Best Social Media Analytics Tools: 15 Compared

What's the best social media analytics tool? PostEverywhere is the best social media analytics tool for creators, small businesses and lean teams: one Analytics view for Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, X (Twitter), Threads, Pinterest and Bluesky, next to the scheduler you publish from, from $9 a month. Teams that need presentation-ready reports and competitor insights usually look at Sprout Social; budget competitor tracking is Metricool's focus; white-label client reports are what AgencyAnalytics and DashThis are built for.

A social media analytics tool pulls the numbers each platform reports (views, likes, comments, shares, clicks, followers) into one place, so you can see what worked, compare platforms and report results without opening seven native dashboards.

The right one depends on the job you need it for, so this guide groups 15 tools by that job instead of ranking them 1 to 15.

Social media analytics tools compared#

Every tool in this guide in one table. Prices are the lowest listed plan; "per seat" and "per user" mean you pay that for each person.

How we compared them#

We grouped the tools by the job a buyer hires them for, then checked the same four things for each:

1. Coverage. Which platforms it reports on, and whether it shows them side by side.
2. Depth. Post-level metrics, audience and follower trends, competitor benchmarking, listening.
3. Reporting. Scheduled reports, custom dashboards, white label for clients.
4. Price. The lowest plan that includes the analytics described, with the billing period and whether it's per seat.

Prices, plans and trials come from each vendor's own pricing page, checked in October 2026, and are listed under Sources at the end. Where a vendor doesn't publish a price, we say so instead of estimating.

PostEverywhere is our product: its entry describes what the app's Analytics shows today, platform by platform, including what it doesn't do.

What is a social media analytics tool?#

A social media analytics tool collects the performance data each platform makes available and turns it into answers: which posts worked, which platform is growing, when to post and what to report. They fall into four kinds:

Four kinds of social media analytics tool

Most teams need one all-in-one tool; specialists sit alongside it.

• Publish and measureAll-in-one
  • Analytics beside scheduling and publishing
  • PostEverywhere, Sprout Social, Hootsuite, Agorapulse, Metricool
• Deeper numbersAnalytics specialists
  • Benchmarking and platform depth, no publishing
  • Rival IQ, Sotrender, Iconosquare
• The wider conversationListening
  • Mentions and sentiment beyond your own posts
  • Brandwatch
• For clients and bossesReporting
  • Branded dashboards and scheduled reports
  • AgencyAnalytics, DashThis

Your data is otherwise scattered across platforms that each define "engagement" their own way: Instagram reports saves, LinkedIn reports clicks, TikTok and YouTube lead with views, and some platforms don't share reach at all.

That fragmentation creates three problems a tool solves: you can't compare platforms side by side, reporting eats hours every week, and you miss patterns that only show up across every account.

For turning those numbers into a business case, see our guide to proving the return on social.

If you already know what you need, jump to that section:

• Unified cross-platform analytics
• Deep Instagram, TikTok, and visual platform analytics
• Competitor tracking and benchmarking
• Engagement rate analysis
• Reporting and client dashboards
• Free social media analytics tools

Unified Cross-Platform Analytics#

If your biggest pain point is hopping between native dashboards, you need one view across platforms. These tools put every account side by side.

PostEverywhere: Best social media analytics tool for lean teams#

PostEverywhereOur top pickMCP server: yes, hosted

Publishes to all top platforms

• Instagram
• Facebook
• X
• LinkedIn
• TikTok
• Threads
• Bluesky
• Telegram
• Discord
• YouTube
• Pinterest
• WordPress
• Google Business Profile

Why PostEverywhere wins

• It's simple. One composer for every platform: write the post once, tweak the caption per platform, check the live preview for each account and schedule it.
• One flat price, nothing locked away. From $9 a month. Every plan includes unlimited posts, the full API, the hosted MCP server and AI Studio, with no per-channel fees.
• Every top platform in one place. Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, X, Threads and Pinterest, plus Bluesky, Telegram, Discord, WordPress and Google Business Profile.
• Your AI agent can run it. Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in about a minute and ask it to plan, write and schedule your posts.
• Create in the same tool. AI Studio makes captions, images and video, so you don't need a second app before you post.

