Out of the popular Instagram marketing tools, Later is the first name that comes to mind.
However, there are other Later alternatives that are increasingly garnering attention from Instagrammers for an awe-inspiring posting strategy on the platform.
Later is a social media tool that lays its solid foundations on graphics. Unlike other Later alternatives, you can only proceed with post scheduling after you have uploaded a visual.
That’s why marketers tune in to Later mainly for Instagram and Pinterest marketing. Though the approach is a fresh breath and breaks the usual norm, this comes with its own downsides. Some of the common issues that Later users face are:
- Mandatory to add an image
- You need to add a channel before drafting a post
- Analytics is limited
- Marketers need other tools to manage other platforms
- Posting carousel posts is buggy at times
- Often accounts get disconnected
- You can’t post texts posts to other platforms
That’s why we have come up with the list of 10 flexible Later alternatives that guarantee your branding waves to ripple not just on Instagram but everywhere.
How we analyze and select these tools:
Our process of curating a list of relevant tools involves thorough research and evaluation. Factors considered include platform compatibility, automation, content creation, visualization, analytics, collaboration, pricing, scalability, and user experience. Curated by seasoned professionals, these tools empower marketers with valuable insights to make informed decisions and scale their businesses.
Let’s get started.
Iconosquare makes it to the list of befitting alternatives to Later due to its Instagram scheduling features. It is the perfect blend of publishing and monitoring tools in one place. You can collaborate with your team here for an intuitive posting strategy.
The UI is simple with a customizable dashboard. Analytics convey the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. This tool mainly focuses on analytics with lots of filters to understand your demographics and their level of engagement with your posts.
However, the tool supports just 5 platforms and offers 3 paid plans with a Pro plan starting at $59 per month and goes up to $179 for Enterprise.
Pros
- Iconosquare gives you story, hashtag, and tagging metrics which is useful for Instagram marketing.
- You can export reports for analysis.
- The dashboard is comprehensive, with many choices of filters and customizations.
Jonathan S
It has all the tools and analytics needed to effectively run a business on Instagram. It allows us to see what works and doesn’t to have a better presence on the platform.
Cons
- Instagram setup is unstable and keeps disconnecting.
- The images need to be resized for posting.
- The setup process is laborious.
Alex W
There’s no ability to customize my KPIs, identify hashtags or users that are a high priority to me, no automatic recommendations based on all the data I’m piping into Iconosquare. It gives me data, but no action. I’m an advanced user, so I can live without it, but I’ve also come to expect it — for newer users, actionable recc’s provide richer usage, more opportunity to be successful with the platform, and so forth.
Tailwind belongs to the group of Later alternatives for its smart Instagram marketing functionalities. Like Later, Tailwind also focuses more on Instagram and Pinterest. Apart from these, it additionally allows you to post on Facebook.
That’s why it might not be the right fit if you are branding on other platforms as well. As far as Instagram marketing is concerned, the tool is a showstopper. It has various features like smart bio, hashtag finder, easy-to-use scheduler, and a planner for effective posting. You also get fantastic community support.
Tailwind also has a forever free plan which is good for individuals. For marketers, they have 3 paid plans. The Pro plan starts at $19.99 per month, while the Advanced plan costs $39.99 monthly. Max plan is the highest priced, which costs $79.99 each month.
Pros
- Analytics generated by Tailwind are total game-changers.
- Smart bio directs more traffic from Instagram to your site.
- It gives a preview of how the post will look after scheduling.
Rosana S
Tailwind works great on Pinterest for batching work ahead of time. It is a platform that complements your strategy on social media. It works for Pinterest and Instagram. I have used it on both, but I rather use it for Pinterest. You can add pins to your account months in advance; you can check followers, board followers, and many cool features.
Cons
- Though there is a free plan, you have to pay to utilize the tool to its full potential.
- Customer support isn’t the best at all times.
- Users have complained about its slow loading.
