# Buffer

> Social media scheduler priced by the channel, with a free plan

Buffer schedules posts to 12 networks, including Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Threads, Bluesky and YouTube, from a queue and a content calendar. It also collects content ideas, answers comments from one inbox and reports on how posts performed. Paid plans are charged for each connected social account, and the rate per account falls after the tenth.

- **Category:** Social Media Schedulers
- **Made by:** Buffer (since 2010)
- **Website:** https://buffer.com
- **Runs on:** Web, iOS, Android, Browser extension
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 17, 2026

## Pricing

Buffer has a free plan. Paid plans start at $5 per channel / month, billed annually ($6 billed monthly).

- **Pricing model:** Free plan
- **Free plan:** Up to 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time, 1 user, 100 saved ideas and 30 days of analytics history.
- **Free trial:** 14-day free trial of the paid plans.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free | $0 | Up to 3 channels and 1 user, 10 queued posts per channel at a time, the AI Assistant and a comment inbox. |
| Essentials | $5 per channel / month, billed annually ($6 billed monthly) | 1 user, unlimited scheduled posts, hashtag manager, first-comment scheduling and reports. The rate per channel drops after 10: $100 a month at 25 channels, billed annually. |
| Team | $10 per channel / month, billed annually ($12 billed monthly) | Unlimited team members, approval workflows, access levels and branded reports. $150 a month at 25 channels, billed annually. |

Read from https://buffer.com/pricing on Oct 17, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Buffer before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **About two months free with yearly billing** (Annual discount): Yearly billing brings Essentials to $5 a channel a month from $6, and Team to $10 from $12. The pricing page calls it saving two months. Source: https://buffer.com/pricing
- **50% off for nonprofits and charities** (Nonprofit): Buffer's pricing FAQ offers nonprofit and charity organizations a 50% discount on its paid plans. Source: https://buffer.com/pricing

## Key features

- **Queue and calendar:** Posts go into a per-channel queue or onto a visual calendar for Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, X, Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon, Pinterest, YouTube, Substack and Google Business Profile.
- **Ideas and AI Assistant:** An ideas board stores drafts and inspiration (100 on Free, unlimited on paid plans), and the AI Assistant helps write and repurpose posts on every plan.
- **Community inbox:** Comments from connected accounts can be answered in one place, with saved replies and AI reply suggestions (5 a week on Free).
- **Analytics and reports:** Insights cover follower growth, engagement and post performance. Free keeps 30 days of history; paid plans add reports and UTM tags, and Team adds branded reports.
- **Start Page:** A link-in-bio page builder is included on every plan, alongside link shortening and a Chrome extension for sharing from any web page.
- **API and MCP server:** Every plan includes API keys, from 3,000 requests a month on Free to 15,000 on Team, and Buffer lists a social media MCP server for AI tools.

## Good for

- Solo creators and small businesses posting to a handful of accounts
- People who want a free plan for up to three social accounts
- Agencies that add and drop client accounts and want to pay only for those connected

## Worth knowing

- The Free plan holds only 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time and keeps 30 days of analytics.
- Essentials allows a single user; approval workflows, access controls and branded reports need Team.
- Upgrading means paying for every connected channel, including the three that were free.
- Instagram personal profiles and Facebook groups get reminder notifications to post by hand, not automatic publishing.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 2.8 out of 4**, graded Oct 17, 2026. Buffer is the simple one: a queue and a calendar for 12 networks, a free plan for three of them, and a price per channel rather than per person. A team of two or three running five profiles pays $50 a month on Team. Just know the inbox in its listing is for comments, and there's no competitor tracking on record.

- **Value for money: C.** Five channels on Team, which a team needs because Essentials is one user, is $50 a month billed yearly ($10 a channel). That's above this category's $29 middle and under the $58 where the dearer quarter starts. On your own, Essentials is $25 for five.
- **Free plan and trial: B.** Free for good with up to 3 channels, AI help, a comment inbox and 30 days of insights. One person can run three accounts on it. The catch is 10 queued posts per channel at a time and a single user.
- **Features: C.** Queue, calendar, ideas board, AI help, reports and an API across 12 networks. The gaps it shows: the inbox is described for comments only, there's no competitor tracking on record, and Instagram personal profiles and Facebook groups only get a reminder to post by hand.
- **Ease of use: A.** Its iPhone and iPad app averages 4.7 from about 34,600 ratings, and the free plan needs nothing but your social accounts connected.
- **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web, iPhone, Android and a Chrome extension, plus an API on every plan, an MCP server, and Canva, Zapier, Make and WordPress. No desktop app, which is what an A needs.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Buffer's own pages on 17 October 2026, and its App Store rating. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.

## Where it stands among social media schedulers

- Buffer's GPA of 2.8 is higher than 19 of the 19 other social media schedulers we grade.
- It stands best on ease of use (A, above 17 of 19) and worst on features (C, above 0).
- Its paid plans start at $5 a month, against a middle price of $27.25 for the category: 1 of the 19 others that charge start lower.
- On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 3.0 out of 4. Nothing scores higher for less, though at least one tool matches that score at a lower price.

The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/social-media

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Your call.** You could make the core of Buffer for yourself: calendar, reports and templates. What you would give up is listed below. Whether that is worth the price is your call. It costs $60 a year.

- You could make: Calendar, reports and templates: an app builder makes these well.
- You could not: A real app for iOS and Android. Something home-made would be a web page.
- You could not: It plugs into other products, Canva, Google Drive and Dropbox among them, and has an API.
- You could not: AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

## What people say

- **App Store rating of the iPhone and iPad app:** 4.7 out of 5 from 34,637 ratings in the United States, read Oct 17, 2026. This is the store's rating of the app, not a score from ToolGPA. Source: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id490474324

## Works with

Canva, Google Drive, Dropbox, Zapier, Make, Bitly, WordPress, Claude

**Tags:** Calendar, Reports, AI features, Templates, Public API

## Alternatives

- [Hootsuite](https://toolgpa.com/tools/hootsuite): Social media suite for publishing, inbox, listening and reports. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/buffer-vs-hootsuite)
- [Later](https://toolgpa.com/tools/later): Visual social media planner with link in bio and analytics. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/buffer-vs-later)
- [Publer](https://toolgpa.com/tools/publer): Social media scheduler priced by connected accounts and members. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/buffer-vs-publer)
- [SocialBee](https://toolgpa.com/tools/socialbee): Category-based social media scheduler that recycles evergreen posts. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/buffer-vs-socialbee)
- [Metricool](https://toolgpa.com/tools/metricool): Social media planner and analytics priced by the number of brands. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/buffer-vs-metricool)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 17, 2026:

- https://buffer.com/pricing
- https://buffer.com/pricing.md
- https://buffer.com
- https://buffer.com/about
- https://buffer.com/extensions

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/buffer
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).