Short answer
Pick Metricool if reporting comes first: competitor tracking, ads data and MCP on its free plan, priced per brand. Pick Publer if publishing volume comes first: bulk CSV, RSS and recycling, X without an add-on and a low price per account. One brand on five networks, LinkedIn included, costs $25 on Metricool Starter and $20 on Publer Professional.
At a glance
| Feature | Publer | Metricool |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Hosted scheduler with bulk scheduling, RSS automation and post recyclingsource | Analytics-led social media suite with planning, inbox, reports and adssource |
| Hosting | Hosted (no self-host option on its pricing page)source | Hosted (no self-host option on its pricing page)source |
| Pricing model | Per social account per month, plus optional extra members; every 10th account and every 10th member is freesource | Per brand: plans cover up to 5, 10, 15, 25 or 50 brands, and each brand holds one profile per network. X is a paid add-on per accountsource 1source 2 |
| Plans | Professional from $5 and Business from $10 a month for 1 account; extra members $2 each on Professional and $3 on Business (pricing calculator, monthly billing); Enterprise by quotesource 1source 2 | Starter $25 (5 brands) or $45 (10); Advanced $67 (15), $107 (25) or $210 (50); Custom by quote. Monthly billing, before VATsource |
| Free option | Free plan: 3 social accounts (X excluded), 10 scheduled posts per account, 1 usersource | Free plan: 1 brand, 20 posts a month, 30 days of analytics; no LinkedIn or Xsource |
| Trial | 7-day trial of Professional, 14-day trial of Businesssource | Not listed |
| Networks | 13: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X (paid plans only), Threads, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Mastodon, Google Business Profile, YouTube, Telegram, Bluesky and WordPresssource | Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X (add-on), Bluesky, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube, Twitch, LinkedIn (paid plans) and Google Business Profile, plus a website or blog and Facebook, Google and TikTok Adssource |
| API | Publer API on Business and Enterprise for eligible customers; no public API open to every plansource | Metricool API on Advanced and Custom onlysource |
| MCP for AI agents | MCP server on Business and Enterprise for eligible customerssource 1source 2 | Metricool MCP on every plan, including Free (limits may apply)source 1source 2 |
| AI writing | AI Assist, with unlimited prompts on Businesssource | AI assistant with credits per brand each month: 5 on Free, 20 on Starter, 35 on Advancedsource |
| Teams and approvals | Extra members on paid plans; advanced collaboration and approval workflows on Businesssource | Team and client management, roles and a post approval system on Advancedsource |
Cost at 3, 10 and 30 accounts
The two count different things. Publer charges for every social account. Metricool charges for brands, and one brand holds one profile per network, so the same number of accounts can cost very different amounts. The Metricool ranges below depend on how your accounts split into brands.
| Accounts | Publer, per month | Metricool, per month |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | $0 / $12 (Free plan (no X, 10 scheduled posts per account), or Professional)source | $0 / $25 (Free if it is one brand without LinkedIn or X and 20 posts a month is enough; otherwise Starter)source |
| 10 | $36 (Professional, with the 10th account free (Business: $63))source | $25 to $45 (Starter: $25 for up to 5 brands, $45 for up to 10, depending on how the 10 accounts split into brands)source |
| 30 | $108 (Professional, 3 of the 30 accounts free (Business: $189))source | $25 to $210 (Depends on how the accounts split into brands (one profile per network per brand): 5 brands on Starter at $25, up to 30 single-network brands on the 50-brand Advanced tier at $210. X adds $10 per account)source 1source 2 |
Monthly billing, before tax. Each figure is worked out from the plan prices on the linked pricing page.
A worked agency example: 5 clients on 4 networks
Say each client posts to Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and LinkedIn. That is 20 social accounts in 5 brands.
- Publer: Professional costs $72 a month for 20 accounts (two of them free). Business, which adds approvals, analytics and the API, costs $126, plus $3 for each extra team member.
- Metricool: Starter covers 5 brands for $25, but has no team access or approvals. Advanced adds both and covers up to 15 brands for $67.
Swap LinkedIn for X and Publer's totals stay the same, while Metricool adds $10 for each X account: $50 more for five clients.
