Best Social Media Analytics In 2026
What Are The Four Types Of Social Media Analytics?
Sprout Social surveyed over 750 leaders in social media marketing, and 57% of them use social media analytics to gauge the ROI of their campaigns.
So, if you want to measure social media metrics precisely, you need to first understand different types of social media analytics:
| Analytics Type | Description | Example |
| Descriptive Analytics | Focus on summarizing historical data to provide insights into what has happened in the past. | Reporting on the number of likes, shares, and comments. |
| Diagnostic Analytics | Aim to understand why certain events occurred by analyzing patterns and correlations in the data. | Finding reasons behind a decrease in engagement rates. |
| Predictive Analytics | Utilize statistical algorithms and machine learning techniques to forecast future trends and behaviors. | Predicting the potential reach of a social media campaign. |
| Prescriptive Analytics | Recommend actions to optimize outcomes based on predictive models and insights from historical data. | Suggesting the best time to post content for maximum reach. |
Then, how do you measure social media analytics? Use potent analytics tools to do this task. They allow you to pinpoint upcoming trends, measure your brand sentiment, and calculate the ROI of your social media marketing efforts.
Main Features of Social Media Analytics Tools
The main features of a social media analytics tool
A beneficial social media analytics tool should provide tracking and analysis of these metrics:
| Feature | Metrics |
| Performance Metrics | – Reach, engagement, impressions, and click-through rate (CTR) across different platforms. |
| Demographic Insights | – Detailed demographic info about your audience, including age, gender, location, and interests. – Follower growth over time. |
| Content Analysis | – Finding top-performing posts regarding engagement and reach. – Insights into the best times to post content. |
| Conversion Tracking | Purchases, sign-ups, or other desired actions. |
| Competitor Analysis | – Comparing your performance with that of competitors. – Insights into industry trends and competitor strategies. |
| Sentiment Analysis | – Brand mentions, comments, and messages. – Customer feedback. |
| Ad Performance | – Ad reach, engagement, and return on ad spend (ROAS). – Real-time analytics and suggestions to enhance your ad campaigns. |
7+ Social Media Analytics In 2026
As you understand which features to look at when choosing a social media analytic tool, let’s dive into our top list:
| Tool | Highlights | Pricing |
| Hootsuite | – From 10 -20 social accounts – Multiple networks reporting – Historical data for 7 days | – 30-day free trial. – Plans start from $99/month |
| Sprout Social | – 5 social profiles – 150+ analytic metricsTagging social messages – Team & task reports and network-specific analytics | – 30-day trial. – Plans start from $199/month |
| HubSpot | – 1,000 custom properties per object – Customize reports into charts and visualize data – Up to 25 filtered analytics views | – Free CRM tools and resources. – Plans start from $800/month |
| Buffer | – Analysis for up to 10 channels – Data backfilled from the past 6 months – Data stored, analyzed, and exported up to two years | – 14-day free trial. – Plans start from $5/month |
| Keyhole | – 10,000 mentionsTrack up to 5 influencers – PDF & XLS exports – QuickTrends for trending topics | – 2-month free trial. – Plans start from $189/month |
| Rival IQ | – 10 tracked companies6 months of data history – Competitive social metrics and benchmarking – Free head-to-head reports | – 14-day free trial. – Plans start from $239/month |
| Iconosquare | – 12 months of data retention – Tracking 5 social profiles – Monitoring over 100 metrics | – 14-day free trial. – Plans start from $49/month |
| Tailwind | – Hashtag Finder400 AI Credits/month – Analysis for 3 platforms – Drag-and-drop calendar feature | – A free forever option. – Plans start from $14.99/month |
| Facelift Data Studio | – 5 profiles – 700+ pre-defined but customizable metrics – Templates for multiple dashboards | – 7-day free trial. – Plans start from $535/month |
| SparkToro | – 50 searches/month – Tracking Instagram Stories – Monitoring about 700 customizable metrics | – A free forever option. – Plans start from $38/month |
| Talkwalker | – 150 million data sources – 30+ social platforms – Unlimited free searches for keywords and hashtags | – 7-day free trial. – Custom pricing |
| Google Analytics | – 25 accounts per user and 10 million hits per month per account – Fully-processed first 500,000 sessions | Free |
| Meta Business Suite Insights | – Detailed metrics for Facebook and Instagram for the last 28 days. – Analyzing audience demographics | Free |
| Instagram Insights | – Instagram-specific analytics – Free access to account and post-level data | Free |
| TikTok Analytics | – TikTok-specific analytics – Free access to a comprehensive analysis | Free |
| X Analytics | – X-specific analytics – Free access to a comprehensive analysis | Free |
| Pinterest Analytics | – Pinterest-specific metrics – Free access to account and post-level data | Free |
| LinkedIn Page Analytics | – LinkedIn-specific analytics – Free access to account and post-level data | From $199/month |
Check them out and see which suits your needs and preferences best.