Monique S
I dislike how slow and clunky the Tailwind site can load when you are automating pin creation. I know it requires a lot of the app to make these graphics, but it can freeze up and be slow at times.
Sendible is one of the few alternatives to Later that serves its agency clients to manage different social media accounts at once. It supports a number of networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Google My Business.
Sendible’s streamlined focus lies in effective content publishing with established workflows. You can curate content and set up RSS feeds when running out of ideas to post content on social media. You can create custom reports and get all analytics data presented in them.
Here’s a bird’s eye view of all the primary capabilities comparing Later vs. Sendible, along with SocialPilot for raising the bar.
 Later |
 Sendible |
 SocialPilot |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Can't Miss to Compare | |||
| Minimum Pricing | $40/Month | $29/Month | $30/Month |
| Number of Accounts | 36 | 49 | 30 |
| Number of Team Members | 6 | 7 | 6 |
| Number of Posts that Can Be Scheduled | Unlimited | 300 | Unlimited |
| Core Capabilities | |||
| Scheduling & Publishing |
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| Analytics |
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| Inbox |
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| Collaboration |
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| Competitor Tracking |
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| Whitelabel |
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| Localization | English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese | English, Dutch, Spanish and few others | German, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish |
| Support | Email & Live Chat | Email, Chat (9am - 10pm GMT) | Email, Chat, Social Media, Phone |
| Learn More | Learn More | 14 Days Trial | |
Sendible has 4 paid plans. Creator and Traction plans cost $29 and $89 monthly. White Label and White Label + are expensive, with $240 and $563 monthly costs.
Here are all the pricing plans compared side by side for Later vs. Sendible. We have taken the liberty to include SocialPilot as well to get a better frame of reference.
|
Later |
Sendible |
SocialPilot |
|---|---|---|
|
Growth
$40/per month
|
Creator
$29/per month
|
Professional
$30/per month
|
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Advanced
$80/per month
|
Traction
$89/per month
|
Small Team
$50/per month
|
|
Scale
$200/per month
|
White Label
$240/per month
|
Agency
$100/per month
|
| - |
White Label+
$563/per month
|
Agency+
$200/per month
|
|
14 Days Free Trial
Credit Card Required
|
14 Days Free Trial
No Credit Card Required
|
14 Days Free Trial
No Credit Card Required
|
| Learn More | Learn More | Start Your free Trial |
Pros
- It has content curation and team collaboration features.
- Reporting feature makes it easy to pull out the needed metrics for inspection.
- You can schedule first comments on Instagram and tag accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.
Jenna L
I like the interface and the functions it offers for LinkedIn and Instagram. The language support is also very useful, and I can write and publish content easily and quickly. It is very easy to create a calendar to publish posts on the main social networks, including Google posts. Sendible is software that has a variety of features ranging from scheduling posts to monitoring them.
Cons
- Navigation could be improved for a better user experience.
- The re-posting feature isn’t available.
- Sometimes it needs double checking if the scheduled post is actually shared on the platform or not.
Laura P
The organization of the platform is a little strange. It is tricky to find the correct location for sharing with employees and adding profiles. We also often have to reconnect profiles. Finally, we cannot post multi-image posts on Instagram. There are a few other limitations like this as well.
Here are all the average user ratings based on their experiences, Later vs. Sendible, along with SocialPilot for a frame of reference.
|
Later |
Sendible |
SocialPilot |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Reviews | 283 | 822 | 621 |
| Overall Star Rating | |||
| Ease of Use | |||
| Quality of Support | |||
| Ease of Setup | |||
| Learn More | Learn More | 14 Days Trial |
Agorapulse is yet another pick from Later alternatives that has an excellent user interface. Its major highlight is the intuitive smart inbox that lets you keep track of all plausible engagements across popular social media channels. It includes replies, comments, mentions, reviews, messages, and more in a single place.
