Jyoti Ray – Everhour Blog https://everhour.com/blog Project Management & Productivity Fri, 21 Jun 2024 09:59:24 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.4.1 https://everhour.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/cropped-favicon-on-green-32x32.png Jyoti Ray – Everhour Blog https://everhour.com/blog 32 32 14 Best Free Social Media Scheduling Tools to Simplify Your Posting Strategy https://everhour.com/blog/free-social-media-scheduling-tools/ Thu, 13 Jun 2024 11:20:00 +0000 https://everhour.com/blog/?p=17353 You can’t be active on social media all the time. It gets even harder if you are managing multiple social media platforms. Ultimately, you lose your valuable time, energy, and nothing may seem to work as planned. Luckily, there are online tools available that will help you to schedule social media content ahead of time […]

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You can’t be active on social media all the time. It gets even harder if you are managing multiple social media platforms. Ultimately, you lose your valuable time, energy, and nothing may seem to work as planned.

Luckily, there are online tools available that will help you to schedule social media content ahead of time so that you can do more in less time. In this article, we will share the 14 best free social media scheduling tools that will help get the job done more efficiently than ever before.

Tips before you start:

  • Plan posts in advance.
  • Brainstorm social posts to bring new voices into your social media presence.
  • Plan both evergreen and timely posts to delight audiences in the moment while also scheduling perennially relevant posts.
  • Keep a running list of relevant hashtags and new ones you could use.
  • Plan visual content in advance to make your posts pop.
  • Track how your posts are doing and keep engagement metrics on hand.
  • TRACK TIME ⏰: Track ongoing work so you can set and achieve your goals.

Everhour integrates with popular project management apps like Asana, Trello, ClickUp, and Basecamp, making it easy to track time and monitor progress. It is ideal for small businesses and teams of 5 to 50 members, including professionals such as software developers, marketers, designers, consultants, and lawyers. With its user-friendly interface and customizable reports, Everhour is a top time tracking solution for small and mid-size teams. Dedicated support ensures you receive timely assistance whenever needed.

14 Free Social Media Scheduling Tools

There are several social media management tools available, but not all are free. So, we handpicked 14 social media scheduling tools that at least offer a free plan. You can also find a free Facebook post scheduler, a free Instagram scheduler, a free alternative to Hootsuite, and more.

1. NapoleonCat

Capterra: 4.6

10 best free social media scheduling tools in 2022

NapoleonCat is a complete social media management tool that will help you grow your social media at every step of the way: from content scheduling to comment moderation, analytics, and reporting. 

Although NapoleonCat offers free access for two weeks only, its prices are very competitive. If you manage many accounts and have a limited budget, this option is worth your serious consideration. 

You can add up to 3 users, 10 social media profiles, and schedule up to 30 posts during the free trial. Once you subscribe to one of the plans, you will pay only for as many users and profiles as you use.

NapoleonCat’s Publisher helps with content creation, publishing, and scheduling. You can post content across all major social media platforms: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, LinkedIn, and – interestingly – Google My Business. 

One great facilitation is that you can share one post across different channels simultaneously and, at the same time, adjust it accordingly to each platform. If you manage multiple locations of your business on Google, you can post to all of them with just one click. 

💰 Pricing:  NapoleonCat offers 2 paid plans – Standard and Pro. You can try both for free for 2 weeks. 

  • Free trial: you can test all NapoleonCat’s features; no credit card is required. 
  • Standard (from $23.25 a month): unlimited access to publishing, scheduling, and some other basic features.
  • Pro (from $48 a month): unlimited access to publishing, scheduling, and advanced social media features.

2. Hootsuite

Capterra: 4.4

10 best free social media scheduling tools in 2022

Hootsuite is one of the most popular tool for managing social media platforms. 18+ million social media marketers use it, and it has everything you need to manage your team, schedule posts, measure results, plan upcoming campaigns, etc. From freelancers to large businesses, it’s the perfect tool for anyone who wants to grow their social media presence the right way.

Hootsuite comes with five different plans, including a free plan. The free version plan allows you to manage two social media accounts, schedule up to 5 posts at a time, and allow one user. 

