In this hyper-connected world of today, social media is no longer merely a space to converse—it’s a vital war zone for brand awareness, customer interaction, and digital progress. Yet, posting content isn’t enough. To actually succeed, companies, marketers, and influencers need to know how their content works, how people react to it, and what strategies generate the most value.
Social media analytics software deciphers the enormous amount of data created by networks such as Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, and others. The software monitors and analyzes primary metrics such as engagement, reach, impressions, click-through rates, audience composition, sentiment, and so on—translating raw figures into practical insights. With the appropriate analytics platform, you can refine your post timing, find top-performing posts, monitor competitors, and ultimately drive your return on investment (ROI).
Whether you’re a small business trying to create a loyal following or an agency managing several brands, the right tool can make a big difference in your content strategy and decision-making. In this blog, we’ve put together a list of the 15 best social media analytics tools that serve a variety of needs—from heavy-duty enterprise solutions to free tools for you. We’ll explore each platform’s major features, pricing tiers, supported platforms, and optimal use cases—so you can boost your social media strategy and identify the ideal choice for your social media objectives.
15 Best Social Media Analytics Tool
1. Hootsuite
Marketers of all sizes utilise Hootsuite, one of the most popular social media management and analytics tools. Although it’s famous for post scheduling, its analytics dashboard provides detailed tracking of performance on several platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X (Twitter). Through Hootsuite, users can keep tabs on audience engagement, follow who’s growing their follower base, and evaluate ROI on campaigns within a centralized location.
Perfect for teams and agencies, it also facilitates team collaboration, approvals, and reports that can be customized. Real-time analytics and post-performance insights enable users to fine-tune content strategies and maximize posting times. Its ease of use makes it perfect for both new and seasoned marketers.
Key Features:
- Cross-platform reporting
- Hashtag and keyword tracking
- Scheduled reporting
- Customizable dashboards
- Team collaboration tools
Pricing:
- Standard (₹1,915/mo per user): Manage up to 5 social accounts with unlimited scheduling, AI tools, and basic analytics.
- Advanced (₹7,540/mo per user): Includes all Standard features plus unlimited accounts, advanced reporting, workflows, and deeper analytics.
- Enterprise (Custom): Tailored solution with full-scale integrations, premium support, and advanced enterprise-grade social tools.
Website: https://www.hootsuite.com/
2. Sprout Social
Sprout Social is a robust, all-purpose social media management and analytics solution designed for data-driven business strategies. With robust analytics tools such as performance benchmarking, post analytics, sentiment analysis, and social listening, it supports networks like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.
Businesses and agencies who oversee several brands or clients will find it ideal. Sprout Social’s most prominent feature is its elegant, intuitive dashboard with deep visualizations and share-ready reports. It also supports collaboration, task assignment, and integrations with CRM systems, and it’s a data-driven marketing team favorite.
Best for: Agencies, Enterprises, Marketing Teams
Key Features:
- Cross-platform reporting
- Sentiment analysis
- Scheduled and branded reporting
- Competitor benchmarking
- Team collaboration features
Pricing:
- Standard ($199/seat/month): For small teams managing up to 5 profiles, with AI alt text, keyword monitoring, and core reporting.
- Professional ($299/seat/month): Adds unlimited profiles, competitor insights, post enhancements, and engagement tools.
- Advanced ($399/seat/month): Includes sentiment analysis, API access, Helpdesk integration, and advanced team reporting.
- Enterprise (Custom): Full-scale solution with tailored onboarding, SSO support, and priority customer service.
Website: https://sproutsocial.com/
3. Buffer Analyze
Buffer Analyze is Buffer’s specialized analytics tool, created to provide clear, visual insights into social media performance. It’s ideal for small businesses or individual creators who require light but solid analytics. It prioritizes simplicity, providing performance overviews, audience engagement patterns, and Instagram Story analysis. Contrary to complicated dashboards, Buffer Analyze is all about clarity—making it perfect for influencers, freelancers, or small business owners who prefer easy-to-consume reports. Though it lacks advanced features such as sentiment analysis, it is great for clean visualizations and exportable charts to share with stakeholders.
