability to create AI post types makes it ideal for individual creators who have a basic social media strategy.
Cool free features: Unlimited articles recommended you by topic for content curation, unlimited images recommended for Instagram and Pinterest growth
Perfect for: Those whose social media publishing includes a healthy dose of content curation.
As one of the best social media management platforms, Tailwind gives you full control over various social media activities. Add it to your workflow to create social and blog posts and perform competitor analysis for a single social media account.
Perhaps the best thing about the software is that it has email marketing tools and allows you to execute bulk uploads. With the free plan, you can create 5 posts per profile each month, and you get 5 AI credits. Tailwind’s main issue is that it only works for Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook.
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Cool free features: 1 Tailwind Community (check out my community here as an example) with 30 submissions a month, Smart.bio link-in-bio Custom Link, unlimited email contacts, 30 email sends per month
Perfect for: Ecommerce marketers and those who want to do Pinterest marketing , for which tailwind is the default social media dashboard for.
Further Reading: 19 Best Social Media Marketing Tools for 2025 by Functionality
Despite being one of the less-known tools in this category, Friends+Me has a few cool features I need to mention. It gives you 5 posts per queue and the ability to add another person from your social media team. There’s also no limit to the number of social media accounts you can track.
The software is great for any social media marketer who works closely with other team members. However, Friends+Me is lacking in terms of its single interface, asset management, and content creation process compared to other programs from the list.
Cool free features: 2 content queues for segmented publishing, additional team member access, link shortening support, Zapier integration
Perfect for: Sophisticated businesses who want to segment their social media content into separate publishing queues.
SocialOomph is a software that specializes in content scheduling. Perhaps the best thing about the free plan is that you’ll receive unlimited scheduling. You have full control over custom posting schedule, access to a personal, single dashboard, and the ability to publish three auto posts per hour.
Even if you go with a paid plan, you’ll get a generous 30-day free trial. My biggest problem with SocialOomph is that it limits you to one user. Furthermore, free plan doesn’t give you access to AI content generation, a feature that has become common for most social media management tools.
Cool free features: Unlimited scheduled posts, free support
Perfect for: Heavy social media users who want unlimited scheduled posts.
If you wish to boost your social media marketing efforts, you should try out CoSchedule. It uses a simple drag-and-drop interface, which will make your life that much easier. On top of that, you get a visual calendar that shows you the optimal times for posting.
If we’re looking at the negatives, I have to mention that CoSchedule allows tracking of only two social media accounts. As a result, it isn’t something I’d recommend to creators who are using omnichannel approach. The program allows scheduling of up to 15 direct messages a day, which is why it’s not the best option for outreach.
Cool free features: AI Social Assistant, 20 AI Project Templates, drag and drop calendar, Best Tims Social Publishing
Perfect for: Those who want to manage their social media using a calendar-based approach.
Further Reading: 28 Free Content Marketing Tools to Radically Boost Your Results
This all-in-one social media app allows you to boost social media performance for 3 social accounts. The free plan includes social listening features, auto posting, collaboration tools, and internal notes. If you ever decide to switch to paid version, you’ll get 14-day free trial beforehand.
My biggest complaint about the free plan is the lack of many analytics features. The lack of bulk scheduling is also disappointing (you can schedule up to 15 posts per month). Nevertheless, the software will still help if you want to recycle evergreen content, while measuring basic analytics.
Cool free features: Free plan supports 9 social networks including Threads, Google Business Profiles, TikTok, Mastodon, and Bluesky
Perfect for: Those who want to publish to a large variety of social networks.
By using this software, you’re able to create and post on several social media profiles. Planable allows you to publish 50 posts every month. Its drag-and-drop interface is another of my favorite features.
Like many other programs in this category, Planable’s free plan is rather underwhelming. My biggest issue is that you don’t get any basic or advanced analytics. You also can’t access Twitter, which makes it a bad choice for social media agencies.
Cool free features: 50 free posts a month
Perfect for: Those who want to schedule a lot of content in advance.
