Why People Look for Buffer Alternatives
Buffer is a good scheduler and its free plan is a fair one: 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time, an AI Assistant and an API, all for $0 according to Buffer's pricing page. People leave for a handful of specific reasons, and the right replacement depends on which one is yours.
The first is the price per channel. Essentials costs $6 per channel a month billed monthly, so 5 channels are $30 and 10 channels are $60, and when you upgrade you pay for every connected channel, including the three that were free. The second is seats: Essentials has one user, and the Team plan with unlimited users is $12 per channel. The third is volume work. Buffer's CSV upload takes 100 posts per channel at a time on paid plans, and only text and single image posts, per Buffer's bulk upload guide, and its pricing page lists no RSS automations or post recycling.
Two more reasons have nothing to do with price. Some teams want an open source tool they can host and inspect themselves. And some founders discover that a scheduler was never their problem: the queue is empty because nobody has time to make the posts. The list below covers all five cases. We make Spreadcast. It comes first because it is the only tool here that makes the posts for you, and the other eight Buffer competitors are ranked by how well they replace Buffer as a scheduler. For a direct comparison with Buffer alone, see our Buffer alternative page.
Buffer Pricing in 2026: What Free, Essentials and Team Cost
Before you compare apps like Buffer, here is what Buffer itself charges. Every figure comes from Buffer's pricing page and Buffer's machine readable pricing file, read on October 11, 2026. Buffer says its prices were last updated in November 2025.
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly | Users | Scheduled posts | The limit people hit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 1 | 10 per channel at one time, on up to 3 channels | 30 days of analytics history, 3 tags, no first comment scheduling, no reports |
| Essentials | $6 per channel a month | $5 per channel a month | 1 | Unlimited, with a fair use cap of 5,000 per channel | One user and no approval workflows |
| Team | $12 per channel a month | $10 per channel a month | Unlimited | Unlimited, with the same fair use cap | Seats and approvals double the price of every channel |
Volume discounts on monthly billing: channels 1 to 10 cost the full rate, channels 11 to 25 cost $4 each on either plan, channels 26 to 50 cost $3 each, and channels past 50 cost $1 each on Essentials or $2 on Team. So 25 channels on Essentials are $120 a month (10 times $6 plus 15 times $4). Paid plans start with a 14 day free trial, and nonprofits get 50% off.
Is Buffer Free? How Much Buffer Costs Once You Grow
Yes, Buffer is free for up to 3 channels, and the free plan has no end date. You get 10 scheduled posts per channel at one time (a slot refills when a post publishes), 100 saved ideas, the AI Assistant, replies to comments and API access. X, LinkedIn and Bluesky can all be among the 3 channels, which is why Buffer is still a common answer to searches for a free social media scheduler.
How much Buffer costs after that depends on one number: connected channels. The fourth channel moves you to Essentials and you then pay for all four, so the step up from free is $24 a month billed monthly (4 times $6). A founder posting to 8 networks pays $48 a month, or $40 on yearly billing (8 times $5). Add a second person who has to approve posts and you need Team, which is $96 a month for the same 8 channels (8 times $12).
Smaller limits matter too. On Free, Insights cover 30 days, and exporting them as CSV or PDF is for paid plans, per Buffer's guide to Insights. Instagram personal profiles and Facebook groups publish by reminder notification only, so Buffer cannot post to them without you.
Buffer Alternatives at a Glance
Buffer is in the first row as the baseline, and Spreadcast, which is ours, comes next. Starting prices are for monthly billing in US dollars unless the row says otherwise. The last column is the one a price per channel leaves out: who makes the post.
| Tool | Best for | Free plan | Starting price | Open source | Makes the posts for you |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buffer (baseline) | Simple scheduling on 12 channels | Yes: 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts each | $6 per channel a month | No | No. AI helps with wording |
| Spreadcast | App founders: every post designed and published for you | Yes: 1 app, every post drafted for you | $29 a month flat for 8 networks, with design, captions and publishing included | No | Yes. Spreadcast designs it and publishes it for you |
| Publer | The lowest price per account, bulk uploads, RSS | Yes: 3 accounts, no X | $5 a month for 1 account | No | No. AI drafts from your prompt |
| Metricool | Analytics on a free plan | Yes: 1 brand, 20 posts a month, no LinkedIn or X | $25 a month for up to 5 brands | No | No. AI drafts from your prompt |
| Postiz | Open source with a hosted option | Self hosted only | $29 a month hosted, 5 channels | Yes, AGPL 3.0 | No. AI drafts from your prompt |
| Typefully | Text posts and threads, API on the free plan | Yes: 1 social set, 10 posts a month | $99 a year | No | No. AI helps with wording |
| Mixpost | Self hosting for a one time price | Lite edition, self hosted | $299 once for Pro | Lite only, MIT | No. AI assistant in Pro |
| SocialBee | Evergreen posts in recycling categories | No, 14 day trial | $29 a month, 5 profiles | No | No. AI drafts from your prompt |
| Later | Instagram and TikTok visual planning | Not on the pricing page | $25 a month, 1 social set | No | No. AI caption credits |
| Hootsuite | Larger teams: inbox, monitoring, approvals | No, 14 day trial | $99 a month per user, billed annually | No | No. AI drafts from your prompt |
Prices and limits were read from each vendor's own pages on October 11, 2026 and exclude tax. Sources are linked in each entry below.
The 9 Best Buffer Alternatives, With Prices, Pros and Cons
Spreadcast is ours and comes first, because it is the only tool here that makes the posts for you. The eight schedulers after it are ranked by how well they replace Buffer: the closest replacements first, the specialist tools after. Prices were read from each vendor's own pages on October 11, 2026.
