Top 10 cheapest social media management tools in 2026

When you manage social for several brands, clients, or channels, the price 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 accounts.

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

Spoiler: on pure cost per connected account, Postoria comes out far ahead.

Ranking criteria

To keep it fair, we’ll look at:

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

1. Postoria

• Free: 10 accounts
• 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, and Bluesky.

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 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: decent, 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 20 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 hurts multi-brand setups
• $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 find cheaper options 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
• You can also consider free tiers of some competitors at this stage

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

Quick comparison (first paid plan)

*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

1. Very high account limit: 50 accounts at $10 is just unmatched in this set.
2. Insane scaling tier: 500 accounts at $25/month is effectively “bring your whole agency” pricing.
3. Broad channel coverage: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google Business Profile, Threads, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok, Telegram, and Bluesky — so you are not forced to buy another tool just because of one “odd” channel.
4. 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.
• 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.