It also has social listening capabilities that track keywords, phrases, locations, and hashtags, so you don’t miss out on any opportunity to interact with your potential leads. Since it’s a post scheduling tool, Agorapulse also offers a great many related functionalities for quick sharing of posts at desired time slots.
Gain an overall view of the primary capabilities by comparing Agorapulse with Later, taking into account SocialPilot as the standard.
|
Later |
 Agorapulse |
SocialPilot |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Can't Miss to Compare | |||
| Minimum Pricing | $40/Month | $69/Month | $30/Month |
| Number of Accounts | 36 | 20 | 30 |
| Number of Team Members | 6 | 1 | 6 |
| Number of Posts that Can Be Scheduled | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Core Capabilities | |||
| Scheduling & Publishing |
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| Analytics |
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| Inbox |
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| Collaboration |
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| Competitor Tracking |
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| Whitelabel |
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| Localization | English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese | German, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish | German, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish |
| Support | Email & Live Chat | Priority Email & Chat Support | Email, Chat, Social Media, Phone |
| Learn More | Learn More | 14 Days Trial | |
Agorapulse has 3 paid plans. While Pro costs $79, Premium is priced at $159 per month. The Enterprise plan is fully customizable.
Here is a side-by-side comparison of pricing plans for Later and Agorapulse, with the addition of SocialPilot to provide a better understanding.
|
Later |
Agorapulse |
SocialPilot |
|---|---|---|
|
Growth
$40/per month
|
Standard
$69/per month
|
Professional
$30/per month
|
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Advanced
$80/per month
|
Professional
$99/per month
|
Small Team
$50/per month
|
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Scale
$200/per month
|
Advanced
$149/per month
|
Agency
$100/per month
|
| - |
Enterprise
Custom
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Agency+
$200/per month
|
|
14 Days Free Trial
Credit Card Required
|
30 Days Free Trial
No Credit Card Required
|
14 Days Free Trial
No Credit Card Required
|
| Learn More | Learn More | Start Your free Trial |
Pros
- It has useful integrations for better insights.
- The UI is amazing and easy to navigate through.
- Analytics and monitoring features are included.
Gray M
I like the web interface (and, to some extent, the app as well) in that it’s clear and easy to see different views of both scheduled posts, engagement, and more. A close second would be the analytics, which both provide an easy interface to understand things and also the ability to download the raw reports and let others roll around in the data.
Cons
- It doesn’t have many post editing features.
- Reports aren’t customizable.
- It doesn’t let you draft content.
Michael D
The platform can be a little buggy. Too often, I receive emails about an error that is causing something not to post or a “token” expiring, so I have to log back into a certain social platform. In regards to posts not posting, I have experienced this on other platforms, so it’s not unusual, but logging me out of certain social accounts is a little weird, and I am not quite sure of the reasoning behind this. It is a minor annoyance at most.
These are the average user ratings, reflecting user experiences when comparing Later with Agorapulse, alongside SocialPilot as a benchmark.
|
Later |
Agorapulse |
SocialPilot |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Reviews | 283 | 865 | 621 |
| Overall Star Rating | |||
| Ease of Use | |||
| Quality of Support | |||
| Ease of Setup | |||
| Learn More | Learn More | 14 Days Trial |
Planable is one of the Later alternatives that works best for teams. It’s a social media collaboration tool that lets you streamline the collaboration within the team and makes everyone’s tasks easier.
In Planable, you can set up your own feedback and approval process with 4 different types of approval levels: none, optional, required, multi-level. This way you can prevent unfinished posts from being published and avoid any last-minute surprises.
Pros
- Multiple ways to view and plan posts: list, feed, grid, and calendar view.
- Collaboration happens in context, right next to the posts, in the form of comments and replies.
- Users can keep separate workspaces for different clients.
Andrea R.
Planable has simplified my content marketing work. Now I spend less time doing manual work and collaborate better. In addition, it’s making my social media management and creativity very easy for me. This app allows me to manage social media channels where and when I want to.