- 1
Spreadcast
Free, then $29 a month flat with publishing to 8 networks includedBest if your queue is empty: it designs the posts and publishes them for you
Spreadcast is ours, and it does the step every scheduler below leaves to you: it makes the post. You paste your App Store link once at the start page, and it checks the public listing every day. A new version becomes an update announcement, a new 5 star review or a rating milestone becomes a thank you post, and a week with no update gets a post about one feature of the app. Spreadcast designs each one as a 1080 by 1350 image from your icon, screenshots and colors, writes a caption for each network, and on Pro publishes it to Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, Threads, Pinterest, Bluesky, Mastodon, Telegram and Discord, plus YouTube for video posts, after one tap of approval or on full autopilot.
Now the price. Buffer Essentials is $6 a channel billed monthly, so 8 networks cost $48 a month (8 times $6) before anyone has made a post. Spreadcast Pro is $29 a month flat for the same 8 networks, with the posts designed, captioned and published. The free plan drafts every post for 1 app, ready to download with a small Spreadcast mark, so you can judge the designs before paying. Studio is $79 a month for 5 apps and 3 seats, and each app keeps its own brand.
Setup is the App Store link and nothing else: no SDK, no code and no access to your developer account. Each post takes the next free slot on a calendar, and posts that quote a reviewer wait for your approval, because Apple's ratings and reviews guidance allows reviews in marketing only with the reviewer's permission. It is built for apps on the App Store and makes still image posts, with basic post stats. Keep one of the schedulers below for video, a comment inbox or posts about other topics. If you work in Claude or ChatGPT, Spreadcast's MCP server lets the assistant design posts and carousels in your app's brand, write captions, schedule and read analytics in your account, drafts only by default.
Pros
- Designs each post for you from your icon, screenshots and colors
- Publishes to 8 networks, with a caption written for each one
- Starts from one App Store link, with no SDK and no code
- The free plan drafts every post for 1 app
- $29 a month flat, with publishing included
- MCP server so Claude or ChatGPT can design posts, write captions and schedule them, drafts only by default
Cons
- Built for apps on the App Store
- Still image posts, so keep an editor for video
- 2
Publer
Free, then from $5 a month for 1 accountBest like for like replacement at a lower price per account
Publer does the same core job as Buffer and goes further on bulk work. The free plan matches Buffer on size (3 social accounts, 10 scheduled posts per account) but X accounts cannot be connected on it and published posts are kept for only 24 hours. Professional starts at $5 a month for one account and includes X, unlimited scheduling and RSS automations. Details are in Publer's plans and pricing article, and our Publer comparison goes deeper.
The bulk tools are the reason to switch. One CSV file schedules up to 500 posts at once on paid plans, per Publer's CSV upload article, against 100 per channel per upload on Buffer. Publer connects 13 networks, with Telegram, WordPress, Mastodon and Bluesky on the list in Publer's supported networks article.
Pricing follows the number of accounts. On October 11, 2026 the price selector showed Professional at $12 a month for 3 accounts, $20 for 5, $32 for 8 and $36 for 10, because every tenth account is free, and yearly billing takes 20% off. Business, which adds analytics, post recycling, approval workflows and unlimited AI prompts, was $35 for 5 accounts. Skip Publer if you need analytics on the cheapest tier or an API open to every customer.
Pros
- Lowest price per account on this list: $20 a month for 5, $36 for 10
- CSV uploads of up to 500 posts at once on paid plans
- X and RSS automations included from the Professional plan
- 13 networks, with Telegram, WordPress and Mastodon among them
Cons
- No X on the free plan, and published posts are kept for 24 hours
- Analytics, recycling and unlimited AI prompts need Business, from $10 a month for one account
- The API is open only to approved Business and Enterprise customers
- 3
Metricool
Free, then from $25 a monthBest free Buffer alternative if you care about analytics
Metricool started as an analytics tool and it shows: the free plan includes 30 days of analytics and 5 competitor profiles along with scheduling. Free covers 1 brand and 20 scheduled posts a month, with LinkedIn and X left out. Starter is $25 a month billed monthly ($20 billed annually) for up to 5 brands, with unlimited scheduling under a fair use policy, LinkedIn, reports in PDF and PPT and unlimited analytics history, per Metricool's pricing page. See also our Metricool comparison.
Metricool prices by brand instead of by channel. A brand is one business with one profile on each network, so a single brand can hold Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Threads, Pinterest, YouTube, Bluesky and Google Business Profile for one price. That is cheap for one company on many networks and less so for someone who runs several accounts on the same network.
Two costs sit outside the headline price. X is a paid extra at $10 a month for each connected account, per Metricool's guide to the X add on, and it cannot be added to the free plan, so one brand with X on Starter comes to $35 a month ($25 plus $10). The API, team roles and the post approval system start on Advanced at $67 a month billed monthly ($53 annually) for 15 brands.
Pros
- Free plan with 30 days of analytics and 5 competitor profiles
- One price per brand covers a profile on every supported network
- Unlimited analytics history and PDF and PPT reports on Starter
- AI assistant and MCP server on every plan
Cons
- The free plan leaves out LinkedIn and X and stops at 20 posts a month
- X costs $10 a month per connected account on top of a paid plan
- API access and post approvals start on Advanced at $67 a month
- 4
Postiz
Free to self host, hosted from $29 a monthBest open source Buffer alternative
Postiz is the answer for most people searching for a Buffer alternative on GitHub. The Postiz repository is licensed under AGPL 3.0 and showed about 37,000 stars in October 2026. You can run it on your own server for free, or pay for the hosted version: Postiz pricing lists Standard at $29 a month for 5 channels and Team at $39 for 10 channels with unlimited team members, each with a 7 day trial.
Postiz is built for people who want software, or an AI agent, to do the scheduling. Every hosted plan includes the public API, webhooks, a command line tool and an MCP server, along with an AI copilot, RSS auto posting, repeated posts for evergreen content and analytics. The channel list runs to about 30 destinations, Reddit, Discord, Telegram and Mastodon among them.
