How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Ratings come from G2, Capterra or Trustpilot, with the date we checked them.
The best social media management software for agencies in 2026 is SocialPilot, because Premium covers 20 social accounts, 6 users and unlimited client seats for $85 a month billed annually. Agencies that need deep reporting and enterprise controls should look at Sprout Social instead, and small agencies should look at Metricool.
This guide is written for agencies that manage social accounts for clients, not for a single brand managing its own channels. Per-seat pricing punishes a growing team, a shared inbox without client separation causes mistakes, and a tool without client approvals means every post is a risk. Every price below comes from the vendor's own pricing page, checked on 11 November 2026.
Key points before the detailed list:
- The agency question is who pays for what. Sprout Social and Hootsuite charge per seat, so a 5-person team costs $1,495 to $1,995 a month on their agency tiers, while SocialPilot, Sendible and Metricool charge per account, per workspace or per brand.
- Client approvals are not standard. They start on Sprout Social Professional, Hootsuite Advanced, Agorapulse Professional, Sendible Plus and SocialPilot Premium, and they are absent on the cheapest tiers of every tool here.
- Only Buffer and Metricool have a permanent free plan. Every other tool here offers a free trial of 7 to 30 days instead.
- White-label reporting is a paid extra at most vendors, from $349 a month at Sendible, though Agorapulse includes it.
Start with the billing model, because it decides your margin. A per-seat tool makes every hire more expensive, while a per-brand or per-workspace tool keeps the cost tied to client count. Count your real seats and real client accounts, then price the tier that actually includes approvals, because the cheapest tier of most tools here has no approval workflow at all.
Next, check how clients approve work. An agency needs clients to approve posts without logging in as a paid user. SocialPilot gives unlimited client seats, Sprout Social allows external approvers on Advanced, Later gives stakeholder share-links, and Metricool gives collaborator access per brand.
| Tool |
Best for |
Starting price (checked 11 Nov 2026) |
Free plan |
| SocialPilot |
Most agencies on value |
$85/month billed annually (Premium) |
No, 14-day trial |
| Sprout Social |
Larger agencies needing depth |
$299/seat/month billed annually (Professional) |
No, 30-day trial |
| Hootsuite |
Agencies wanting approval workflows |
$399/user/month billed annually (Advanced) |
No, 14-day trial |
| Agorapulse |
Agencies wanting a strong inbox |
$119/user/month billed annually (Professional) |
No, 30-day trial |
| Sendible |
Agencies wanting per-client workspaces |
$84.15/month billed annually (Plus) |
No, 14-day trial |
| Buffer |
Small agencies wanting simplicity |
$10/channel/month billed annually (Team) |
Yes |
| Later |
Visual-first agency clients |
$82.50/month billed annually (Scale) |
Limited free plan |
| Metricool |
Small agencies on a tight budget |
$53/month billed annually (Advanced) |
Yes |
Take an agency with 10 clients on 3 networks each, so 30 profiles, and a team of 4. On Metricool Advanced at $53 a month billed annually for up to 15 brands, the agency costs $53 a month with unlimited team members, though X accounts cost $10 each extra. On SocialPilot Premium at $85 a month billed annually, the agency costs $85 a month for 20 accounts, and 30 accounts need Ultimate at $170 a month. On Agorapulse Professional at $119 per user a month billed annually, 4 users cost $476 a month, plus extra profiles. On Sprout Social Professional at $299 per seat a month billed annually, 4 seats cost $1,196 a month. On Hootsuite Advanced at $399 per user a month billed annually, 4 users cost $1,596 a month.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 SocialPilot | Most agencies that want client approvals, white-label reports and unlimited client seats at one flat price | Premium $85 per month billed annually ($100 billed monthly); Essentials $17, Standard $34, Ultimate $170 per month billed annually (socialpilot.co/pricing, checked 11 Nov 2026) | No; 14-day free trial |
 Sprout Social | Larger agencies that need deep reporting, listening and enterprise controls and can absorb per-seat pricing | Professional $299 per seat per month billed annually ($399 billed monthly); Essentials $79, Standard $199, Advanced $399; Enterprise quote only (sproutsocial.com/pricing, checked 11 Nov 2026; price cards did not render, figures from independent November 2026 reads) | No; 30-day free trial, no credit card required |
 Hootsuite | Agencies that want approval workflows, message assignment and branded reporting in a long-established platform | Advanced $399 per user per month billed annually ($499 billed monthly); Standard $99, Professional $199; Enterprise quote only (hootsuite.com/plans, checked 11 Nov 2026) | No; 14-day free trial, no credit card required. The free plan was retired in 2023. |
