Free social media tools
Schedulely offers 3 free social media tools: a character counter and post preview for 14 networks, a best time to post guide built from published studies, and an image and video size guide taken from each network's official documentation. None of them needs an account, a card or an email address.
Each tool shows its sources, so you can check every limit and every study yourself.
Free during early access.
Last updated
| Tool | What it does | Where the facts come from |
|---|---|---|
| Character counter and post preview | Counts characters against each network's limit and previews the post | Official documentation for each of the 14 networks |
| Best time to post guide | Shows the best days and times by network, in 24 hour time | Published studies, with the publisher named |
| Image and video size guide | Lists sizes, ratios and file limits by network | Official documentation for each network |
What does the free character counter and post preview do?
The character counter checks one piece of text against the limit of each of the 14 networks Schedulely supports and shows a preview of how the post will look. You see at a glance which networks your caption fits and where it will be cut, before you paste it anywhere.
Every network counts text differently, and the limits vary widely. Instagram captions can be up to 2,200 characters. A post on X is limited to 280 characters (weighted; URLs count 23; CJK count 2). Threads allows 500 characters, Bluesky allows 300 graphemes (3,000 bytes), and LinkedIn allows 3,000 characters. Writing one caption for all of them without a counter usually means a post that is cut short on one network.
The character counter takes your text once and shows a count and a status for every network side by side. The preview helps you check line breaks, emoji and links, which often look different once posted.
Use it when you are writing a caption in a document or a notes app and want to know where it will fit. If you then schedule the post in Schedulely, the planner shows the same preview per network, so nothing changes between the tool and the real post.
How is the best time to post guide put together?
The best time to post guide collects the best days and times for each network from studies published by Sprout Social, Buffer, Hootsuite, Later, Metricool and SocialPilot. Each result names the publisher, the method and the date, and every time is written in 24 hour format, so you can judge how much weight to give it.
Best time studies are useful starting points, not rules. They measure engagement across many accounts, and your own audience may behave differently. That is why the guide shows where each figure comes from rather than blending everything into one confident answer.
For each network covered, you see:
- The publisher of the study and a link to it.
- The method, such as how many posts or profiles were measured and over what period.
- The time zone the study used, usually the local time of each account.
- The best days and times, rewritten in 24 hour time.
Where several studies cover a network, the guide shows each one, because the differences tell you something: there is no single best time, only good windows to test. A sensible approach is to post in a recommended window for a few weeks, then compare with your own results in each network's insights.
Where do the image and video sizes come from?
The image and video size guide is taken from each network's official documentation, such as developer references and help centre pages, rather than from other blogs. It lists recommended sizes, aspect ratios and file limits by network, and links each figure to the page it came from so you can check it.
Size guides on the web often copy each other, so an old figure can spread for years. The image and video size guide goes back to the source: the network's developer documentation or its own help centre. Each value links to that page, and every figure was checked against it on a recorded date.
Where a network does not publish a figure, the guide leaves it out instead of guessing. Where a figure could not be confirmed, the guide links you to the official page so you can read it yourself.
The guide is most useful when a designer is preparing assets for several networks at once. Knowing the ratio before you design saves cropping later. In Schedulely, Instagram feed photos are cropped to 4:5 by default with an editable crop, and Instagram carousels take up to 10 photos and videos, so preparing feed images at 4:5 means no surprise cropping when you schedule.
Do the free tools need a Schedulely account?
No. All 3 tools work in the browser without signing up, entering an email address or adding a card. They are free to use as often as you like. If you later want to schedule posts, answer Instagram comments and DMs or send approval links, Schedulely itself is free during early access.
The tools exist because the same questions come up every day for anyone who posts for a living: will this caption fit, when should it go out, and what size should the image be. Answering them should not require a trial or a sales call.
There is no catch in the tools themselves. You do not need to create an account to see results, and each page links to its sources, so you can check every number for yourself.