The plans are flat, which pays off as you add channels: Pro is $49 a month for 30 channels and Ultimate is $99 for 100. Thirty channels on Buffer Essentials would cost $135 a month on monthly billing (10 times $6, 15 times $4 and 5 times $3). Skip the self hosted route if you need to post this week, because each network has to approve your own developer app first.
Pros
- Open source under AGPL 3.0 and free to self host
- API, webhooks and an MCP server on every hosted plan
- Flat plans: 30 channels for $49 a month, 100 for $99
- Unlimited team members from the Team plan
Cons
- No free hosted plan, only a 7 day trial
- Self hosting means getting your own developer apps approved, which Postiz says can take weeks
- The $29 Standard plan has no team members
- 5
Typefully
Free, then $99 a yearBest for writing text posts and threads, with an API on the free plan
Typefully is a writing tool first and a scheduler second. It is built around a clean editor for X posts and threads, LinkedIn posts and their equivalents on Threads, Bluesky and Mastodon. Typefully's pricing page lists a free plan with 1 social set, 10 posts a month and API access, a Creator plan at $99 a year with 1,000 posts a month, X analytics and AI writing, and a Business plan at $20 a month per social set ($18 billed yearly) with unlimited users.
The plan comparison reads like a writer's wish list: thread numbering, long form posts, polls, a first comment and PDF carousels for LinkedIn, scheduled retweets, and X analytics with a CSV download. The API and an MCP server sit on the free plan, which is rare at $0.
Creator works out to $8.25 a month ($99 divided by 12), paid once a year, for one social set and one user. Business raises the cap to 1,500 posts a month and allows up to 50 social sets. Skip Typefully if any of your channels is Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or Pinterest, because none of them is on its platform list.
Pros
- API and MCP access on the free plan
- An editor built for threads and long text posts
- Publishes to X, LinkedIn, Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon and Substack
- Unlimited users on the Business plan
Cons
- No Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or Pinterest
- The free plan stops at 10 posts a month
- Creator is sold with annual billing only
- 6
Mixpost
Lite free, Pro $299 one timeBest if you want to self host and pay once
Mixpost is software you install on your own server. The Lite edition is free and open source (the Mixpost repository uses the MIT license), and it publishes to Facebook Pages, X and Mastodon. Pro costs $299 as a one time payment with a year of updates, per Mixpost pricing, and adds Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Threads, Bluesky and Google Business Profile along with workspaces, a queue, approvals, an API and an AI assistant.
Pro has no fee per channel or per seat: the pricing page promises unlimited social accounts and unlimited team members, plus an engagement inbox, webhooks and an MCP server. For scale, $299 is what 5 channels on Buffer Essentials cost in 10 months ($30 times 10 is $300).
The work moves to you. Mixpost needs PHP 8.3 or newer, MySQL, Redis and a web server, or its Docker image. If that sounds heavy, Mixpost Cloud is the same tool hosted for you from $29 a month for 1 brand and 100 scheduled posts, though X is missing from the 11 platforms on the Cloud list.
Pros
- Pay $299 once, with no fee per channel or per seat
- The Lite edition is MIT licensed and free
- Pro adds an inbox, approvals, an API and webhooks on your own server
- A hosted Cloud version exists from $29 a month
Cons
- You run and maintain a server with PHP 8.3, MySQL and Redis
- Lite publishes to Facebook Pages, X and Mastodon only
- Updates after the first year need a renewal
- 7
SocialBee
From $29 a month, no free planBest for evergreen content that repeats by category
SocialBee organizes posts into content categories (tips, promotions, blog links) and cycles through each category on a schedule, recycling evergreen posts as it goes. SocialBee's pricing page lists Bootstrap at $29 a month billed monthly ($24 billed annually) with 5 social profiles, 1 user and 10 content categories, Accelerate at $49 with 10 profiles, and Pro at $99 with 25 profiles and 3 users per workspace. AI captions and images are included.
The category system is the product. You fill a category once and set how often it posts, and SocialBee can recycle a post later or expire it after a number of shares or on a date. Bootstrap keeps 3 months of analytics. Accelerate adds CSV uploads, a post approval system and 2 years of analytics. The pricing page also lists replies to comments, mentions and DMs, and direct posting to 10 networks.
Add ons are priced plainly: 5 more profiles for $15 a month and one more user for $10. If you are moving a large library, SocialBee's migration service moves your content, schedule and settings for a listed $199, or free with a yearly plan while its current offer runs. Skip SocialBee if you post to 3 channels and want the lowest price, because Buffer Essentials is $18 a month there.
Pros
- Content categories with recycling and expiry on every plan
- AI captions and images on every plan
- Replies to comments, mentions and DMs from the same tool
- A migration service that moves your content and schedule for you
Cons
- No free plan, only a 14 day trial
- CSV uploads and post approvals start on Accelerate at $49 a month
- One user per workspace on Bootstrap and Accelerate
- 8
Later
From $25 a monthBest for planning an Instagram and TikTok grid visually
Later leans toward Instagram and TikTok, with a link in bio page and best time to post suggestions on its entry plan. Later's pricing page lists Starter at $25 a month billed monthly ($18.75 billed yearly) for 1 social set of 8 profiles, one per network, with 1 user and 30 posts per profile a month. Growth is $50 with 2 social sets and 180 posts per profile. Our Later comparison has more.
Later plans around the picture first. Its Visual Planner lets you drag media onto a calendar, and it suggests posting times for Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Growth adds approval workflows, a social inbox for Instagram, Facebook and TikTok conversations and a year of analytics, and Scale, at $110 a month, removes the post cap.
Mind the caps. Thirty posts per profile a month is one post a day, and Starter cannot add users or social sets. X is not among Later's networks, and neither is Bluesky. The pricing page shows no free plan, although Later's plan reference guide still describes a Free plan with 12 posts per profile a month.
