10 most cost-effective social media management tools in 2025 (ranked by accounts supported)

When you manage social for several brands, clients, or channels, the cost per connected account often becomes as important as the feature list. Many tools seem affordable at $25–$35/month — until you notice that only covers 4–7 profiles.

So in this article we’ll look at real cost-effectiveness — how many actual social accounts you can connect for the money — and we’ll rank tools based on that.

Spoiler: Postoria wins by a mile because it gives you 50 accounts for $10 and even a $25/month plan for 500 accounts. That’s agency territory, but at indie SaaS pricing.

Ranking criteria

To keep it fair, we’ll look at:

How many accounts/profiles you get on the first paid plan
Price per managed account
Free tier usefulness (is it real or just onboarding?)
Account type limits (e.g. “1 per social network”)
Scalability (can you go from 1 brand → 10 brands without going bankrupt?)

1. Postoria (winner)

Free: 10 accounts, limited functionality
Paid: $10/month for up to 50 accounts
Agency plan: $25/month for up to 500 accounts

Why it’s #1

Free tier that’s actually usable: up to 10 accounts, supports LinkedIn, and up to 50 posts per month — enough for many solo SMMs, creators, or early-stage businesses.
At $10 for 50 accounts, you’re paying $0.20 per account. That is dramatically cheaper than every other tool on this list.
At $25 for 500 accounts, you’re basically paying $0.05 per account — which is in “why is this not a typo?” territory.
It’s multi-brand friendly (workspaces), has a visual calendar, first-comment posting where supported, text/hashtag library, and an AI assistant.
Supports Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google Business Profile, Threads, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok, Telegram, Bluesky, and Reddit.

Who it’s best for

Agencies with many small clients
Creators running 20–100 experimental accounts across platforms
Teams that want to add every single channel (including Reddit, Telegram, Bluesky) and don’t want to re-calculate plans every time

2. Metricool

Free: up to 9 accounts (1 per social network), limited functionality
Starter: from $22/month, up to 50 accounts but with a per-brand / per-network structure
Effective price: good, but not as flexible as Postoria because of the “one per network per brand” style limits

Why it’s good

The free plan is usable if you only need 1 account per platform (up to 9 accounts), but note that LinkedIn isn’t supported on the free tier and you’re limited to 50 pieces of content per month.
Starter can cover a decent number of accounts for ~$22, but the structure isn’t “any 50 accounts you want” — so if you manage 12 Instagrams, it won’t feel as generous as Postoria.
Still a solid pick for solo marketers and SMBs.

Why it’s below Postoria

Less flexible on account types
Almost 2x the price of Postoria’s $10 plan, for a structure that can be more limiting

3. Neulink

$18/month → 7 social channels

Pros

Good for small operators or early agencies
Lots of integrations, so it can slot into an existing stack easily

Cons

$18 / 7 ≈ $2.57/account — more than Postoria/Metricool
Not ideal if you expect to add many brands soon

4. OneUp

Starter: $18/month → 10 social channels, but limited to 150 posts per month
Next tier: $60/month → 15 accounts

Pros

Entry price is attractive
Simple UI, easy to promote content in a small setup

Cons

150 posts/month means it’s not for heavy publishers or multi-brand calendars
$60 for 15 accounts = $4/account, which is high compared to this list

Why it’s still on the list

Works for very small teams that post infrequently
But it’s not a scalable, high-volume option like Postoria

5. Later

$25/month → 8 profiles
Important: limit one profile per social network

Pros

Polished product, strong IG/Pinterest story
Good if you need “every platform once”

Cons

The one-profile-per-network rule kills it for multi-brand people
$25 for 8 = $3.12/account and not even flexible

Why it’s here

For a single brand that’s on all major networks, it’s fine.
For agencies or social managers with “3 Facebooks, 4 Instagrams, 2 LinkedIns,” it’s not.