1. Hootsuite
Hootsuite is a top contender in social media analytics. This suite of tools provides a complete picture of social media performance across various platforms. It examines numerous social media metrics of your social media strategy, including:
- Like, comment, share, and engagement rate.
- Post/Page views and reach.
- Leads, conversions, and ROI.
Hootsuite’s post-engagement analysis
The best thing about Hootsuite Analytics is that it simplifies competitor analysis across Instagram, Facebook, and X. Users can monitor up to 20 competitors per network and gain insights into their strengths and weaknesses.
| Pros | Cons |
| Provide custom guidance for the best time to post on each platform. Create tailored report templates for the metrics you care about. Track the productivity of your social team. | Offer costly pricing plans (yet you have a free 30-day trial). Deliver slow customer support that takes hours to respond. Lack of integration with Google Business Profile. |
Pricing: From $99/month
Learn more: How to Find Trending Audio on Instagram: Tips and Tricks
2. Sprout Social
Sprout Social is also one of the best social media analytics tools tailored for larger businesses. Its standout feature allows users to tag inbound and outbound social messages, facilitating the tracking and analysis of volume and performance patterns.
Sprout Social analyzes your competitors on Instagram
Sprout Social analyzes and provides an extensive analysis of your social presence based on various social media metrics, including:
- Follower growth
- Audience demographics
- Reach, impressions, and sentiment analysis
- Hashtag performance
| Pros | Cons |
| Include all premium features in one package. Support most of the renowned social media platforms. Offer team & task reports and network-specific analytics. | Offer costly pricing plans (yet you have a free 30-day trial). Deliver slow customer support that takes hours to respond. Lack of native support for each social platform. |
Pricing: From $199/month
3. HubSpot
HubSpot is another suitable social media analytics tool for marketing teams within larger companies. What makes it stand out is its ability to customize reports into charts and visualize data. Besides, the platform covers the most popular social media networks, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
HubSpot visualizes social media metrics in charts and graphs
| Pros | Cons |
| Break down the numbers visually by specific platform features. Tailor reports to focus on the metrics that matter most. Integrate seamlessly with other marketing activities. | Offer costly pricing plans with no free trial. Lack of A/B testing on lower pricing plans. Require pay for further technical support. |
Pricing: From $800/month
4. Buffer
Buffer is a top choice for small-to-medium-sized businesses regarding the best social media analytics tools. Its primary function is to analyze metrics across Instagram, Facebook, X, TikTok, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.
Overall, Buffer offers three standout analytics features for brands and creators:
- Integrated all social media metrics into a single dashboard.
- Personalized recommendations based on content performance.
- Simplified process of creating professional social media reports.
Buffer analyzes different social media metrics in one dashboard.
| Pros | Cons |
| Offer reasonable pricing plans with a free 14-day trial. Integrate a streamlined and user-friendly dashboard. Track Instagram performance, including Stories analytics. | Analytic with less extensiveness compared to some competitors. Lack of social listening and competitive benchmarking. |
Pricing: From $5/month
Learn more: 7+ Best Social Media Scheduling Tools
5. Keyhole
Keyhole is suitable for enterprise-level businesses and organizations. It offers various helpful features to assist users:
- Trackers to monitor events, campaigns, influencer activity, brand mentions, and industry-specific social conversations.