Pros
- A visual planner built around the Instagram and TikTok feed
- Best time to post suggestions for Instagram, Facebook and TikTok
- The only tool on this list that names Snapchat
Cons
- No X and no Bluesky
- Starter stops at 30 posts per profile a month and 1 user
- Approvals and the social inbox start on Growth at $50 a month
- 9
Hootsuite
From $99 a month per user, billed annuallyBest for larger teams that need an inbox, monitoring and approvals
Hootsuite is the heavyweight option, and the price reflects it. Hootsuite's plans page lists Standard at $99 per user a month on annual billing for up to 10 social accounts, with one inbox for messages, brand and competitor monitoring and AI generated drafts. Professional is $199 with unlimited accounts, and Advanced is $399 with approval flows and message routing. See our Hootsuite comparison.
What you buy is breadth. Standard already includes unlimited scheduling, a shared inbox, social listening and benchmarking against 5 competitors. Professional adds inbox automation and custom reports, and Advanced adds approval workflows and message assignment. Hootsuite's integrations page names Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Threads, Pinterest, WhatsApp and Bluesky.
Every price is per user and assumes annual billing, so a team of three on Standard is $297 a month (3 times $99). There is no free plan, only a 14 day trial that needs no card. A solo founder leaving Buffer over $30 a month will not find savings here. Hootsuite makes sense when several people share customer replies and reporting.
Pros
- One inbox for messages on every plan
- Brand and competitor monitoring from the Standard plan
- Unlimited social accounts from Professional
- A 14 day trial with no credit card
Cons
- No free plan
- Priced per user: $99 a month each on annual billing
- Approval workflows start on Advanced at $399 per user
Buffer Competitors Compared Feature by Feature
These five features decide most choices between tools like Buffer. Each cell comes from the vendor's own pricing or help page on October 11, 2026. Not stated means the page we read did not say, which is different from a no.
| Tool | AI assistant | Analytics | Inbox or engagement | Approval workflow | API |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buffer (baseline) | On every plan, for text | 30 days on Free, unlimited history on paid plans | Replies to comments on every plan | Team plan | Every plan |
| Spreadcast | Spreadcast designs the post and writes a caption for each network | Basic post stats | Keep a scheduler beside it for replies | One tap approval on every post, or full autopilot | MCP server on every plan that designs posts and writes captions, drafts only by default. Scheduling through it needs Pro |
| Publer | Unlimited prompts on Business | Business plan | Not stated | Business plan | Approved Business and Enterprise customers |
| Metricool | On every plan | 30 days on Free, unlimited history on Starter | Inbox listed, plan not stated | Advanced plan | Advanced plan |
| Postiz | AI copilot on every hosted plan | On every hosted plan | Not stated | Not stated | Every hosted plan, with webhooks and MCP |
| Typefully | AI writing on Creator and Business | X analytics on Creator and Business | Not stated | Roles and permissions on Business | Free plan, with MCP |
| Mixpost | Pro edition | Basic in Lite, advanced in Pro | Engagement inbox in Pro | Approval flow in Pro | Pro edition, with webhooks and MCP |
| SocialBee | On every plan | 3 months on Bootstrap, 2 years on Accelerate | Comments, mentions and DMs | Accelerate plan | Not stated. Zapier, Make and Pabbly are listed |
| Later | 5 credits a month on Starter, 50 on Growth | 3 months on Starter, 1 year on Growth, 2 years on Scale | Growth plan | Growth plan | Not stated |
| Hootsuite | On every plan, for posts and images | On every plan, custom reports on Professional | Every plan | Advanced plan | Not stated |
Sources are the pricing and help pages linked in each entry above. If a Not stated cell decides your choice, ask the vendor before you pay.
Which Networks Each Buffer Alternative Publishes To
We checked 11 networks on each vendor's own list: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, X, Threads, Pinterest, Bluesky, YouTube, Google Business Profile and Mastodon. Read this table if you want a Buffer alternative for Bluesky, for Threads or for X.
| Tool | Publishes to | Missing from the 11 |
|---|---|---|
| Buffer (baseline) | All 11, plus Substack | None |
| Spreadcast | Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, Threads, Pinterest, Bluesky, Mastodon, Telegram and Discord, plus YouTube for video posts, with a caption written for each | YouTube, Google Business Profile, Mastodon |
| Publer | All 11, plus Telegram and WordPress. X on paid plans only | None |
| Metricool | Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Threads, Pinterest, Bluesky, YouTube and Google Business Profile, plus Twitch. LinkedIn on paid plans, X as a paid add on | Mastodon |
| Postiz | All 11, plus Reddit, Discord and Telegram among about 30 destinations | None |
| Typefully | X, LinkedIn, Threads, Bluesky and Mastodon, plus Substack | Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, Google Business Profile |
| Mixpost | Lite: Facebook Pages, X and Mastodon. Pro: all 11, plus Pixelfed | None on Pro |
| SocialBee | Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, X, Threads, Pinterest, Bluesky, YouTube and Google Business Profile | Mastodon, which works only as a reminder in its mobile app |
| Later | Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, Threads, Pinterest and YouTube, plus Snapchat | X, Bluesky, Google Business Profile, Mastodon |
| Hootsuite | Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, X, Threads, Pinterest, Bluesky and YouTube, with Google Business Profile through an app | Mastodon |
Network lists come from each vendor's pricing page, from Publer's supported networks article and from Hootsuite's integrations page, read on October 11, 2026. Account types differ inside a network (pages, profiles, groups), so check yours before you move.