Best for: Freelancers, Influencers, Small Businesses
Key Features:
- Cross-platform reporting (Facebook, Instagram, X)
- Post performance and engagement insights
- Instagram Stories analytics
- Scheduled reporting
- Exportable charts
Pricing:
- Free (Free forever): Connect up to 3 channels with 10 scheduled posts each, basic analytics, and AI Assistant for 1 user.
- Essentials ($5/month): Unlimited posts and ideas for 1 channel, with AI tools, engagement inbox, advanced analytics, and hashtag manager.
- Team ($10/month): All Essentials features plus unlimited users, content approval workflows, and access levels for collaboration.
Website: https://buffer.com/analyze
4. Brandwatch
Brandwatch is an enterprise-grade consumer intelligence and social media analytics tool designed for enterprises and data-driven brands. It provides in-depth listening capacity on social media, blogs, forums, and news websites—enabling users to grasp audience sentiment, trends, and brand perception in real-time. Brandwatch is unique for its powerful AI-driven insights, flexible dashboards, and visual data analytics. It’s perfect for businesses that don’t just need engagement metrics—providing tools for market research, crisis management, and influencer monitoring. With robust filtering capabilities and competitor benchmarking, Brandwatch is designed for teams requiring extremely granular, scalable insights.
Best for: Enterprises, Agencies, Research Teams
Key Features:
- Cross-platform reporting
- Sentiment analysis and brand listening
- Hashtag and trend monitoring
- Influencer identification
- AI-driven custom reports with auto-generated insights
Pricing:
Custom pricing
Website: https://www.brandwatch.com/
5. Zoho Social
Zoho Social is an affordable social media analytics and management tool, particularly ideal for small enterprises and startups. It provides real-time monitoring, posting, and performance tracking on big platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X. Analytics features of Zoho Social include data visualization, engagement metrics, and customized performance reports. Its minimalistic UI and extensive integration with other Zoho products (such as CRM and Campaigns) make it a great choice for expanding businesses seeking to automate their marketing processes. It also features multiple team members, approval flows, and automated reports.
Best For: Small Businesses, Startups, Freelancers
Key Features:
- Cross-platform reporting
- Hashtag and keyword tracking
- Scheduled and customized reports
- CRM integration
- Client and team collaboration
Price:
- Free (₹0/month): Manage 1 brand with 6 channels, 1 team member, basic tools, and 24/5 email support.
- Standard (₹600/month): Includes dashboard, scheduling, publishing tools, image editor, reports, and 10 channels for 1 brand.
- Professional (₹1,725/month): Adds livestreaming, bulk scheduling, media library, post insights, RSS feeds, and more advanced publishing tools.
- Premium (₹2,595/month): Offers 13 channels, 3 team members, SmartQ, content approvals, collaboration tools, advanced reports, and CRM integration.
Website: https://www.zoho.com/
6. Keyhole
Keyhole is an instant social media analytics and hashtag monitoring platform famous for its simplicity and speed. It’s especially loved by marketers and PR teams who need to monitor campaign influence, hashtag performance, and influencer metrics in real-time. Keyhole provides visual reports, engagement breakdowns, sentiment analysis, and keyword tracking across platforms like Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok. What makes Keyhole unique is its ability to offer historical and real-time data in one clean dashboard, with minimal setup required. It’s also a strong tool for monitoring branded hashtags and analyzing competitor activity.
Best for: Marketing Teams, PR Firms, Event Campaigns
Key Features:
- Cross-platform reporting
- Real-time hashtag and keyword tracking
- Influencer analytics
- Sentiment analysis
- Scheduled and automated reporting
Pricing:
custom pricing
Website: https://keyhole.co/
7. Socialbakers (now Emplifi)
Socialbakers, today integrated into Emplifi, is a top AI-driven social media analytics solution built for business and large-scale marketing teams. It provides a robust set of features such as competitive benchmarking, audience analysis, influencer detection, and paid vs. organic performance measurement. What differentiates Emplifi is its integrated customer experience cloud that brings together analytics with publishing, customer support, and content intelligence. It integrates with leading platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube, which makes it a great choice for brands with large-scale, multi-channel approaches.
