# Buffer Alternatives 2027: 13 Paid, Free & Open-Source

Source: https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/buffer/
Prices checked: 2026-11-14 (Zekai Price Ledger)

The best Buffer alternatives in 2027 are Hootsuite (best overall, $99/user/mo billed yearly), Metricool (best free plan) and Postiz (best open source, AGPL-3.0). Buffer itself starts at $5/channel/mo billed yearly. Zekai checked these prices on vendor pages on 14 Nov 2026; 10 more are compared below, including 1 with a free plan and 4 open source.

| Tool | Type | Starting price | Free plan limit | Licence | Best for | Price checked | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buffer (the tool being replaced) | — | $5/channel/mo billed yearly | 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts each | — | — | 2026-11-14 | [pricing](https://buffer.com/pricing) |
| Hootsuite | Paid | $99/user/mo billed yearly | No free plan | — | Teams needing inbox and listening | 2026-11-14 | [site](https://www.hootsuite.com) [pricing](https://www.hootsuite.com/plans) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/hootsuite/) |
| Later | Paid | $18.75/mo billed yearly | No free plan | — | Visual-first Instagram planning | 2026-11-14 | [site](https://later.com) [pricing](https://later.com/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/later/) |
| Metricool | Free plan + paid | $20/mo billed yearly | 1 brand, 20 posts a month, 30 days of analytics, 5 competitors | — | Scheduling plus analytics and ads | 2026-11-14 | [site](https://metricool.com) [pricing](https://metricool.com/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/metricool/) |
| Publer | Free plan + paid | $4/account/mo billed yearly | 3 social accounts (no X), 10 scheduled posts per account, 25 drafts, 24-hour post history | — | Low per-account pricing | 2026-11-14 | [site](https://publer.com) [pricing](https://publer.com/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/publer/) |
| SocialPilot | Paid | $17/mo billed yearly | No free plan | — | Flat pricing for 5+ accounts | 2026-11-14 | [site](https://www.socialpilot.co) [pricing](https://www.socialpilot.co/pricing) |
| Agorapulse | Paid | $79/user/mo billed yearly | No free plan | — | Inbox-led community management | 2026-11-14 | [site](https://www.agorapulse.com) [pricing](https://www.agorapulse.com/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/agorapulse/) |
| ContentStudio | Paid | $19/mo billed yearly | No free plan | — | Bundled AI content creation | 2026-11-14 | [site](https://contentstudio.io) [pricing](https://contentstudio.io/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/contentstudio/) |
| FeedHive | Paid | $15/mo billed yearly | No free plan | — | Automation-minded creators | 2026-11-14 | [site](https://feedhive.com) [pricing](https://feedhive.com/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/feedhive/) |
| Postiz | Open source | $29/mo (hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | AGPL-3.0 | Self-hosted scheduling with agents | 2026-11-14 | [site](https://postiz.com) [pricing](https://postiz.com/pricing) [code](https://github.com/gitroomhq/postiz-app) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/postiz-app/) |
| Mixpost | Open source | $299 one-time (hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | MIT (Lite edition) | One-time licence, self-hosted | 2026-11-14 | [site](https://mixpost.app) [pricing](https://mixpost.app/pricing) [code](https://github.com/inovector/mixpost) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/mixpost/) |
| TryPost | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | AGPL-3.0 | Agent-friendly self-hosted scheduler |  | [site](https://github.com/trypostit/trypost) [code](https://github.com/trypostit/trypost) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/trypost/) |
| OpenPost | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | AGPL-3.0 | Lightweight Docker scheduler |  | [site](https://github.com/getopenpost/openpost) [code](https://github.com/getopenpost/openpost) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/openpost/) |
| Socioboard | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | GPL-3.0-or-later | Analytics-heavy self-hosted suite |  | [site](https://github.com/socioboard/Socioboard-5.0) [code](https://github.com/socioboard/Socioboard-5.0) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/socioboard/) |