 Agorapulse | Agencies that run a busy shared inbox and want approval workflows with white-label reporting | Professional $119 per user per month billed annually ($149 billed monthly); Standard $79/$99, Advanced $149/$199; Custom quote only (agorapulse.com/pricing, checked 11 Nov 2026) | No; the free plan was retired 6 July 2026. 30-day free trial, no credit card required. |
 Sendible | Agencies that want one isolated workspace per client, with unlimited users at no per-seat cost | Plus $84.15 per month billed annually ($99 billed monthly), the first tier with approval workflows; Core $29.75, Premium $169.15, Elite $254.15, Enterprise $637.50 per month billed annually (sendible.com/pricing, checked 11 Nov 2026; price cards did not render, figures from the page's structured data and independent October 2026 reads) | No; 14-day free trial |
 Buffer | Small agencies that want simple per-channel billing and an easy tool the whole team learns in a day | Team $10 per channel per month billed annually ($12 billed monthly); Essentials $5/$6 per channel per month; volume discounts from the 11th channel (buffer.com/pricing, checked 11 Nov 2026) | Yes; free forever with 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel, 1 user and 30 days of analytics. 14-day trial on paid plans. |
 Later | Agencies whose clients are visual-first, especially Instagram and TikTok brands | Scale $82.50 per month billed annually ($110 billed monthly); Starter $18.75/$25, Growth $37.50/$50 per month (later.com/pricing, checked 11 Nov 2026) | Limited free plan documented in Later's help centre (1 social set, 12 scheduled posts per profile per month). 14-day free trial on paid plans. |
 Metricool | Small agencies on a tight budget that want per-brand pricing with unlimited team members | Advanced from $53 per month billed annually ($67 billed monthly) for up to 15 brands, 25 brands $85 per month annual, 50 brands $159 per month annual; Starter from $20 per month billed annually ($25 monthly) for up to 5 brands; Custom quote above 50 brands (metricool.com/pricing, checked 11 Nov 2026; price cards did not render, figures from independent October to November 2026 reads) | Yes; free forever with 1 brand, 20 scheduled posts a month, 30 days of analytics and 5 competitor profiles. No standard free trial of paid plans. |
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
#1SocialPilot
Best for: Most agencies that want client approvals, white-label reports and unlimited client seats at one flat price4.5/5 on
G2 (846 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit socialpilot.co
Starting pricePremium $85 per month billed annually ($100 billed monthly); Essentials $17, Standard $34, Ultimate $170 per month billed annually (socialpilot.co/pricing, checked 11 Nov 2026)
Free planNo; 14-day free trial
SocialPilot is the best value agency tool here because its pricing follows clients, not seats. Premium at $85 a month billed annually covers 20 social accounts and 6 users, and clients can approve posts without counting as users, which removes the per-seat tax that makes Sprout Social and Hootsuite expensive. Bulk scheduling, shared calendars and white-label reports are included at that tier, so a small agency can present itself professionally without an add-on.
What we like- Premium includes 20 accounts, 6 users, unlimited client seats, approvals, bulk scheduling and white-label reports for one flat price
Watch out for- Essentials has no inbox or approvals, Standard has no client approvals or white-label reports, and review management costs $30 a month extra
#2Sprout Social
Best for: Larger agencies that need deep reporting, listening and enterprise controls and can absorb per-seat pricing4.4/5 on
G2 (6,880 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit sproutsocial.com
Starting priceProfessional $299 per seat per month billed annually ($399 billed monthly); Essentials $79, Standard $199, Advanced $399; Enterprise quote only (sproutsocial.com/pricing, checked 11 Nov 2026; price cards did not render, figures from independent November 2026 reads)
Free planNo; 30-day free trial, no credit card required
Sprout Social is the most capable tool in this list, and the most expensive for a team. Professional adds the features agencies actually buy it for: unlimited profiles, approval workflows, bulk scheduling and team performance reporting, while Advanced adds external approvers who can sign off posts without a Sprout login, plus API access. The reporting is the strongest here, with branded exports a client will accept without rework. The cost is the problem.
What we like- Unlimited profiles from Professional up, approval workflows and team performance reports from Professional, external approvers and API access on Advanced
Watch out for- A 5-person team on Professional costs $1,495 a month, and the two cheapest plans cap out at just 5 social profiles
#3Hootsuite
Best for: Agencies that want approval workflows, message assignment and branded reporting in a long-established platform4.3/5 on
G2 (7,433 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit hootsuite.com
Starting priceAdvanced $399 per user per month billed annually ($499 billed monthly); Standard $99, Professional $199; Enterprise quote only (hootsuite.com/plans, checked 11 Nov 2026)
Free planNo; 14-day free trial, no credit card required. The free plan was retired in 2023.