You can easily create, schedule, and customize posts for all your connected networks from their beginner-friendly dashboard. Plus, you can connect to more than 20+ different social networks, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, and more.

One of the key features of Hootsuite I like is the Engage. Using this option, you can quickly access all the incoming messages across your social networks.

💰 Pricing: Hootsuite offers five different plans. Additionally, they also offer 30 days free trial on professional and team plans.

  • Free Plan: One user, two social accounts, five scheduled posts
  • Professional Plan ($49/ mo): One user, ten social accounts, unlimited scheduled posts
  • Team plan ($129/ mo): 3 users, 20 social accounts, custom branded URL
  • Business plan ($599/ mo): 5 users, 35 social accounts, content library, campaign planning
  • Enterprise plan (custom): 5+ users, 50+ social accounts, team productivity reporting, social selling add-ons

3. Later

Capterra: 4.4

10 best free social media scheduling tools in 2022

Later is the best tool for scheduling and publishing on Instagram. It was founded in 2014 and now powering more than 4 million users globally. Initially, it was started as a simple Instagram scheduling tool, but later, they added more platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.

Later offers a free plan that includes one social set (including one Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Tiktok account), schedule 30 posts per social profile, and basic analytics. They also have tons of pre-made templates, so there’s no need to start from scratch ever again.

Using their hashtag research tool, you can find the right hashtags for your posts; it even provides advanced analytics so you can see how well your posts are doing in terms of engagement.

💰 Pricing: Later offers four different plans, including 14 days free trial.

  • Free plan: 1 social set, 30 posts per social profile, one user
  • Starter plan ($12.50/ mo): 1 social set, 60 posts per social profile, one user, Linkedin bio
  • Growth plan ($20.83/ mo): 1 social set, 150 posts per social profile, three users
  • Advanced plan ($33.33/ mo): 1 social set, unlimited posts per social profile, six users

4. Crowdfire

Capterra: 4.3

10 best free social media scheduling tools in 2022

Crowdfire is a similar app to Hootsuite in many ways. More than 19 million users worldwide use the Crowdfire app to automate their social media activities. It’s packed with features that make everyday life easier and more productive.

The free version of Crowdfire allows you to link three social media accounts, schedule 10 posts per account, and provide you with one day of social analytics data.

With Crowdfire, you can connect up to 25 accounts and schedule posts across all platforms from one place. 

Using their hashtag suggestion feature, you can get the most used and relevant hashtags for your posts quickly and easily. They also have auto-customize content for each platform, so you don’t have to spend time creating multiple posts across different platforms.

Additionally, you can schedule up to 50 posts at once using their bulk upload feature, saving your time and effort. You also get access to up to 30 days of your account’s performance data analytics in just seconds.

💰 Pricing: Crowdfire offers four different plans.

  • Free plan: link up to 3 social accounts, schedule 10 posts, hashtag recommendations
  • Plus plan ($7.48/ mo): 5 social accounts, schedule 100 posts, connect up to 5 RSS feeds
  • Premium plan ($37.48/ mo): 10 social accounts, bulk schedule posts, up to 15 RSS feeds, additional team member
  • VIP plan ($74.98/ mo): 25 social accounts, scheduled 800 posts, 25 RSS feeds, 20 competitor analyses, 30 days of social analytics data.

5. SocialOomph

Capterra: 4.3

10 best free social media scheduling tools in 2022

SocialOomph is a social media scheduling tool that monitors your activity on different networks and allows you to schedule posts in advance.

It allows you to schedule content for publishing at any given date/time in the time zone of your choice. You can also bulk upload blog posts from your computer with one click.

SocialOompah has all sorts of features, including self-destructing messages so that they will be deleted automatically after a period of time.

They have a free plan which allows you to connect one social profile, access basic posting features, a maximum of three posts per hour, etc. You can also connect SocialOomph with Shopify, Tumblr, WordPress blogs, but it requires upgrading to a higher plan.

The dashboard is quite simple and clean, but adding social accounts is a bit complicated.

💰 Pricing: SocialOomph has four different plans, also offers a 30 day free trial on the Business Suite plan.