If you find yourself using the tools every week, the Schedulely app brings the same checks into the planner. You write once, preview per network, and schedule to any of 14 networks: Instagram, Facebook Pages, X, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Threads, Pinterest, Google Business, Bluesky, Mastodon, Tumblr, Telegram and Discord. The week calendar shows each client in their own time zone, and bulk scheduling takes rows pasted from a spreadsheet. Schedulely does not offer Instagram analytics, so for your own best times, use each network's insights alongside the guide.
Who it's for, and who it isn't
A good fit if you
- Anyone writing one caption for several networks
- Social media managers who want sourced best time and size figures
- Designers preparing images and videos for more than one network
- Small business owners who want quick answers without signing up
Not the right fit if you
- Anyone looking for analytics on their own accounts, which these tools do not provide
- People who want a single guaranteed best time to post, which no honest study can give
Questions people ask
Are Schedulely's social media tools really free?
Yes. The character counter and post preview, the best time to post guide and the image and video size guide are free to use, with no account, email address or card needed. They run in your browser. Schedulely, the scheduling app, is separate and is also free during early access.
How many networks does the character counter cover?
The character counter covers 14 networks: Instagram, Facebook Pages, X, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Threads, Pinterest, Google Business, Bluesky, Mastodon, Tumblr, Telegram and Discord. Each limit comes from the network's official documentation and links to its source. For example, Instagram captions can be up to 2,200 characters, while a post on X is limited to 280 characters (weighted; URLs count 23; CJK count 2).
What is the best time to post on social media?
There is no single best time. Published studies from Sprout Social, Buffer, Hootsuite, Later, Metricool and SocialPilot each find different windows, depending on their data and method. The best time to post guide shows each study's results by network in 24 hour time, so you can pick a window to test and then compare with your own insights.
Where do the image and video sizes come from?
From each network's official documentation, such as developer references and help centre pages. The guide links every figure to its source. Where a network does not publish a figure, the guide leaves it out rather than repeating a number copied from another blog.
Can I use these tools inside the Schedulely app?
The planner in Schedulely shows a preview per network as you write, so you see the same checks while scheduling. The best time and size guides stay on this site as reference pages. Schedulely itself is free during early access and posts to 14 networks from one calendar.
Sources
Every outside fact on this page comes from the source listed here, checked on 29 October 2026. Prices and features change, so check the source before you decide.
- Instagram Graph API media reference developers.facebook.com/docs/instagram-platform/instagram-graph-api/reference/ig-user/media
- X counting characters docs.x.com/fundamentals/counting-characters
- Threads overview developers.facebook.com/docs/threads/overview
- Bluesky post lexicon github.com/bluesky-social/atproto/blob/main/lexicons/app/bsky/feed/post.json
- LinkedIn help: post length linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a528176
- Sprout Social best times to post sproutsocial.com/insights/best-times-to-post-on-social-media/
- Buffer best time to post on Instagram buffer.com/resources/when-is-the-best-time-to-post-on-instagram/
- Hootsuite best time to post blog.hootsuite.com/best-time-to-post-on-social-media/
- Later best time to post on Instagram later.com/blog/best-time-to-post-on-instagram/
- Metricool best time to post on TikTok metricool.com/best-time-post-tiktok/
- SocialPilot best time to post on YouTube socialpilot.co/insights/best-time-to-post-on-youtube
Related pages
- Free character counter for 14 social networksFree character counter from Schedulely: paste a caption once and check it against the official limits of 14…
- Best time to post on social media, by networkFree best time to post tool from Schedulely: what Sprout Social, Buffer, Hootsuite, Later, Metricool and…
- Social media image and video sizes for 2026Free size guide from Schedulely: image sizes, aspect ratios, file limits and video lengths for 14 networks…
Start free today
Everything that is built today is free during early access. Plans start later, and we will tell you well before anything is charged.
Free during early access.