Analytics and reports
Metricool started as an analytics tool and it shows. Even the free plan tracks five competitors and keeps 30 days of data, and paid plans keep history with no time limit. Publer treats analytics as a Business-plan feature alongside its publishing tools.
| Feature | Publer | Metricool | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Analytics history | Analytics insights and reports on Business | 30 days on Free; unlimited on paid plans (30 days for X) | publer.com metricool.com |
| Competitor tracking | Competitor analysis on Business | 5 profiles on Free, up to 100 on paid plans | publer.com metricool.com |
| Reports | Downloadable analytics reports on Business | PDF and PowerPoint on Starter; custom templates and a Data Studio connector on Advanced | publer.com metricool.com |
| Ads | Not listed | Facebook Ads, Google Ads and TikTok Ads connections | metricool.com |
| Best times to post | On Business | Listed in the planner | publer.com metricool.com |
| Paid extra | None listed for analytics | Advanced Analytics add-on, from $12 a month on Starter or $36 on Advanced | publer.com help.metricool.com |
Bulk, RSS and recycling
Publer is the stronger publishing engine. Paid plans can schedule up to 500 posts at once from a CSV file, Professional includes unlimited RSS automations, and Business adds automatic recycling of evergreen posts with spintax so repeats do not read identically. Metricool includes unlimited RSS feeds on every plan, and its paid plans include autolists and recurring scheduling, but we did not find bulk CSV upload on its pricing page. Its free plan stops at 20 posts a month, and paid scheduling is unlimited under a fair use policy.
The cost of X
Both treat X as a paid extra in some way, because X charges for its API. Publer leaves X off its free plan and includes it on every paid plan. Metricool sells X as an add-on at $10 a month per connected account on Starter and above, keeps X analytics for 30 days, and gives fuller X analytics on Advanced. If several of your brands post to X, add that to Metricool's price before comparing.
API and MCP
Metricool is the easier way to connect an AI assistant: its MCP server is on every plan, Free included, with limits that may apply. Its API, for Zapier, Make, Data Studio and custom integrations, is on Advanced and Custom only. Publer puts both its API and its MCP server on Business and Enterprise for eligible customers.
Teams and approvals
Publer adds members to any paid plan for a small monthly fee each, with every tenth member free, and puts advanced collaboration and approval workflows on Business. Metricool keeps team and client management, roles and its post approval system on Advanced, which starts at $67 a month for up to 15 brands.
Where Publer wins
- Bulk scheduling of up to 500 posts from a CSV, and unlimited RSS automations from Professional.
- Evergreen recycling with spintax and recurring posts on Business.
- X on every paid plan without a per-account add-on.
- Telegram and Mastodon publishing, which Metricool's pricing page does not list.
- Low entry pricing for one or two accounts: $5 a month for one.
Where Metricool wins
- Per-brand pricing that suits agencies with many clients on a few networks each.
- Deeper analytics: unlimited history, up to 100 competitors and ads data.
- MCP on every plan, including Free.
- A comment and message inbox, and Twitch, which Publer's pricing page does not list.
- A free plan that includes analytics and competitor tracking.
What to check before you switch
- Map your accounts into brands before reading Metricool's prices, and count X accounts separately.
- Decide whether you need approvals. On both tools that moves you up a tier.
- If you post in volume, test a bulk upload or RSS feed during Publer's trial, 7 days on Professional and 14 on Business.
- If clients expect monthly reports, build one in Metricool's free plan first to see whether it fits.
Where PostDelegate fits
PostDelegate is lighter than either: a scheduler with flat plans from $19, team members from $29 and the API and MCP on every plan, with analytics that today cover YouTube only. It does not replace Metricool's reporting, and it cannot reach Instagram, Facebook, Threads, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest or X yet, because those are pending platform approval. Every plan starts with a 7-day trial and no card.
- What it is
- Hosted scheduler built on Postiz, run by Nasida Apps LLCsource
- Price
- 7-day free trial, no card, then from $19/month. 3 accounts: $19 (Starter, 5 channels) · 10 accounts: $29 (Team, 10 channels) · 30 accounts: $39 (Pro, 30 channels). Pricing
- Live today
- 16 networks: YouTube, Bluesky, Telegram, Discord, Slack, Tumblr, Lemmy, Nostr, Twitch, Kick, Dribbble, DEV.to, Medium, WordPress, Hashnode, Listmonk (email). Platform status
- Pending approval
- Instagram, Facebook, Threads, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest and X. These cannot be connected yet.
- API and MCP
- MCP server on every plan, with sign-in (OAuth) or an API keysource
- AI
- Bring your own: AI runs on your own OpenAI key or the assistant you connect over MCP; PostDelegate never charges for AIsource
FAQ
Is Metricool free?
Does Metricool charge extra for X?
Which has better analytics?
Which suits agencies?
Does Publer have a free plan?
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Publer and Metricool are trademarks of their owners. PostDelegate is not affiliated with or endorsed by either. Last updated .