  • Free plan: 1 social profile, max three posts per hour, access to personal area only, unlimited schedule posts.
  • Advanced suite ($15/ mo): 1 social profile, one blog, one queue, up to 60 posts per hour.
  • Professional suite ($25/ mo): 10 social profiles, five blogs, five queues, 5 RSS for post sourcing.
  • Business suite ($55/ mo): 20 social profiles, ten blogs, ten queues, 10 RSS for post sourcing, one webhook.

6. Tailwind

Capterra: 4.4

10 best free social media scheduling tools in 2022

Tailwind is a complete marketing toolkit for Pinterest and Instagram that allows you to manage social media accounts from one platform. However, unlike other tools, it only supports two platforms.

Using this tool, you can schedule posts at the best times, create beautiful pins faster, discover content, monitor conversations, amplify your reach, and measure results.

With Tailwind’s smart scheduling tools, you can schedule hundreds of pins at once in just minutes. As a result, you don’t have to spend hours pinning every day or waste valuable time trying to find new content ideas – they got you covered.

The analytics tool of Tailwind is quite impressive. It shows which of your pins are performing well, as well as followers, top pins, referral traffic, organic activity, comments, and much more.

💰 Pricing: There are four types of plans, including a free version. 

  • Free plan: one Pinterest and one Instagram profile, 20 posts per month, five tailwind communities, basic analytics, one user
  • Pro plan ($9.99/ mo): one Pinterest and one Instagram profile, 100 posts per month, advanced analytics, 200 post designs per month
  • Advanced plan ($19.99/ mo): Two Pinterest and two Instagram profiles, 1000 posts per month, unlimited post designs, two users.
  • Max plan ($39.99/ mo): Three Pinterest and Three Instagram profiles, 1000 posts per month, unlimited post designs, unlimited tailwind communities, and five users.

7. Zoho Social

Capterra: 4.7

10 best free social media scheduling tools in 2022

Zoho Social is a powerful social media management tool that helps businesses and agencies manage their social media accounts. It allows you to schedule posts, monitors mentions, create custom dashboards, and more.

Like other tools, Zoho Social offers a free plan that includes one team member, a zShare browser extension, and publishing on seven social channels. And, of course, premium plans come with more advanced features.

Using this tool, you can schedule unlimited posts, track social media activities, create custom reports to analyze your performance, and get notified when someone shares something about your brand on the web. It also comes with an easy-to-use interface and intuitive design that makes managing multiple accounts easier. 

One of the features I like most about the collaboration. It allows you to collaborate with your team seamlessly. You can also assign custom roles to your team members so that they can work on different projects. 

Overall, Zoho Social is a great tool for social media management and a free alternative to Hootsuite.

💰 Pricing: They have four different plans. Also, each of the plans offers a 14-day free trial.

  • Free plan: 1 team member, one brand, publishing on seven channels, access to zShare browser integration
  • Standard plan ($10/ mo): Everything in the free plan, including multi-channel publishing, user tagging, drafts, Twitter location
  • Professional plan ($30/ mo): Everything in the standard plan, including Livestream, CustomQ, bulk scheduling, RSS feeds
  • Pro plan ($40/ mo): Everything in the professional plan, including SmartQ, content approvals, workflow, collaboration, content targeting, and lead ads.

8. Combin

G2: 3.0

10 best free social media scheduling tools in 2022

Are you looking for a way to grow your Instagram following? Then look no further than Combin. Combin is the perfect tool for anyone who wants to increase their followers and engagement on Instagram. It’s simple, easy-to-use, and can help you quickly gain real followers.

Combin offers two different plans – Growth and Scheduler. The Scheduler tool is completely free to use and includes 15 Instagram accounts management, bulk image uploading, location tagging, user tagging, etc.

You can use Combin to find influencers in your niche or industry so that you can collaborate with them and get more exposure. Or, if you want to promote your account, then this is the perfect tool as well.

Their growth plan includes more powerful features such as it can detect who doesn’t follow you back, check your Instagram audience quality, monitor audience activity, and more.

💰 Pricing: Combin comes at three price tiers.

  • Free: One account management, two simultaneous searches, 25 search results for posts, stories mass looking.
  • Personal plan ($15/ mo): unlimited simultaneous searches, 1000 search results for posts, statistics, search results refresh ability.
  • Business plan ($30/ mo): 5 accounts management, unlimited simultaneous searches, 1000 search results for posts, stories mass looking.