Cons
- No social listening features.
- Doesn’t include analytics and reporting.
Amber B.
Planable is a great product that would have been a 5-star for me had I been able to get some analytics for my social media efforts. Not only do they not provide any kind of reporting, but they also don’t even provide you with the tools to figure out your own numbers.
Sprout Social is indeed one of the best alternatives to Later that has been around for a while. It also provides an array of features like a personalized dashboard, flexible publisher, smart inbox, and social listening tools.
You can schedule posts, reply to a conversation with your teammates, connect your accounts, and even invite new members from the dashboard.
In the publishing section, you get to see your calendar weekly or monthly. There’s also an asset library that stores all your media which you can retrieve when needed.
Explore the primary capabilities of Sprout Social and Later, along with SocialPilot, to see how they stack up against each other.
|
Later |
 SproutSocial |
SocialPilot |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Can't Miss to Compare | |||
| Minimum Pricing | $40/Month | $249/Month | $30/Month |
| Number of Accounts | 36 | Unlimited | 30 |
| Number of Team Members | 6 | 1 | 6 |
| Number of Posts that Can Be Scheduled | Unlimited | 10000 | Unlimited |
| Core Capabilities | |||
| Scheduling & Publishing |
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| Analytics |
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| Inbox |
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| Collaboration |
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| Competitor Tracking |
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| Whitelabel |
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| Localization | English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese | English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish | German, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish |
| Support | Email & Live Chat | Priority Email & Chat Support | Email, Chat, Social Media, Phone |
| Learn More | Learn More | 14 Days Trial | |
Sprout Social has 3 plans. The Standard plan is valued at $249 for one month. Professional and Advanced cost $399 and $499 per month, which is actually quite pricey.
Comparing the pricing plans of Later, Sprout Social, and SocialPilot directly, all in one place, to make an informed decision.
|
Later |
SproutSocial |
SocialPilot |
|---|---|---|
|
Growth
$40/per month
|
Standard
$249/per month
|
Professional
$30/per month
|
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Advanced
$80/per month
|
Professional
$399/per month
|
Small Team
$50/per month
|
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Scale
$200/per month
|
Advanced
$499/per month
|
Agency
$100/per month
|
| - |
Enterprise
Custom
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Agency+
$200/per month
|
|
14 Days Free Trial
Credit Card Required
|
30 Days Free Trial
No Credit Card Required
|
14 Days Free Trial
No Credit Card Required
|
| Learn More | Learn More | Start Your free Trial |
Pros
- You can access different types of reports for quicker insights.
- It tracks keywords so you can be alerted when mentioned.
- The smart inbox is helpful for fast replies to customers and followers.
Charlotte K
Sprout Social combines simplicity and efficiency when starting to manage social networks; I use it to manage my organization’s social channels, and so far, it has not given me any problems, on the contrary, it has been the solution to many; I have been able to plan and publish on social networks without any setbacks, it has good views and special monitoring and analysis capabilities.
Cons
- You can’t repost the old queue of content.
- It doesn’t support TikTok yet.
- The tool comes with a learning curve.
Binh N
There are too many buttons and navigation bars on the platform, so it could be difficult to navigate the platform at first. Some of the integrations are a bit confusing, and it would be great to have more Help Center articles about them. It’s also difficult to know what level of permissions we each have, so somehow, categorizing and labelling the different account levels would be helpful.
Here, you can find the average user ratings for Later and Sprout Social, offering insights into user experiences, and SocialPilot is included for comparison.
|
Later |
SproutSocial |
SocialPilot |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Reviews | 283 | 2131 | 621 |
| Overall Star Rating | |||
| Ease of Use | |||
| Quality of Support | |||
| Ease of Setup | |||
| Learn More | Learn More | 14 Days Trial |
SocialBee is among the alternatives to Later that is bent on improving your performance on Instagram and other platforms. You can customize each post to share it on multiple networks easily.