Free Buffer Alternatives: What Each Free Plan Really Includes
Free plans differ more than paid ones. This table lists what you can publish without paying and the catch that sends most people to a paid plan.
| Tool | What is free | The main catch |
|---|---|---|
| Buffer (baseline) | 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel, X included | Upgrading means paying for all connected channels |
| Spreadcast | Every post for 1 app, designed for you from your App Store listing | You download and publish them yourself, with a small Spreadcast mark. Publishing for you starts on Pro |
| Publer | 3 social accounts, 10 scheduled posts per account | No X accounts, 24 hour post history |
| Metricool | 1 brand, 20 scheduled posts a month, 30 days of analytics | No LinkedIn or X |
| Typefully | 1 social set, 10 posts a month, API access | No Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or Pinterest |
| Later | 12 posts per profile a month, per its help center | The plan is not shown on the pricing page |
| Postiz | The full self hosted edition under AGPL 3.0 | You run the server and get your own apps approved |
| Mixpost Lite | A self hosted scheduler under the MIT license | Facebook Pages, X and Mastodon only |
| SocialBee and Hootsuite | Nothing permanent, a 14 day trial each | A paid plan is required after the trial |
If you need X on a free plan, Buffer itself is still the simplest choice among these tools.
Apps Like Buffer but Free: The Schedulers Built Into Each Network
Searches for apps like Buffer but free often end at a scheduler you already have. Meta, LinkedIn, Pinterest and YouTube each let you schedule from their own tools at no cost, one network at a time. Each row comes from that network's own help center, read on October 17, 2026.
| Built in tool | What it schedules | Limits | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meta Business Suite | Facebook and Instagram posts, stories and reels, with cross posting to Threads and to Facebook Groups. Free on desktop and in its phone app, per Meta's overview of Business Suite | Needs a business portfolio, and full control or content permission on each account. Cross posting to Threads works on desktop only, per Meta's cross posting guide | Anyone whose marketing lives on Facebook and Instagram, and the one free way on this page to schedule to a Facebook Group |
| LinkedIn Page scheduling | Page posts and newsletter articles, from one hour to three months ahead, set by a super admin or content admin, per LinkedIn's guide to scheduled Page posts | Events, multiple photos, reshares, polls, jobs and service posts cannot be scheduled | A company Page that posts a few times a week |
| Pinterest scheduling | Standard Pins up to 30 days ahead from a business account, per Pinterest's guide to scheduling Pins | One Pin at a time, and at most 10 scheduled Pins waiting. The image or video cannot be changed once scheduled | Light Pinterest use. Past 10 Pins planned ahead, a scheduler saves time |
| YouTube Studio | A private video set to go public at a time you choose, per YouTube's guide to scheduled publishing | A Community Guidelines strike holds scheduled videos back for the penalty period | Any channel, since this is how YouTube schedules on its own |
Free here costs you the switching: four tools, four calendars and no view of the whole week. Buffer's free plan puts 3 channels in one queue for $0. Spreadcast's free plan solves the other half for an app: it designs every post from your App Store listing, ready to download and post through any of these tools.
Video: Two Free Ways to Schedule LinkedIn Posts
Buffer's own walkthrough shows both routes from the table above for one network, its free plan and LinkedIn's built in scheduler, so you can judge whether the native tool is enough.
Open Source Buffer Alternatives: Postiz and Mixpost
Two tools on this list publish their source code, and they use different licenses with different consequences.
Postiz uses AGPL 3.0. You can run it, read it and change it for free. The condition, as GitHub's summary of the AGPL 3.0 license explains, is that if you modify the software and offer it to others over a network, you must make the source of your modified version available. For a company that only uses Postiz to post to its own accounts, that condition rarely matters.
Mixpost Lite uses the MIT license, which is about as permissive as licenses get. The catch is scope: Lite publishes to three networks. The edition most teams want is Pro, which is paid at $299 once and comes with source code you can modify for internal use but cannot resell.
Self hosting has a cost that the price tag hides. You need a server, updates and backups. You also need your own developer app on each social network, because the hosted vendors' approved apps do not come with the code. The FAQ on the Postiz pricing page says approval can take weeks, and usually more than a month for Facebook, Instagram, Threads and YouTube. If your goal is to avoid $18 a month, self hosting will cost you more in time. If your goal is control over your data and no vendor lock in, both tools are solid.
Buffer Alternatives With an API
Buffer itself now offers an API on every plan, so check that first. If you want to post from your own code, a script or an AI agent, this is where each tool stands.
| Tool | API access | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Buffer (baseline) | Every plan, the free one too | 3,000 requests per 30 days on Free, 7,500 on Essentials, 15,000 on Team |
| Spreadcast | MCP server on every plan | Sign in with Spreadcast and Claude or ChatGPT can design posts and carousels, write captions, schedule and read analytics, drafts only by default |
| Postiz | Every hosted plan | API, webhooks and an MCP server included |
| Typefully | Listed on the free plan | Higher rate limits on Business |
| Mixpost | Pro and Enterprise | API and webhooks on your own server |
| Metricool | Advanced plan and above | From $67 a month billed monthly |
| Publer | Approved Business and Enterprise customers | Publer states it has no public API open to everyone |
Publer's API terms are in Publer's Business plan article. Buffer's limits are in Buffer's machine readable pricing file. Spreadcast needs nothing built for app posts, and its MCP server is there when you want an assistant to design posts, write captions and schedule them in it.
