The 17 best social media & creator apps in 2026
Our pick: The best social media app in 2026 is YouTube (8.7/10), followed by Buffer and Instagram.
These are the apps where people post, plus the tools creators use to edit, plan and schedule. We check what each one is best at, how easy it is to grow there, ads, and what it does with your data.
YouTubeThe biggest home for videos, Shorts and live streams
8.7
Most private
Bluesky8.5 overall
Best design
TikTok8.5 overall
Quick answers
The full ranking
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1
YouTube8.7
The biggest home for videos, Shorts and live streams 8.70 -
2
Buffer8.7
Simple post scheduling with a generous free plan 8.70 -
3
Instagram8.6
Photos, Reels and Stories with a huge audience 8.60 -
4
TikTok8.5
Short videos picked for you, plus LIVE and Shop 8.50 -
5
Edits8.5
Instagram's free video editor with no watermark 8.50 -
6
Bluesky8.5
An open, ad-free social app where you pick your feeds 8.50 -
7
Descript8.4
Edit video and podcasts by editing the words 8.40 -
8
Riverside8.3
Record podcasts and video interviews in studio quality 8.30 -
9
InShot8.3
Easy phone video editor for quick social clips 8.30 -
10
Spotify for Creators8.3
Free podcast hosting with video, stats and ways to earn 8.30 -
11
Pinterest8.3
Save ideas and find looks, recipes and projects 8.30 -
12
Reddit8.2
Thousands of communities for every topic and hobby 8.20 -
13
Threads8.2
Meta's text app for quick posts and replies 8.20 -
14
Metricool8.1
Plan, post and track all your social accounts in one place 8.10 -
15
Later8.1
Visual planner and scheduler built around Instagram 8.10 -
16
Snapchat8.0
Disappearing photo chats, Stories and fun Lenses 8.00 -
17
X (Twitter)7.7
Fast news, live talk and hot takes in short posts 7.70
Votes don't change our scores. They show whether readers agree with the order — sort by Most upvoted to see theirs.
Head to head
Guides for social media & creator tools
Questions
What is the best social media app in 2026?
YouTube is our top pick, with an overall score of 8.7 out of 10. YouTube is still the best place to watch and post longer videos. You can upload long videos, Shorts and live streams, all for free. Creators start earning from ads at 1,000 subscribers plus enough watch time, which is the clearest pay system of any big app. The downsides are lots of ads unless you pay for Premium, and Google links a lot of what you watch to your account.
What is the best free social media app?
YouTube is also the best option you can use for free. Yes. Watching and posting are free with ads. In the US, YouTube Premium costs $15.99 a month and Premium Lite costs $8.99 a month, and both cost more if you pay through the iPhone app.
Which social media app is best for privacy?
Bluesky has the highest privacy score in this category at 8.4 out of 10.