Social media marketing isn't just about posting content and hoping for the best—it's about building a strong brand community and staying active. And let's be honest, doing all this efficiently? You'll need powerful social media management tools.
With the right platform, social media management becomes way less overwhelming. You can handle everything from scheduling posts to analyzing performance without jumping between different apps. Plus, collaboration features and alerts make it easier to stay on top of everything.
This post breaks down the top social media management platforms to help you find the perfect fit for your team.
What is a social media management tool?
A social media management tool is software that lets you manage all aspects of your social media from one place. You can handle multiple tasks without switching platforms—stuff like creating content, scheduling posts, publishing, monitoring conversations, analyzing performance, engaging with followers, and working with your team.
Most tools support multiple social media profiles across different networks, making them essential for your social strategy.
Best social media management tools to use
The best tool for you depends on what you actually need. Things like your team size and which platforms you use will influence this decision.
Agencies might need something that manages multiple client accounts. Small teams could be looking for collaboration features. Others might just need help managing specific platforms or automating their publishing.
Based on these different needs, here are the best social media management tools to consider:
- Sked Social
- Sprout Social
- Zoho Social
- HubSpot
- Sendible
- Pallyy
- SocialBee
- SocialPilot
- Buffer
- Keyhole
- Sprinklr
- eClincher
- Tailwind
- X Pro (Tweetdeck)
- Preview
- Iconosquare
- Hootsuite
- CoSchedule
- MeetEdgar
- Later
Best social media management platforms overall
1. Sked Social
When you're looking for the best social media analytics tools that actually deliver results, Sked Social stands out from the crowd. Sked Social offers teams and marketers advanced publishing capabilities (like Stories with links and Reels with custom thumbnails), a foolproof workflow for internal and external approvals, features that align with needs, and better support—all at a more affordable price than other popular tools like Hootsuite or Sprout Social.
What makes Sked Social one of the best social media management tools for agencies is its focus on being a no-nonsense platform built by social media managers for social media managers. While other tools pile on features you'll never use, Sked Social focuses on what actually matters for your workflow.
Marketing without measurement is guesswork - so all plans come with rich social media insights, with no limits on your historical data. Unlike competitors that charge extra for analytics, you get everything included.
Why Sked Social beats the competition:
- Auto-post to Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, X/Twitter, Threads, Pinterest, YouTube, and Google Business, and publish to Snapchat and other social platforms with unlimited notification workflows
- Schedule stories to auto-publish (for real) with stickers —something most tools can't do properly
- Create approval workflows with as many steps as you need, including automated rules like "publish only if approved"
- Managing social from one inbox is a need, not a want - engage with your community on every plan
- AI-powered content creation and competitor analysis through Captivate AI
- Link in bio is a feature, not a product - you get a customizable link in bio page for free with Sked Link
2. Sprout Social
While Sked Social offers better value, Sprout Social is still a solid all-in-one platform. It integrates with major social networks including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and YouTube.
The platform also manages reviews from Google My Business, Trustpilot, and Facebook. Plus, it can create shoppable posts integrated with Facebook Shops and Shopify catalogs.
Features:
- Publishing, scheduling, monitoring, analytics, and reporting in one dashboard
- ViralPost feature to publish content when followers are most engaged
- Smart Inbox for managing incoming messages from different platforms
- Hashtag tracking to identify popular and relevant hashtags
- Custom URL tracking for deeper insights into post performance
- AI-powered social listening solutions
3. Zoho Social
Zoho Social is a powerful yet affordable social media management tool, ideal for small businesses, startups, and personal brands. It allows users to schedule posts, monitor social media performance, and engage with their audience, all from one easy-to-use platform.
The platform lets you start discussions, share reports, create team roles, and encourage feedback. This makes it simple to get everyone aligned with your updates and strategies.
Features:
- Integration with Zoho CRM for monitoring customer interactions
- Social listening dashboards to track brand mentions and keywords
- Team collaboration through chat, audio, and video calls
- Customized timing features for optimal posting
4. HubSpot
HubSpot Social Media Software is a suite of social media management tools available under HubSpot's Marketing Hub. The aim is to save time by prioritizing social connections you place most value on across all of the major social media platforms.
HubSpot's centralized social inbox keeps track of all interactions in one place. The CRM integration adds contextual information to these conversations, giving you insights to enhance the customer experience.
Features:
- Keyword monitoring streams to identify important interactions
- AI-powered social media post generator
- Best time to post suggestions for optimal scheduling
Best social media management tools for agencies
When you're managing multiple clients, you need tools that can handle the complexity without breaking your budget. Here's where Sked Social really shines compared to other options.
Sked Social
What makes Sked Social one of the best social media management tools for agencies isn't just the features—it's how those features work together. Sked Social is designed for large social media teams, making it the ideal platform for agencies with multiple clients, multi-location franchises and multi-brand enterprises. Sked Social's unlimited user collaboration allows you to work with clients, team members, internal and external stakeholders without restrictions.
