Affordable Buffer alternatives in 2026

Schedchie has the lowest price here for unlimited accounts and posts: €7.99 a month, the same for 5 accounts or 20. Buffer Essentials is $5 per channel per month, billed yearly (checked 2026-09-27).

Buffer bills per channel. Its Essentials plan is $5 per channel per month, billed yearly ($60 a year for each channel), and its free plan stops at 3 channels with 10 scheduled posts each (buffer.com/pricing, checked 2026-09-27). For one or two accounts that is hard to beat. From about five accounts on, the per-channel bill is what sends people looking.

This page prices seven alternatives for two common setups, ranks the five whose prices we could verify, and describes the other two with the limits their pages do print.

How the ranking works

Tools are ranked by what one person pays per month for 20 accounts, at the cheapest billing basis the vendor prints. The cost of 5 accounts is shown alongside. Where a free plan fits, we say so, but the ranking uses the cheapest paid plan that holds the accounts. Metricool and Later price by brand or "social set" (one profile per network), not by account, so the setups are fixed: 5 accounts means one brand on five networks, 20 accounts means four brands on five networks each.

Publer and Zoho Social load their paid prices in the browser, and the figures were not in the page text we could check. They are described at the end, unranked, with their verified free-plan limits.

Costs side by side

Sources: metricool.com/pricing, later.com/pricing, socialpilot.co/plans, buffer.com/pricing, hootsuite.com/plans, publer.com/pricing, zoho.com/social/pricing.html, checked 2026-09-27. Schedchie: schedchie.com/pricing. Prices are in each vendor's own currency and are not converted.

Over a year, for 20 accounts and one person: Schedchie €95.88 (12 × €7.99), Metricool €192 (12 × €16), Later $720 (12 × $60), SocialPilot $840 (12 × $70), Buffer Essentials at most $1,200 (20 × $60) and Hootsuite $2,388 (12 × $199), all from the vendor pages above, checked 2026-09-27.

Two things the table does not settle. Buffer's real 20-channel price is below $100 by a discount the page does not print (buffer.com/pricing, checked 2026-09-27), so we do not claim Later or SocialPilot beat it at that size. And if your accounts all sit on one network, say 20 Instagram accounts, the brand-based tools change sharply; the Metricool section below shows by how much.

1. Schedchie: €7.99 a month for any number of accounts

Schedchie's Pro plan is €7.99 a month with unlimited connected accounts, unlimited scheduled posts and unlimited client groups. Billing is monthly; there is no annual plan. The price is the same at 5 accounts and at 20, which is why it ranks first: at both sizes the next-lowest paid figure on this page is Metricool Starter at €16 a month, billed annually (metricool.com/pricing, checked 2026-09-27).

What the plan covers:

• Twelve platforms: Instagram, Facebook, Threads, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Bluesky, Mastodon, Telegram, Google Business Profile and X. X posting is a separate add-on, €4.99 for 30 posts, valid for 30 days, on any plan.
• One composer for every platform, with per-platform text overrides.
• Client groups: one workspace per client or brand, each with its own calendar, in calendar or list view.
• Bulk work: CSV import with media and titles, background upload of large batches of media, and recurring posts, where the next occurrence is created when one publishes.
• Formats: Instagram Reels, feed posts, carousels and Stories, with music on Reels; TikTok video and photo posts; LinkedIn polls and documents; Pinterest board targeting; YouTube title, thumbnail and privacy.
• Failure handling: a failed post sends an email with one-click retry, and every post shows a success or error result for each account.
• Analytics for Facebook and Instagram (basic engagement), LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Bluesky and TikTok.

