Is SocialBee Free? The 14-Day Trial, Refunds and Real Discounts

Is SocialBee free? The short answer

No. SocialBee has no free plan. What it does offer is a 14-day trial of its Pro plan, with no credit card asked at sign-up ^[1]. For two weeks you get the full Pro feature set, including the team features that the cheaper plans leave out. When the trial ends, the account locks and nothing posts until you choose a paid plan. The cheapest of those, Bootstrap, costs $29 a month billed monthly, or $290 a year billed annually. Paid plans then carry a 30-day money-back guarantee on the first purchase.

That makes the trial the only free stretch you get, so it pays to treat it as a test with a plan. Fourteen days is enough to connect your profiles, build a posting schedule, let the AI draft a first batch of posts and watch real posts go out. It is not enough to judge analytics trends or a full month of evergreen recycling. Below we lay out what to check and in which order, what happens on day 15, how to pick a plan without losing features you came to rely on, and which discounts are real. We also cover the offers people search for that no longer exist.

What the 14-day trial actually includes

The trial runs on Pro, the plan SocialBee describes as unlocking every feature. That means 25 social profiles, 3 users per workspace, 5 workspaces, unlimited content categories and content sources, two years of analytics history, PDF report export and internal notes on posts. Nothing is held back for later. SocialBee's own posts about the trial say AI captions and images, publishing, inbox replies and collaboration are all available during those two weeks. The AI side has no monthly cap on any plan, under a fair-use rule SocialBee says may change, so you can generate as many drafts as you like while you test.

Support is open during the trial as well. The in-app chat is answered first by BuzzBee, an AI assistant, and a human agent takes over on request. You can also email the success team, book a group or one-on-one demo call, or join the monthly demo webinars. The pricing page adds that you can cancel at any time, so there is no commitment to undo if the tool is not for you. One practical detail: an email address can hold only one SocialBee account, and SocialBee cannot merge two accounts, so sign up with the address your team will keep using.

A day-by-day plan for the 14 days

Days 1 and 2: sign up and connect every profile

Accounts created since January 15, 2025 use a WebPros sign-on, since WebPros has owned SocialBee since August 2024, and Google sign-in has been available since September 2026. Once inside, connect every profile you plan to run, not just one test account. Connect Instagram through a Facebook Page rather than an Instagram login, because the Page route gives you posting, analytics, the inbox and tagging, while the Instagram login gives posting only. Install the iOS or Android app too, with push notifications on. You will need it later for every network that SocialBee cannot post to on its own.

Days 3 to 5: build categories and run Copilot

Content categories are the heart of SocialBee. Each category, such as tips, blog posts or promotions, has its own slots in a weekly posting schedule. Evergreen posts are re-shared automatically, while others expire or post once and are archived. Run Copilot early. It reads your website, or asks a few questions in a chat if you have none, and proposes platforms, up to 5 categories, a posting schedule and 10 AI posts with images, saved as drafts for review. Treat its output as a draft, not a launch. Edit the posts and check the tone. Running Copilot does not wipe your work: existing categories stay intact and new ones are added on top.

Days 6 to 9: schedule real posts and watch the reminders

Now fill the schedule with posts you would actually publish and let them go out. This is where the trial earns its keep, because publishing rules differ by network and by account type. SocialBee posts directly to Facebook Pages, Instagram Business, Threads, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube, Google Business Profile and Bluesky. Other formats fall back to mobile reminders, where the app sends a notification and you finish publishing by hand. Instagram Reels post directly only for Business profiles, multi-video TikTok posts go through reminders, and Facebook Groups have needed reminders since Meta closed the Groups API on April 22, 2024. Bluesky takes no video. Count how many reminders your real mix produces.