SocialBee lets you take full charge of posting by setting automation rules for days you are not available. It auto-schedules your evergreen, promotional, curated, industry news, and time-sensitive content with ease.
SocialBee has 6 paid plans in 2 categories. Standard plans include Bootstrap, Accelerate, and Pro at monthly prices of $29, $49, and $99 respectively. Agency plans are further divided into 3 tiers. These start from $179 and go up to $449 per month.
Pros
- The UI/UX of the tool is quite intuitive.
- Content categorization is one of the most-loved features of SocialBee.
- It provides you with link shorteners as well.
Joseph K
I love how the application organizes the workspaces and accounts for each organization or person. We use this tool to manage multiple accounts, and it is super easy to switch between the accounts while working in one session.
Cons
- Users have to spend some time getting used to the tool.
- It doesn’t provide any functionality for hashtag research.
- There is no dedicated feature for brand monitoring.
Samraddhi S
SocialBee doesn’t still allow users to tag users from LinkedIn. It should also allow the users to design posts on SocialBee. It will be much easier to design templates for social media on SocialBee and post it from there itself. SocialBee can also have an automatic hashtag generator. It’ll make scheduling posts much easier.
Pallyy is one of the new Later alternatives in the market that is quite effective when it comes to social media marketing. In fact, this was the first tool that focused solely on Instagram analytics. Pallyy now can connect you with a total of 7 platforms.
Key features of Pallyy include competitor tracking, hashtag research, and a customizable dashboard. It also provides a bio link tool that leads your Instagram audience to your brand website. It has automated reporting capability, diversified analytics categorization, content curator, and reply feature.
Pallyy pricing starts from $15 per month. It also has a free plan for a limited trial run. With the paid plan, you can access the premium features like bulk scheduling, bio link, unlimited posting on more social media profiles.
Pros
- The tool is quite affordable.
- The bio link tool makes it a great choice for Instagram marketing.
Alle C
So easy to use and affordable even for new marketers! I used to pay $100s on apps that allow multi-platform scheduling for 10+ clients. I can now work faster and manage clients at a fraction of the cost with Pallyy! Well done.
Cons
- Reports can’t be shared directly with clients.
- The free plan is of little use if you are handling multiple accounts.
Tiffany R
I like being able to schedule posts in advance and being able to publish content on all social platforms.
We couldn’t miss out on Hootsuite on our list of alternatives to Later since it is one of the pioneer tools in the industry. Though expensive, the tool has set its roots deep and works well with its enterprise-focused service.
The tool’s core lies in Streams. You can set each stream from each social media network to track what’s happening there. This is the place where you can even indulge in engagement and reply back to messages, mentions, and comments.
Here is an overview of the primary capabilities of Hootsuite and Later, alongside SocialPilot, for a comprehensive comparison.
|
Later |
 Hootsuite |
SocialPilot |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Can't Miss to Compare | |||
| Minimum Pricing | $40/Month | $99/Month | $30/Month |
| Number of Accounts | 36 | 35 | 30 |
| Number of Team Members | 6 | 5 | 6 |
| Number of Posts that Can Be Scheduled | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Core Capabilities | |||
| Scheduling & Publishing |
|
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| Analytics |
|
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| Inbox |
|
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| Collaboration |
|
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| Competitor Tracking |
|
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| Whitelabel |
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| Localization | English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese | English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish | German, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish |
| Support | Email & Live Chat | Email, Chat, Tweet for Support | Email, Chat, Social Media, Phone |
| Learn More | Learn More | 14 Days Trial | |
Hootsuite offers its users 3 plans and a fully-customizable Enterprise plan. These 3 plans are Professional, Team, and Business that cost $49, $129, and $599 monthly.