Read what customers say on Trustpilot and G2

How PostEverywhere works

1. Connect your accounts. Link your social accounts once, across all top platforms.
2. Create the post. Write it in the composer, make images and video in AI Studio, or ask Claude or ChatGPT to draft and schedule it for you.
3. Schedule it everywhere. Tweak the caption for each platform, check every preview, and it goes out on time from one calendar.

Built for AI agents

• Agents do the whole job. A full hosted MCP server with up to 44 tools: publish, schedule, use your queue or the best time, bulk-schedule 50 posts at once, check results, retry failures and send links to connect new accounts. Some rival MCP servers only read data or create drafts.
• $29 a month for 10 accounts, flat. Full API and agent access included, with no per-channel, per-seat or per-call fees. The same 10 accounts cost $60 a month on Buffer and $99 per user (billed annually) on Hootsuite.
• Nothing gated. API, MCP and webhooks come with every plan, from Lite. Several rivals keep their API for higher tiers or a sales call.
• Connected in a minute. One click adds PostEverywhere to Claude, with one-click installs for Cursor and VS Code. ChatGPT adds it under Plugins.

Connect your AI agent

Plans: Lite $9 a month (2 accounts), Starter $19 (5), Growth $29 (10), Scale $39 (20). Every plan includes unlimited posts, the full API, the hosted MCP server and AI Studio.

“This tool has truly made my content posting so much easier, I can't work without it. I can schedule my posts days in advance while working on other projects. Set it and forget it.”

Also in PostEverywhere: a posting queue, bulk upload from CSV, approvals, analytics, an API and the iPhone app.

Start your 7-day free trial

PostEverywhere is the agentic social media scheduler built for AI agents, with Analytics for every connected account in the same social media scheduler you publish from. You see results next to the social media calendar, posting queue and composer, so the content you plan and the results you track sit in one place, and you can schedule Instagram posts or publish TikTok videos from the same screen.

What it covers: Analytics has tabs for Reach, Activity, Audience, Accounts, Delivery and Posts, plus Best times. Post metrics refresh every four hours and follower counts daily. The Posts tab sorts every post by views, likes, comments, shares or impressions across platforms. Best times looks at when your posts have done best and suggests those times; new accounts start with what works across PostEverywhere on each platform, and the times feed straight into your queue of time slots.

What each platform shares: platforms decide what any tool can see, and PostEverywhere shows what each one reports:

AI agents: connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor to PostEverywhere's hosted MCP server and your agent can read your analytics summary and best times, then write and schedule the next posts. See AI social media agents for how teams use that.

Pricing: Lite $9, Starter $19, Growth $29 and Scale $39 a month (2 to 20 accounts), 20% off yearly. 7-day free trial, card required, cancel anytime. See plans.

Limits: No social listening, sentiment or competitor benchmarking, and no exportable client reports yet. Telegram, Discord, WordPress and Google Business Profile posts publish but don't report analytics.

Sprout Social#

Sprout Social

Sprout Social is known for reporting: cross-platform reports, presentation-ready exports and, from Professional, competitor, tag and paid insights.

Good for: Mid-market and enterprise teams that present social results to leadership.

Pricing: Essentials $79, Standard $199, Professional $299 and Advanced $399 per seat a month billed yearly (Essentials is $99 billed monthly). Competitor insights start on Professional. Premium Analytics and Listening are paid add-ons. 30-day trial.

Falls short: Per-seat pricing. A five-person team on Professional pays $1,495 a month billed yearly before add-ons.

Hootsuite#

Hootsuite

Hootsuite puts analytics inside a large suite of publishing, inbox and listening tools.

Good for: Teams that want analytics woven into one big social suite.

Pricing: Standard from $99, Professional from $199 and Advanced up to $399 per user a month, billed yearly. Standard tracks up to 5 competitors; custom performance reports start on Professional; branded reports sent to external email addresses are on Advanced. 14-day trial.

Falls short: Custom reports and branded client reporting sit on the higher per-user plans.

Agorapulse#

Agorapulse

Agorapulse is inbox-first, with reporting on every plan.