Cheap Buffer Alternatives: What 3, 5, 8 and 10 Channels Cost
Monthly billing, US dollars, before tax, checked on October 11, 2026. Yearly billing is usually about 20% lower. Every scheduler price in this table buys publishing for posts you make. The Spreadcast price also covers designing and captioning them.
| Tool and plan | 3 channels | 5 channels | 8 channels | 10 channels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buffer Essentials (baseline) | $18 | $30 | $48 | $60 |
| Spreadcast Pro, 1 app, posts designed and published for you | $29 flat | $29 flat | $29 flat | $29 flat, covers its 8 networks |
| Buffer Team, with seats and approvals | $36 | $60 | $96 | $120 |
| Publer Professional | $12 | $20 | $32 | $36 |
| Publer Business, with analytics | $21 | $35 | $56 | $63 |
| Postiz hosted | $29 | $29 | $39 | $39 |
| SocialBee | $29 | $29 | $49 | $49 |
| Hootsuite Standard, 1 user, annual billing | $99 | $99 | $99 | $99 |
Metricool and Later do not price by channel. Metricool Starter is $25 a month for up to 5 brands, or $35 for one brand with the X add on, and Later Starter is $25 a month for one social set with one profile on each network. The SocialBee figures are Bootstrap for 5 profiles and Accelerate for 10, and Bootstrap with one add on set of 5 profiles also reaches 10 for $44 ($29 plus $15). Publer is the cheapest scheduler here at every size shown. Past 10 channels Buffer gets cheaper per channel, because its channels 11 to 25 cost $4 each.
What a Social Media Scheduler Does Not Do: Make the Posts
Every tool on this page except one is a social media scheduler: it publishes what you bring. Their AI assistants rewrite text you start, and none of them looks at your product and produces the finished post, image included. For a founder, the supply of posts is the harder problem, and moving to another scheduler does not touch it.
It matters because showing up regularly is what pays. Buffer's study of consistent posting looked at more than 100,000 of its users over 26 weeks and found that those who posted in 20 or more of the weeks got about 5 times the engagement per post of those who posted in 4 weeks or fewer. That is a correlation in Buffer's own data and no proof of cause.
Now put a price on it. At 8 channels on monthly billing, Buffer Essentials is $48, Publer Professional $32, Postiz Team $39, SocialBee Accelerate $49 and one Hootsuite seat $99, and each of those buys an empty queue. The price of a scheduler does not include the time you spend making each post. Spreadcast Pro is $29 a month flat for 8 networks, with the posts designed, captioned and published from your App Store listing: $19 a month less than Buffer Essentials ($48 minus $29). If your app ships updates, read the real cost of designing social posts by hand before you pay for another queue.
Buffer vs Hootsuite, Later, Publer and Metricool: Short Answers
The head to head searches people run most are Buffer vs Hootsuite, Buffer vs Later, Buffer vs Publer and Buffer vs Metricool. Each row gives the short answer, and the linked pages go deeper.
| Comparison | Buffer is stronger on | The other tool is stronger on | Choose the other tool if |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buffer vs Spreadcast | Posts on any topic, video, 12 channels | Spreadcast designs the post, writes the captions and publishes it, for $29 flat on 8 networks | You have an app and no time to make posts. See Buffer compared with Spreadcast |
| Buffer vs Publer | X on the free plan, AI and an API on every plan | Price per account ($20 against $30 for 5), CSV uploads of 500 posts, RSS automations | You schedule in bulk and count every dollar |
| Buffer vs Later | X, Bluesky and Mastodon, a free plan on the pricing page, no monthly post cap on Essentials | Visual planning for Instagram and TikTok, posting time suggestions, Snapchat | Instagram and TikTok carry your marketing |
| Buffer vs Metricool | LinkedIn and X on the free plan, a simple price per channel | Competitor tracking on the free plan, one price per brand, PDF and PPT reports | Reports matter as much as the queue |
| Buffer vs Hootsuite | A free plan, and $6 a channel against $99 a user | One inbox for messages, social listening, benchmarking, approvals with message routing | Several people answer customers from one place |
Buffer Alternatives by Need: Which Tool for Which Job
The best Buffer alternatives are different tools for different jobs. Find your case and start there.
For an App With Nothing to Schedule: Spreadcast
If you ship an app and the queue is empty, a scheduler will not fill it. Spreadcast turns each App Store update, 5 star review and rating milestone into a designed post and publishes it on 8 networks for $29 a month flat. The free plan drafts every post, so paste your link at the start page and judge the designs first. See also our page for indie hackers.
For Instagram and Visual Planning: Later
Later is built around the feed: a visual planner, posting time suggestions and a link in bio page from $25 a month. Sizes for every placement are in our social media image sizes reference.
For X and Threads Writers: Typefully
Typefully publishes to X, Threads, Bluesky, LinkedIn and Mastodon from one editor, with an API on the free plan. If you need X on a free plan next to image networks, stay on Buffer: Publer's free plan has no X and Metricool charges $10 a month for it.
For Agencies With Many Clients: Postiz or Publer
Count channels first. Fifty channels on Buffer cost $195 a month on Essentials and $255 on Team. Postiz Ultimate is $99 a month for 100 channels with unlimited team members, Publer gives every tenth account free, and Metricool Advanced covers 15 brands for $67 a month. Our page for agencies covers studios that run several apps.
For Teams That Need Approvals: Later, SocialBee or Metricool
On Buffer, approval workflows mean the Team plan at $12 a channel. Later includes approvals on Growth at $50 a month with 2 users, SocialBee on Accelerate at $49, and Metricool on Advanced at $67. Hootsuite keeps them for Advanced at $399 per user. Spreadcast has the lightest version: every post can wait for one tap from you.
For Analytics: Metricool
Metricool's free plan tracks 5 competitors and keeps 30 days of history, and Starter keeps all of it and exports PDF and PPT reports. Later keeps 3 months on Starter and SocialBee 3 months on Bootstrap.
For Self Hosting: Postiz or Mixpost
Postiz is free under AGPL 3.0 with every network in the code. Mixpost Lite is free under MIT for three networks, and Pro is $299 once. Both need a server and your own developer apps, as the open source section above explains.
How to Choose a Buffer Alternative in Four Questions
- Step 1
Do You Have Posts to Schedule at All?
Open your current queue. If it has been empty for months and you ship an app, a different scheduler will be empty too. Start with Spreadcast, which designs the posts from your App Store listing and publishes them for you. If the queue is full, any scheduler on this page will work, and the next three questions pick one. Our guide on how to promote an app on social media explains what to post and where.
