Publishly vs Metricool
Metricool is an excellent all-in-one analytics and planning suite — this isn’t a takedown. The comparison is about a ceiling: what happens when the roster passes 50 brands, and what happens when a post fails.
Metricool’s published tiers run Free, Starter $20–36, and Advanced $53–159 per month, with a 50-brand maximum and no unlimited tier. Publishly’s paid plans have unlimited connected accounts and a posting API on every tier — 100 accounts fit the $99/mo Growth plan. Choose Metricool for analytics depth under 50 brands; choose Publishly for API-first delivery at any account count.
The 50-brand ceiling.
Metricool’s pricing is honest and reasonable — it just stops while agencies and multi-brand teams may keep growing.
Metricool’s published plans run Free, Starter $20–36, and Advanced $53–159 per month, with a maximum of 50 brands — there is no unlimited-accounts tier.
For a team managing a handful of brands, that ceiling never shows up. For an agency or multi-location business adding clients every month, it’s a wall with a date on it.
Metricool is also a suite first: planning, deep competitor analytics, reporting. Publishly is a posting API and scheduler first — delivery receipts, failure webhooks, and retries are the product, on every plan.
Side by side.
| Feature | Publishly | Metricool |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Flat plans sized by post volume | Tiered — Free / Starter $20–36 / Advanced $53–159 |
| Cost at 100 accounts | $99/mo Growth (unlimited accounts, 15k posts) | Not offered — published plans cap at 50 brands |
| Account cap | Unlimited on every paid plan | 50 brands max — no unlimited tier |
| Failure webhooks | Yes — signed post.failure webhook with reason, class & retry status | Not published |
| Delivery receipts | Yes — per-destination state history + stored live post URL | Not published |
| Automatic retries | Yes — safe retries that never double-post | Not published |
| Token-expiry alerts | Yes — alert + email the moment a token refresh fails | Not published |
| API-first | Yes — public API on every plan | Analytics & planning suite first — no posting-API-first surface |
Competitor pricing & features last checked: 2026-08-10
An honest split.
Two different centers of gravity: analytics depth vs delivery certainty.
Choose Metricool if…
- You want deep competitor analytics and planning in one suite.
- You manage under 50 brands and expect to stay there.
- An all-in-one dashboard matters more than an API surface.
Choose Publishly if…
- Your brand, client, or location count is growing past any fixed cap — paid plans have no account limit.
- You want a posting API first: scoped keys, post status endpoints, and webhooks on every plan.
- You need per-post failure visibility — a receipt, a reason, and an automatic retry.
Fifty brands is a ceiling.
If the roster stays under 50 and analytics depth is the priority, Metricool is an excellent home. If the roster keeps growing, a hard cap eventually becomes the plan — Publishly’s unlimited accounts mean it never is.
Common questions
How many brands can Metricool manage?
Metricool’s published plans top out at 50 brands, with no unlimited-accounts tier (checked 2026-08-10). Publishly’s paid plans have no account cap — plans are sized by monthly post volume instead.
How much does Metricool cost?
Metricool’s published tiers run Free, Starter at $20–36/mo, and Advanced at $53–159/mo (checked 2026-08-10). Publishly’s plans are $0, $29, $99, and $299 per month, sized by post volume with unlimited connected accounts on every paid plan.
When should I choose Metricool over Publishly?
Choose Metricool if you want a single suite for deep competitor analytics and content planning and your account list stays under 50 brands — it’s excellent at that job. Choose Publishly when you need a posting API, unlimited connected accounts, and a clear result for every post across growing brands or clients.
No brand cap. No account math.
Plans sized by how much you post — with a delivery receipt, a failure reason, and a retry behind every one.