Good for: Teams where community management and reporting go together.

Pricing: Standard $79, Professional $119 and Advanced $149 per user a month billed yearly ($99, $149 and $199 monthly). Profile and post reports start on Standard; competitor benchmarking, cross-network group reports and scheduled report emails are on Advanced. Listening is a paid add-on. 30-day trial.

Falls short: Competitor benchmarking only on Advanced, priced per user.

Sotrender#

SotrenderMCP server: none listed

Sotrender is an analytics and reporting platform for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok and YouTube, with competitor analysis and reports you can export.

Good for: Brands and agencies that want benchmarking and flexible reports without a scheduler.

Pricing: Essential $72 a month billed yearly (5 profiles, 3 users), Plus $176 and Expert $315, with Custom on request. Benchmarking across all five networks and your own logo on reports are on Expert. 7-day trial.

Falls short: Analytics and reporting only, so you still need a separate scheduler.

Want one view across every account without per-seat pricing? PostEverywhere gives you cross-platform analytics, scheduling and AI content from $9 a month. Start your 7-day free trial, cancel anytime.

Why Choose PostEverywhere?#

PostEverywhere is the best social media analytics tool for creators, small businesses and lean teams because it puts cross-platform analytics next to the scheduler and AI tools that act on them, at a flat price instead of per seat or per channel.

• Flat pricing, not per seat. PostEverywhere costs $9 to $39 a month with no per-user add-ons. Sprout Social is priced per seat, from $79 billed yearly, and its competitor insights start on Professional at $299 a seat; Hootsuite starts at $99 per user a month billed yearly.
• One view across platforms. PostEverywhere pulls results from Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), YouTube, Threads, Pinterest and Bluesky into one Analytics view. Buffer charges per channel, and Iconosquare starts from Instagram.
• Analytics where you publish. Your results sit beside the content calendar, posting queue and composer you schedule from. Rival IQ ($239/mo), AgencyAnalytics and DashThis are analytics or reporting only, so you still pay for a separate scheduler.
• Best times from your own results. Best times looks at when your posts have done best and feeds those times into your queue.
• An AI agent that acts on the data. Connect Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or another AI agent to PostEverywhere's hosted MCP server in about a minute, and it can read your analytics and best times, then write and schedule the next round of posts. AI Studio for captions, images and video comes with every plan.

See how PostEverywhere's social media analytics work, compare the four plans and what each costs, and start a 7-day free trial to see all your accounts in one view.

Deep Instagram, TikTok, and Visual Platform Analytics#

If you're focused on visual platforms, these tools go deeper on Instagram, TikTok and Reels than a general dashboard. Our guide to Instagram's ranking signals covers which of those numbers Instagram itself says it uses.

Iconosquare#

Iconosquare

Iconosquare started on Instagram and still leads with it, with custom dashboards and history, and now covers other networks too.

Good for: Instagram-first brands and influencers who want more than native Insights.

Pricing: Shown in euros on its pricing page: Starter from €9, Launch from €33 (automated reports), Scale from €69 (20 profiles, 3 users, competitor and hashtag monitoring) and Custom from €116 (white-label reporting), billed yearly. There's a limited free plan and a 14-day trial.

Falls short: Competitor monitoring only from Scale; US dollar prices aren't shown.

Dash Social#

Dash Social

Dash Social (formerly Dash Hudson) is built for visual-first brands in fashion, beauty, food and lifestyle, with cross-channel analytics, custom dashboards and competitive benchmarks on its Advance plan.

Good for: Lifestyle and retail brands where visual content drives revenue.

Pricing: Not published; every plan is "Get a Demo". All plans include unlimited users; Social Listening and Premium Analytics are add-ons.

Falls short: No public prices, and the focus is visual platforms rather than LinkedIn or X.

Later#

LaterMCP server: none listed

Later combines visual scheduling with analytics that lean on Instagram.

Good for: Small businesses and creators who want visual planning plus analytics in one tool.

Pricing: Starter $18.75, Growth $37.50 and Scale $82.50 a month billed yearly. Instagram analytics history is 3 months on Starter, 1 year on Growth and 2 years on Scale; competitive benchmarking and custom shareable reports are Scale only. 14-day trial.