Best for: Enterprises, Agencies, Global Brands
Key Features:
- Cross-platform reporting
- Influencer analytics and discovery
- Sentiment and audience analysis
- Paid and organic content tracking
- Scheduled reporting and content insights
Pricing:
Custom pricing
Website: https://emplifi.io/
8. Iconosquare
Iconosquare is a user-friendly social media analytics platform focused on visual content platforms like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok. It’s especially popular among influencers, content creators, and brands with a strong visual presence. Iconosquare provides in-depth metrics on post performance, engagement rates, follower evolution, and optimal posting times. One of its shining highlights is competitive benchmarking, enabling users to monitor competitor accounts in real time. Exportable, stylish reports and scheduled functionalities make it an all-in-one software for visual storytelling and performance monitoring.
Best for: Influencers, Visual Brands, Content Creators
Key Features:
- Cross-platform reporting
- Hashtag performance monitoring
- Influencer analysis and competitor analysis
- Benchmarking of engagement rate
- Scheduled reports and calendar views
Pricing:
- Launch (€33/month): For beginners managing 5 profiles with 1 user, basic analytics, 100 scheduled posts/month, and AI caption tools.
- Scale (€69/month): For growing brands with 3 users, advanced analytics, campaign tracking, Instagram DMs, and competitor benchmarking.
- Excel (€116/month): For enterprises with 6 users, custom and white-label reporting, API access, and unlimited data retention.
- Custom (Custom pricing): For large organizations needing unlimited users/profiles, tailored workflows, and dedicated support with full feature access.
Website: https://www.iconosquare.com/
9. Talkwalker
Beyond simple social media monitoring, Talkwalker is a potent social listening and analytics tool. It tracks millions of online sources such as blogs, forums, news websites, and social media sites—providing real-time sentiment analysis, crisis signals, and trend identification. Talkwalker’s AI-powered engine provides in-depth brand insights and competitive intelligence, making it suitable for big business and agencies. Its visual content processing (logo recognition) and scale analysis of consumer conversations capabilities make it a valuable asset for PR, marketing, and brand strategy teams.
Best for: Enterprises, PR Agencies, Brand Monitoring Teams
Key Features:
- Cross-platform and cross-channel listening
- AI-driven sentiment analysis
- Hashtag and trend monitoring
- Recognition of visual content
- Automated crisis reports and alerts
Pricing:
custom pricing
Website: https://www.talkwalker.com/
10. Agorapulse
Is a social media analytics and management platform built for efficiency, collaboration, and transparency. It offers in-depth performance reporting across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and X (Twitter), with statistics including engagement, reach, clicks, and content performance. Agorapulse’s unique selling point is its simplicity and robust report features, with visualized figures and competitor comparison. It’s particularly useful for multiple-client managing teams, due to its shared calendars, approval workflows, and white-label reports. Agencies enjoy its clean interface, client-ready exports, and ability to measure ROI from social campaigns.
Best for: Agencies, Marketing Teams, Mid-size Businesses
Key Features:
- Cross-platform reporting
- Hashtag and keyword tracking
- Competitor and influencer analytics
- Scheduled and white-label reporting
- Social inbox and team collaboration
Pricing:
- Free ($0/mo): Manage 3 profiles with 1 user, 10 scheduled posts, basic inbox, and limited reports—ideal for casual users.
- Standard ($79/user/mo): Manage 10 profiles with unlimited posts, unified calendar, inbox assistant, and basic ROI reports.
- Professional ($119/user/mo): Adds Instagram product tagging, team workflows, ad comment monitoring, and enhanced collaboration tools.
- Advanced ($149/user/mo): Includes content library, shared calendars, bulk actions, advanced ROI and spam controls, and power reports.
- Custom (Custom pricing): Tailored for enterprises with unlimited profiles, advanced reporting, CRM/SSO integrations, and dedicated support.
Website: https://www.agorapulse.com/
11. Rival IQ
Is an expert in competitive social media analytics, enabling brands to compare their performance with industry leaders. It delivers deep insights into engagement patterns, audience expansion, content strategy, and ad performance on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and X. Its side-by-side competitor comparison and automated alerts make it perfect for marketing teams concerned with differentiation in saturated markets. Competitor IQ also provides in-depth SEO and social data comparisons, ideal for campaign optimization and strategic planning.