6. SocialPilot

$30/month → 7 social profiles

Effective price: $30 / 7 ≈ $4.29/account

What’s good

Known tool, stable, business-friendly
If you’re a small team with ~7 main profiles, it works

What’s not

Per-account cost is high compared to Postoria, Metricool, and even Later
You outgrow it quickly if you onboard more brands

7. Sendible

$29/month → 6 social profiles

So you’re looking at ~$4.83/account.

Why people still pick it

Mature product, agency-friendly features
Good integrations

Why it’s lower

Purely on cost-per-account, you can do much better above

8. SocialBee

$29/month → 5 social profiles

That’s $5.80/account.

Good for

People who like category-based posting and evergreen queues
Solopreneurs who only need a handful of accounts

But

If you manage 15–20 accounts, this stops being viable very fast

9. Buffer

Free: 3 channels, limited functionality
Essentials: $6 per channel (so, 3 channels → $18; 5 channels → $30)

Why it’s still on the list

Simple, familiar, and great for beginners
If you really do have 1 channel you care about, $6 is okay
But you said it yourself: “you can also consider free tiers of some competitors” — and that’s true

Why it’s low

Per-channel pricing scales badly for agencies and multi-brand setups
At 8–10 accounts the math is just worse than everybody above

10. HeyOrca

Free: 1 social profile, limited
Next tier: $59/month → 10 social profiles

So we’re at $5.90/account.

What’s good

10 profiles is okay
Clear positioning toward collaboration and approvals

Why it’s 10th

$59 is already 6x Postoria’s $10 plan
Even Metricool/OneUp give you more for less

Good tools, but not as cost-effective

These are fine products, but if we are strict about “cost-effective by number of accounts,” they don’t make the top 10.

CoSchedule

Free: 1 social profile, limited
Next: $29/month → 3 profiles
Good for people who want marketing calendar + content, but 3 profiles at $29 is not cost-leader territory.

Planable

Free: very limited (50 total posts)
Basic: $39/month → 4 social pages
Nice UX, but $39/4 is nearly $10/account.

$199/month → 5 social profiles
Enterprise-grade, but from the “cost per account” angle it’s not even in the same conversation.

Quick comparison (first paid plan)

Tool	Price/mo	Accounts/profiles	Approx. cost per account	Notes
Postoria	$10	50	$0.20	Best value; $25 → 500 accounts
Metricool	$22	up to 50*	~$0.44*	Structured/limited per brand; 50 posts/mo on free
Neulink	$18	7	$2.57	Good integrations
OneUp	$18	10	$1.80	150 posts/mo limit; next tier $60 for 15
Later	$25	8 (1 per network)	$3.12	Not flexible for multi-brand
SocialPilot	$30	7	$4.29	Solid, but pricier per accounts
Sendible	$29	6	$4.83	Mature tool
SocialBee	$29	5	$5.80	Great features, low account count
Buffer	$6/ch	(scales)	$6.00 (per ch)	Good for beginners
HeyOrca	$59	10	$5.90	Collaboration focus

*Metricool’s “up to 50” is not the same type of “any 50 accounts you want” as Postoria — there are per-network/per-brand nuances.

Why Postoria beats everyone by far

Very high account limit: 50 accounts at $10 is just unmatched in this set.
Insane scaling tier: 500 accounts at $25/month is effectively “bring your whole agency” pricing.
Broad channel coverage: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok, Telegram, Bluesky, Reddit — so you are not forced to buy another tool just because of one “odd” channel.
Workflow tools included: calendar, workspaces, posting groups, text/hashtag library, AI, Adobe Express integration. You are not sacrificing features to get the low price.

If your goal is “manage as many accounts as possible for the smallest amount of money, without losing core features”, Postoria is the obvious #1 from the data you provided.

Final thoughts

If you manage 1–3 profiles, many of these tools are fine — even Buffer free.
If you manage 5–10 profiles, you immediately start paying $25–$40/month on most tools.
If you manage 10+ profiles or multiple brands, most tools are priced to make that painful.
Postoria flips that: instead of punishing you for adding more accounts, it gives you so much headroom (50 → 500) that you can onboard new brands without rethinking your stack every time.