The starter tool stack for a new freelance social media manager
The tools a new freelance social media manager actually needs, what to pay for first, and what can wait. A lean starter stack for your first clients.
When you go freelance, it's easy to sign up for everything. A design tool, two schedulers, an analytics platform, a project manager, a CRM, a link-in-bio app. Six months later you're paying for eight subscriptions and using three.
This guide is about the opposite approach: the smallest set of tools that lets you run your first few clients properly, and the order to add things as you grow.
The jobs you need covered
Forget tool names for a minute. As a freelance social media manager, your week involves a handful of jobs:
- Planning what each client will post, and when
- Creating the content (shooting, editing, designing)
- Writing captions
- Getting the client to approve it
- Publishing it
- Replying to comments and DMs
- Reporting on how it did
- Getting paid
The aim is to cover all of these with as few tools as possible. Every extra tool is another login, another place where the latest version might live, and another monthly charge.
Stage one: your first one to three clients
Planning, approvals and publishing
This is where most freelancers overspend, often by stacking a planner, a scheduler and an approval tool. Look for one tool that handles a per-client calendar, client approvals and auto-publishing together.
Be careful with entry-level plans here. Several well-known schedulers only include client approvals on their higher tiers. For example, Later includes approvals from its Growth plan, and Buffer from its Team plan. Price the plan you'll actually need, not the one on the banner.
Koda covers this whole group on its Freelancer plan at £19 a month for up to three clients. That includes the content calendar, Instagram scheduling, client approval links, a DM and comment inbox, and monthly client reports. It's built in the UK and billed in pounds, so the price doesn't move with the dollar. (Koda is our product, for transparency.)
If money is very tight, you can start with Instagram's built-in scheduler and a shared Google Sheet. Just expect to outgrow it around the second or third client.
Design
Canva's free plan is enough to start. Upgrade when you need brand kits for several clients or background removal. If you already know Adobe tools, use them, but there's no need to learn a new design app in your first month.
Video editing
CapCut on your phone or desktop handles most short-form editing. If you're shooting more polished work, Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve (which has a capable free version) are the usual next steps. Choose one and get fast at it. Speed in your editor saves more time than any feature.
File storage
Google Drive or Dropbox, with one folder per client and a consistent structure inside it (raw footage, edits, finals, brand assets). The free tier won't last long once you're shooting video, so budget for extra storage early.
Invoicing and bookkeeping
In the UK, check what comes with your business bank account first. FreeAgent, for example, is included free with some banks, including Mettle. Otherwise, QuickBooks and Xero both have sole-trader plans. Whatever you choose, connect it to your bank so you aren't matching payments by hand in January.
A lean starter budget
| Job | Starter option | Paid from day one? |
|---|---|---|
| Planning, approvals, publishing, reporting | Koda Freelancer (£19/month) | Yes |
| Design | Canva Free | No |
| Video editing | CapCut or DaVinci Resolve (free) | No |
| Storage | Google Drive | Small upgrade within months |
| Bookkeeping | Bank-included or sole-trader plan | Depends on your bank |
You can run your first three clients well for the price of a couple of takeaways a month. Charge accordingly and the tools pay for themselves with the first invoice.
Stage two: four to ten clients
At this point admin becomes the bottleneck. You'll spend more of each week chasing, scheduling and reporting than creating.
This is when it's worth paying for:
- More client capacity in your scheduler. On Koda, the Studio plan covers up to 10 clients and unlimited team members for £29 a month.
- Canva Pro, for separate brand kits per client
- More cloud storage for video
- A proper proposal and contract template, so onboarding a new client takes an hour rather than a day
You may also bring in help, such as an editor or a junior to handle community management. Check that your tools allow extra team members without paying per seat, as that cost adds up quickly.
What can wait
Some tools are worth having eventually but rarely earn their keep in year one:
- Social listening and sentiment tools. Useful for brands with big audiences, rarely needed for local businesses.
- Standalone analytics platforms. Your scheduler's reports should cover monthly client reporting.
- A separate CRM. Until you have a pipeline of leads, a simple spreadsheet works.
- Separate link-in-bio subscriptions, which many clients won't need at all.
Questions to ask before paying for any tool
- Which job on my list does this do?
- Does a tool I already pay for do it well enough?
- What will it cost when I have twice as many clients?
- Can I cancel monthly, or am I locked in for a year?
- Will my client ever need to log in, and will they actually do it?
That last question catches a lot of tools. Anything that relies on a busy restaurant owner creating an account and remembering their password is going to cause you problems.
FAQ
Do I need a paid scheduling tool as a new freelancer?
Not on day one. Once you have more than one client and they need to approve posts, a tool with approvals built in will save you more time than it costs.
How much should a freelance social media manager spend on tools?
For the first few clients, £20 to £50 a month is enough for most people. Keep it below about 5% of your monthly client income.
Can I pass tool costs on to clients?
Yes. Many freelancers build software costs into their monthly retainer rather than listing them separately. If a client needs something specific, such as paid listening, bill that directly.