Best for: Compete Marketers, Brands, Digital Agencies
Key Features:
- Cross-platform competitor comparison
- Hashtag and engagement monitoring
- Sentiment and audience trend analysis
- Scheduled performance reports
- Personalized alerts and suggestions
Pricing:
- Drive ($239/month): Track ten businesses with email reports, competitive stats, one user, and six months of data.
- Engage ($349/mo): Adds 20 companies, 12 months of history, 2 users, Facebook Ads reporting, and Google Data Studio integration.
- Engage Pro ($559/mo): Includes 40 companies, 24 months of data, 5 users, API access, private data comparison, and estimated impressions.
Website: https://www.rivaliq.com/
12. Sendible
Is a scalable social media management tool with robust analytics features designed for agencies and expanding brands. It enables publishing, monitoring, and reporting on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. Sendible’s reporting capabilities are particularly beneficial for agencies requiring branded reports, client dashboards, and campaign insights. It also provides sentiment analysis, top-performing content detection, and blogging platform integration such as WordPress. Its drag-and-drop report builder provides extensive customization, making data presentation both simple and effective.
Best for: Agencies, Freelancers, Small to Mid-sized Brand
Key Features:
- Cross-platform reporting
- Sentiment analysis and engagement metrics
- Drag-and-drop custom reports
- Post performance tracking
- Client dashboard and white-label features
Pricing:
- Creator ($29/o): For solo creators managing 6 profiles with unlimited scheduling, AI assist, monitoring, and basic reporting.
- Traction ($89/month): For small groups with four people, twenty-four profiles, client dashboards, approval workflows, and collaboration features.
- Scale ($199/mo): Adds 7 users, 49 profiles, campaign tools, hashtag library, custom reports, and a dedicated account manager.
- Advanced ($299/mo): For agencies needing 20 users, 100 profiles, live report sharing, bulk posting, and advanced permissions.
- Enterprise ($750/mo): Full-featured plan for large teams with 80 users, 400 profiles, SSO support, white-labeling, and customer success.
Website: https://www.sendible.com/
13. Metricool
Metricool is a simple social media analytics and planning tool for freelancers, content creators, and small to mid-sized businesses. It accommodates analytics for platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube, and even Google Ads and websites. Metricool has real-time performance monitoring, competitive metrics, and deep content analysis. Where it outshines the rest is with the combined dashboard that consolidates social, ad, and web analytics into a single system. It’s particularly useful for users who want to consolidate both organic and paid campaign analysis without having to toggle between several different tools.
Best for: Freelancers, Small Business, Content Creators
Key Features:
- Cross-platform and ad campaign reporting
- Competitor benchmarking
- Scheduled and automated reports
- Blog and website analytics integration
- Tailorable performance dashboards
Pricing:
- Free ($0/mo): Manage 1 brand (excluding LinkedIn/X), schedule 50 posts/month, analyze 5 competitors, and access 3 months of analytics.
- Starter (from $18/mo): Manage up to 10 brands with unlimited scheduling, LinkedIn support, AI assistant, and downloadable reports.
- Advanced (from $45/mo): Adds team access, role management, post approvals, Looker Studio, and up to 50 brands.
- Custom (Talk to sales): Tailored for 50+ brands with all Advanced features, scalable limits, and full customization.
Website: https://metricool.com/
14. Quintly
Quintly is an analytics tool for social media that’s based on data for business professionals and big organizations looking for in-depth, tailorable reporting. It integrates with all the major platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and TikTok. quintly’s value is in its flexibility—you can define customized KPIs, construct customized dashboards, and download very detailed reports. It’s the perfect fit for data teams, analysts, or agencies with complex reporting needs. Its automation and API capabilities make it an excellent choice for brands that care about in-depth metrics and performance visualization.
Best For: Enterprises, Analysts, Data-Driven Agencies
Key Features
- Cross-platform performance analytics
- Custom dashboards and KPIs
- Scheduled, exportable, and API-accessible reports
- Competitive and influencer benchmarking
- High scalability for big datasets
Pricing:
Custom pricing
Website: https://www.quintly.com/
15. Sociality.io
Sociality.io is a suite of social media solutions with publishing, engagement, monitoring, and analytics specifically designed for marketing teams and digital agencies. Its analytics component includes tracking performance on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and X (Twitter) and offers actionable insights on campaign outcomes, growth, and engagement. Real-time competitor analysis, where brand positioning can be measured against competitors, is one of its high points. The platform also allows users to construct in-depth, presentation-ready reports—allowing for sharing insights with clients or stakeholders with ease.