Where it falls short:

• No free plan. There is a 14-day trial, then €7.99 a month. For one to three accounts, Buffer's free plan costs less.
• No AI writing tools, no best-time suggestions and no first-comment scheduling. Buffer's plans page lists an AI Assistant on every plan and first-comment scheduling on Essentials.
• No mobile apps and no public API. An assistant such as ChatGPT or Claude can connect to the account through Schedchie's MCP server instead.
• Analytics are basic next to Metricool, with no X analytics and no deep Instagram or Facebook reach or demographic data.
• No social listening or monitoring streams, and X costs extra.

If more than one person works in the account, the Team plan is €24.99 a month for 3 invited members, who need no paid plan of their own. It adds per-member approvals (a held post does not publish until it is approved), client review links where a client approves or asks for changes without an account, and a 30-day activity view.

2. Metricool: brand-based pricing, analytics first

Metricool prices by brand, and a brand holds one profile on each network. Starter is €16 a month billed annually for up to 5 brands, or €29 for up to 10; billed monthly, the same tiers are €20 and €37. Advanced starts at €43 a month billed annually for 15 brands (metricool.com/pricing, checked 2026-09-27).

Both of our setups fit Starter at €16: five accounts are one brand, twenty are four. The picture changes when accounts share a network. Twenty Instagram accounts are twenty brands, which needs Advanced at €69 a month billed annually for up to 25 brands (same page, checked 2026-09-27). That is the case where a flat price matters most.

The free plan covers 1 brand, schedules up to 20 posts a month, leaves out LinkedIn and X, and keeps 30 days of analytics. Starter adds unlimited publishing under a fair-use policy, the LinkedIn connection, PDF and PPT reports, analysis of up to 100 competitor profiles, and unlimited analytics history. The plans page also lists an inbox, link-in-bio pages and best-time suggestions in the planner. X is a paid add-on on Metricool too, and team roles and post approval start on Advanced.

It ranks second because it costs more than Schedchie at both sizes, and because its bill grows with every brand. It is the better pick if analytics are the reason you are leaving Buffer, or if one brand on the free plan is enough.

3. Later: visual planning, with post caps on the lower plans

Later is built around visual planning for Instagram and the other image-and-video networks. Its pricing page lists Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Threads, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Snapchat; X is not on that list. A social set is one profile on each of those eight networks.

Starter is $18.75 a month billed yearly for 1 social set, 1 user and 30 posts per profile per month; extra sets are not sold on Starter. Growth is $37.50 a month billed yearly for 2 sets, 2 users and 180 posts per profile per month. Scale is $82.50 a month billed yearly for 6 sets, 4 users and unlimited posts. Extra sets on Growth and Scale are $11.25 a month each, billed yearly (later.com/pricing, checked 2026-09-27).

For 20 accounts in four brands, that is Growth plus two extra sets: $37.50 + 2 × $11.25 = $60 a month, billed yearly (checked 2026-09-27). Every paid plan starts with a 14-day free trial. Growth adds best times to post and internal and external collaboration.

Later ranks third on price. The catch is the cap: 30 posts per profile a month on Starter is one post a day, and only Scale removes the limit.

4. SocialPilot: fixed account bundles

SocialPilot sells plans by number of accounts. Essentials is $30 a month billed monthly ($25.50 billed annually) for 7 accounts and 1 user. Standard is $50 ($42.50 annually) for 15 accounts and 3 users. Premium is $100 ($85 annually) for 25 accounts and 6 users. Ultimate is $200 ($170 annually) for 50 accounts and unlimited users. Extra accounts are $4 a month each (socialpilot.co/plans, checked 2026-09-27).

For 20 accounts: Standard plus five extra accounts, $50 + 5 × $4 = $70 a month billed monthly, or Premium at $85 a month billed annually with room for 25 (checked 2026-09-27). At 5 accounts SocialPilot costs about what Buffer does, $25.50 against $25 on annual billing, but the plan holds 7 accounts, so the sixth and seventh cost nothing extra.

The plans page lists a social inbox, analytics, team collaboration and manager approval from Standard, and bulk scheduling, client approval and white-label reports from Premium. Its feature table also lists first-comment posting and LinkedIn document publishing. There is a 14-day free trial and no free plan.