Falls short: Benchmarking and custom reports only on the top plan.

Competitor Tracking and Benchmarking#

Sometimes the most useful numbers are how you compare with competitors: posting frequency, engagement, content mix and growth. To read your own numbers in context, our post on engagement benchmarks for each network shows what "good" looks like by platform.

Metricool#

Metricool

Metricool combines your own analytics, scheduling and competitor tracking at a low price.

Good for: Budget-conscious marketers who want competitor tracking without enterprise pricing.

Pricing: Starter from $20 a month billed yearly or $25 monthly (up to 5 brands, up to 100 competitors, PDF and PPT reports); Advanced from $53 yearly or $67 monthly adds customisable report templates and a Looker Studio connector; white label is on Custom. There is a limited free plan.

Falls short: Report templates and white label sit on higher plans.

Rival IQ#

Rival IQMCP server: none listed

Rival IQ is built for competitive benchmarking: you define a landscape of competitors and it tracks their posting, engagement and growth next to yours.

Good for: Agencies and brands that make decisions based on competitive position.

Pricing: Drive $239 a month (10 companies, 1 user), Engage $349 and Engage Pro $559; annual billing saves 15%. Benchmarking is on every plan. 14-day trial.

Falls short: No scheduling or publishing, so it sits alongside another tool.

Brandwatch#

BrandwatchMCP server: none listed

Brandwatch goes beyond your own accounts into social listening: mentions, sentiment and conversations across the web, with competitor dashboards.

Good for: Enterprise brands that treat social as a market-intelligence channel.

Pricing: Not published; Brandwatch offers "standard to enterprise plans" through a demo.

Falls short: More than you need if you only want to know which of your posts worked this week.

Emplifi#

EmplifiMCP server: none listed

Emplifi (formerly Socialbakers) offers unified analytics, a custom report builder and competitive benchmarking of 10 to 100 public profiles depending on plan.

Good for: Enterprise brands that want industry benchmarking inside a large suite.

Pricing: Social Marketing Essential from $1,249 a month and Advanced from $2,499; Intelligent is a custom quote. Listening is an add-on.

Falls short: Priced for enterprise budgets.

See every account's results in one place. PostEverywhere shows what's working and suggests when to post across Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Facebook, Threads, Pinterest and Bluesky. Try it free for 7 days.

Engagement Rate Analysis#

Engagement rate (engagements divided by followers or views) is the number most people want first, because it normalises for audience size. Understanding how social media algorithms work makes that number more useful.

• Check any public profile for free. Our engagement rate calculator works out a profile's engagement rate without signing up, and our social media benchmarks tool shows typical rates by platform.
• Compare your own posts. In PostEverywhere's Analytics, the Posts tab lists every post with its metrics and sorts by likes, comments, shares or views, so you can see which posts outperformed across platforms.
• Benchmark against competitors. Rival IQ, Metricool and Sprout Social (from Professional) compare your engagement with competitors' public accounts.

Reporting and Client Dashboards#

If your job involves producing reports for clients or executives, these tools turn the numbers into branded dashboards that update themselves. For teams running many client accounts, this is often where the most time goes.

AgencyAnalytics#

AgencyAnalytics

AgencyAnalytics is a reporting platform for agencies: you connect each client's social accounts alongside SEO, PPC and web analytics, then share white-label dashboards and automated reports.

Good for: Agencies managing many clients who need branded, automated reporting.

Pricing: $20 per client a month billed yearly, with a white-labelled client portal and custom domain on every plan. 14-day trial.

Falls short: Reporting only. You can't schedule posts from it, so it sits alongside a scheduler like PostEverywhere.

DashThis#

DashThis

DashThis builds auto-updating report dashboards from social platforms, Google Analytics, ad platforms and more, with templates for common reports.

Good for: Marketers and agencies who want report building automated.

Pricing: Individual $44 a month billed yearly ($54 monthly) for 3 dashboards, Professional $139 for 10, Business $279 for 25 and Standard $429 for 50 or more. White label on every plan. 14-day trial.

Falls short: Reporting only, and limited to what each platform's API shares.

