Metricool API Alternative
Metricool is a powerful analytics and scheduling dashboard for social media managers. For developers building products, it's not the right layer — it has no public developer SDKs, no webhooks, no MCP server, and its API surface is designed for analytics export, not for building social media features. Aether is built for developers from day one.
Metricool is genuinely excellent at what it does. If you're a social media manager who needs a unified analytics dashboard, competitor benchmarking, and a visual content calendar, Metricool delivers. That's not Aether's use case.
Developers looking for a programmatic social media API hit different walls with Metricool:
| Feature | Aether | Metricool |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Threads, Reddit, Google Business | Instagram, Facebook, X/Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Google Business |
| Posting API | ✓Full REST — direct publish or schedule | ✗Scheduling via dashboard; programmatic API not a primary developer feature |
| Analytics API | Post + account metrics, custom date ranges, multiple granularities | Analytics export available on higher plans; designed for reporting, not developer consumption |
| Inbox / DMs | ✓Unified inbox API for Instagram and Facebook | ✗No unified inbox API |
| Webhooks | ✓Real-time events for every post status change | ✗No webhooks |
| MCP / AI agents | ✓Native MCP server — works with Claude, Cursor | ✗No MCP support |
| Free tier | ✓3 accounts, full API access | ✗Free tier available but API access is plan-gated |
| Starting price | ✓Free, then usage-based | ✗Advanced features require paid plan |
| Developer focus | ✓Built as a developer API — SDKs in 7 languages, OpenAPI spec | ✗Built as a social media management dashboard |
| Time to first post | ✓< 15 minutes | ✗Setup via dashboard — programmatic posting not documented for quick starts |
Aether combines posting and analytics in a single API. Schedule a post and query account metrics without switching contexts, managing multiple integrations, or building analytics export pipelines.
import Aether from "aether";
// Metricool is a dashboard for social media managers.
// Aether is an API for developers building social media features.
const aether = new Aether({ apiKey: process.env.AETHER_API_KEY });
// Post + schedule in one call
const post = await aether.posts.create({
text: "New feature drop — available now for all users 🚀",
profileIds: ["ig_abc123", "li_company789", "tt_xyz789"],
scheduledFor: "2026-06-15T10:00:00Z",
});
// Pull account analytics — no dashboard needed
const analytics = await aether.analytics.getAccountMetrics({
from: "2026-05-01T00:00:00Z",
to: "2026-05-31T23:59:59Z",
platform: "instagram",
granularity: "week",
});
// [{ date: "2026-05-05", metricType: "follower_count", value: 12450 }, ...]import os
import aether
client = aether.Aether(api_key=os.environ["AETHER_API_KEY"])
# Post to multiple platforms
post = client.posts.create(
text="New feature drop — available now for all users 🚀",
profile_ids=["ig_abc123", "li_company789", "tt_xyz789"],
scheduled_for="2026-06-15T10:00:00Z",
)
# Pull account analytics programmatically
analytics = client.analytics.get_account_metrics(
from_date="2026-05-01T00:00:00Z",
to_date="2026-05-31T23:59:59Z",
platform="instagram",
granularity="week",
)# Schedule a post
curl -X POST https://api.aetherhq.dev/v1/posts \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $AETHER_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"text": "New feature drop — available now for all users 🚀",
"profileIds": ["ig_abc123", "li_company789", "tt_xyz789"],
"scheduledFor": "2026-06-15T10:00:00Z"
}'
# Pull analytics for the month
curl "https://api.aetherhq.dev/v1/analytics/account?from=2026-05-01T00:00:00Z&to=2026-05-31T23:59:59Z&platform=instagram&granularity=week" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $AETHER_API_KEY"Free tier · 3 accounts · no credit card
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Metricool's API is built for analytics export, not agent workflows. Aether ships a native MCP server — every endpoint becomes a callable tool, so Claude can query analytics and publish posts directly for Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Windsurf.
# Add to ~/.claude/claude_desktop_config.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"aether": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "aether-mcp"],
"env": { "AETHER_API_KEY": "sk_live_..." }
}
}
}
# Metricool has no MCP server. With Aether, Claude can:
# "What's our follower growth trend this month vs last?"
# "Post our Q3 recap to Instagram and LinkedIn now"
# "Pull engagement metrics for last week's top post"If you're currently using Metricool for scheduling and analytics and need a programmatic path, here's what the move to Aether looks like.
Sign up for Aether's free tier
Create an account at aetherhq.dev — no credit card required. The free tier includes 3 connected accounts and full API access, including posting, analytics, inbox, webhooks, and the MCP server.
Connect your social accounts via Connect Links
Generate a Connect Link per platform and send it to each account owner. They click, authorize on the platform, and the account appears in your dashboard — no OAuth credential management on your end.
Replace dashboard scheduling with API calls
Call aether.posts.create() the same way you'd configure a scheduled post in Metricool's calendar — profileIds, text, mediaUrls, and scheduledFor — just via API instead of clicking through a dashboard.
Pull the same analytics you see in Metricool
Query aether.analytics.getAccountMetrics() for the follower trends and engagement metrics Metricool's dashboard shows — with custom date ranges and granularity. Then add webhooks and the MCP server for real-time updates and AI-assisted workflows.
Metricool has some API capabilities, primarily focused on analytics data export and integrations with other tools. It's not designed as a developer-first API platform for building social media features into products. The documentation and SDK support are oriented around Metricool's own dashboard use cases, not external developer products.
Metricool is primarily a social media analytics and scheduling dashboard for marketers and agencies. It does post scheduling, analytics reporting, competitor analysis, and link-in-bio tools. The target user is a social media manager, not a software developer building a product. Its API surface reflects this — it's richer in analytics export than in programmatic posting.
Metricool's API isn't designed for developers building independent social media products. There are no published SDKs in multiple languages, no webhooks for real-time events, and the API surface is primarily for integrating Metricool analytics into external reporting tools — not for building a SaaS product that posts, reads analytics, and manages inboxes for connected accounts. Aether is built specifically for that use case.
Aether's analytics API covers post metrics (impressions, reach, likes, comments, shares) and account metrics (follower trends, engagement rate) across connected Instagram and Facebook accounts, queryable by date range, granularity (day/week/month), and platform. Metricool's analytics are deeper for competitive analysis and reporting dashboards. If you need programmatic analytics for your own product, Aether's API is the right layer.
Aether. It's purpose-built as a developer API with posting, scheduling, analytics, inbox, webhooks, and MCP support for connected accounts. Free tier includes 3 connected accounts and full API access. SDKs available for Node.js, Python, Go, Java, Ruby, PHP, and .NET. Time to first API call: under 15 minutes.
Full REST API · analytics · webhooks · MCP server · Instagram & Facebook live · free tier.
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