Days 10 to 12: test X, the inbox and analytics

X needs its own check. SocialBee's help center describes direct X posting as a $10-a-month add-on, and says that without it X posts go out as mobile reminders only ^[2]. Its pages disagree on whether that add-on applies only to old lifetime plans, so connect X during the trial, see how a scheduled post behaves, and confirm the cost with SocialBee in writing. Then open the inbox. It handles Facebook Pages and Instagram Business comments, mentions and DMs, plus comments on Threads, LinkedIn pages, X and YouTube. It leaves out TikTok, Pinterest, Bluesky and Google Business Profile, and it has no auto-replies or assignment.

Days 13 and 14: note what you used, then decide

Spend the last two days on analytics and on a written list. Open the reports for your networks, export a PDF, and check whether competitor analysis matters to you, since it covers Facebook only and SocialBee offers no listening or sentiment tracking. Then write down every feature you touched: how many profiles you connected, how many people logged in, whether anyone used approvals or internal notes, whether you exported a report. That list picks your plan. Because the trial runs on Pro, it is easy to grow used to features that the two cheaper plans do not include, and the list keeps that from becoming a surprise.

What happens when the trial ends

On day 15, posting stops automatically and the account locks until you choose a paid plan ^[3]. Nothing is charged, because no card was taken. Nothing is deleted either. SocialBee keeps your settings, your posting schedule and the content you created, and buying a plan after the trial has expired restores all of it, so posting picks up where it left off. You do not have to rush the decision on the last day. The cost of waiting is only that your queue sits idle while the account is locked.

There are two small things to watch. First, if you set up more than a cheaper plan allows, such as 25 profiles or three users, you will have to trim the setup or pay for add-ons when you pick Bootstrap or Accelerate. Second, SocialBee's terms say that on free trials, payment may be required once the trial ends rather than when billing details are entered. Since the trial asks for no card, that simply means the first charge comes when you choose a plan and check out. Prices exclude VAT, GST and other taxes.

Choosing your plan after the trial

The trial shows you Pro, but most solo users and many small teams will land on one of the two cheaper plans. Bootstrap costs $29 a month billed monthly, or $290 a year billed annually, for 5 profiles, 1 user, 1 workspace, 10 categories and 3 months of analytics data. Accelerate costs $49 a month billed monthly, or $490 a year billed annually, for 10 profiles, 50 categories and 2 years of analytics, still with 1 user. Pro costs $99 a month billed monthly, or $990 a year billed annually. The table shows the feature gates that no add-on can buy.

Read the table against the list you wrote on day 14. If you used approvals, CSV upload or the bulk editor, Bootstrap is out, because it has no approvals, no CSV upload and no bulk editor. If anyone left internal notes on posts or exported a PDF report, you need Pro or one of the three agency plans, which carry the same features with more room. Capacity is a different matter. Extra users and extra workspaces cost $10 a month each on any plan, and 5 extra profiles cost $15 a month, so a solo marketer who needs a second login can stay on a cheaper plan.

A three-person team that wants approvals but not notes has two routes. Accelerate plus two extra users costs $49 + $20 = $69 a month, by our arithmetic, against $99 a month for Pro billed monthly, which already includes three users. The $30 gap buys 15 more profiles, four more workspaces, internal notes and report export. Our SocialBee pricing guide walks through more setups, including agencies.

The 30-day guarantee, renewals and pausing

The guarantee is the second safety net after the trial, and it is narrower than it sounds. SocialBee gives a full refund if you ask within 30 days of your initial purchase, on monthly and yearly plans alike ^[4]. It covers the first purchase only. Renewals are not refundable, and there are no prorated refunds for cancelling mid-month, mid-year or after a renewal has been charged. Billing errors and overpayments can be refunded. Requests go by email to the success team, and every refund is at SocialBee's discretion. The guarantee also does not apply when SocialBee's team performs a migration for you.

Plans renew automatically every month or year until you cancel, charged to the card or account you used at purchase. FastSpring processes the payments and emails a reminder one month before a yearly renewal, so mark that email. From the billing settings you can pause a plan for 1 to 3 months, which stops the schedule and all posting, or cancel it. A cancelled plan keeps working until the end of the period already paid. In practice, the safest path after the trial is a monthly plan for a cycle or two, then a switch to yearly once the schedule runs smoothly.

