Shield has shut down. What reads your LinkedIn analytics now

8 min read
VoiceMoatPrateek Singh
Founder
Summarize with AIClaudeChatGPTPerplexity

We sell a LinkedIn writing tool, so weigh this accordingly. ‼️ On this page we are not the answer and we say so, because what Shield did is not what we do. Every price below was read off the vendor's own pricing page on 27 August 2026, and no capability is attributed to any tool unless it appears on that tool's own page.

What Shield's notice actually says

Quick answer

Shield's site now serves a single page headed "Shield is winding down." It names a cause directly: "Both Google and LinkedIn made it clear that we could not continue operating Shield as it was built. We decided not to fight it." It is signed by the two co-founders.

  • It had run for seven years. The notice says "Since 2018, Shield has helped people understand the work they were doing on LinkedIn."
  • ‼️ The cause is the part worth reading twice if you buy tools in this category. A tool that reads a platform's data does not control that platform, and when the platform's position changes, the tool changes with it or stops.
  • ⚠️ The notice carries no date, so we can only tell you it was live when we read it on 27 August 2026. We could not find a fuller statement, and archive snapshots are not reachable from our tooling.
  • We are not going to speculate about what happened. The notice names Google and LinkedIn and gives no further detail, and neither will this page.

The same pattern on a different platform, with dates attached, is in our social media tools answers under whether a tool will still support the platform you need next year.

Sources: Shield's wind-down notice.

AuthoredUp, the closest like-for-like

Quick answer

AuthoredUp is $19.95 a month for one profile, or $16.63 a month billed at $199.50 a year. Analytics and post history are its core rather than a feature bolted onto a scheduler, which makes it the nearest thing to what Shield did. ‼️ It is also the only tool here whose annual figures reconcile exactly.

PlanMonthlyAnnualDoes it reconcile?
Individual, 1 profile$19.95/mo$16.63/mo, billed at $199.50/year✅ $16.63 x 12 = $199.56
Business, 3+ profiles$14.95 per profile/mo$12.46 per profile/mo, billed at $149.50/year✅ $12.46 x 12 = $149.52
AuthoredUp's published plans, read on 27 August 2026. Both annual figures multiply out to the stated yearly total.
  • What its own page says it does: analytics, "Monitor your LinkedIn performance", "Access your posts insights", saved posts and drafts, an editor with text styling and preview, "300+ hooks and post endings" and "1-click post reuse".
  • ‼️ It is not an AI writer and does not claim to be. If you also wanted drafting, this is not that, and the honest move is to say so rather than imply it covers both.
  • The clean arithmetic is worth something here specifically. You are replacing a tool that just disappeared, so a vendor whose own numbers add up is a small but real signal.

Sources: AuthoredUp pricing.

Taplio and Supergrow, if you want analytics inside a bigger tool

Quick answer

Taplio is $39 a month and Supergrow is $19, and both list analytics as part of a broader LinkedIn product rather than as the product. ‼️ Both also have arithmetic problems on their own pricing pages, which matters most at the moment you are choosing an annual plan.

ToolEntry monthlyEntry yearlyThe problem on its own page
Taplio$39/mo$32/mo ($384/yr)‼️ Its Pro card says $149/mo billed yearly and "Cancel anytime, $1,188 billed annually". $149 x 12 is $1,788
Supergrow$19/mo$16/mo‼️ It says "20% off on all plans when you pay annually" then lists $133 for Teams. 20% off $139 is $111.20
Both vendors' published entry pricing, read on 27 August 2026 in both billing positions, with the problem on each page stated.
  • What Taplio's own site says about analytics: "Analyse: See what's working and double down." Its pricing page renders no prices at all in a browser; the figures above came from the page's own underlying data.
  • What Supergrow's own page says: "Insights & Analytics", "Team Analytics", and managing multiple client voices from one workspace. Its Teams plan is $139 a month and includes four accounts.
  • ‼️ Neither discrepancy means the vendor is dishonest, and we are not saying that. It means the number on the page cannot be relied on without confirming it at checkout, which is exactly when it costs you.
  • Both are broader than Shield was, so if you only ever used Shield for analytics you would be buying a lot you did not ask for.

