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Best Lately Alternatives — 12 Compared, With Free Tools (2026)

Explore 12 alternatives to Lately — vetted by our editors with real user reviews, pricing, and feature comparisons.

Best free Lately alternatives: a side-by-side view

Quick answer

If you only check three Lately alternatives, make them Hookle, SocialBu and Practina. Hookle leads with a SpotScore of 8.9 and a 4.66★ rating. See how all 12 compare on score, rating, and price below.

Some teams leave Lately for the price, others for features or fit. Whatever yours is, these 12 social media management software free alternatives are the picks we'd start with, ranked by SpotScore (real-user satisfaction plus market presence), ratings, and pricing. Editors review each. The table is your quick comparison; the sections below add depth.

ProductSpotScoreRatingPricingBest for
HookleStreamline your social media with Hookle.8.9★★★★★ 4.66(25)Freefrom $7.49/mosmall & mid-size businesses
SocialBuStreamline your social media management effortlessly.8.6★★★★★ 4.79(42)Freefrom $6.70/moteams of all sizes
PractinaManage all your social accounts like a pro.8.4★★★★☆ 3.75(2)Freefrom $69/moteams of all sizes
SpokalAmplifying your social presence with ease.8.3★★★★★ 4.5(5)Freefrom $24/moteams of all sizes
Zoho SocialStreamline your social media presence effortlessly.9.3★★★★★ 4.97(302)FreeFree Trial · Freemium · Subscriptionteams of all sizes
CrowdfireMaximize your social media impact with Crowdfire.9.4★★★☆☆ 3.15(128)FreeFreemium · Subscriptionteams of all sizes
SocialBeeEffortlessly manage and schedule your social media9.1★★★★★ 4.6FreeFree Trial · Subscriptionteams of all sizes
HootsuiteStreamline your social media management with Hootsuite.9.8★★★★☆ 3.98(2932)FreeFree Trial · Freemium · Subscription · Quotation Basedteams of all sizes
BufferStreamline your social media strategy.9.8★★★★★ 5(3)FreeFree Trial · Freemium · Subscriptionteams of all sizes
LaterMaximize your social media presence with Later.9.7★★★★☆ 4.26(584)FreeFree Trial · Freemium · Subscriptionteams of all sizes
SocialPilotStreamline your social media strategy with ease.9.4★★★★☆ 4.46(730)FreeFree Trial · Subscription · Quotation Basedteams of all sizes
Wave.videoCreate stunning videos with ease.9.4★★★★★ 4.62(38)FreeFreemium · Subscription · Quotation Basedteams of all sizes

8.9

SpotScore

Hookle - Social Media Management Software

Hookle

Streamline your social media with Hookle.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market

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What is Hookle?

Introducing Hookle – the ultimate all-in-one social media manager for busy entrepreneurs and small business owners. With Hookle, you can easily monitor, publish, and schedule updates across all of your social media accounts, saving you time and helping you stay focused on your daily tasks. This ...

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Free TrialTry Free →

8.6

SpotScore

SocialBu - Social Media Management Software

SocialBu

Streamline your social media management effortlessly.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

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What is SocialBu?

SocialBu is a social media management solution that allows to easily manage multiple Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts from one central location. SocialBu has been designed to assist SME's & individuals in their daily posting routine with monitoring & scheduling tool. This ...

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Free TrialTry Free →·

SocialBu offers custom pricing plan

8.4

SpotScore

Practina - Social Media Management Software

Practina

Manage all your social accounts like a pro.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

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What is Practina?

Practina is a versatile and efficient tool for managing all of your SaaS memberships in one convenient location. With its social media management platform, Practina streamlines the process of managing multiple social accounts for businesses. Users can easily schedule posts according to their ...

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Free TrialTry Free →·

Practina offers custom pricing plan

8.3

SpotScore

Spokal - Social Media Management Software

Spokal

Amplifying your social presence with ease.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

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What is Spokal?

Spokal is a powerful social media management platform that makes it easy for any business to update their social profiles, streamline tasks and monitor social conversations across the web. By connecting multiple social media accounts and functional areas of the business—from marketing to ...

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9.3

SpotScore

Zoho Social - Social Media Management Software

Zoho Social

RECOMMENDED

Streamline your social media presence effortlessly.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

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What is Zoho Social?

Zoho Social is a powerful Social Media Management Software in with a low cost per user model. It includes integrated tools like Campaign Builder, Reporting Dashboard and much more. Zoho Social allows to manage multiple social accounts from a single interface at the same time, post Tweets, ...

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Starts from $10/Month when Billed Yearly, also offers free forever plan

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Reach in-market buyersRank above rivals2M+ buyers a year

9.4

SpotScore

Crowdfire - Social Media Management Software

Crowdfire

RECOMMENDED

Maximize your social media impact with Crowdfire.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

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What is Crowdfire?

Crowdfire is a Social Media Management tool with Analytics to help user grow their social media presence. The software keeps track of posts and automatically likes, comments and shares them on Facebook & Twitter. Crowdfire has been featured by TechCrunch, New York Times, Forbes, Mashable, The ...

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Starts from $7.48/Month when yearly, also offers free forever plan

9.1

SpotScore

SocialBee

SocialBee

RECOMMENDED

Effortlessly manage and schedule your social media

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

4.6

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What is SocialBee?

SocialBee is social media management software designed for businesses to post to Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and LinkedIn pages. The software includes an analytics dashboard and allows users to schedule posts in advance. It also allows users to specify the start and end times for a 24 ...

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Starts from $24/month when yearly

9.8

SpotScore

Hootsuite - Social Media Management Software

Hootsuite

Streamline your social media management with Hootsuite.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

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What is Hootsuite?

