Zoho Social vs Later: Which is the Best in 2025?

by | Apr 8, 2025

Winner
Zoho CRM
4.5
  • Lead Management
  • Marketing Plus
  • Comprehensive Analytics
  • Bigin
  • Advanced Customization
  • Free Trial Available
  • Paid Plans from $14/month
Runner Up
Later
3.0
  • Calendar
  • Media Library
  • Conversations
  • Analytics
  • Linkin in bio
  • Free Trial Available
  • Paid Plans from $16.67/month
Zoho Social vs Later

Are you trying to pick the best tool to help you share stuff online?

It can be tough! Lots of people who use the internet want to manage their posts easily.

Two popular helpers are Zoho Social and Later.

Maybe you’re wondering which one is better for you in 2025.

Don’t worry! 

We’ll compare Zoho Social vs Later closely, helping you see what each one does best.

By the end, you’ll have a much clearer idea of which tool will make your online sharing easier.

Let’s dive in!

Overview

We put both Zoho Social and Later to the test, just like you might.

We tried posting updates, scheduling for later, and checking how well our posts did.

This hands-on experience helped us clearly see where each tool shines and where it might fall short for different people.

ZOHO-CTA
4.5out of 5

Want a simple yet powerful CRM to organize your customer relationships? You can experience it risk-free!

Pricing: It has a free trial. The premium plan starts at $14/month.

Key Features:

  • Contact Management
  • Sales Force Automation
  • Analytics & Reporting
Later-CTA
3out of 5

Later’s visual planner and Best Time to Post feature help you get the most out of your content. Explore it’s features today!

Pricing: It has a free trial. Paid plan Starts at $16.67/month

Key Features:

  • Visual Planner
  • Best Time to Post
  • Linkin. bio

What is Zoho Social?

So, what’s the deal with Zoho Social? It’s a tool for managing all your social media accounts in one place.

Think of it as a central hub for your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and more.

It helps you plan posts, talk to your followers, and see how well your posts are doing.

Also, explore our favorite Zoho Social alternatives

Zoho Social homepage

Our Take

ZOHO-CTA

Elevate your social media strategy with Zoho Social. From smart scheduling and social listening to in-depth analytics, Discover the power of Zoho Social today!

Key Benefits

  • Customization is king: Tailor Zoho CRM to fit your exact workflow.
  • Affordable for everyone: Starts with a free plan for up to 3 users.
  • Mobile app access: Manage your CRM on the go, anytime, anywhere.
  • Built-in analytics: Track critical metrics and gain valuable insights.

Pricing

  • Standard: $14/user/month.
  • Professional: $23/user/month.
  • Enterprise:$40 /user/month.
  • Ultimate: $52/user/month.
Zoho CRM pricing

Pros

  • Super easy to use
  • Amazing price
  • The SmartQ feature
  • Highly customizable.
  • Integrates with many apps.

Cons

  • Fewer integrations
  • Reporting could be more detailed.
  • More advanced social listening.
  • Can get expensive with many users.

What is Later?

So, what about Later? Well, this tool is really focused on making your social media look good, especially Instagram.

It’s super visual. You can plan out your feed by dragging and dropping pictures.

It also helps you schedule posts for different times.

If you care a lot about how your social media looks, Later might be for you.

Also, explore our favorite Later alternatives

later homepage

Our Take

Later-CTA

Later is a great choice for businesses that prioritize visual content and Instagram marketing. It’s easy to use, affordable, and offers a range of features to help you create & schedule beautiful, engaging content.

Key Benefits

  • Features: Later offers scheduling, publishing, analytics, and a visual planner for creating and previewing your social media content.
  • Supported social networks: It integrates with Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and TikTok.
  • Ease of use: The interface is drag-and-drop and very visual, making it easy to plan and schedule your content.
  • Customer support: Later offers email and chat support, as well as a comprehensive help center.
  • Integrations: It connects with a few key tools, such as Canva, Unsplash, and Dropbox.
  • Scalability: Later offers plans for businesses of all sizes, from solopreneurs to large teams.

Pricing

Later has a free plan with limited features. Paid plans start at $18/month and go up depending on the number of social profiles and users you need.

  • Starter: $16.67/month
  • Growth: $30/month
  • Advanced: $53.33/month
later pricing

Pros

  • Intuitive interface.
  • Visual planning.
  • Feature-rich.
  • Convenient mobile apps.
  • Free plan option.

Cons

  • Limited free features.
  • Pricey for some.
  • Advanced features have a learning curve.

Feature Comparison

For social media managers, Zoho Social is the all-in-one platform integrating business functions, while Later is the specialized later social media scheduler for visual planning and Instagram growth.