- Automated reports on influencer marketing campaigns provide a detailed ROI breakdown.
- Reporting abilities allow you to choose optimal influencers and measure their performance over time.
Keyhole tracks your campaign performance on social media platforms.
| Pros | Cons |
| Integrate a user-friendly dashboard. Visualize data into easy-to-understand reports. Provide hashtag analysis to monitor campaign engagement. | Offer costly pricing plans (yet you have a free 14-day trial). Provide limited features with a lack of customization choices. |
Pricing: From $189/month
6. Rival IQ
Rival IQ is the leading social media analytics tool for monitoring performance on YouTube and other social platforms. Uniquely, this tool also analyzes total consumption and total consumption rate metrics.
Rival IQ analyzes total consumption and total consumption rate
Moreover, users can precisely track social media metrics, such as post impressions and follower growth, for up to 90 days. The platform also provides analysis of Facebook and Instagram ads and offers historical data spanning up to 24 months.
| Pros | Cons |
| Tailor dashboards for each client based on their goals. Create easily downloaded reports in formats like PPT, PDF, PNG, or CSV. Provide free head-to-head reports against competitors. | Offer costly pricing plans (yet you have a free 14-day trial). Restrict the number of users in the lower plan. |
Pricing: From $239/month
7. Iconosquare
Iconosquare started as an Instagram analytics tool long before its integrated features were introduced. It has since become one of the best social media analytics tools.
Supported social media platforms include Instagram, Facebook, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and TikTok. The platform enables users to monitor over 100 metrics, including:
- Reach
- Engagement
- Audience demographics
- Follower growth
- Average engagement rate per post
- Reach history
Iconosquare analytics dashboard
The best thing about Iconosquare is its all-inclusive access to industry-leading features, regardless of the plan chosen. It offers detailed analytics for Instagram Stories, helping to determine the optimal posting times.
| Pros | Cons |
| Offer reasonable pricing plans with a free 14-day trial. Include a unique Industry Benchmark feature. | Support a limited number of social media platforms. Have no option to custom dashboards. Offer fewer features for platforms, excluding Facebook and Instagram. |
Pricing: From $49/month
8. Tailwind
Tailwind is one of the leading free social media analytics tools. It offers a full suite of analytics tools that calculate and display engagement rates month-over-month across various platforms.
Tailwind allows you to analyze data within 7 days.
Tailwind is particularly strong with Pinterest and Instagram, helping users to optimize their campaigns on these media. Here are three standout features of Tailwind:
- Hashtag Finder: Find the most effective hashtags on Instagram.
- Browser Extension: Create numerous posts directly from any website using the convenient browser extension.
- Bulk Image Upload: Upload images in bulk via the drag-and-drop calendar feature.
| Pros | Cons |
| Offer a forever-free plan and affordable subscriptions. Integrate a visually appealing and user-friendly dashboard. Have a mutual community to learn and share. | Lack of social listening and competitive benchmarking features. Support a limited number of social media platforms. Offer limited features with no customization choices. |
Pricing: From $14.99/month
9. Facelift Data Studio
Facelift Data Studio, or Quintly, is an ideal social media analytics tool for small-to-medium-sized or enterprise-level companies. The platform’s notable analytics is for Instagram Stories, tracking story viewers, their actions toward the story, and time spent on each story.
Besides, this tool boasts over 700 customizable metrics and offers detailed insights into content performance and audience segmentation.
Facelift Data Studio analyzes data from various social media platforms.
| Pros | Cons |
| Support most of the leading social media platforms. Offer templates to build multiple dashboards. | Offer costly pricing plans (yet you have a free 7-day trial). Lack of social media management features. Require skills to use certain features. |
Pricing: From $535/month
10. SparkToro
SparkToro is not just a simple social media analytics tool but a powerful audience intelligence tool. It analyzes web pages and social media profiles to provide insights about audience interests, preferences, and online behaviors.