Hootsuite Enterprise integrates social media management into team's workflow. Get a complete picture of everything happening across all the social networks from one dashboard and collaborate with team to manage all the social communications fast. Hootsuite gives one place to publish, monitor ...

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Free TrialTry Free →·

Hootsuite offers custom pricing plan

9.8

SpotScore

Buffer - Social Media Management Software

Buffer

Streamline your social media strategy.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

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What is Buffer?

Buffer makes managing multiple Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and Pinterest profiles a breeze. Add posts to one or several profiles with a click of the mouse and watch social media activity skyrocket. Save time and increase productivity of business with Buffer's simple and intuitive ...

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Free TrialTry Free →·

Starts from $5/Month when Billed Yearly, also offers free forever plan

9.7

SpotScore

Later - Social Media Management Software

Later

Maximize your social media presence with Later.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

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What is Later?

Later is a social media scheduling tool that lets businesses plan and publish posts across multiple platforms in bulk. It monitors follower timelines for specified keywords and sends alerts when relevant activity occurs, helping teams maintain a consistent publishing schedule.

Read more about Later
Free TrialTry Free →·

Starts from $12.50/Month when Billed Yearly, also offers free forever plan

9.4

SpotScore

SocialPilot - Social Media Management Software

SocialPilot

Streamline your social media strategy with ease.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Start Free Trial

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What is SocialPilot?

SocialPilot is a complete social media management software for brands and agencies. Its all-in-one social media scheduling, publishing, analytics, and reporting allows to automate social media marketing, create power-packed content calendars, publish thousands of posts simultaneously, and ...

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Free TrialTry Free →·

Starts from $25.50/Month when Billed Yearly

9.4

SpotScore

Wave.video - Video Editing Software

Wave.video

Create stunning videos with ease.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Try for Free

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What is Wave.video?

The wave. Video video editing software is designed for anyone who wants to produce high quality and easy-to-use videos from their smartphones or GoPro cameras. Wave. Video's intuitive, drag and drop interface allows you to create professional looking videos in minutes with ultimate ease. The ...

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Starts from $24/Month when Billed Yearly, also offers free forever plan

The main Lately competitors

Across Social Media Management Software, 12 products compete directly with Lately. The strongest overlap is with Hookle, SocialBu and Practina. Each is compared against Lately on rating, pricing and feature coverage below.

What else works like Lately?

Searches for "sites like Lately" and "apps like Lately" land on the same set of options as "Lately alternatives" — the 12 options below cover both, whether you want a like-for-like replacement or something lighter.

What makes each Lately alternative worth considering

Hookle8.9Best for small & mid-size businesses

All-in-one management

Watch for: Limited advanced analytics

SocialBu8.6Best for teams of all sizes

Multi-account management

Watch for: Limited integrations

Practina8.4Best for teams of all sizes

Versatile account management

Watch for: Limited to social media management

Spokal8.3Best for teams of all sizes

Streamlines social media tasks

Watch for: Limited analytics features

Zoho Social9.3Best for teams of all sizes

Affordable pricing model

Watch for: Limited advanced analytics

Crowdfire9.4Best for teams of all sizes

Analytics for growth

Watch for: Limited free features

SocialBee9.1Best for teams of all sizes

Features like bulk scheduling, content queues, and RSS integrations help automate repetitive social media tasks.

Watch for: Some competitors offer broader third-party integrations, which can restrict workflow flexibility.

Hootsuite9.8Best for teams of all sizes

Comprehensive dashboard

Watch for: Higher pricing tiers

Buffer9.8Best for teams of all sizes

Intuitive user interface

Watch for: Limited integrations

Later9.7Best for teams of all sizes

Bulk scheduling capabilities

Watch for: Limited customization options

SocialPilot9.4Best for teams of all sizes

All-in-one solution

Watch for: Can be expensive for small businesses

Wave.video9.4Best for teams of all sizes

Intuitive drag-and-drop interface

Watch for: Limited advanced features

Why teams look for a Lately alternative

The decision to move off Lately usually rests on a few known weak spots:

  • Limited advanced analytics
  • No mobile app available
  • Basic scheduling features
  • Limited customization options

The buyer's checklist for a Lately alternative

Here's how the 12 free alternatives compare at a factual level: 12 offer a free tier; paid plans run $6.7–$69, with SocialBu the cheapest entry point; and Buffer is the highest rated at 5★ across 3 reviews.

How we sort these tools.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Stuck on something? We're here to help with all the questions and answers in one place.

The top-rated alternatives to Lately are Buffer (5.0★), Zoho Social (5.0★), SocialBu (4.8★). Compare all 12 alternatives side-by-side above.

When evaluating alternatives to Lately, prioritize: Social Media Monitoring, Posts Scheduling, Multi-User Collaboration, Multi-Account Management, Customer Engagement, transparent pricing, free trial availability, and integrations with your existing tools. Use the filters above to compare by feature, budget, and team size.

Migration difficulty depends on how deeply Lately is integrated into your workflows. Most alternatives offer data export/import tools and dedicated onboarding support. We recommend narrowing to 2–3 options, running a free trial, and checking each vendor's migration guides before committing.

How to find your ideal Lately alternative

  • On a budget / just exploring: start with a free tier — Hookle, SocialBu and Practina let you evaluate without paying upfront.
  • If real-user ratings matter most: Buffer has the strongest star rating (5★) among the options with verified reviews.
  • Want the safest pick: Hookle has the highest Spotsaas Score (8.9) in this list — a strong default if you're unsure.

Moving your team off Lately

Easing off Lately works best when you test before you commit. Export your data, confirm the new tool reads it, and verify your essential features. Pilot the change with a free trial, then roll out fully, keeping Lately as a fallback until migration ends.

Disclaimer: This research has been collated from a variety of authoritative sources. We welcome your feedback at [email protected].