Grace Sullivan
This Metricool review covers a social media scheduling and analytics tool that connects to Instagram through Meta’s own access routes and sells its plans by the number of brands you manage. It sets out what Metricool’s own pages say as of 27 October 2026, where those pages leave questions open, and what the tool can and cannot do for an Instagram account.
We do desk research only. We did not sign up for, pay for or run Metricool, so everything below comes from Metricool’s pricing page, homepage and help center, from Meta’s developer documentation, and from public user reviews, all read on 27 October 2026.
Quick answer: Metricool is a live, long-running tool that combines a post scheduler, analytics, reports, a link-in-bio page and an inbox. It has a free plan for one brand (20 scheduled posts a month, 30 days of analytics) and paid plans from $20 a month on yearly billing. On Instagram it needs a Business or Creator account and cannot auto-publish Stories that use links, mentions or stickers. Its Instagram connection runs through Meta’s own access systems, not a bot.
Status: active. Price from: $0 on the Free plan, $20 a month (billed yearly) or $25 a month (billed monthly) on Starter. Safety: no bot-style automation of follows or likes; Instagram login is one of two connection options.
What Metricool is
Metricool is a dashboard for planning, publishing and measuring social media. According to its own About page, it started in 2014 as a blogging tool called Bloggerespacio, became Metricool in 2015, has been fully remote since 2020 and joined team.blue in 2024. The page does not name a headquarters, a team size or any funding. It claims more than 4 million professionals use the product, which is the company’s own figure and one we could not verify.
The homepage describes a planner with a calendar and an AI assistant, analytics with competitor tracking, automatic reports, a shared inbox, a DM automation feature called Flows, link-in-bio pages called Smartlinks, and a dashboard for Google, Facebook and TikTok ads. It also says Metricool is a partner of Google, Pinterest, Meta, LinkedIn and X. We did not check those partner claims. Our Content & Scheduling hub lists the other tools and guides in this area.
How it connects to Instagram
Metricool’s help center says there are two ways to connect an Instagram account, and the choice changes what you get.
- Through Facebook (recommended). The page calls this the most stable option and the only one with every Instagram feature in Metricool. It needs a linked Facebook Page and an admin role on it.
- Instagram login. The option is labelled “Instagram login (username and password)” and needs no Facebook Page. It gives basic metrics only, with no paid metrics, competitor analysis, Collabs analytics, product tagging or boosting, and the Flows feature is limited.
Both methods need a professional account, either Business or Creator. Metricool’s help pages state that personal accounts are not supported and that auto-publishing Stories needs a Business account under both methods. Each method keeps its own data history, and the help page warns that switching back and forth leaves gaps in follower and Stories data.
Metricool’s page does not say how the Instagram login credential is handled. Meta’s documentation for apps that use Instagram Login describes an authorization window in which the user grants permissions, after which the app receives an access token under the OAuth 2.0 protocol, and it does not describe the app receiving the password. We could not confirm from Metricool’s own pages exactly how that applies to its Instagram login option. Meta’s overview of the two setups is on its developer site.
What it does for Instagram
Scheduling and publishing
Metricool’s help page lists these Instagram options: up to 10 images per post, Reels up to 15 minutes, a 2,200-character caption limit, location, tagging people, mentions, alt text, a first comment on feed posts, a cover image, up to 5 collaborators, product tags and a “show Reel in feed” setting. You can flag a post as AI-generated, and the label is sent to Instagram when the post publishes. GIFs are not supported. Our guide to scheduling Instagram posts covers Instagram’s own free scheduler for comparison.
A Metricool guide dated 19 May 2026 gives Reel specifications of 3 seconds to 15 minutes, up to 500MB, MOV or MP4, with 9:16 recommended. Trial Reels follow the same flow as regular Reels, including audio support. Audio is available only for accounts connected through Facebook, and the catalog is smaller than the Instagram app’s, because the access route only returns tracks cleared for third-party software.
Analytics and reports
Metricool’s Instagram analytics article, dated 24 June 2026, lists these views: follower growth, following count, content volume and a daily follower balance; audience gender, age and location; account views, average reach, interactions and profile activity; post performance by engagement, reach, format and hashtag; Reels retention and a 3-second view rate; and Stories impressions, replies, taps and exits. It notes that Instagram only provides follower data for Business or Creator accounts with at least 100 followers, and that audience demographics show the current state with no history.
Competitor analysis compares follower counts, posting volume, likes, comments and engagement rate. Metricool says competitor figures come from public data and are calculated differently from your own account, so you should add your own account as a competitor to get a like-for-like number. Reports export as PDF or PPT, can be sent automatically each month and can use your logo. For how this compares with other tools, see our Instagram analytics roundup.
Flows, Smartlinks and the inbox
Flows is Metricool’s DM automation. Its pricing page lists turning comments into DMs, replying to DMs by keyword and turning Story replies into DMs, and marks all of them “No extra cost for a limited time”, so this may become a paid add-on. Smartlinks are link-in-bio pages with unlimited links, and the pricing table lists multiple pages from the Starter plan; compare them with Linktree. The inbox collects Instagram and Facebook messages and comments. If you are weighing DM automation, our Instagram DM guide explains what is allowed.