Discounts that really exist

Two discounts are real and published. The first is annual billing. A yearly plan costs ten times the monthly price, which SocialBee calls two months free. Bootstrap, for example, comes to $24.20 a month billed annually. Annual billing also brings two extras. SocialBee currently advertises a free Concierge Migration, which moves your setup from another tool and otherwise costs $199 once, with a yearly plan as a time-limited offer, capped at 8 working hours on Bootstrap and Accelerate yearly and 16 on Pro yearly. Yearly buyers can also email support for a code that unlocks SocialBee University, its training course, at no cost. Keep in mind that a migration done by SocialBee removes the money-back guarantee, so moving your content yourself keeps the refund window open.

The second is for nonprofits and schools. Registered NGOs and educational institutions get 50% off all plans by emailing proof of their status, as long as they use SocialBee only for their own social accounts. The discount stacks with the yearly one, so a registered charity on Pro would pay $495 a year, by our arithmetic. Government bodies have a page of their own, but it states no discount. Our guide to SocialBee for nonprofits covers the application in more detail.

Offers that do not exist: lifetime deals, AppSumo and the old sale

People often search for a SocialBee lifetime deal or an AppSumo offer, but no SocialBee page sells either today. No lifetime deal is sold now. Some older customers mention lifetime plans on SocialBee's testimonial pages, and the help center still refers to lifetime users, but nothing on the pricing page or in the help center offers a one-time purchase today. A site promising a current lifetime or AppSumo deal is not selling a SocialBee offer, so confirm with SocialBee before paying anyone. If you see a coupon from an outside site, note that SocialBee's terms let it revoke expired or campaign discount codes without notice.

The pricing page also still shows a birthday sale, code SBDAY2026, that gave 50% off monthly plans for three months and 50% off yearly plans. It ran until June 10, and that offer is over. Do not plan your budget around it. Our view is simple: the only reliable discounts are the yearly rate and the 50% nonprofit and education discount. A yearly plan also brings the free course and, while the time-limited offer runs, a free migration. Everything else either expired or was never on sale to new customers.

How the trial compares with Buffer, Metricool and Later

SocialBee's model is a short trial followed by a paid plan. Buffer, Metricool and Later also keep a Free plan, which suits a buyer who wants to test for months rather than days. Buffer and Later add a 14-day trial with conditions of their own: Later's trial needs a card and converts to a paid plan unless cancelled, and Buffer's Team trial charges at the end if a card is on file, while without one the account drops to Free. Buffer's free plan covers 3 channels and 1 user, with 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time and 30 days of analytics history, and needs no card. Metricool's free plan covers 1 brand with all its networks except LinkedIn and X, up to 20 posts a month and 30 days of analytics; Metricool has no standard free trial of its paid plans. Later keeps a Free plan, which its help center describes as aimed at creators but its pricing page does not list, with 12 posts per profile a month.

The trade-off is depth against time. The free tiers of Buffer, Metricool and Later are capped tightly enough that a business will outgrow them quickly, while SocialBee's trial opens everything, including team features, for two weeks. If you want to try a tool slowly, one of those three is the gentler start. If you want to see the full product under real load before you pay, the Pro trial is more revealing. Our SocialBee alternatives guide compares these tools on more than the trial.

The bottom line

SocialBee is not free, but its 14-day Pro trial without a card is a fair way to find out whether the tool fits. Use the two weeks with a plan: connect every profile, build categories, run Copilot, let real posts go out, count the reminders your networks produce, check X with support, and test the inbox and analytics. When the trial ends, the account locks, and a paid plan unlocks your setup again, within that plan's limits. Pick the plan from the list of features you actually used, start monthly because the 30-day guarantee covers only the first purchase, and ignore the expired birthday sale and any lifetime deal, since none is sold now.