Sprout Social (again)#

Sprout Social appears here too because reporting is its strength: presentation-ready reports and scheduled delivery, alongside scheduling and an inbox. For teams that can justify per-seat pricing, it removes the need for separate reporting software.

Free Social Media Analytics Tools#

Not everyone needs a paid analytics platform. If you're active on one or two platforms, these cost nothing.

Native Platform Analytics#

Every major platform has free built-in analytics: Instagram Insights, TikTok Analytics, YouTube Studio, LinkedIn Page analytics, Meta Business Suite and X Analytics. They pull straight from the source.

The problem is fragmentation: separate dashboards, different metric definitions and different date ranges, with no way to compare platforms or build one report. Our roundup of the latest platform usage numbers and our Instagram ranking explainer help you read those numbers in context.

Good for: Anyone active on one or two platforms.

Falls short: No cross-platform view, no automated reporting and no competitor tracking.

Google Analytics (GA4)#

Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics isn't a social media analytics tool, but it answers the question social tools can't: did social media send visitors who signed up or bought? Tag the links in your posts with UTM parameters (our free UTM link builder does it) and GA4 shows traffic and conversions by platform and campaign.

Good for: Tying social posts to website conversions and revenue.

Falls short: It only sees what happens after someone clicks through; it knows nothing about likes, comments or follows.

Buffer#

Buffer

Buffer is a simple scheduler with built-in insights. Its free plan covers 3 channels with 30 days of insights; paid plans are Essentials at $5 and Team at $10 per channel a month, with branded reports on Team. 14-day trial on paid plans.

Good for: Solo creators on a tight budget.

Falls short: Priced per channel, and no competitor tracking.

Get scheduling, analytics and AI content in one tool. PostEverywhere starts at $9 a month with a 7-day free trial. Cancel anytime.

How to Choose the Right Analytics Tool#

Skip the feature matrices for a moment (our wider social media tool comparison has those) and answer four questions:

1. What's Your Primary Question?#

• "How are my posts performing across platforms?" All-in-one tool (PostEverywhere, Sprout Social, Hootsuite)
• "How do I compare to competitors?" Benchmarking tool (Metricool, Rival IQ)
• "Is social media driving revenue?" Google Analytics with UTM-tagged links
• "How do I report results to clients?" Reporting tool (AgencyAnalytics, DashThis)
• "What are people saying about us?" Listening tool (Brandwatch)

2. How Many Platforms Do You Manage?#

On one or two platforms, native analytics may be enough. From three upwards, checking separate dashboards costs more time than a cross-platform tool costs money. Our roundup of apps that post everywhere at once covers running several platforms efficiently.

3. Do You Need Analytics Alone, or Analytics + Management?#

Standalone tools (Rival IQ, AgencyAnalytics, DashThis) do one thing well but need a separate scheduler. All-in-one platforms (PostEverywhere, Sprout Social, Hootsuite) combine analytics with scheduling and content creation, so the data sits next to the content it measures.

If you already have a social media scheduling tool you love, add a standalone analytics tool; if you're starting from scratch, an all-in-one is simpler and cheaper.

4. What's Your Budget?#

Monthly list prices of the entry plans above:

• Free: native analytics, Google Analytics, limited free tiers
• Under $50 a month: PostEverywhere ($9 to $39), Iconosquare (from €9), Later ($18.75 yearly), Metricool ($20 yearly), Buffer ($5 per channel), DashThis ($44 yearly), AgencyAnalytics ($20 per client yearly)
• $50 to $200 a month: Sprout Social Essentials ($79 per seat yearly), Agorapulse ($79 per user yearly), Sotrender ($72 yearly), Hootsuite ($99 per user yearly)
• $200 to $500 a month: Rival IQ ($239)
• $500 or more a month: Emplifi ($1,249); Brandwatch and Dash Social by quote

Per-seat tools multiply by team size, so price the plan for your real team, not one seat.

What Metrics Actually Matter?#

Before you pick a tool, make sure you're tracking numbers you can act on.

