Buffer social media scheduling: free plan limits, per-channel pricing, comparisons with Hootsuite and Later, and workflow guides for creators and small teams.
The best overall Buffer alternative is Publer. It is the closest like-for-like tool, it has a permanent free plan, and it adds bulk CSV import and recycling that Buffer lacks. Pallyy is the one that changes the billing unit, charging per brand rather than per connected account. SocialPilot is the best value above five accounts. Metricool is the best free option if you run a single brand. SocialBee is the only serious choice for evergreen recycling.
Hootsuite and Sprout Social are here too, but they are enterprise tools now, at $99 and $99+ per seat per month, with no free tier. They are not alternatives to Buffer for most people reading this.
Buffer is the best social media scheduler for one to eight channels run by one or two people. The interface is the clearest in the category, the free plan is genuinely usable, and Essentials at $6 per channel per month is cheap. There is no bulk import, no evergreen recycling and no social listening, and it is not the cheapest option past roughly five accounts.
Rated 4.3 / 5 for creators and small teams. Lower if you are an agency running high-volume calendars.
Buffer costs $0 for 3 channels, $6 per channel per month on Essentials, or $12 per channel per month on Team. Annual billing drops those to $5 and $10 by giving you two months free. Above 10 channels the per-channel rate falls to $4, then $3, then $1-$2.
There is no Agency plan any more. Buffer retired it in the November 2025 pricing change and folded its features into Team.
Buffer bills per channel from $6 a month. Hootsuite bills per seat from $99 a month. For a single operator running 10 or fewer accounts, Buffer is always cheaper: $60 a month at its worst against Hootsuite's $99 floor. Hootsuite only becomes the cheaper option past roughly 50 channels on one seat.
Buffer has a permanent free plan. Hootsuite has none. Hootsuite has social listening, paid-plus-organic reporting and multi-stage approvals. Buffer has none of those.
Buffer's free plan gives you 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time, unlimited AI Assistant, the community inbox, 30 days of analytics history, 100 saved ideas and one API key. It is permanent, needs no credit card, and never expires.
That is a materially better free tier than it was a year ago. Buffer used to gate AI and the inbox behind Essentials. It no longer does.
