Metricool Review (2026): Best Free Analytics Tier, Strong Twitter/X Focus

Last updated: May 2026 · Edited by Max

What makes Metricool different

Most free scheduling tools give you scheduling. Metricool gives you analytics on the free tier — including competitor tracking, best time to post based on your actual data, and performance reports. This changes the calculus for teams who want data before they pay.

The second differentiator: Twitter/X analytics depth. Metricool measures Twitter/X performance at a granularity that Hootsuite and Buffer do not match at mid-tier pricing. For brands with meaningful Twitter/X activity, this matters.

Pricing

The free tier is the headline: one brand, unlimited posts, analytics. No 10-post limit like Buffer Free. For a solo operator or creator evaluating whether Metricool works before committing, the free tier provides a meaningful trial with real data.

Twitter/X analytics: the real differentiator

Metricool’s Twitter/X analytics include:

• Tweet performance by format (text, image, video, thread, poll)
• Best days and hours to tweet based on your specific audience engagement
• Follower growth tracking with daily granularity
• Competitor profile tracking (their follower count, engagement rate, posting frequency)
• Twitter/X ad campaign performance alongside organic (on paid plans)

Hootsuite’s Twitter/X analytics at the $249/mo Professional tier are comparable. Buffer’s Twitter/X analytics at $5/channel/mo do not match this depth. Metricool delivers this at $22-45/mo.

Free tier competitor tracking

On the free tier, Metricool includes one competitor profile tracking per platform. You can monitor a competitor’s follower growth, average engagement rate, and posting frequency without a paid plan.

This is genuinely unusual — most tools gate competitor tracking behind enterprise plans. For SMB owners who want to benchmark against 1-2 direct competitors, the free tier covers this.

What Metricool does well

Best time to post. Metricool’s “Best time to post” uses your actual audience engagement data — not generic industry averages. On accounts with 90+ days of history, the recommendations are meaningfully specific (e.g., “Tuesday 8pm performs 2.3x better than Monday 6pm for your audience”).

Link shortener with UTM tracking. Metricool includes a link shortener and UTM parameter builder. Posts with Metricool short links track click-through data back to each specific post — critical for calculating ROI per post.

Twitch and YouTube. Metricool covers streaming platforms alongside social media. For creators with both streaming and social presence, this centralises analytics.

BlueSky support. Metricool added BlueSky scheduling and analytics in 2025 — one of the first schedulers to do so.

White label reports. The Agency plan includes white-label PDF reports branded with your agency logo. Clients receive professional-quality reports without seeing Metricool branding.

Where Metricool falls short

Approval workflows. Metricool’s approval feature is basic — you can submit posts for review, but the workflow is simpler than Sprout Social or Publer. For agencies with multi-step approval chains, Publer or Hootsuite is stronger.

Instagram-specific features. For Instagram-first strategies — visual content calendar, Story scheduling, Reels performance analytics — Later or Sprout Social are more focused. Metricool covers Instagram but is not Instagram-specialised.

Interface complexity. Metricool’s interface is more information-dense than Buffer or Later. New users take longer to orient. The learning curve is lower than Hootsuite but higher than Buffer.

Who Metricool is for

Content creators and personal brand accounts. The free tier with real analytics supports a solo creator’s needs completely. Start free, upgrade to Starter ($22/mo) when managing 2 brands.

SMB owners with Twitter/X as a primary channel. The Twitter/X analytics depth at the $22-45/mo price range is the strongest in the market.

Agencies doing competitive analysis. Competitor tracking on all paid plans, white label reports on Agency plan.

Teams evaluating social media tools. The free tier provides enough functionality and analytics data to make an evidence-based upgrade decision — better than a 14-day trial.

The verdict

Metricool earns 8.1/10. The analytics depth on the free tier is the strongest in our test set. The Twitter/X focus is a genuine differentiator. The interface is less polished than Buffer but the feature-to-price ratio is strong at the Starter and Advanced tiers.

Buy Metricool if: analytics and Twitter/X performance are your primary requirements, or you want a meaningful free tier before committing to paid.

Skip Metricool if: Instagram-first visual scheduling is your primary need (use Later), or you require sophisticated approval workflows (use Publer or Hootsuite).