9. Friendsplusme

Capterra: N/A

10 best free social media scheduling tools in 2022

Friendsplusme is another free tool for scheduling and automating your social media posts. You can create great content, collect it from all over the web, and then bulk schedule it with their desktop application.

They also have browser extensions that make it easy to share on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, or Pinterest right from your browser. And if you’re using a mobile device, they also have applications for iOS and Android so you can manage everything in one place.

The dashboard is very simple and doesn’t include many features as other tools.

💰 Pricing: Friendsplus offers five different plans:

  • Free plan: One user, two queues, 5 schedule posts per queue, link shortening, Zapier integration.
  • Individual plan ($7.50/ mo): 10 additional team members, five queues, 500 schedule posts per queue, Pinterest scheduling, bulk scheduling.
  • Small plan ($24.17/ mo): Everything in the individual plan, including 20 additional team members, 15 queues, 1500 schedule posts per queue.
  • Medium plan ($49.17/ mo): Everything in the small plan, including 30 additional team members, 30 queues, 3000 schedule posts per queue.
  • Large plan ($215.84/ mo): Everything in the medium plan, including 50 additional team members, 120 queues, 5000 schedule posts per queue.

10. XPro (TweetDeck)

Capterra: N/A

10 best free social media scheduling tools in 2022

By the name, you can understand what this tool does. TweetDeck is a free tool for managing your Twitter accounts in one place.

It’s easy to use and packed with features that help you to reach your audiences and discover the best of Twitter. You can easily track conversations, find new people to follow, messages, and get updates from all the people and lists you are following.

Using TweetDeck is very simple. All you have to do is log in with your existing Twitter account, and you are good to go. 

💰 Pricing: Using TweetDeck is completely free


11. Buffer

Capterra: 4.5

best apps for self-employed: top 18 picks

Buffer is a versatile social media management tool designed to streamline the process of scheduling and publishing content across various platforms. It allows users to plan and schedule posts for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest from a single dashboard, making it convenient for businesses and marketers to maintain a consistent social media presence.

Buffer offers features like a content calendar for visualizing posting schedules, detailed analytics for tracking performance metrics, and team collaboration tools to facilitate coordinated efforts in content creation and scheduling. Its browser extension further enhances usability by enabling users to add content to their queue directly while browsing the web. Buffer is favored for its user-friendly interface and comprehensive set of tools that help optimize social media strategies and improve engagement with audiences.

💰 Pricing: Buffer offers 4 pricing plans:

  • Free plan
  • Essentials Plan: $5 per month (billed annually at $60)
  • Team Plan: $10 per month (billed annually at $120)
  • Agency Plan: $100 per month

12. SocialBee

Capterra: 4.6

10 best free social media scheduling tools to simplify your posting strategy

SocialBee is a robust social media management tool designed to streamline the process of planning, scheduling, and optimizing content across various social media platforms. It caters to a wide spectrum of users, from solopreneurs to large agencies, providing a user-friendly interface with advanced features.

With SocialBee, users can organize their content into categories for easy management and schedule posts in advance, ensuring a consistent online presence. The platform offers detailed analytics to track engagement metrics and audience growth, empowering users to refine their strategies based on data-driven insights.

Collaboration is simplified through SocialBee’s team-friendly features, allowing seamless coordination among team members or clients. The tool supports automation, including RSS feed integration for content curation, and enables customized posting schedules tailored to peak audience engagement times.

💰 Pricing:

  • Free trial
  • Bootstrap Plan: $24 per month, billed annually
  • Accelerate Plan: $40 per month, billed annually
  • Pro Plan: $82 per month, billed annually

13. Loomly

Capterra: 4.7

10 best free social media scheduling tools to simplify your posting strategy

Loomly is a versatile social media management tool designed to streamline the process of creating, scheduling, and managing content across various social media platforms. It caters to individuals, teams, and agencies, offering a user-friendly interface coupled with powerful features.

With Loomly, users can plan their social media content calendars efficiently, ensuring a consistent posting schedule. The platform supports multiple social media channels, allowing users to tailor their content specifically for each platform’s audience and requirements.