## How each alternative compares with Buffer

- **Hootsuite** (Paid, $99/user/mo billed yearly, checked 2026-11-14): Charges per user, not per channel: Standard is $99 per user a month billed annually for 10 accounts, where Buffer Essentials is $5 per channel with one user included. Switch if you need a shared inbox, listening and approvals across ten or more profiles under one vendor. Stay with Buffer if you add or drop single channels month to month and only one person publishes.
- **Later** (Paid, $18.75/mo billed yearly, checked 2026-11-14): Prices by social set, one profile of each network: Starter is $18.75 a month billed yearly for 8 profiles and 30 posts per profile, with no free tier on the pricing page. Switch if your calendar is Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest led and you want visual planning with best-time suggestions. Stay with Buffer if you publish to more than a handful of profiles and want unlimited scheduled posts per channel.
- **Metricool** (Free plan + paid, $20/mo billed yearly, checked 2026-11-14): Free plan covers 1 brand with 20 scheduled posts a month, 5 competitor profiles and 30 days of analytics; Metricool also reports Facebook, Google and TikTok ads inside the same dashboard. Switch if you want paid-ads reporting and competitor tracking alongside scheduling, and manage several brands. Stay with Buffer if you want first-comment scheduling, a hashtag manager and a queue with unlimited scheduled posts per channel.
- **Publer** (Free plan + paid, $4/account/mo billed yearly, checked 2026-11-14): Professional costs $4 per social account a month billed yearly, below Buffer's $5 per channel, and adds RSS automations and unlimited workspaces; the free plan blocks X accounts. Switch if you want a lower per-account rate with RSS automation and a free tier for three accounts. Stay with Buffer if you need X posting on the free plan and prefer Buffer's flat 3-channel free allowance.
- **SocialPilot** (Paid, $17/mo billed yearly, checked 2026-11-14): Flat plans instead of per-channel billing: Essentials is $17 a month billed yearly for 5 accounts and 1 user, with Standard adding 3 users and a social inbox at $34. Switch if you run 5 to 10 profiles and want one flat bill with bulk scheduling and a client approval tier. Stay with Buffer if you pay for only the channels you use and need no more than two or three accounts.
- **Agorapulse** (Paid, $79/user/mo billed yearly, checked 2026-11-14): Per-user plans from $79 billed yearly with 10 social profiles, an all-in-one social inbox with review moderation and a 30-day no-card trial; Buffer's inbox is limited to community comments. Switch if your priority is replying to comments, messages and Google reviews from one inbox with assignment rules. Stay with Buffer if your work is publishing and analytics, not moderation, and you want to avoid per-seat charges.
- **ContentStudio** (Paid, $19/mo billed yearly, checked 2026-11-14): Standard is $19 a month billed yearly for 5 accounts and includes 25,000 AI text credits, AI image and video credits, MCP access and X threads or LinkedIn carousels. Switch if you want AI text, image and video generation plus an MCP connection bundled with scheduling. Stay with Buffer if you want unlimited scheduled posts per channel with unmetered AI assistant use at $5 per channel.
- **FeedHive** (Paid, $15/mo billed yearly, checked 2026-11-14): Creator is $15 a month billed yearly for 4 accounts but caps scheduled posts at 30 and future scheduling at 14 days; it adds automation runs and AI performance prediction. Switch if you want rule-based automations and AI-predicted post performance and post only a few times a week. Stay with Buffer if you queue weeks of content ahead and need no cap on scheduled posts or scheduling window.
- **Postiz** (Open source, $29/mo (hosted), checked 2026-11-14): Same job from an AGPL codebase: unlimited posts, an API, webhooks and AI agent integrations; self-hosting needs Postgres, Redis and a developer app for each network. Switch if you want to own scheduling data, avoid per-channel fees and can run Docker with Postgres and Redis. Stay with Buffer if you do not want to register developer apps per network or maintain a server.
- **Mixpost** (Open source, $299 one-time (hosted), checked 2026-11-14): Lite edition is MIT and free, but publishes only to Facebook Pages, Mastodon and X; all networks, inbox and approvals need the $299 one-time Pro licence on your own server. Switch if you want a one-time licence instead of per-channel subscriptions and can host a PHP or Docker app. Stay with Buffer if you need Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok scheduling without paying for a licence or running a server.
- **TryPost** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): Laravel AGPL-3.0 scheduler that exposes an MCP server and REST API so AI agents can draft and schedule posts; the project has only about 860 stars and a young codebase. Switch if you want agent-driven drafting through MCP on infrastructure you control and accept a young project. Stay with Buffer if you need a stable vendor, support and many integrations out of the box.
- **OpenPost** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): Ships built-in image, carousel and video editors and runs as one Docker container with SQLite by default, so the starting footprint is far smaller than Postiz's Postgres and Redis stack. Switch if you want the lightest self-hosted setup with built-in editors and an approval workflow. Stay with Buffer if you want a hosted service with support and a mobile app.
- **Socioboard** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): Older GPL-3.0 platform with analytics and reporting for nine networks; its last release dates from January 2024 and it needs Node.js, PHP, MongoDB and MySQL. Switch if you want a reporting-heavy self-hosted suite and have the skills to run several services. Stay with Buffer if you want a maintained product with frequent releases and a simple install.