It ranks fourth: $70 a month for 20 accounts ($50 + 5 × $4) against Later's $60, both checked 2026-09-27. Later's figure carries a monthly post cap, so check which limit you would hit first.

5. Hootsuite: the high end, priced per user

Hootsuite is here as the upper bound. Its plans page gives Standard at $99 per user per month, billed annually, for up to 10 accounts; Professional at $199 for unlimited accounts; and Advanced at $399 (hootsuite.com/plans, checked 2026-09-27). For one person that is $1,188 a year on Standard (12 × $99) and $2,388 on Professional (12 × $199). Each extra person is another seat.

What the price buys: Standard lists an inbox for messages and brand and competitor monitoring; Professional adds automated inbox replies and custom reports; Advanced adds team approvals. The trial is 14 days, and the page notes that trial accounts have daily posting limits and no bulk scheduling.

It costs more than Buffer at both sizes: $99 against $25 for 5 accounts, $199 against at most $100 for 20 (hootsuite.com/plans, buffer.com/pricing, checked 2026-09-27). Choose it for listening and inbox work, not to cut the bill.

When staying on Buffer is the cheaper choice

Among paid plans on this page, Buffer is the lowest for a single account: $5 a month on Essentials, billed yearly. Its free plan covers 3 channels with 10 scheduled posts each, refilled as posts go out, and includes the AI Assistant and 30 days of analytics history. Essentials adds unlimited scheduled posts per channel, first-comment scheduling, a hashtag manager and advanced analytics, with a 14-day trial. The Team plan is $10 per channel per month, billed yearly, with unlimited team members and approval workflows (buffer.com/pricing, checked 2026-09-27).

Buffer's channel list is also wider than its reputation: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Threads, Pinterest, Google Business Profile, Bluesky, Mastodon and Substack. If you run one to three accounts, there is little reason to switch.

Unranked: Publer and Zoho Social

Publer

Publer's paid prices load in the browser and were not in the page text we could check, so there is no paid figure here; see publer.com/pricing. The free plan is verified: 1 user, 1 workspace, 3 social accounts (X excluded) and 10 scheduled posts per account, with a slot freed each time a post publishes or is deleted. It also keeps 25 saved drafts and stores published posts for 24 hours.

Paid plans add unlimited scheduling, first comments, threads, RSS automations and the X connection; the Business plan adds analytics reports, best times to post and API access. Publer's network list is broad: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Threads, Bluesky, Google Business Profile, Mastodon, X, Telegram, YouTube, Pinterest and WordPress. Its pricing page also lists bulk scheduling of up to 500 posts from a CSV file.

Zoho Social

Zoho Social's paid prices are also filled in by script; see zoho.com/social/pricing.html. The free plan covers 1 brand of 6 channels, one each of X, Instagram, Facebook Page, LinkedIn Company Page, LinkedIn Profile and Google Business Profile, for 1 team member. New accounts start with a 15-day trial of every feature and then move to the free plan.

The free plan is not a scheduler, though. Zoho's plan comparison table marks custom scheduling, scheduled posts and the publishing calendar as not available on Free. Scheduling starts on the paid plans, which also widen a brand to 14 channels, adding TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Threads, Bluesky and Mastodon among others, and agency plans cover 10 or 20 clients. Zoho Social is part of Zoho's business software suite, which counts for more if you already use its other apps.

Which one to pick

• Many accounts, one person, lowest bill: Schedchie. The price does not move with the account count.
• Analytics first, one to five brands: Metricool, starting on the free plan.
• Instagram-led visual planning at low volume: Later Starter, if 30 posts per profile a month is enough.
• Fixed account bundles with an inbox and approvals: SocialPilot.
• One to three accounts: stay on Buffer's free plan, or try Publer's.
• Listening and customer care across a company: Hootsuite, with the budget to match.