Buffer Alternatives 2026: 6 Options, 4 Free
Buffer alternatives: Postiz, Mixpost, Publer, Metricool and 2 more. Prices and licenses checked October 22, 2026.
•3 min read•Social Media & Ads
Verdict:Buffer is a social scheduler: queue posts across networks, check the calendar and read basic analytics. People leave it for more analytics, self-hosting, or a visual planner that matches how they publish. Postiz and Mixpost are open-source schedulers you host yourself, so you own the data and skip the subscription, but you run the server and the platform credentials. Publer offers queues and a calendar on a free plan, with more analytics on paid tiers, which is the nearest hosted match. Metricool leans into reporting across accounts and has a free plan, so it is stronger than Buffer on analytics and less focused on a plain publishing queue. Later is a visual planner for grid-based posting on Instagram and Pinterest; it has no free plan in our data, so its value depends on whether a visual grid matters to you. SocialBee suits teams that recycle evergreen posts on repeat schedules, with more recycling tools than Buffer. The concrete trade-off is that self-hosted tools save a monthly fee but make you maintain the server, while hosted tools keep the work simple. Pick the one that matches how you post, not the one with the longest feature list.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Postiz | Free (Open-source code you host yourself; the hosted plans have no free tier, only a 7-day trial); paid from $23 per month, hosted Standard, billed annually ($29 billed monthly, 5 channels) | Web, Self-hosted | Self-hosted scheduling | Docs only |
| Mixpost | Free (Mixpost Lite is free, self-hosted and open source); paid from $299 per one-time, self-hosted Pro with 1 year of updates | Web, Self-hosted | Self-hosted post scheduling | Docs only |
| Publer | Free (1 user, 3 social accounts (not X), 10 scheduled posts per account, 24-hour post history); paid from $4 per month, Professional, billed yearly ($5 billed monthly) | Web | Queues and analytics on a budget | Docs only |
| Metricool | Free (1 brand, 20 scheduled posts per month, 30 days of analytics); paid from $20 per month, Starter for up to 5 brands, billed annually ($25 billed monthly) | Web | Analytics plus scheduling | Docs only |
| Later | Paid from $18.75 per month, billed yearly (Starter: 1 social set, 30 scheduled posts per profile per month; 14-day free trial) | Web browser | Visual planning for Instagram | Docs only |
| SocialBee | Paid from $24 per month, billed annually (Bootstrap; $29 billed monthly) | Web browser | Recycling evergreen content | Docs only |
| Hootsuite | Paid from $99 per user/month, billed annually (Standard, 10 social accounts) | Web browser | Social Media Management | Docs only |
| Sprout Social | Paid from $79 per seat/month, billed annually ($99 billed monthly), Essentials | Web | Social media management | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You want to host the scheduler yourself (Postiz is the pick)
- You want an open-source queue and calendar (Mixpost is the pick)
- You want analytics with scheduling on a free plan (Metricool is the pick)
- You plan visual grids for Instagram (Later is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Buffer features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Buffer today: Free (3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel); paid from $5 per channel/month, Essentials, billed annually ($60 a year) (Buffer pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Why people look for Buffer alternatives
Buffer prices per channel: Essentials is $5 a month ($60 yearly) and Team $10 a month ($120 yearly) for each channel, with a lower rate only above 10 channels. Ten channels on Team therefore cost about $100 a month. The free plan stops at 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel, one user and 30 days of insights. Approval workflows, custom access permissions and branded reports exist only on Team.
Postiz
Compared with Buffer: Open-source social media scheduler with a free tier that you can self-host. It schedules posts across major networks like Buffer does, but you run the server and handle platform API keys yourself.
Price: Free (Open-source code you host yourself; the hosted plans have no free tier, only a 7-day trial); paid from $23 per month, hosted Standard, billed annually ($29 billed monthly, 5 channels) (Postiz pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. AGPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 39.4k GitHub stars · latest release v2.25.3 (Oct 24, 2026) · last commit Oct 24, 2026
Best for: Self-hosted scheduling.
Worth knowing: Postiz calls self-hosting a secondary option; new agent features ship on the hosted platform first.
Mixpost
Compared with Buffer: Open-source social media scheduling tool you host yourself, with a free licence. It replaces Buffer's queues and calendar, though it lacks Buffer's hosted team workflow and mobile apps.
Price: Free (Mixpost Lite is free, self-hosted and open source); paid from $299 per one-time, self-hosted Pro with 1 year of updates (Mixpost pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. MIT (Lite) (open source).
Project activity: 3.9k GitHub stars · latest release 2.6.0 (Mar 16, 2026) · last commit Mar 16, 2026
Best for: Self-hosted post scheduling.
Worth knowing: Pro and Enterprise ($1,199 one-time) are paid self-hosted editions.
Publer
Compared with Buffer: Social scheduling tool with a free plan and paid tiers. It covers the queue and calendar Buffer uses, and adds more analytics on paid plans, though the free tier is narrower.
Price: Free (1 user, 3 social accounts (not X), 10 scheduled posts per account, 24-hour post history); paid from $4 per month, Professional, billed yearly ($5 billed monthly) (Publer pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web. Proprietary.
Best for: Queues and analytics on a budget.
Metricool
Compared with Buffer: Social analytics and scheduling with a free plan. It leans toward reporting across accounts, so it is stronger than Buffer on analytics and weaker on a pure publishing queue.
Price: Free (1 brand, 20 scheduled posts per month, 30 days of analytics); paid from $20 per month, Starter for up to 5 brands, billed annually ($25 billed monthly) (Metricool pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web. Proprietary.
Best for: Analytics plus scheduling.
Later
Compared with Buffer: Scheduling tool built around visual planning for Instagram and Pinterest. It has no free plan in our data, so it trades Buffer's free tier for a paid visual planner.
Price: Paid from $18.75 per month, billed yearly (Starter: 1 social set, 30 scheduled posts per profile per month; 14-day free trial) (Later pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Visual planning for Instagram.
SocialBee
Compared with Buffer: Paid social scheduling with categories and evergreen queues for recurring posts. It has more content-recycling tools than Buffer, so it suits teams that reuse posts on a schedule.
Price: Paid from $24 per month, billed annually (Bootstrap; $29 billed monthly) (SocialBee pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Recycling evergreen content.
Worth knowing: 14-day free trial, no free plan. Accelerate is $40 annual and Pro $82 annual.
Other popular options (paid)
Hootsuite
Compared with Buffer: Hootsuite Standard is $99 per user per month on annual billing and covers 10 social accounts, about $10 each, double Buffer's Essentials rate. There is no free plan, only a trial.
Price: Paid from $99 per user/month, billed annually (Standard, 10 social accounts) (Hootsuite pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Sprout Social
Compared with Buffer: Sprout Social Essentials is $79 per seat per month on annual billing ($99 monthly), with a 30-day trial and no free plan. It prices per seat, whereas Buffer prices per channel.
Price: Paid from $79 per seat/month, billed annually ($99 billed monthly), Essentials (Sprout Social pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Which one to pick
- You want to host the scheduler yourself: Postiz
- You want an open-source queue and calendar: Mixpost
- You want analytics with scheduling on a free plan: Metricool
- You plan visual grids for Instagram: Later
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Postiz, Mixpost, Publer, Metricool, Later, SocialBee: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Buffer. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
Related guides
More in Social Media & Ads
All Social Media & Ads alternatives →Sources
Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked 2026-10-22: Buffer, Postiz, Mixpost, Publer, Metricool, Later, SocialBee, Hootsuite, Sprout Social. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.