Hootsuite is the longest-established agency tool here, and its Advanced tier is built around the agency workflow: approval chains, internal comments on drafts, message assignment and skill-based routing, so a post can move from junior to client without leaving the platform. Unlimited social accounts from Professional up means the profile cap is not the constraint it is elsewhere. The catch is the price of entry. Approvals, the feature that justifies Hootsuite for an agency, sit on the $399 per user tier, so a 4-person team pays $1,596 a month before any add-on. For a small agency, SocialPilot or Metricool does the same job for a tenth of the price.
What we like- Unlimited social accounts from Professional up, approval workflows with internal comments and message assignment on Advanced, team performance reports and branded exports
Watch out for- Approval workflows are locked behind the top $399 per user per month tier, and monthly billing rates are not published on the pricing page
#4Agorapulse
Best for: Agencies that run a busy shared inbox and want approval workflows with white-label reporting4.5/5 on
G2 (975 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit agorapulse.com
Starting priceProfessional $119 per user per month billed annually ($149 billed monthly); Standard $79/$99, Advanced $149/$199; Custom quote only (agorapulse.com/pricing, checked 11 Nov 2026)
Free planNo; the free plan was retired 6 July 2026. 30-day free trial, no credit card required.
Agorapulse is the inbox-first choice in this list. The unified inbox shows every client mention, comment and message in one place, with assignments so two people never reply to the same customer, and reply-collision detection that warns before a duplicate goes out. Approvals start on Professional, which is the tier most agencies will buy, and white-label reporting is included rather than sold as an add-on. The weakness is the profile cap. Ten profiles on every plan is tight for an agency: three clients on three networks each already uses nine, so growth means buying profiles or negotiating a Custom plan.
What we like- Unified inbox with assignments and reply-collision detection, approval workflows from Professional, shared calendars and bulk scheduling on Advanced, white-label reporting on all plans
Watch out for- Every paid plan includes exactly 10 social profiles and adding users never adds profiles, so an agency with more than about 3 clients per seat must buy extra profiles at $10 to $15 each a month
#5Sendible
Best for: Agencies that want one isolated workspace per client, with unlimited users at no per-seat cost4.5/5 on
G2 (905 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit sendible.com
Starting pricePlus $84.15 per month billed annually ($99 billed monthly), the first tier with approval workflows; Core $29.75, Premium $169.15, Elite $254.15, Enterprise $637.50 per month billed annually (sendible.com/pricing, checked 11 Nov 2026; price cards did not render, figures from the page's structured data and independent October 2026 reads)
Free planNo; 14-day free trial
Sendible is built around the agency model more explicitly than any other tool here. Each client gets a dedicated workspace with its own calendar, inbox and reports, so a client never sees another client's content, and every plan includes unlimited users, which means interns, freelancers and approvers cost nothing extra. Client Connect dashboards let clients view and approve work in a branded space. The catch is the white-label price: the full branded experience, with a custom domain login and branded emails, is an add-on from $349 a month on Elite, which pushes the real cost of a polished client-facing setup well above the headline plan price.
What we like- One isolated workspace per client with its own calendar, inbox and reports, unlimited users on every plan at no per-seat cost, Client Connect dashboards and approvals from Plus
Watch out for- White-label is a paid add-on from $349 a month on Elite and $800 a month on Enterprise, so a fully branded client experience costs $600-plus a month in practice
#6Buffer
Best for: Small agencies that want simple per-channel billing and an easy tool the whole team learns in a day4.3/5 on
G2 (1,041 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit buffer.com
Starting priceTeam $10 per channel per month billed annually ($12 billed monthly); Essentials $5/$6 per channel per month; volume discounts from the 11th channel (buffer.com/pricing, checked 11 Nov 2026)
Free planYes; free forever with 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel, 1 user and 30 days of analytics. 14-day trial on paid plans.
Buffer is the simplest tool in this list, and its pricing is the most predictable: you pay per channel, not per person and not per client. That suits a small agency whose client list changes often, because adding a client means adding channels at a known price, and the Team plan adds unlimited members with access levels and approval workflows. The free plan is genuinely usable for a very small agency starting out. The limits are structural rather than pricing: there is no client-facing layer, so clients cannot approve posts or view a dashboard, and reports carry only a logo, not full white-label branding.
What we like- Per-channel billing makes costs predictable as clients come and go, Team adds unlimited team members, access levels and approval workflows, and channel groups let you bulk-select a client's accounts
Watch out for- There is no real agency layer, with no client seats, no per-client workspaces or client dashboard, and no full white-label beyond a logo on report exports
#7Later
Best for: Agencies whose clients are visual-first, especially Instagram and TikTok brands4.5/5 on
G2 (384 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit later.com
Starting priceScale $82.50 per month billed annually ($110 billed monthly); Starter $18.75/$25, Growth $37.50/$50 per month (later.com/pricing, checked 11 Nov 2026)
Free planLimited free plan documented in Later's help centre (1 social set, 12 scheduled posts per profile per month). 14-day free trial on paid plans.