Fedica allows you to build a community for your social accounts by relying on advanced AI analytics. The free plan allows you to run up to 9 social profiles on networks such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Post your content around the clock without any limit.
The all-in-one social media app gives you full access to analytical reports and publishing schedule. As for the drawbacks, I don’t have much bad to say about Fedica besides the fact you have some limitations for auto posting. The software is ideal for small businesses that want to boost their content performance.
Cool free features: Free plan supports 9 social networks including Threads, Pinterest, Pixelfed, Mastodon, and Bluesky, can schedule advanced posts such as threads, polls and reposts
Perfect for: Those who want to publish to a large variety of social networks as well as advanced posts such as threads, polls, and reposts
Further Reading: 41 Killer Social Media Tools You Should Know (including AI Tools)
The best way to boost content performance of your social accounts is by using Kapwing’s free plan. This is one of the better visual platforms geared toward video creators. With the free version, you get access to unlimited content exports for your social media campaigns. The only issue is that your videos will have watermarks.
Another noticeable issue is that your content can’t be longer than four minutes. In other words, while Kapwing will work for Instagram and Facebook Stories, it won’t be the best solution for your YouTube social media marketing campaigns.
I also don’t like that your content is limited to 720p resolution. However, if your followers are not that demanding when it comes to video quality, Kapwing can do a good job.
Cool free features: Unlimited video exports (although with a watermark), videos up to 4 minutes long, 10 minutes of auto-subtitler feature each month
Perfect for: Video creators and those who want to publish video content on social media.
Metricool is a versatile program that allows you to automate social processes, integrate various tools, and simplify your daily workflow. Its free plan is a Jack-of-all-trades, allowing you to manage all your profiles from a single dashboard.
Metricool allows you to plan up to 50 posts per month. It’s fantastic for competitor monitoring, providing full analysis for up to 5 accounts. You also get detailed analytics for your own channels stretching back three months in the past.
The only issue with the free plan is the limited number of integrations. You’ll get just a few AI content generation usages. While Metricool isn’t the best solution for agencies, it does a great job for small businesses that want to manage social media in-house.
Cool free features: analysis of 5 competitor profiles, access to analytics with 3 months of historical data, AI Social Media Assistant
Perfect for: Best overall free plan that is perfect for everyone as it gives you 50 posts, analytics, competitor analysis, and AI content creation.
Iconosquare is famous for its ability to create custom reports for its users. The software gives you access to a large quantity of data, which you can manage in any way you deem suitable.
Although the software doesn’t have the standard free plan, it has a demo which you can use as much as you want. This version gives you access to several vital features, such as scheduling, content creation, and generating ideas.
To get the demo version, you’ll need to leave your company’s login credentials. This makes the account creation a bit more complex compared to other tools. Software is perfect for businesses of all sizes.
Cool free features: Instagram and Facebook audit tools, Omnilink link-in-bio tool, random comment picker (for giveaways), Instagram caption generator
Perfect for: Those who have Instagram as their main social media platform.
Further Reading: The 17 Best Social Media Automation Tools to Use in 2025
Here are a few tricks that will help you find the right software for your business and industry:
- Identify Basic Needs: This can be anything from content creation to bulk scheduling, approval workflows, or advanced inbox management.
- Social Platform Compatibility: Make sure this software works for your preferred social networks.
- Frequency of Use: Some of these tools have heavy restrictions in terms of how many social media posts you can create or how many social media accounts you can track.
- Growth Potential: If the basic pricing plan is no longer useful, the tool should allow you to easily switch to a paid plan without losing data or workflows.
Conclusion
Free social media management tools are a godsend for small business owners. With these nifty programs, you can boost your social media presence and, thus, your digital marketing workflow.
I always recommend that you list your favorite features beforehand. Determine what you’re looking for in social media management software. Always remember that even if a tool is free, there’s no point in using it if it doesn’t move the needle for your business.
Actionable advice for your digital / content / influencer / social media marketing.
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