Track these:

• Engagement rate (the rate, not the total, so it normalises for audience size)
• Click-through rate (are people taking action?)
• Follower growth rate (the rate shows momentum better than the total)
• Performance by content type (which formats work on which platforms)
• Best posting times from your own results, not generic charts
• Conversions from social (GA4 handles this)

Watch, but don't chase:

• Total follower count, without engagement context
• Impressions on their own (a view isn't an interaction)

If you're building a social media strategy, these numbers inform what to post, when, and on which platforms. For cadence, see our posting-frequency guide.

The Bottom Line#

You don't need the biggest analytics tool; you need the one that answers your question at a price that fits your team.

• Creators, small businesses and lean teams: PostEverywhere, analytics next to scheduling, AI content and AI agents from $9 a month.
• Agencies that send branded reports: AgencyAnalytics or DashThis alongside your scheduler.
• Enterprise teams with listening and benchmarking needs: Sprout Social, Brandwatch or Emplifi.

The worst outcome is paying for an analytics tool and using a tenth of it. PostEverywhere's 7-day free trial gives you cross-platform analytics, scheduling, AI content and AI social media agents that act on what the data shows; connect your accounts, look at your numbers and decide if you need more.

Measurement is half the stack; the other half is shipping. Our publishing tools roundup covers that side.

Frequently Asked Questions#

What is the best social media analytics tool?#

For creators, small businesses and lean teams, PostEverywhere: one Analytics view for Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, X, Threads, Pinterest and Bluesky, next to the scheduler, from $9 a month.

Larger teams that need presentation-ready reports and competitor insights often use Sprout Social, and agencies sending white-label reports use AgencyAnalytics or DashThis.

What is the best free social media analytics tool?#

The free options are each platform's built-in analytics (Instagram Insights, TikTok Analytics, YouTube Studio) and Google Analytics for website traffic from social. They're accurate but separate, so once you're on three or more platforms a cross-platform tool saves time.

Our free engagement rate calculator checks any public profile without signing up.

Can I use one analytics tool for all social media platforms?#

Yes. All-in-one tools like PostEverywhere, Sprout Social and Hootsuite pull Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, X, YouTube and Threads into one view. Each tool can only show what a platform shares: Facebook doesn't share post reach, for example, and LinkedIn personal profiles don't report post analytics.

How much do social media analytics tools cost?#

From free (native analytics, GA4) to over $1,000 a month. PostEverywhere costs $9 to $39 a month flat; Metricool starts at $20 a month billed yearly; Sprout Social starts at $79 per seat and Hootsuite at $99 per user a month billed yearly; Rival IQ starts at $239 a month and Emplifi at $1,249.

What's the difference between social media analytics and social media reporting?#

Analytics is collecting and interpreting the data: what's working and why. Reporting is packaging it for someone else, like a client or your boss, usually as a branded dashboard or PDF.

Some tools do both (Sprout Social); others specialise (Rival IQ in analytics, DashThis and AgencyAnalytics in reporting).

Do I need a separate analytics tool if I already use a social media management platform?#

Often not. Management tools like PostEverywhere and Sprout Social include analytics. Add a specialist only for something your platform doesn't do: competitor benchmarking (Rival IQ), white-label client reports (AgencyAnalytics) or social listening (Brandwatch). See our roundup of all-in-one platforms.

Can an AI agent read my social media analytics?#

Yes, with PostEverywhere. Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor to PostEverywhere's hosted MCP server and the agent can read your analytics summary and best times, then draft and schedule the next posts for you to check.

What metrics should I track for social media ROI?#

Engagement rate, click-through rate, conversion rate and revenue from social. Use your social analytics tool for the first two and Google Analytics for the last two. Our free benchmarks lookup shows what "good" looks like by platform.

Sources#

• Sprout Social: Pricing
• Hootsuite: Plans and pricing
• Agorapulse: Pricing
• Sotrender: Pricing
• Iconosquare: Plans and pricing
• Dash Social: Pricing
• Later: Pricing
• Metricool: Pricing
• Rival IQ: Pricing
• Brandwatch: Pricing
• Emplifi: Pricing
• AgencyAnalytics: Pricing
• DashThis: Pricing
• Buffer: Pricing
• PostEverywhere: Social media analytics and Pricing