While other tools charge per user (which gets expensive fast), Sked Social includes unlimited users on all plans. You can invite clients, team members, and stakeholders without worrying about extra costs.
Agency-specific advantages:
- Manage all of your clients in one Sked account, and deliver a polished signoff process with no-login-required approvals portal
- Approval workflows that actually work for client sign-offs
- White-label reporting that makes you look professional
5. Sendible
Sendible has focused on agencies and large brands. It offers client dashboards and automated client reporting for agency users.
Features:
- All-in-one dashboard for overall social media performance overview
- Collaboration tools for content creation and client approval workflows
- Presentation-ready reports to showcase social media ROI
- Mobile app for on-the-go management
6. Pallyy
Pallyy targets agencies and growing brands specifically. This platform helps agencies plan and schedule clients' social media posts all in one place with Kanban-style workflows.
Features:
- Integration with Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google My Business, Pinterest, and TikTok
- Visual planners for content preparation across platforms and grids
- Folders to organize media files
- Shareable content calendars with client commenting and approval features
7. SocialBee
SocialBee is a versatile social media management tool designed to help agencies efficiently manage multiple client accounts with ease. Known for its scheduling capabilities, it stands out by offering a variety of content categorization options and advanced automation features, making it ideal for agencies that handle diverse social media campaigns.
Features:
- Customizable content categories to organize different post types
- Approval workflows for collaboration before publishing
- Ability to recycle high-performing content for consistent posting
- Multiple client account management with team collaboration
- Custom reports for campaign tracking
Collaborate effortlessly, save time and spend less
Why settle for a lackluster social media management tool when you could be using Sked Social? With unlimited collaborator access, streamlined approvals and advanced auto-post technology that lets you schedule to all major platforms, Sked Social offers everything you need.
Get Started for FREESocial media management tools for small teams
Small teams need tools that are powerful but not overwhelming. You want the best social media scheduling tools that won't require a PhD to operate.
Sked Social
For small teams, Sked Social offers the perfect balance. You get enterprise-level features without enterprise-level complexity or pricing. Sked helps social media teams get things done faster, share feedback easier, and build content strategies that just work.
The platform includes everything small teams need:
- Visual content planning with drag-and-drop calendars
- Real-time collaboration without extra user fees
- Built-in analytics that actually make sense
- AI assistance for content ideas and captions
8. SocialPilot
SocialPilot is straightforward for teams just starting out. SocialPilot has emerged as the preferred social media management tool for more than 13500 customers. After spending 3 weeks comparing social media scheduling tools, SocialPilot emerged as the best option. It surpasses Hootsuite and Buffer in value, cost, and exceptional customer support.
Features:
- Integration with Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube
- Ability to customize posts for multiple networks in one composer
- Bulk scheduling for up to 500 posts
9. Buffer
Buffer offers a free plan for your first three social media channels, making it perfect for setting up Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. With a free plan available and paid plans starting as low as $6/month, Buffer strikes an appealing balance between functionality and cost. Its intuitive design means even those new to social media management find it simple to navigate.
Features:
- Social media publishing tools for easy post scheduling
- Engagement dashboard for responding to mentions and messages
- Analytics and reporting for performance overview
- Landing page builder for customized experiences
10. Keyhole
Keyhole is unique because it's both a social media management tool and influencer tracking software. It performs in-depth analytics to help you vet and compare influencers.
Features:
- Automated social media reports that are shareable and presentation-ready
- Brand reporting, campaign reporting, hashtag reporting, and influencer reporting
11. Sprinklr
Sprinklr is a customer experience management platform with social media management features. It supports essential social publishing needs with an editorial calendar and digital asset manager.
Features:
- Sprinklr AI for content generation
- Custom approval workflows for team collaboration
- Customer service and consumer intelligence integrations
12. eClincher
eClincher highlights its commitment to 24/7 customer support. Like most tools on this list, eClincher features cross-network social publishing.
Features:
- 24/7 customer support for strategizing and measuring ROI
- Team collaboration with drafts, comments, and message assignments
- Brand monitoring across social, news, and blogs with sentiment analysis
Social media management tools for dedicated platforms
13. Tailwind
Tailwind started as a Pinterest scheduling tool and has since expanded to Instagram and Facebook. But the platform still excels when it comes to managing Pinterest marketing.
Features:
- Post ideas to maintain Pinterest content pipeline
- Automatic personalized designs for on-brand posts
- Hashtag finder for popular and relevant hashtags
14. X Pro (formerly Tweetdeck)
X Pro is an X-owned management tool for monitoring conversations on the platform. It gives you real-time visibility to monitor multiple timelines on a single screen.
