Look, paying $50–300/month for a social media tool sounds great when you’re a big brand with a marketing team. For the rest of us mortals, that’s rent money. The good news? You can still run a totally respectable social presence without spending a dime. I’ve tested pretty much every “free” tool out there in 2024, and these are the ones that aren’t complete garbage.
Table of Contents
Quick TL;DR Comparison (because nobody has time)
| Tool | Best For | Free Plan Allows | The Catch (be real) | Main Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SocialOomph | Twitter/LinkedIn power users | Unlimited queues, evergreen recycling | Ugly 2008 interface, 3 posts/hour limit | Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook |
| Social Champ | Bulk scheduling addicts | CSV bulk upload, Canva built-in | Watermark on images (ugh) | FB, IG, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pin |
| Later | Instagram aesthetic freaks | Visual grid planner, Linkin.bio | 30 posts/month total, basically IG-only | Instagram + a couple others |
| Buffer | Beginners who just want it simple | 3 channels, 10 posts each | That’s… literally it. Super clean though | Everything useful |
| Hootsuite | Monitoring mentions & quick replies | 2 profiles, 5 scheduled posts | Scheduling is basically useless now | All the big ones |
| Canva Pro | People who design their own graphics | Full Pro for 30 days (scheduler included) | Trial ends, then back to basic Canva | Direct publish to most platforms |
The Real Talk Reviews
- SocialOomph – The Weird Uncle That Still Gets the Job Done If you live on Twitter (or X, whatever we’re calling it), this thing is secretly amazing. You can dump 500 evergreen tweets into a queue and have it trickle them out forever. No one else gives you true recycling on a free plan. Downside? It looks like it was built when MySpace was cool. If you can get past the design, it’s stupidly useful for bloggers and B2B folks.
- Social Champ – When You Need to Schedule a Whole Month in 10 Minutes Upload a CSV with 300 posts → done. Seriously, I’ve planned entire quarters with this. The free plan slaps a little “Scheduled by Social Champ” watermark on images though, which looks cheap if you’re a brand. Pro tip: just add text overlays or frames and it hides the watermark 90% of the time.
- Later – If Instagram Is Your Whole Personality The drag-and-drop grid preview is legitimately the best feature any free tool has ever had. You can see exactly how your feed will look before you post — game changer for anyone who cares about aesthetics. Free plan is 30 posts per month total now (across all accounts), so it’s basically Instagram-only unless you pay.
- Buffer – The One Your Friend Who “Doesn’t Get Tech” Can Use Dead simple. Clean. Does exactly what it says on the tin. The “best time to post” suggestions actually work. If you’re just starting out or you get overwhelmed easily, start here. You won’t hate your life.
- Hootsuite – RIP to What It Used to Be The free plan used to be decent. Now you get 5 scheduled posts total and that’s it. The streams (monitoring mentions, hashtags, etc.) are still useful if you need to babysit a couple accounts, but don’t expect to do any real scheduling.
- Canva Pro 30-Day Trial – The Cheat Code Not permanently free, but hear me out: sign up for the trial, build your entire brand kit (colors, fonts, logos), make 100 templates, and schedule a ton of posts. When the trial ends, you keep everything you made and can still use those templates in regular free Canva. Sneaky, but it works.
How to Actually Pick One (Stop Overthinking It)
Answer these three questions:
- Where do you post the most? → Instagram only → Later → Twitter/LinkedIn heavy → SocialOomph → Everywhere → Buffer or Social Champ
- Do you make your own graphics? → Yes → abuse that Canva trial, then switch to Later → No → just use Buffer
- Do you hate ugly interfaces? → Yes → avoid SocialOomph like the plague
My Personal Recommendations (What I Actually Use)
- Solo creator / small brand that cares about Instagram: Later + Canva trial
- Blogger or B2B person who shares links all day: SocialOomph (embrace the ugliness)
- Total beginner or non-tech person: Buffer, zero learning curve
- Need to schedule 100+ posts at once: Social Champ (and just crop that watermark out)
Just pick one and use it for a week. Seriously — testing it with your real content will tell you way more than any review (including this one).
You don’t need to spend money to look professional in 2024. These tools are genuinely good enough. Stop procrastinating, pick the one that matches your main platform, and go post something.