Later is the visual-first agency tool. Its social-set model maps one client to one set containing one profile per network, which keeps client work tidy, and Access Groups give each client a separate media library and calendar so assets never mix. Approval workflows and stakeholder share-links let clients approve posts without a Later account, and Scale adds competitor benchmarking and social listening. The hard limit is X: Later dropped the network entirely in August 2025, so an agency with clients on X needs a second tool, which erases the simplicity.
What we like- Social sets map neatly to one client, Access Groups give each client a separate media library and calendar, and Growth and Scale add approval workflows, stakeholder share-links and a social inbox
Watch out for- Later no longer supports X at all, with support ending 28 August 2025, so any agency client needing X must use a second tool, and the social-set model wastes slots when a client only uses two networks
#8Metricool
Best for: Small agencies on a tight budget that want per-brand pricing with unlimited team members4.5/5 on
G2 (98 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit metricool.com
Starting priceAdvanced from $53 per month billed annually ($67 billed monthly) for up to 15 brands, 25 brands $85 per month annual, 50 brands $159 per month annual; Starter from $20 per month billed annually ($25 monthly) for up to 5 brands; Custom quote above 50 brands (metricool.com/pricing, checked 11 Nov 2026; price cards did not render, figures from independent October to November 2026 reads)
Free planYes; free forever with 1 brand, 20 scheduled posts a month, 30 days of analytics and 5 competitor profiles. No standard free trial of paid plans.
Metricool is the cheapest genuine agency tier in this list. Advanced at $53 a month billed annually covers up to 15 brands with unlimited team members, so a small agency can put its whole team on the tool for one flat fee, and each brand is isolated, so clients only see their own data. Approval workflows, custom report templates and a Data Studio connector are included at that tier. The catches are the add-ons: X costs $10 a month per account on top of the plan, and the free plan excludes LinkedIn and X, so it is not a real test of the full product.
What we like- Priced per brand, not per seat, with unlimited team members at no extra cost on Advanced, client and collaborator access per brand without exposing other clients' data, and approval workflows, role management, custom report templates and API access on Advanced
Watch out for- X is not included in any plan price and needs a paid plan plus a $10 a month per-account add-on, and Starter is owner-only with no team members, so genuine agency use starts at Advanced
Frequently asked questions
How much does social media management software for agencies cost per month?
Expect $53 to $1,596 a month for a 4-person team managing 10 clients, depending on the billing model. Metricool Advanced costs $53 a month billed annually for up to 15 brands, SocialPilot Premium costs $85 a month, Agorapulse Professional costs $476 a month for 4 users, Sprout Social Professional costs $1,196 a month for 4 seats, and Hootsuite Advanced costs $1,596 a month for 4 users.
Which social media management tool is best for client approvals?
Sprout Social Professional, Hootsuite Advanced, Agorapulse Professional, Sendible Plus and SocialPilot Premium all include approval workflows, but they gate them differently. SocialPilot Premium is the cheapest route at $85 a month billed annually with unlimited client seats. Sprout Social Advanced is the only tier here that lets external approvers sign off without a login.
Can agencies use the free plans of these tools?
Buffer and Metricool both offer a permanent free plan, and Later documents a limited free plan in its help centre. Buffer's free plan covers 3 channels and 10 scheduled posts per channel, and Metricool's covers 1 brand and 20 posts a month. Neither free plan includes client approvals or white-label reports, so they suit a solo operator testing the tool, not an agency running client work.
What is the difference between per-seat and per-brand pricing for agencies?
Per-seat pricing charges for every team member, so the bill grows with hiring, while per-brand pricing charges for every client, so the bill grows with revenue. Sprout Social and Hootsuite are per-seat, which makes a 5-person team cost $1,495 to $1,995 a month on agency tiers. SocialPilot, Sendible and Metricool charge per account, per workspace or per brand, so adding a client costs far less than adding a team member.
Do these tools support X (Twitter)?
Most do, with two exceptions that matter. Later no longer supports X at all, after support ended on 28 August 2025, so agencies with X clients need a second tool. Metricool supports X only as a $10 a month per-account add-on on a paid plan, and its free plan excludes X entirely. Agorapulse also charges extra for X through an unpublished add-on.
Sources we checked (8)
- https://sproutsocial.com/pricing
- https://www.hootsuite.com/plans
- https://www.agorapulse.com/pricing/
- https://www.sendible.com/pricing
- https://www.socialpilot.co/pricing
- https://buffer.com/pricing
- https://later.com/pricing/
- https://metricool.com/pricing/
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has 5+ years in B2B and SaaS SEO. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.