Later Alternatives 2026: 5 Options, 4 Free
Later alternatives: Buffer, Metricool, Publer, Postiz and 1 more. Prices and licenses checked October 25, 2026.
•3 min read•Social Media & Ads
Verdict:Leave Later if you need team approvals, reporting or more platforms than its Starter plan covers. Later's Starter allows one social set and 30 scheduled posts per profile, and its paid tier starts at $18.75 a month billed yearly. Buffer's free plan gives three channels and ten scheduled posts per channel, and its Essentials tier is $5 per channel per month billed annually, which makes it the cheapest hosted switch for a small brand. Metricool's free plan covers one brand and 20 scheduled posts a month, with 30 days of analytics; the paid Starter tier for up to five brands is $20 a month billed annually. Publer offers a free plan with one user, three social accounts (not X) and ten posts per account, and paid from $4 a month billed yearly. Postiz is open source, so you pay only for your own server, but its hosted plans have no free tier beyond a 7-day trial. Hootsuite is the enterprise choice at $99 per user per month billed annually on its Standard plan, with no free tier. Pick Buffer for a cheap per-channel model, Metricool when analytics matter more than post volume, and Postiz when you can host it yourself. The trade-off is posting volume: free tiers cap posts tightly, so a steady schedule will push you into a paid plan within a month. Compare the cap per channel against your real weekly output before you switch.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buffer | Free (3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel); paid from $5 per channel/month, Essentials, billed annually ($60 a year) | Web | Cheap per-channel scheduling | 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 alongside 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 | Small teams on a low entry price | Docs only |
| 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 social scheduling | Docs only |
| Hootsuite | Paid from $99 per user/month, billed annually (Standard, 10 social accounts) | Web browser | Larger teams needing reporting | Docs only |
| Sprout Social | Paid from $79 per seat/month, billed annually ($99 billed monthly), Essentials | Web | Social media management | Docs only |
| SocialPilot | Paid from $17 per month, billed yearly (Essentials: 5 social accounts, 1 user; $20 billed monthly) | Web browser | Social Media | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You want the cheapest hosted switch for a small brand (Buffer is the pick)
- You care more about analytics than post volume (Metricool is the pick)
- You want self-hosted scheduling (Postiz is the pick)
- You run a larger team with reporting needs (Hootsuite is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Later features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Later today: 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).
Why people look for Later alternatives
Later's Starter plan is $18.75 a month billed yearly and covers one social set, one user and 30 posts per profile per month, with 5 AI credits. Approvals, the social inbox and custom roles start at Growth ($37.50), which caps posts at 180 per profile. Competitive benchmarking and custom analytics need Scale ($82.50). Extra social sets are $11.25 a month each, extra users $3.75, and analytics history is 3 months on Starter.
Buffer
Compared with Later: Free plan gives 3 channels and 10 scheduled posts per channel. Against Later's Starter, which allows 30 posts per profile, Buffer's free tier is smaller, but its paid entry is $5 per channel a month against Later's $18.75.
Price: 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).
Platforms and license: Web. Proprietary.
Best for: Cheap per-channel scheduling.
Metricool
Compared with Later: Free plan covers 1 brand and 20 scheduled posts a month, with 30 days of analytics. Against Later it has a tighter free allowance, but Starter at $20 a month billed annually covers up to five brands.
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 alongside scheduling.
Publer
Compared with Later: Free plan allows 1 user, 3 social accounts (not X) and 10 posts per account. Against Later it is cheaper at $4 a month on yearly billing, but it leaves X out of the free plan.
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: Small teams on a low entry price.
Postiz
Compared with Later: Open-source scheduler you host yourself; hosted plans have no free tier, only a 7-day trial, and start at $23. Against Later you trade the subscription for your own server and upkeep.
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 social scheduling.
Worth knowing: Postiz calls self-hosting a secondary option; new agent features ship on the hosted platform first.
Hootsuite
Compared with Later: Standard plan is $99 per user a month billed annually, with no free tier. Against Later it adds team and enterprise reporting features, at a far higher price.
Price: Paid from $99 per user/month, billed annually (Standard, 10 social accounts) (Hootsuite pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Larger teams needing reporting.
Worth knowing: No free plan; 14-day free trial with daily posting limits. Professional from $199 and Advanced up to $399 per user/month billed annually, per the plans FAQ; exact per-plan figures were not all shown.
Other popular options (paid)
Sprout Social
Compared with Later: Essentials is $79 per seat per month billed annually ($99 monthly), several times Later's $18.75 Starter, and has no free tier. It is the enterprise-leaning option for analytics and team workflows.
Price: Paid from $79 per seat/month, billed annually ($99 billed monthly), Essentials (Sprout Social pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
SocialPilot
Compared with Later: Essentials is $17 a month billed yearly for 5 social accounts and 1 user, slightly below Later Starter at $18.75, with a 14-day trial and no card. Standard is $34 for 10 accounts and 3 users.
Price: Paid from $17 per month, billed yearly (Essentials: 5 social accounts, 1 user; $20 billed monthly) (SocialPilot pricing, checked 2026-10-25).
Which one to pick
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Buffer, Metricool, Publer, Postiz, Hootsuite: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Later. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
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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 between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-25: Later, Buffer, Metricool, Publer, Postiz, Hootsuite, Sprout Social, SocialPilot. 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.