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Metricool free plan: is it enough for a local restaurant?

Metricool has a free plan that never expires and does not need a credit card. It also lets you connect a Google Business Profile, which many schedulers do not. The catch is a limit of 20 published posts a month across all your accounts. This guide explains what that means for one local restaurant, using only Metricool's official pricing page and help center, checked October 3, 2026.

What the free plan includes

Metricool's help center lists these limits for the free plan:

Metricool's pricing page shows the free plan can connect 1 each of Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube, Twitch and Google Business Profile, plus a website or blog.

How the 20-post limit really works

This is the part that decides whether Free works for you. According to Metricool's help center:

• The count is for the whole brand, not per network.
• Only published posts count. Drafts do not count until they are published.
• If you send the same post to Instagram and Facebook, it counts once for each network, so it uses 2 posts.
• You can schedule more than 20, but only 20 will be published that month.
• The counter resets on the 1st of each month.

An example month for a small cafe: 12 Instagram posts (about 3 a week), 4 Google Business Profile posts (one a week) and 4 TikTok videos (one a week). That is exactly 20. If you also wanted to copy each Instagram post to a Facebook Page, you would need 12 more, which does not fit.

Instagram, TikTok and Google: auto-publish or reminders?

Metricool's help center says you can generally schedule and auto-publish to every network it supports. Instagram and TikTok have exceptions:

• TikTok: auto-publish works for personal and business accounts. You need to publish by hand when you want effects, filters, or music outside TikTok's Top 100 trending songs. Business accounts can add Top 100 songs with auto-publish.
• Instagram: you publish by hand for Stories with interactive elements like links or mentions, and for Reels that use audio not in Metricool's library or interactive stickers.

When a post needs to be finished by hand, Metricool sends a push notification to its mobile app (or an email). Tapping it saves the photo or video to your phone and copies the caption so you can finish in Instagram or TikTok. Metricool says these notifications are available on all plans, including Free.

For Google Business Profile, Metricool's help center lists one image or one video per post, with up to 1,500 characters of text. Its pricing page also notes that each Metricool brand is one location, so a second restaurant location would need a second brand, which the free plan does not allow.

When you would need Starter

Metricool's pricing page lists these Starter prices in U.S. dollars, before VAT:

Starter removes the 20-post monthly cap (Metricool says unlimited publishing is subject to its fair use policy), keeps analytics history with no 30-day limit, and adds LinkedIn, PDF and PPT reports, SmartLinks, and Canva and Google Drive integrations.

Starter still does not let you add team members. Metricool's help center says user management is only on the Advanced and Custom plans, and Advanced starts at $53/month billed yearly or $67/month billed monthly on the pricing page.

A single restaurant will not use 5 brands, so on Starter you would mainly be paying for unlimited posts and longer analytics, not for the extra brands.

Who the free plan is for, and who it is not for

Metricool Free is likely enough if:

• You run one location and one person handles social media
• You post about 3 times a week on your main channel, plus the odd Google or TikTok post
• You want Google Business Profile posts in the same calendar as Instagram
• You only need to see the last 30 days of results

You will probably outgrow it if:

• You post daily, or copy every post to both Instagram and Facebook
• A manager or staff member needs their own login (that needs Advanced, not Starter)
• You want monthly PDF reports or analytics older than 30 days
• You have more than one location

Summary

For one local restaurant that posts a few times a week, Metricool's free plan covers the basics, including Google Business Profile, at no cost and with no time limit. The 20-post limit counts every network separately, so plan your month before you rely on it. If you need more posts, Starter starts at $20/month billed yearly; if you need a second user, look at Advanced.

Last checked: October 3, 2026

Sources

• Metricool, "Pricing" (plan prices in USD and EUR, connections per plan, free plan features, Google Business Profile FAQ), checked October 3, 2026: https://metricool.com/pricing/
• Metricool Help Center, "Main differences between Free and paid plans," checked October 3, 2026: https://help.metricool.com/main-differences-between-free-and-paid-plans-bl0v9
• Metricool Help Center, "Plans, add-ons, and API access explained," checked October 3, 2026: https://help.metricool.com/plans-add-ons-and-api-access-explained-xux1u
• Metricool Help Center, "How to verify your account access and your plan limits," checked October 3, 2026: https://help.metricool.com/en/article/how-to-verify-your-account-access-and-your-plan-limits-1p2z5kr/
• Metricool Help Center, "Schedule and Post on TikTok," checked October 3, 2026: https://help.metricool.com/schedule-and-post-on-tiktok-bkepi
• Metricool Help Center, "How to set up notifications for manual publishing," checked October 3, 2026: https://help.metricool.com/how-to-set-up-notifications-for-manual-publishing-ybhgw
• Metricool Help Center, "Scheduling and Posting Options by Social Network," checked October 3, 2026: https://help.metricool.com/scheduling-and-posting-options-by-social-network-cwmb3