- Step 2
How Many Channels Do You Connect?
Count the accounts you post to and read the table above. Under 4 channels, Buffer's free plan or Publer's is enough. At 5 to 10, Publer Professional costs a third to 40% less than Buffer Essentials. Past 10, compare flat plans such as Postiz Pro, which is $49 a month for 30 channels.
- Step 3
Do You Need a Free Plan That Publishes to X or LinkedIn?
Publer's free plan leaves out X. Metricool's leaves out LinkedIn and X. Buffer's free plan includes both. That one requirement removes half the list.
- Step 4
Do You Want to Run It Yourself?
If yes, choose between Postiz (AGPL 3.0, all networks, free) and Mixpost (MIT for Lite, $299 once for Pro). Budget a few weeks for developer app approvals on the networks before your first post goes out.
How to Switch From Buffer to Another Scheduler
Moving takes an evening if you do it in this order. Nothing here deletes your Buffer account: its Free plan keeps 3 channels, so you can leave a small queue running while you test the new tool.
- Step 1
Export Your Post History While You Are on a Paid Plan
Buffer exports Insights data on paid plans only. The CSV option downloads a zip with three files, and posts.csv holds one row per published post with its date, an excerpt, the post type, the URL, your tags and the metrics, per Buffer's guide to Insights. Do this before you downgrade, because the Free plan shows 30 days of history.
- Step 2
Save the Queue You Have Not Published Yet
That export covers published posts. For the queue, Buffer's API guide says the API can fetch scheduled posts and sent posts on every plan, so a short script or an AI assistant connected to Buffer can list them. With a few dozen posts, copying by hand is faster. Download the images and videos too.
- Step 3
Reconnect Every Channel
Connections do not move between tools. You sign in to each network again inside the new scheduler and approve its access, then rebuild your posting times. Tags and saved replies stay behind in Buffer, so copy the ones you use.
- Step 4
Load the Queue With a CSV File
Publer takes up to 500 posts per CSV on paid plans, and SocialBee accepts CSV uploads from Accelerate with captions, links, media URLs and optional posting times. Check the dates after the upload, because spreadsheet apps like to reformat them.
- Step 5
Run Both for a Week, Then Downgrade Buffer
Let the new tool publish for a week and compare what went out. Then move Buffer to the Free plan instead of deleting it. A Start Page counts as a channel there, so if your bio link points to one, keep it among your 3 free channels or change the link.
More Buffer Competitors: RecurPost, SocialPilot, Sprout Social and Agorapulse
Four more names come up in searches for Buffer alternatives, RecurPost most often. Here is where each one starts on its own pricing page, read on October 17, 2026, and why it is not in the nine. Our Hootsuite alternatives roundup reviews SocialPilot, Sprout Social and Agorapulse in full.
| Tool | Starting price | Why it is not in the nine |
|---|---|---|
| RecurPost | $9 a month for 2 social accounts and 1 user, $25 for 5 accounts, $79 for 20 accounts and 3 users, per RecurPost's pricing page. A 14 day trial and no permanent free plan | Its strength is evergreen libraries that recycle posts, on every plan, which SocialBee already covers above with content categories. Anyone searching for a free Buffer alternative will not find a free plan here, and each extra account is $4 a month |
| SocialPilot | $30 a month for 7 accounts and 1 user, or $50 for 15 accounts and 3 users, per SocialPilot's plans page. A 14 day trial | Users are included in the plan price, which suits a small agency, but the $30 plan has no inbox and no detailed analytics, and there is no free plan |
| Sprout Social | $99 per seat a month, or $79 on annual billing, for 5 profiles, per Sprout Social's pricing page. A 30 day trial | A full suite priced per seat like Hootsuite, with its inbox starting at $199 a seat and no free plan |
| Agorapulse | $99 per user a month, or $79 on annual billing, for 10 profiles, per Agorapulse's pricing page. A 30 day trial | Built around a shared inbox for comments, messages and reviews and priced per user, so it replaces Hootsuite more than Buffer |
| Meta Business Suite | Free | It covers Meta's own apps only, so it works beside a scheduler rather than replacing one. See the built in schedulers above |
For an app founder none of these changes the first question on this page: every one of them publishes posts you make. Spreadcast is the one tool here that designs the post from your App Store listing and publishes it for you.
How We Ranked These Buffer Alternatives
We make Spreadcast, so read the order with that in mind. It is first because it is the only tool here that makes the posts, and this page says where it stops: apps on the App Store, still image posts, 8 networks. The other eight are ranked by how closely they replace Buffer as a scheduler: the like for like tools (Publer, Metricool, Postiz), then the specialists (Typefully, Mixpost, SocialBee, Later), then the team suite (Hootsuite), which answers a different budget.
Five things decided the order: who makes the post, the price at 3, 5, 8 and 10 channels on monthly billing, what the free plan stops at, which networks are on the vendor's own list, and whether an API or the source code is available. We did not score ease of use, which is a matter of taste, so test the two tools that fit on a free plan or a trial. All prices and limits were read from each vendor's own pricing and help pages on October 11, 2026, in US dollars before tax. Where a page did not say something, the tables say Not stated instead of guessing.
When Buffer Is Still the Right Choice
After reading nine alternatives it is fair to say that many people should stay. Among the hosted tools here, Buffer's free plan is the one that combines 3 channels of your choice, X and LinkedIn included, with an AI assistant and API access. Its 12 channels include Mastodon and Substack. Its pricing is public down to the last tier.
If your only complaint is the bill at 4 to 8 channels, check yearly billing before you migrate: at $5 a channel, 5 channels cost $25 a month. Moving a queue, reconnecting every account and learning a new calendar takes a few hours, and a saving of $8 a month takes a while to repay that.