Fuller pricing for both is at our Taplio alternatives breakdown.

Sources: Taplio pricing, Supergrow pricing.

LinkedIn's own analytics, which cost nothing

Quick answer

LinkedIn provides post and profile analytics natively, at no cost. They are less flexible than a dedicated tool and the history is shorter, but they are first-party and they cannot be withdrawn by a third party going out of business. After the month LinkedIn tooling has just had, that is not a small point.

  • ‼️ This is the option every published alternatives list skips, because nobody earns anything by recommending it. We do not either.
  • What you give up is comparison across time in the shape you want it, export, and the convenience of one view across several accounts. Those are real losses and a paid tool buys them back.
  • What you gain is that the data comes from the platform itself, with no third party in between and nothing to migrate when a vendor closes.
  • ⚠️ Read LinkedIn's own caveat on its numbers before you build a spreadsheet on them. We cover what LinkedIn says about the precision of its own analytics in our LinkedIn answers.
  • The sensible first step after losing Shield is to check whether native analytics actually covers what you used Shield for, before paying for a replacement you may not need.

Where we fit, and on this page we do not

Quick answer

We make VoiceMoat, and it is a writing tool. Shield read your LinkedIn data and told you what happened. That is a different product from one that helps you write the next post. ‼️ If LinkedIn post analytics is what you lost, the answer on this page is AuthoredUp or LinkedIn's own analytics, not us.

  • ‼️ We are not going to stretch a writing tool into an analytics recommendation just because this is our page and you arrived on it looking for a replacement.
  • Where we would be relevant is a different job: if losing Shield has you rethinking the whole LinkedIn habit rather than just the dashboard, drafting is the part we work on.
  • Our prices, for completeness and on the same basis as the tables above: Free at $0, Creator $35 a month, Pro $69, Enterprise $150, with annual billed at ten times monthly.

Sources: VoiceMoat pricing.

What this page could not answer

Several things were researched, could not be verified against something you can open, and are therefore left off this page rather than included with a hedge.

  • ‼️ When Shield's notice went up, and what happens to your data. The notice carries no date and says nothing about data export or retention. Archive snapshots are not reachable from our tooling, so we cannot tell you how long the page has been there.
  • What "made it clear" means in practice. The notice names Google and LinkedIn and gives no detail. We are not going to reconstruct it from guesswork.
  • Kleo is not listed as an alternative here, although it is a LinkedIn tool at $99 a month, because its own feature list covers ideating, writing, designing and publishing and names no analytics. Listing it would be inventing a capability.
  • ⚠️ Whether any of these tools reads LinkedIn data the way Shield did. We have not run them side by side and no claim about analytics depth or accuracy appears on this page.
  • ⚠️ Prices change. Everything here was read on 27 August 2026 in both billing positions where a toggle exists.
  • We sell a competing writing tool, which is why this page names the option that pays us nothing and ends by telling you we are not the answer.

Frequently asked questions

Is Shield shutting down?
Yes. Its site carries a wind-down notice from its two co-founders. The notice says that both Google and LinkedIn made clear it could not continue operating as it was built, and that they decided not to fight it. The notice carries no date.
What is the best Shield alternative for LinkedIn analytics?
Of the tools we could verify, AuthoredUp is the closest like-for-like at $19.95 a month for one profile, because analytics and post history are its core rather than an add-on. Taplio and Supergrow both include analytics inside a broader all-in-one product.
Is there a free way to see LinkedIn analytics?
LinkedIn provides post and profile analytics natively at no cost. It is less flexible than a dedicated tool and its history is shorter, but it is first-party data and it does not depend on a third party staying in business.
Why did Shield close?
Its own notice names the cause: both Google and LinkedIn made clear it could not continue operating as it was built. The notice does not go into further detail, and we have not found a fuller statement from the company.

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AI disclosure

Researched and written by Prateek Singh. Shield's wind-down notice and every price on this page were read first-hand on 27 August 2026, with both billing positions checked where a toggle exists.