1. Publishing and Scheduling Tools

  • Zoho Social: This social media management platform features powerful scheduling features like SmartQ to find optimal times to schedule posts. You can instantly publish posts and manage an extensive publishing queue across multiple platforms.
  • Later: The later social media scheduler is known for its visual planning power. You can drop posts into a calendar for precise timing. Its key features are focused on maximizing the visual impact of social media posts.

2. Supported Platforms and Niche Focus

  • Zoho Social: It supports a broader range of social media platforms and social media channels than Later, including Google Business Profile, making it ideal for a social media manager handling all social channels for an active social media presence.
  • Later: It excels on visual social platforms like Instagram and TikTok, offering specific features like the visual planner. While it supports multiple platforms, its core strength is in helping with Instagram posts and aesthetics.
Zoho social CRM

3. Integrations and Ecosystem

  • Zoho Social: A major advantage is its tight integration with other zoho apps like Zoho CRM and Zoho Desk. This allows the social media manager to connect social efforts with sales and customer interactions across multiple accounts within the zoho apps ecosystem.
  • Later: It has standard integrations, but it does not offer the deep, native ecosystem integration that Zoho Social provides. Its key features are centered around visual content and social media management app functionality.

4. Content Inspiration and Curation

  • Zoho Social: It focuses on using data and analytics to inform your social media campaigns. It provides content suggestions but is not primarily a tool for post ideas or visual curation.
  • Later: It is designed to spark post ideas and helps discover user generated content to share. Its content features, including hashtag suggestions, are geared toward making content creation easy and efficient.

5. Analytics and Performance

  • Zoho Social: It provides in-depth social media performance analytics and detailed reports, with a strong focus on tracking follower demographics and engagement across multiple social media accounts.
  • Later: Its analytics are visual and powerful, especially for Instagram. The reports focus on post performance, click-through rates from the Link-in-Bio tool, and provide hashtag suggestions for future social media posts.

6. Mobile App Functionality

  • Zoho Social: The zoho social mobile app is a fully functional social media management app, allowing users to schedule, monitor, and respond to customer interactions while on the go.
  • Later: The later mobile app is highly regarded for its visual planner and drag-and-drop posts features. The later social media scheduler is easy to use from a smartphone, which is essential for social media managers.
Analytics in Later

7. Team Collaboration

  • Zoho Social: It offers strong collaboration features, including approval workflow, multiple social channels and the ability to manage multiple social media accounts with clear user roles.
  • Later: It also supports collaboration, but its approval features are sometimes considered less robust than Zoho Social’s, especially for large marketing teams managing complex social media campaigns.

8. Engagement and Social Inbox

  • Zoho Social: It features a comprehensive social inbox for managing & responding to messages, user interface, comments, & mentions across multiple social media accounts.
  • Later: It offers a Conversations feature for managing comments, but Zoho Social is generally considered to have the more unified and feature-rich inbox for cross-platform customer interactions.

9. Media Management

  • Zoho Social: It provides a media library to store and manage your photos and videos, which is helpful for maintaining an active social media presence.
  • Later: It also provides a media library that is highly visual, allowing users to upload and organize their visual assets before visually planning them on the later social media scheduler.

What Should You Check in social media management tools?

Here’s a quick list of other important things to think about:

  • Does it work with all the social media platforms you use?
  • Can you easily see your whole content calendar and monitor hashtags?
  • Does it have good analytics and reporting to show how you’re doing?
  • Is it easy for your entire team to use (team collaboration)?
  • What do other user reviews say about how user-friendly it is?
  • How good is their customer support if you have problems?
  • Does it fit your budget, looking at their pricing plans?

Final Verdict

Okay, so we looked at both Zoho Social and Later social media management tool.

It really comes down to what you need most in social media management platforms. 

If you care a lot about how your Instagram looks and want a super easy way to plan your pictures, Later is probably a good choice. 

It’s also pretty simple to get started.

We think Zoho Social has a slight edge if you want something that works well for many different sites and provides lots of information.

Think about what’s most important for you and pick the one that fits best. You got this!

More of Zoho Social

More of Later

Frequently Asked Questions

Is one better for Instagram?

Later often wins for Instagram with its visual planning and automatically posted first comment. If that’s key for you, go with Later. Zoho Social works with it too, but it isn’t as focused on the visual side.

Which costs less overall?

Both have free options with limits. Paid plans differ, so check their current prices and see what features you need to compare the value for your situation.

Can my team use it?

Yes, both have team features in paid plans and mobile apps. Zoho Social often has more options for teams and might let more people join, depending on the plan. Look at their squad features to see what works best for you.

Which has better reports?

Zoho Social usually provides more detailed reports for different social media sites. If you really need to analyze your stats, Zoho Social might be the better choice. Later, reports focus more on the performance of your pictures and videos.

Can I schedule for all my sites?

Yes, you can schedule posts on both for many social media sites. However, the exact sites they work with and how easy it is might be different. Zoho Social works with more sites and post ideas directly, while Later is really good for sites like Instagram that are all about visuals.

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