## Open-source options in detail

- **Postiz** (https://github.com/gitroomhq/postiz-app): Licence: AGPL-3.0; Commercial use: Yes; AGPL-3.0 means sharing changes if you run it as a service.; Runs on: Docker host with Postgres, Redis and media storage.; Setup: moderate: Docker plus a developer app and keys for each network.; Last commit: 2026-11-14; Last release: 2026-11-13; GitHub stars: 41,600 (2026-11-14)
- **Mixpost** (https://github.com/inovector/mixpost): Licence: MIT (Lite edition); Commercial use: Yes for Lite (MIT); Pro and Enterprise need paid licences.; Runs on: A PHP or Docker server with a public domain.; Setup: moderate: Laravel app needing a web server, database and domain.; Last commit: 2026-03-16; Last release: 2026-03-16; GitHub stars: 3,900 (2026-11-14)
- **TryPost** (https://github.com/trypostit/trypost): Licence: AGPL-3.0; Commercial use: Yes; AGPL-3.0 means sharing changes if you run it as a service.; Runs on: A web server running PHP 8.2 or newer with Laravel.; Setup: moderate: Laravel app with queue workers and per-network developer keys.; Last commit: 2026-11-13; Last release: 2026-11-01; GitHub stars: 863 (2026-11-14)
- **OpenPost** (https://github.com/getopenpost/openpost): Licence: AGPL-3.0; Commercial use: Yes; AGPL-3.0 means sharing changes if you run it as a service.; Runs on: Docker Compose; the default setup is one container with SQLite.; Setup: moderate: One Docker container, but each network needs its own developer app.; Last commit: 2026-11-14; Last release: 2026-11-13; GitHub stars: 913 (2026-11-14)
- **Socioboard** (https://github.com/socioboard/Socioboard-5.0): Licence: GPL-3.0-or-later; Commercial use: Yes; GPL-3.0 means sharing source if you distribute modified versions.; Runs on: Server with Node.js, PHP front end, MongoDB, MySQL and PM2.; Setup: hard: Several services (Node, PHP, MongoDB, MySQL) to install and keep running.; Last commit: 2026-08-17; Last release: 2024-01-16; GitHub stars: 1,500 (2026-11-14)

## Questions

### What is the best alternative to Buffer in 2027?
Hootsuite is the best overall Buffer alternative on this page ($99/user/mo billed yearly). For no cost, Metricool has a free plan (1 brand, 20 posts a month, 30 days of analytics, 5 competitors). To self-host, Postiz is open source (AGPL-3.0).

### Is there a free version of Buffer?
Yes. Buffer has a free plan: 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts each. Paid plans start at $5/channel/mo billed yearly, checked on 14 Nov 2026.

### Is there a 100% free alternative to Buffer?
Yes. Postiz, Mixpost, TryPost, OpenPost, Socioboard are open source and free to self-host. Metricool, Publer have a free plan with limits, shown in the table.

### What is cheaper than Buffer?
Publer starts at $4/account/mo billed yearly, against $5/channel/mo billed yearly for Buffer, as listed on each vendor's pricing page on 14 Nov 2026.

### How much do Buffer alternatives cost for a team of 5?
If each of 5 people buys the entry paid plan, at the prices Zekai checked on 14 Nov 2026, the monthly cost is Publer $20/mo, FeedHive $75/mo, SocialPilot $85/mo, against Buffer $25/mo for Buffer. Team and business plans can cost more per seat. The Zekai Cost Finder on this page recalculates for any team size.

### Which is better, Hootsuite or Buffer?
Charges per user, not per channel: Standard is $99 per user a month billed annually for 10 accounts, where Buffer Essentials is $5 per channel with one user included. Choose Hootsuite if you need a shared inbox, listening and approvals across ten or more profiles under one vendor. Stay with Buffer if you add or drop single channels month to month and only one person publishes.

### Why are people leaving Buffer?
The documented reasons are: Buffer's help centre states a lifetime channel connection limit of 8 channels per social network on the Free plan, which counts channels you have since disconnected (14 Nov 2026); Pricing page lists the Free plan at 10 scheduled posts per channel and 1 user; unlimited scheduled posts and first-comment scheduling start on Essentials at $6 per channel monthly (14 Nov 2026). Each is sourced in the section above.

### What is the best Buffer alternative?
It depends on the job: Publer for cheaper per-account pricing, Metricool for analytics and ads reports, Hootsuite for team inbox work, and Postiz if you want to host the tool yourself.

## Related on Zekai

- [Hootsuite alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/hootsuite/)
- [Later alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/later/)
- [Metricool alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/metricool/)
- [Sprout Social alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/sprout-social/)
- [Taplio alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/taplio/)
- [AI for Marketing & Content Creation](https://zekaiwork.com/professions/ai-marketing-content-creation-automation/)

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Live table, team cost finder and price alerts: https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/buffer/