Pricing
Prices below are in US dollars from Metricool’s pricing page on 27 October 2026. The page lists annual billing first, with the note “save up to 24%”, and every price excludes VAT. It does not mention a free trial or refunds, and it does not show a price for the Advanced Analytics add-on.
| Plan | Billed yearly | Billed monthly | Brands | Main inclusions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 1 | 20 scheduled posts a month, 5 competitor profiles, 30 days of analytics, AI assistant |
| Starter | $20 a month | $25 a month | up to 5 | Unlimited publishing (fair use), 100 competitors, LinkedIn, PDF and PPT reports, Flows |
| Starter | $36 a month | $45 a month | up to 10 | Same as above |
| Advanced | $53 a month | $67 a month | up to 15 | Team and client management, roles, post approval, report templates, API access |
| Advanced | $85 a month | $107 a month | up to 25 | Same as above |
| Advanced | $159 a month | $210 a month | up to 50 | Same as above |
| Custom | Contact Metricool | custom | White label, dedicated account manager | |
Two details matter. First, “unlimited” scheduling on paid plans “may be limited by our Fair Use Policy”, which the pricing page links but which we did not read in full. Second, the AI assistant is metered in credits: 5 per brand a month on Free, 20 on Starter and 35 on Advanced. Metricool’s homepage FAQ says you can cancel at any time, keep the paid plan until the end of the billing period, and then drop to the free plan.
Limits to know about
- Stories with links, mentions or stickers need manual publishing through a notification, according to Metricool’s guide. Stories without interactive elements publish automatically.
- Carousels are limited to 10 items on Metricool’s help page, and videos inside them must be under 60 seconds. Meta’s publishing documentation says apps can publish carousels of up to 20 items, and our carousel guide notes Instagram’s own limit, so the 10-item cap looks like Metricool’s own setting. We could not find a stated reason.
- Audio works only on Facebook-connected accounts, from a smaller catalog.
- Free plan reach: it manages social networks except LinkedIn and X, and the free analytics window is 30 days.
- Switching connection method splits your data history, as noted above.
- Personal accounts cannot be connected.
Safety and account risk
Metricool is not a growth bot. It does not follow, like or comment on other people’s accounts to attract followers; it publishes your own posts, reads your own analytics and automates replies. Both of its Instagram connections run through access systems that Meta provides to apps, which is a different category from the password-based tools covered in our guide to Instagram automation.
That does not make the risk zero. The “username and password” label on the Instagram login option is unexplained on Metricool’s page, third-party access can be limited by Meta, and DM automation through Flows remains subject to Meta’s own rules. Only connect an account you can afford to be restricted, use the Facebook route if you need the full feature set, and never share an Instagram password with any tool that asks for it outside Meta’s own sign-in screen.
What users say
On Trustpilot, Metricool shows a 4.1 out of 5 TrustScore from 688 reviews, with 82% five-star and 12% one-star ratings, and about 180 reviews in the last 12 months (read 27 October 2026). Recent praise is mostly for support staff and for scheduling and carousel features. Recent complaints included a paid user who said scheduled posts showed as published but never appeared (11 October), a 3-star review saying support emails went unanswered for about a week (23 October, with a reply from Metricool that a bug had been escalated), and a complaint about marketing emails after unsubscribing (9 October, which Metricool attributed to a delayed sync). The reviews are on Trustpilot.
Most written reviews we found were affiliate-style pages or were published by competitors, so we did not use them for any claim here.
Pros and cons
Pros
- A free plan for one brand with 20 scheduled posts a month.
- Published prices, scaled by brands rather than by team members.
- Detailed Instagram analytics including Reels retention and Stories taps.
- Competitor tracking and automatic PDF or PPT reports.
- Connects through Meta’s own routes, not a bot.
Cons
- Business or Creator accounts only.
- Stories with stickers, links or mentions need manual publishing.
- Carousels capped at 10 items.
- Two connection methods with different features and split history.
- Mixed support reports, and no refund or trial information on the pricing page.
Who it suits
Metricool suits small brands, freelancers and agencies that want scheduling and analytics in one place and want to pay by the number of brands. It is a weaker fit for people who rely on Stories with interactive stickers, who need Instagram’s full audio library inside the scheduler, or who run only a personal account. If you only need to post a few times a week, Instagram’s own scheduler may be enough.
Alternatives
Compare it with the tools in our Instagram manager tools roundup and the broader social media automation roundup. Pricing, limits and Instagram support all differ between schedulers, so check each tool’s own pages for the day you decide.
Metricool FAQ
Is Metricool free?
There is a Free plan at $0 a month for one brand, with 20 scheduled posts a month, 5 competitor profiles and 30 days of analytics. A user review on Trustpilot drew a reply from Metricool saying the Free plan does not require payment details.
Does Metricool need my Instagram password?
Its Instagram login option is labelled “username and password” on its help page, and the page does not explain how the credential is handled. The Facebook route connects through a linked Facebook Page instead. Meta’s documentation says apps using Instagram Login receive an access token through an authorization flow.
Can Metricool schedule Instagram Stories?
Yes. Stories without interactive elements publish automatically, and Stories with links, mentions or stickers need manual publishing through a notification. Auto-publishing Stories requires a Business account.
Does Metricool work with personal Instagram accounts?
No. Its guide states that personal accounts are not supported, and both connection methods require a Business or Creator account.
Does Metricool offer a free trial or refund?
The pricing page mentions neither. The homepage FAQ says you can cancel at any time and keep the paid plan until the end of the billing period, after which the account becomes free.
Is Metricool safe for my Instagram account?
It publishes your own content and reads your own data through routes Meta provides, rather than automating follows or likes. No third-party tool is risk-free, because Meta can limit access and DM automation stays subject to Meta’s rules.