Switch when you hit a real wall: nobody has time to make the posts (Spreadcast designs and publishes them for you), you need bigger bulk uploads or recycling (Publer, SocialBee), deeper analytics for free (Metricool), your own server (Postiz, Mixpost), or a shared inbox for a team (Hootsuite). For an app team the first case does not even mean leaving: keep Buffer's free plan for one off posts and let Spreadcast run the recurring ones. If an empty feed is the real issue, why your scheduler is not the reason your feed is empty is worth five minutes first.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best free alternative to Buffer?
If you have an app on the App Store, Spreadcast's free plan: it designs a post for every update, 5 star review and rating milestone, ready to download and publish. Among free schedulers, Publer is the closest match with 3 social accounts and 10 scheduled posts each, though X is excluded, and Metricool adds analytics with a cap of 20 posts a month.
Is there an open source alternative to Buffer?
Yes, two well known ones. Postiz is licensed under AGPL 3.0 and can be self hosted for free or used as a hosted service from $29 a month, per Postiz pricing. Mixpost Lite is MIT licensed and free for Facebook Pages, X and Mastodon, and its Pro edition is $299 once.
Which Buffer alternative has an API?
Spreadcast has an MCP server on every plan, so Claude or ChatGPT can design posts and carousels in your app's brand, write captions, schedule and read analytics in it, drafts only by default. Postiz includes an API, webhooks and an MCP server on every hosted plan, and Typefully lists API access on its free plan. Mixpost Pro has an API on your own server, Metricool opens its API on Advanced, and Publer limits it to approved Business and Enterprise customers. Buffer itself has an API on every plan as of October 2026.
What is a cheaper alternative to Buffer?
For an app founder who posts to 5 or more networks, Spreadcast: Buffer Essentials billed monthly is $48 for 8 channels (8 times $6), and Spreadcast Pro is $29 a month flat for 8 networks with the posts designed, captioned and published. Among schedulers, Publer: its price selector showed $20 a month for 5 accounts against $30 on Buffer Essentials.
Is Buffer still free in 2026?
Yes. Buffer's pricing page lists a Free plan with up to 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel at one time, 1 user, the AI Assistant, 30 days of analytics history and API access. The scheduled post limit refills as posts publish.
How much does Buffer cost per month?
Buffer is free for 3 channels. Essentials is $6 per channel a month billed monthly or $5 billed yearly, and Team is $12 or $10, so 5 channels on Essentials cost $30 a month and 8 cost $48.
Is Hootsuite better than Buffer?
They serve different sizes of team. Hootsuite starts at $99 per user a month on annual billing with no free plan and includes one inbox for messages and monitoring, while Buffer starts free and charges $6 per channel. A solo founder or a team of two is usually better served by Buffer or Publer.
What is the best Buffer alternative for promoting an app?
Spreadcast. It designs a post for each App Store update, 5 star review and rating milestone, writes a caption for each network and publishes it on 8 networks for $29 a month flat, and its free plan drafts every post. See how it works for mobile apps and what it costs on the pricing page.
Are there apps like Buffer but free?
Yes. Publer, Metricool and Typefully have free plans, Postiz and Mixpost Lite are free to self host, and the networks schedule for free in their own tools: Meta Business Suite for Facebook and Instagram, LinkedIn for Pages up to three months ahead, Pinterest up to 30 days ahead. If you have an app, Spreadcast's free plan designs every post for you.
Is RecurPost a free Buffer alternative?
No. RecurPost's pricing page lists a 14 day trial and no permanent free plan, with paid plans from $9 a month for 2 social accounts. Its evergreen libraries recycle posts on every plan.
Prices, plans and features change. This comparison describes each product as its own site described it on the date shown under Sources. Check the vendor's site before you decide. Product names are trademarks of their owners.
Where These Facts Come From
Every outside number, rule and price on this page links to the page it was taken from.
- Buffer pricing, plans and supported channelsBuffer
- Buffer machine readable pricing with volume tiers and API limitsBuffer
- Using Insights in Buffer, with export formats by planBuffer Help Center
- How to upload posts in bulk to BufferBuffer Help Center
- What is Buffer's API, with what it can fetchBuffer Help Center
- Consistent posting study of more than 100,000 Buffer usersBuffer
- What are Publer's plans and pricing, help center articlePubler
- What is included in Publer Business, with API termsPubler
- Which social networks Publer supportsPubler
- CSV upload limits in Publer by planPubler
- Metricool pricingMetricool
- Guide to the X add on and its priceMetricool Help Center
- Postiz pricing and self hosting questionsPostiz
- Postiz source code repository and licenseGitHub
- Typefully pricingTypefully
- Mixpost pricing for Lite, Pro and EnterpriseMixpost
- Mixpost Cloud plans and supported platformsMixpost
- Mixpost Lite source code repository and licenseGitHub
- SocialBee pricingSocialBee
- SocialBee migration serviceSocialBee
- Later pricingLater
- Reference guide to plan availability for Later SocialLater Help Center
- Hootsuite plans and pricesHootsuite
- Hootsuite integrations and supported networksHootsuite
- GNU Affero General Public License 3.0 summaryGitHub, Choose a License
- Ratings, reviews and responses on the App StoreApple Developer
- How Meta Business Suite worksMeta Business Help Center
- About cross posting to Facebook, Instagram and Threads in Meta Business SuiteMeta Business Help Center
- Scheduled posts for LinkedIn PagesLinkedIn Help
- Schedule PinsPinterest Business Help
- Schedule video publish timeYouTube Help
- Video: two free ways to schedule LinkedIn postsBuffer
- RecurPost pricing and plansRecurPost
- SocialPilot plans and pricingSocialPilot
- Sprout Social pricingSprout Social
- Agorapulse pricingAgorapulse
Researched and written by Spreadcast. Last checked on October 17, 2026.