One of Loomly’s standout features is its robust collaboration capabilities. Teams can collaborate seamlessly within the platform, with features like content approval workflows, post previews, and comments, ensuring smooth coordination and content management.

Loomly also provides insights into post analytics, enabling users to track performance metrics such as engagement rates, click-throughs, and audience demographics. These analytics help users refine their content strategy and optimize their social media efforts based on data-driven insights.

💰 Pricing:

  • Free trial
  • Base Plan: $32 per month, billed annually ($384 total per year)
  • Standard Plan: $60 per month, billed annually ($720 total per year)
  • Advanced Plan: $131 per month, billed annually ($1,572 total per year)
  • Premium Plan: Custom pricing

14. Planoly

Capterra: 4.3

10 best free social media scheduling tools to simplify your posting strategy

Planoly is a versatile social media management tool designed primarily for Instagram, offering robust features to streamline content planning, scheduling, and analytics. It caters to individuals, influencers, and businesses looking to enhance their Instagram presence effectively.

Planoly allows users to visually plan their Instagram grid with its drag-and-drop feature, ensuring a cohesive and visually appealing feed. This visual planning capability helps users maintain consistency in their brand aesthetics and storytelling across posts.

The tool includes a scheduling feature that enables users to plan and schedule posts in advance. This functionality is particularly useful for maintaining a consistent posting schedule without the need for manual intervention.

Planoly also provides analytics and insights into post performance, audience engagement, and growth trends. Users can track key metrics such as likes, comments, and follower growth, allowing for informed decisions on content strategy and optimization.

💰 Pricing:

  • Free trial
  • Starter Plan: $14/month (billed annually)
  • Growth Plan: $24/month (billed annually)
  • Pro Plan: $36.50/month (billed annually)

FAQ: Free Social Media Scheduling Tools

1. Is there a free social media scheduling tool? Yes, there are several free social media scheduling tools available that allow users to plan and schedule posts across various platforms. Some popular options include Buffer, Later, and Hootsuite, which offer free plans with basic scheduling features.

2. Is there a free version of Hootsuite? Yes, Hootsuite offers a free plan that allows users to manage up to 2 social media accounts and schedule up to 5 messages at a time. While the free version has limited features, it is suitable for individuals or small businesses with modest social media needs.

3. Is there a free Instagram Scheduler? Yes, there are several free Instagram schedulers available. Tools like Later, Buffer, and Planoly offer free plans that allow users to schedule posts for Instagram. These tools provide basic scheduling features, but advanced functionalities may require a paid subscription.

4. Is Adobe Scheduler free? Adobe does not currently offer a standalone social media scheduler. However, Adobe’s suite of creative tools, such as Adobe Spark, can be used to create social media content. Scheduling the posts would typically need to be done through another tool or platform.

5. Can I schedule posts for multiple social media platforms with free tools? Yes, many free social media scheduling tools support scheduling posts for multiple platforms simultaneously. Tools like Buffer and Hootsuite allow users to manage and schedule posts across various social media channels from a single dashboard.

6. Are there limitations to using free social media scheduling tools? Yes, free plans often come with limitations such as a restricted number of accounts or posts that can be scheduled, fewer analytics and reporting features, and sometimes branded content or watermarks on posts. Users may need to upgrade to a paid plan for more advanced features and greater flexibility.


Social Media Scheduling Tools Free: Conclusion

Managing social media accounts for your brands or businesses could be a daunting task. You have to spend a lot of time posting content, monitoring engagement, and interacting with them. That’s why using social media management tools could be a great addition to your social media marketing campaign. Don’t forget to check Hot in Social Media’s article if you are looking for more social media management tools that have a good price-quality ratio.

There are many tools available, but we listed the 14 free social media scheduling tools. This also includes Facebook post scheduler free, Instagram scheduler, as well free alternatives to Hootsuite. Each of the tools includes a free version, and if you like, you can upgrade to the premium.

Now we want to hear from you. Which of the free social media scheduling tools are you using? Let us know! Also, make sure to check out our article on free software alternatives for various purposes that come at handy for freelancers and small teams!

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