SparkToro analyzes social media profiles.
Although SparkToro doesn’t analyze your social media performance, it gives brands valuable insights into their audience, competitors, and network profiles. With SparkToro, businesses can:
- Discover where their customers spend time online.
- Understand audience demographics.
- Find trending topics for tailored content creation.
- Measure their account’s influence and authority online.
| Pros | Cons |
| Offer reasonable pricing with a forever-free plan. Provide a SparkScore for your influence online. Include extra SEO features with each plan. | Lack of social listening and competitive benchmarking features. Limit analysis features with no customization choices. Require skills to use certain features. |
Pricing: From $38/month
11. Talkwalker
Talkwalker is a potent brand monitoring platform. It can monitor social media conversations from over 150 million sources, allowing you to see potential reach, comments, sentiments, and emotions. Besides, this tool provides other outstanding features:
- Filter data by region, demographics, device, content type, etc.
- Insights on search terms and metrics on owned and earned media performance.
- Flexible dashboards, APIs, and reports with comprehensive filters and actionable social media insights.
- The ability to analyze and find peaks in conversations related to your brand helps you determine the best time to post on social media.
Talkwalker monitors and analyzes conversations on social media
| Pros | Cons |
| Allow monitoring of multiple real-time metrics. Provide unlimited free searches for keywords and hashtags. Integrate an easy-to-use dashboard for sharing. | Lack of transparent pricing information. Require skills to use certain features. Lack of LinkedIn and Facebook real-time tracking. |
Pricing: Custom pricing (request demo for further details).
12. Google Analytics
Google Analytics is essential for social media experts, particularly those working in web-based businesses. It tracks and analyzes sources to your website from social media, including user demographics, bounce rate, conversion rates, and much more.
Google Analytics report on social media sessions
As a social media analytics tool, Google Analytics is known for its ability to track data across various devices and platforms. It stands out with real-time reporting, funnel exploration, and user exploration to visualize user paths and behaviors.
| Pros | Cons |
| Limit to 25 accounts/user and 10 million hits/month/account. Fully process the first 500,000 sessions. Provide real-time traffic data. Keep all properties under one account. | Lack of most social media analytics features. Provide too much data, which can be overwhelming to beginners. Offer a limited number of hits monthly. |
Note: Ensure you have a Google Analytics account and use the new GA4 interface to use this tool.
Pricing: Free.
13. Meta Business Suite Insights
Meta Business Suite Insights is valuable for Facebook Pages and Instagram professional accounts. It comes with numerous benefits:
- Detailed metrics about your accounts, platforms, and posts on these two platforms.
- Analyzing audience demographics and keeping track of your ad account spending.
- Analytics for Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger to track reach, engagement, follower growth, link clicks, etc.
Meta Business Suite Insights analyzes different metrics simultaneously.
To access Insights, you have two options:
- Log into Facebook > Click on your profile picture > Select your Facebook Page > Navigate to Meta Business Suite > Click on Insights.
- Log into Facebook > Click on your profile picture > Select your Facebook Page > Click on Professional Dashboard on the left-hand side.
Pro tip: For a detailed view of individual post statistics, check out the people reached number at the bottom of any post on your Page’s timeline. It will display a pop-up showing the total stats for that post.
| Pros | Cons |
| Integrate a unified dashboard for measuring content performance. Access data and reports without any cost. | Support a limited number of social media platforms. Limit analysis features with no customization choices. Lack automatic report scheduling and multi-client management. |
Pricing: Free.
See more: The Best Time to Post on Facebook For Maximum Reach In 2024
14. Instagram Insights
Instagram Insights is another free social media analytics tool for Instagram users with Business or Creator accounts. It tracks varied metrics, such as post interactions, follower demographics, reach, impressions, etc.
This tool is specifically designed for the Instagram platform and offers precise analytics for content posted on Instagram, including:
- Posts
- Stories
- Reels
- Live videos
Instagram Insights helps you analyze Instagram content effectively.