Best for: Digital Agencies, Marketing Teams, Small to Mid-Sized Brands
Key Features:
- Cross-platform reporting
- Competitor and engagement analysis
- Scheduled and customizable reports
- Social listening and sentiment overview
- Team collaboration tools
Pricing:
- Pro ($99/mo): For 1 user and 10 pages with scheduling, engagement inbox, analytics, competitor reports, and 7-month data retention.
- Business ($199/mo): Includes unlimited users, 15 pages, team workflows, performance reports, and 13-month data retention.
- Enterprise (Custom pricing): Adds dedicated manager, enhanced API, audit logs, custom contracts, and 25-month data retention.
Website: https://sociality.io/
How Can I Pick the Best Tool for Social Media Analytics?
With such a broad range of social media analytics tools at your disposal, you need one that aligns with your objectives, budget, and workflow. Here’s a thorough guide that will assist you in making the right choice:
1. Clarify Your Objectives:
Begin by determining what you wish to achieve. Are you trying to boost brand awareness, monitor audience activity, enhance customer service, drive leads, or determine ROI? Various tools focus on varying metrics—some are best for content metrics, some for sentiment or benchmarking against competitors.
2. Ensure Platform Compatibility:
Not all of these tools cover all social networks. Make sure the platform has the ability to monitor analytics for the exact channels you have installed—like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), YouTube, Pinterest, or TikTok. If you have multiple accounts, seek tools that provide cross-platform insights.
3. Think About Your Budget:
Social media analysis tools have varying prices—from free editions with limited functionality to enterprise solutions. Select a tool that offers the most value for your money without cutting out crucial features.
4. Consider Team Size and Scalability:
A solo entrepreneur needs a simple, intuitive tool, while marketing teams or agencies may require multi-user access, collaboration features, and client-specific reporting. Pick a platform that can grow with your team.
5. Look for Automation Capabilities:
Time-saving features like auto-generated reports, email scheduling, trend alerts, and data visualization can streamline your workflow and increase efficiency.
6. Assess Customization and Integration:
Need custom dashboards, branded reports, or integration with CRMs and marketing tools? Choose a platform that allows API access, custom metrics, and seamless third-party integrations for a unified analytics ecosystem.
By aligning these factors with your social media strategy, you’ll find a tool that not only meets your current needs but also scales as your digital presence evolves.
Conclusion
Selecting the optimal social media analytics tool is a game-changer for your online strategy. By providing profound insights into audience behavior, content performance, and engagement trends, these tools enable brands and marketers to make wiser, data-based decisions. Whether you want to expand your audience, optimize your campaigns, or compare with competitors, the right platform can do much more for your reach and ROI. Most of the software listed here has a free trial or demo version, so it is simple to try them out before buying. Be sure to try integration, dashboards, and reporting functionality to see whether they will fit your workflow.
Recall, there’s no magic bullet—one that works for you will be based on your objectives, platforms, team size, and budget. Consider taking your time to review the options and select one that grows with your social media growth.
FAQs
What is a social media analytics tool?
A social media analytics tool assists in monitoring, measuring, and analyzing data across different social channels. It gives insight into engagement, reach, audience demographics, content performance, and more—allowing marketers to make informed decisions.
Can these tools monitor analytics across multiple platforms?
The majority of leading tools support multi-platform tracking, such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), TikTok, and YouTube. Some tools enable reporting centrally and cross-platform comparison as well.
What are some key metrics I should measure with these tools?
Engagement rate, reach, impressions, follower growth, click-through rate (CTR), sentiment analysis, and conversions are some of the key metrics. The appropriate metrics rely on your particular social media objectives.
What distinguishes social media management tools from social media analytics tools?
Analytics tools are concerned with measuring and reporting performance metrics, whereas management tools assist in posting scheduling, content management, and message handling. Both features are integrated in some platforms.
How safe are the data these tools gather?
High-end platforms meet international data protection standards (such as GDPR) and provide secure login, role-based permissions, and data encryption. Examine the provider’s security protocols and privacy statement at all times.