This is a comprehensive breakdown of pricing plans for Later, Hootsuite, and SocialPilot, allowing for a thorough comparison.
|
Later |
Hootsuite |
SocialPilot |
|---|---|---|
|
Growth
$40/per month
|
Professional
$99/per month
|
Professional
$30/per month
|
|
Advanced
$80/per month
|
Small Team
$249/per month
|
Small Team
$50/per month
|
|
Scale
$200/per month
|
Business
$739/per month
|
Agency
$100/per month
|
| - |
Enterprise
Custom
|
Agency+
$200/per month
|
|
14 Days Free Trial
Credit Card Required
|
30 Days Free Trial
Credit Card Required
|
14 Days Free Trial
No Credit Card Required
|
| Learn More | Learn More | Start Your free Trial |
Pros
- You can track multiple accounts with streams.
- There are multiple in-app integrations available.
- Team collaboration and account management features are also available.
Julie M
Hootsuite is easy to use. I love the fact that all the platforms that I use can be shown on the same page and the publisher screen makes it so easy to see exactly what you publish on each day at a glance. Moving posts is easy to do and is as simple as drag and drop, adding media is easy. It’s just perfect!
Cons
- The tool is super expensive for the features it offers.
- Customer service isn’t the best in the industry.
- The mobile app is somewhat lacking.
Ida L
I don’t like the interface because it is dated and not easy to use. It was also incredibly difficult to link multiple social accounts to Hootsuite. The customer service is not helpful, and it seems like no one knows what’s going on.
We present the average user ratings for Later and Hootsuite, showcasing user experiences, and SocialPilot is included as a point of reference.
|
Later |
Hootsuite |
SocialPilot |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Reviews | 283 | 3781 | 621 |
| Overall Star Rating | |||
| Ease of Use | |||
| Quality of Support | |||
| Ease of Setup | |||
| Learn More | Learn More | 14 Days Trial |
Wrapping Up
Later is a terrific Instagram tool that works quite well with all its features. Right from sharing posts for your feed to scheduling stories, Later does it all. However, it is not the best option because marketers need more than just a pompous Instagram presence.
Several Later alternatives are not just cheaper but can also provide you with analytics, white-label reports, manage other social media networks, and much more. SocialPilot takes the cake here.
Sign up for its free trial and automate your calendar posting on top-rated social media platforms without worrying twice.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Later used for?
Later is a social media scheduler that lets you post across multiple platforms. Though it supports various platforms, its primary focus lies on Instagram and Pinterest.
What is a Later social set?
Later social set includes 1 profile each from Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. A social set can only have one account each of every network. This helps in the better categorization of brands but can be a downside if you manage multiple accounts on the same platforms for a single brand.
Is Later only for Instagram?
No, Later supports multiple social media platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Twitter, apart from Instagram. But its main offerings revolve around Instagram marketing.
Can Later post reels?
No, you can’t schedule IGTV or reels with Later. It only schedules image posts and stories to your Instagram account.
What can you do on Later?
Later lets you share posts on your social media accounts in advance. You can upload assets in its Media Library and couple them with relevant posts before sharing. It also lets you work with your team by adding labels or notes for additional references. However, if you want to manage more profiles on more networks, you can opt for SocialPilot instead.
About the Author
SocialPilot
$30
SocialPilot is one of the best Later alternatives that comes with a great set of useful features for Instagram marketing. You can connect multiple Instagram accounts and enjoy its direct posting capabilities to schedule your posts, Reels and Stories at the best times.
Features
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What People Say About Us
Hannia F.
What I like about SocialPilot is that it facilitates the scheduling of posts in bulk, and it does not seem automated at all. Its customization and UI are what I love the most about SocialPilot. It’s also worth saying that it, of course, saves a lot of time for my digital marketing team and me.
Adam C
My agency has used SocialPilot for over a year now, and we’re very happy with the decision. In a sea of many social scheduling tools, SocialPilot stood out to me with their mix of affordability and the number of accounts they schedule. I’ve mostly been impressed with their customer service. In the times I’ve needed help, I think the team has gone above and beyond. I also love how easy it is to request a new feature.