Here are two ways to start:
- Access the Instagram app > Tap on your profile picture > Navigate to the menu > Select “Insights.”
- Visit Instagram.com > Go to your profile > Click “View insights” below your bio.
With Instagram Insights, you can measure the performance of your Reels and Stories and choose the best time to post on Instagram.
| Pros | Cons |
| Provide an account- and post-level data for free. Offer comprehensive analysis of your Instagram users. | Support only one social media platform. Limit analysis features with no customization choices. Lack of automatic report scheduling and multi-client management. |
Pricing: Free.
15. TikTok Analytics
TikTok Analytics is a handy tool exclusively available for TikTok business accounts. It provides a snapshot of your profile’s performance over the past 60 days, including:
- Overview TikTok performance data
- Content performance analytics
- Follower demographics and growth.
With TikTok Analytics, you can also gain insights into the performance of individual videos. This feature helps you understand which resonates with your audience and the best time to post on TikTok.
Get data and analysis about your video on TikTok Analytics.
Accessing TikTok Analytics is simple:
- Open the TikTok app > Go to your profile > Tap the menu > Select “Creator Tools” followed by “Analytics.”
- On the web > Log in to your TikTok account > Tap on your profile picture > Click “View Analytics.”
| Pros | Cons |
| Allow export data and run customized reports. Provide a comprehensive analysis of your TikTok users. | Support only one social media platform. Limit analysis features with no customization choices. Lack of automatic report scheduling and multi-client management. |
Pricing: Free
16. X Analytics
X (formerly Twitter) Analytics is available to all X users. The platform offers users a breakdown of their content performance over the past week. Also, it analyzes and provides insights into the performance of your paid and organic posts.
Track your tweet impressions using X Analytics
Monthly highlights, such as top posts and followers, give users an overview of their best-performing content and potential influencers or brand ambassadors.
| Pros | Cons |
| Provide a comprehensive analysis of your X users. Allow to set custom date ranges. | Support only one social media platform.Lack in-depth insights about your followers. Remove certain features unexpectedly. |
Pricing: Free.
17. Pinterest Analytics
Pinterest Analytics is a helpful social media analytics tool for Pinterest business accounts. This free tool tracks numerous metrics for paid and organic Pins, such as impressions, engagements, video views, and profile visits. Pinterest-specific stats like saves and close-ups also provide deep insights into your content performance.
The tool allows you to track Pinterest-specific stats
| Pros | Cons |
| Offer an account- and post-level data for free. Provide a comprehensive analysis of your Pinterest users. | Require a Pinterest business account to start. Lack of audience analytics. Lack of automatic report scheduling and multi-client management. |
Pro tip: You can integrate your Pinterest account into Google Analytics to access data-driven insights and improve your marketing strategies.
Pricing: Free.
18. LinkedIn Page Analytics
LinkedIn Page Analytics offers comprehensive insights into your LinkedIn content, followers, visitors, leads, and competitors. This tool is accessible for LinkedIn Pages and personal profiles (with Creator Mode enabled).
LinkedIn Page Analytics
For LinkedIn Pages associated with your company, you can analyze various aspects of your page’s performance:
- Content performance
- Page Visitors
- Follower growth
- Lead generation
- Competitor activity
- Employee advocacy efforts
LinkedIn also offers social media analytics tools for personal profiles with slightly more limited data. This includes post impressions, follower count, profile viewers, and search appearances.
| Pros | Cons |
| Offer an account- and post-level data for free. Provide a comprehensive analysis of your LinkedIn users. | Support only one social media platform. Lack of automatic report scheduling and multi-client management. |
Pricing: From $199/month
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is social media analytics?
Social media analytics is the process of collecting and analyzing data from social channels like Facebook, Instagram, or X to make business decisions.
- How do you do social media data analytics?
To do social media data analytics, you collect and analyze data from social media platforms. This process involves tracking metrics, using the analytics tools mentioned above to visualize and interpret the data, and then, applying these insights to refine your social media strategy.