Since rebranding to X Pro, the tool is now part of X Premium subscription, giving you access to premium features not available to regular users.
Features:
- Ability to create longer posts
- Dedicated Highlights tab for showcasing best posts
- Reply boost for more prominent response visibility
15. Preview
Preview is a mobile app that lets you visually plan your Instagram feed. The tool's perfect for creating a feed based on a specific Instagram aesthetic.
Features:
- Upload photos, videos, and carousels to preview your feed
- Schedule content directly within the Preview app
- Plan Reels and Stories alongside your regular Instagram feed
16. Iconosquare
Iconosquare was originally designed for Instagram and Facebook and now integrates with TikTok, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. It provides businesses with in-depth analytics, content scheduling, and performance tracking.
Features:
- Detailed metrics on engagement, follower growth, and content performance
- Content scheduling and planning capabilities
- Team collaboration on content creation and approval workflows
Social media management tools for publishing
17. Hootsuite
Hootsuite is one of the few apps that fully supports X. In addition to X, Hootsuite supports Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Threads, WhatsApp Business, and Pinterest—within the bounds that the given social media companies allow.
Hootsuite offers powerful tools for scheduling, monitoring, and analyzing social media performance with its "Streams" interface for real-time monitoring.
Features:
- Publish and schedule posts across multiple platforms
- Unified inbox for managing incoming messages and mentions
- Online conversation monitoring for brand and industry trends
18. CoSchedule
CoSchedule began as a content marketing company and has brought social media management into its platform. It helps organize publishing efforts with a social calendar to visualize your entire content plan.
Features:
- Social Message Optimizer for crafting powerful social posts
- AI Social Assistant for generating ideas instantly
- Predefined social sharing templates
- ReQueue for automatically creating recurring posts from best content
19. MeetEdgar
MeetEdgar helps teams automatically curate their feeds. This is perfect for solopreneurs or businesses with small teams who need to wear multiple hats.
Features:
- Content repurposing by automatically republishing at later dates
- Scheduling tools with optimal timing features
- Real-time content insights for strategy optimization
20. Later
Later assists with publishing and content creation. You can organize your social content strategy with a visual planner and media library.
Features:
- User-generated content discovery using tags and mentions
- Instagram Hashtag Suggestions tool for fresh and relevant hashtags
- Caption Writer tool for automatically crafting social media captions
How to select the best social media management tool for your business
When you're investing in a new tool, you want something that actually adds value to your marketing stack. Here are some factors to help you narrow down the ideal social media management software.
Integration
Make sure it integrates with all the platforms you use. You'll need a tool that connects with major networks so you can manage everything in one place.
Scheduling
Publishing is essential for social media management, so you'll need a tool that simplifies this process. Look for scheduling features and the best time to post suggestions. Bulk scheduling capabilities are a bonus if you're posting hundreds of times each month.
Collaboration
Whether you work with a small team or clients, you'll need seamless collaboration. Look for shared publishing calendars with multi-user support and approval workflows.
Social listening
You'll need to track and engage with relevant conversations. Look for social listening capabilities that monitor specific keywords and tags beyond just brand mentions.
AI capabilities
While not essential, AI capabilities give you an advantage. Social media tools with AI-powered features can help with content creation, generating ideas and captions instantly to speed up your process.
Reporting
The easier it is to highlight performance and KPIs, the better. Whether you're reporting to clients or presenting to stakeholders, in-depth reporting is essential.
Cost
Many platforms offer "Pro" or "Business" tiers aimed specifically at growing companies, with bundled features like approval workflows, advanced scheduling, and more detailed performance insights. Pricing for these tiers usually starts in the $100–$300/month range, with discounts for annual billing - Sked Social starts at only $49.
Adaptability
Consider how well the tool adapts to changes in your social media strategy. Does it have a built-in editor for visual content? Can you get hashtag suggestions? Make sure it has all the features you might need to quickly adapt to your latest plans.
Scalability
As your business grows and social media presence expands, you'll need a tool that can keep up. At minimum, it should offer options to add more users and social profiles.
Why Sked Social offers better value
When you compare social media management tools cost, Sked Social consistently offers more features for less money. While competitors charge extra for users, advanced features, or premium support, Sked Social includes:
- Unlimited users on all plans
- Full analytics and reporting
- AI-powered features
- Advanced publishing capabilities
- 24/7 human support
Get a high-performance social media management tool at a better price. 7-day free trial.
Take action: transform your social media management today
The right tool helps you manage social media like a pro. It streamlines publishing and lets you manage all interactions in one place. More importantly, it enables seamless collaboration with your team and clients.
After checking out this list, you'll want to try before you buy. Most tools offer free trials, so don't be afraid to test them out.
Ready to see why teams choose Sked Social?
Don't settle for tools that nickel and dime you for basic features. Get everything you need in one platform—without the premium price tag. Get started with a 7-day free trial.
