The free plan stops at 20 posts a month
That is 20 scheduled posts and one brand. Posting once a day, you hit the ceiling in the third week and spend the rest of the month publishing by hand.
Four schedulers for anyone who hit the ceiling of Metricool's free plan or stopped opening the analytics dashboard. One is the cheapest of the lot, one is built for agencies, one lives on Instagram, one shows the grid before you publish.
ZapPost is number 1 on the list: it delivers the post ready to publish, instead of a tool for you to build it. Then come the four alternatives, in recommendation order. Click any one of them to drop straight to its block, with where it wins and where it loses.
| Tool | Best for | Free | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1ZapPostOurs | Getting the post finished, with nothing to build | – | US$19.00/mo |
| 2Buffer | Scheduling what you create yourself | US$6.00/mo | |
| 3SSocialPilot | Several accounts for little money | – | US$20.00/mo |
| 4PPallyy | Full Instagram toolkit for little | US$15.00/mo | |
| 5Later | Planning how the feed will look | – | US$25.00/mo |
Metricool is the rare scheduler that measures as well, and people who leave it usually leave for one reason: the entry plan ran out before the month did.
That is 20 scheduled posts and one brand. Posting once a day, you hit the ceiling in the third week and spend the rest of the month publishing by hand.
Sending a post for a client to approve before it goes live starts on Advanced, at US$67.00 a month on the monthly plan. Anyone handling three clients who wanted a preview step ends up back in WhatsApp.
The caption assistant runs on a monthly credit allowance. Once it runs out, the writing goes back to being yours, in the middle of the week.
The subject, the copy and the carousel slides still come from you, before any scheduling happens. That is true of every tool on this page, and it is worth saying out loud.
Scheduling and analytics in one dashboard is something almost no competitor at the same price delivers, and the PDF report settles the client meeting on its own. It only means there is a moment to look at the rest.
ZapPost is number 1 here too, and the alternatives come after it. Every block has both halves: where the tool wins and where it loses. The price is the month-to-month one, with no commitment, read on the official page on August 6, 2026. Where paying for the full year comes out cheaper, that shows up inside the block.
Generates finished Instagram content the moment the customer asks, tuned to their niche: a carousel, a Reels script and a caption with a CTA.
Where it wins
Where it loses
Best for: People who get stuck deciding what to post and would rather receive the content finished than build each piece.
The pioneering post scheduler: you create the content, it publishes at the set time on each network.
Where it wins
Where it loses
Best for: People who already create their own content and just need the publishing queue in order.
Scheduler built for small agencies: several accounts, a shared calendar and AI credits for captions, at a low entry price.
Where it wins
Where it loses
Best for: People managing several accounts who want to pay little for it.
Cheap scheduler built for Instagram: feed grid, first comment, product tags and AI captions, with a free plan of 15 posts.
Where it wins
Where it loses
Best for: People posting to one Instagram account who want a complete scheduler for little money.
Instagram-focused scheduler, known for showing the grid laid out before the posts go live.
Where it wins
Where it loses
Best for: People who want to see the feed laid out before publishing, and who already have something to post.
It opens the table above without competing for the same slot. It handles the step before scheduling, and it has no free plan.
ZapPost does not publish at a set time, does not organise a queue and shows no metrics at all. If what you need is a scheduler with a numbers dashboard, stay with one of the four, or with Metricool itself.
What it solves is the step no scheduler solves: the post existing. You open Studio, pick the format (a carousel, a Reels script or a caption with a call to action), say the subject and walk out with the post finished, already in the tone of your niche. It is for the person who opens the Metricool calendar on Monday, sees an empty week and closes it without scheduling anything, because the missing piece was the content.
It costs US$19.00 a month on the monthly plan. On the six-month plan it drops to US$11.50/mo, billed every 6 months. There is no free plan, only a 7-day guarantee, and the output is built for Instagram.
See ZapPost and Metricool side by sideThe list above is indexed by tool. This one is indexed by what stops you, which is how the decision usually arrives.
What stops you is creating the post
No scheduler solves that different problem
That is where ZapPost comes in: you say the subject in Studio and walk out with the carousel built, the Reels script or the caption with a call to action, in the tone of your niche. Bear in mind it does not schedule: you download it and publish by hand, or drop it into the scheduler you already pay for.
You use a single channel and want the lowest price there is
Buffer US$6.00/mo
It costs US$6.00 per channel, with unlimited posts. The free plan covers 3 channels and 10 scheduled posts per channel. With one channel, it is hard to beat on price.
You handle client accounts and want approval without paying a lot
SocialPilot US$20.00/mo
Essentials covers 5 accounts for US$20.00, with 500 AI caption credits. A shared calendar and client approval start on Standard, at US$40.00, well below Metricool's Advanced, which starts at US$67.00 a month.
You live on Instagram and want what only Instagram people ask for
Pallyy US$15.00/mo
Feed grid, first comment, product tags and a link in bio page, for US$15.00 on Starter. The free plan gives 15 posts a month, and Pro, with unlimited posts, costs US$25.00.
You want to see the grid laid out before you publish
Later US$25.00/mo
The visual planner shows how the feed will look before the posts go live. Starter costs US$25.00 a month and one social set covers 8 profiles. There is no free plan, only a 14-day trial.
Metricool itself has a free plan with 1 brand and 20 scheduled posts a month, with no expiry date. Among the alternatives, Buffer covers 3 channels and 10 posts per channel for nothing, and Pallyy gives 15 posts a month. SocialPilot and Later have no free plan, only a 14-day trial.
It depends how many accounts you handle. With one account, Buffer comes out ahead: US$6.00 per channel against the US$25.00 of Metricool's Starter. With five accounts, SocialPilot matches the price (US$20.00) and brings client approval sooner. Anyone posting to Instagram alone usually pays less on Pallyy, at US$15.00.
None of the four delivers the same dashboard. Metricool shows how your own posts performed and how competitor profiles performed, and exports a PDF report. Buffer, SocialPilot, Pallyy and Later show numbers for your own profile, on simpler screens. If the analytics panel is why you are there, that is the reason to stay.
No. ZapPost does not schedule, does not publish and measures nothing: it generates the content on the spot, in Studio, and you publish by hand or drop it into your scheduler. Anyone who needs posts going out on their own at a set time still needs a scheduler. The pair works: ZapPost writes the post and Metricool publishes and measures it.
Each figure came from the tool's own pricing page, on the date shown in the footer of this page. The value shown is always the monthly plan with no commitment, because an annual price next to a month-to-month price is not a fair comparison.
Any of the four publishes at the set time, and Metricool measures afterwards on top of that. None of them writes the post for your niche; that is what ZapPost does, before the queue exists.
Results vary by niche and consistency.