| Feature |
Later
Visual-first scheduling
|
Metricool
Analytics-heavy, multi-brand
|
Buffer
Simple per-channel billing
|
Publer
Modular, pay-per-account
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 💰 Pricing Overview | ||||
Entry-Level Paid Plan Lowest monthly billed plan |
$25/mo
Starter — billed monthly
$18.75/mo on annual (25% off)
1 Social Set (8 profiles), 1 user, 5 AI credits
|
$25/mo
Starter (5 brands) — billed monthly
$20/mo on annual (20% off)
5 brands, 1 user, 20 AI credits/brand/mo
|
$6/channel/mo
Essentials — billed monthly
$5/channel/mo on annual
⚠ Price scales with channels — 3 channels = $18/mo
|
$5/mo
Professional — billed monthly
$4/mo on annual
Starts with 1 account; each extra = +$4–7/mo
|
Mid-Tier Plan Most popular plan for growing brands |
$50/mo
Growth — billed monthly
$37.50/mo on annual
2 Social Sets, 2 users, 50 AI credits
|
$67/mo
Advanced (15 brands) — monthly
$53/mo on annual
Unlimited users, 35 AI credits/brand/mo
|
$12/channel/mo
Team — billed monthly
$10/channel/mo on annual
⚠ 5 channels = $60/mo; unlimited users included
|
$10/mo
Business — billed monthly
$8/mo on annual
Starts 1 account; includes unlimited AI
|
Free Plan Genuinely usable without paying |
✗ None
No free plan — 14-day trial only. Later retired its free tier.
|
Limited
1 brand, 20 posts/mo, 5 AI credits, 30-day analytics. No LinkedIn or X.
|
✓ Yes
3 channels, 10 queued posts/channel, full AI assistant, basic analytics.
|
Limited
3 accounts, 10 scheduled posts/account, no X/Twitter, no analytics.
|
Billing Model How costs scale as you grow |
Flat-Rate Tiers
Fixed price per tier; add-ons for extra sets/users/credits at Growth+
|
Per-Brand Tiers
Flat price per brand-count bracket; unlimited users at Advanced+
|
Per-Channel
⚠ Every social profile adds to bill. Predictable but can compound fast.
|
Per-Account + Per-Seat
⚠ Every social profile AND every user adds to bill. Most granular model.
|
| 🏢 Brands, Channels & Team | ||||
Max Brands / Workspaces Separate client or brand environments |
1 on Starter
2–6 on Growth/Scale Add more "Social Sets" at +$11.25/set/mo (annual). Unlimited Access Groups on Growth+
|
1 (Free) → 5–50+ (paid)
Best multi-brand value: Advanced 15 brands @ $53/mo annual
|
No brand concept
All channels in one workspace. Use user permissions to segment brands.
|
Unlimited workspaces
All paid plans get unlimited free workspaces. You pay per social profile only.
|
Max Social Channels Connected social profiles total |
8 (Starter) → 16–48 (Growth/Scale)
Each Social Set = 1 profile on each of 8 platforms. No expansion on Starter.
|
1/brand → 5–50+/plan
1 profile per network per brand. 50+ brands on Advanced or Custom.
|
3 (Free) → Unlimited (paid)
⚠ Each channel = +$6–12/mo. Volume discounts above 10 channels.
|
3 (Free) → Pay per profile
⚠ Professional: +$4/extra account. Business: +$7/extra account. Buy only what you need.
|
Team Member Seats How many users can access the account |
1 (Starter) → 2–4 (Growth/Scale)
Extra users at +$3.75/user/mo (annual). Starter is hard-locked to 1 user.
|
1 (Free/Starter) → Unlimited (Advanced+)
No per-seat fees at Advanced. Collaboration features + approval workflows included.
|
1 (Free/Essentials) → Unlimited (Team)
Team plan includes unlimited users at no extra per-seat cost.
|
1 (Free) → +$2–3/seat/mo (paid)
⚠ Every 10th seat is free. Professional: +$2/seat. Business: +$3/seat.
|
| 🤖 AI Content Features | ||||
AI Caption & Content Credits Per month on mid-tier plan |
5 (Starter) / 50 (Growth) / 100 (Scale)
1 credit = 3 ideas or 1 caption. Buy extra: +$3.75/100 credits/mo (Growth+)
|
5/brand (Free) / 20 (Starter) / 35/brand (Advanced)
Credits are per-brand. 15 brands × 35 = 525 total on Advanced.
|
Unlimited on all plans
AI Assistant (GPT-4o) included unlimited on all paid plans. Free plan gets 5 community replies/week.
|
Trial only (Free) / BYO key (Pro) / Unlimited (Business+)
Professional requires your own OpenAI API key — Publer doesn't cover costs.
|
AI Features Scope What AI can actually do |
Caption writing, content ideas
Solid basics. No AI image generation or advanced scheduling intelligence.
|
Captions, AI-powered scheduling (Advanced+), MetriLAB (Custom)
Advanced plan adds "Adjust Instructions" for brand voice customization.
|
Caption writing, repurposing, community reply AI
Broadest out-of-the-box AI — covers engagement as well as creation.
|
Captions, hashtags, alt text, image generation (Business+)
Business includes GPT-5.5 + GPT Image 2 for image generation. Most complete AI suite.
|
| 📱 Platform Support | ||||
Instagram Auto-publish, Reels, Stories support |
✓ Full
All plans. Reels, Stories, carousels, grid planner, Link in Bio. Visual media library is Later's core strength.
|
✓ Full
All plans. Advanced Reels analytics on Advanced plan.
|
✓ Full
All plans. First comment scheduling on paid plans.
|
✓ Full
All plans. Reels, Stories (added 2025), carousels up to 10 images, Link in Bio.
|
LinkedIn Profile + Page scheduling |
✓ Full
All plans. 1 LinkedIn profile per Social Set. Auto-publish supported.
|
Starter+ Only
Not available on Free plan. Requires paid plan ($20+/mo annual).
|
✓ Full
All plans. First comment scheduling on paid plans.
|
✓ Full
All plans. Profiles and Pages. PDF document posts supported.
|
X / Twitter Tweet, thread scheduling |
✗ Discontinued
Later dropped X support completely on Aug 28, 2025. X API costs ($42K–$210K/mo) made it unviable.
|
Paid + Add-on
⚠ Starter+ only AND requires a $5/mo per-account add-on fee. Full analytics only on Advanced.
|
✓ Full
All plans. Threads limited to 1 on Free; full threading on paid.
|
Paid Plans Only
⚠ Not on Free plan. Professional+. Full thread scheduling supported. Publer pays $42K/mo for X Enterprise API.
|
Other Platforms TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube |
TikTok ✓, Facebook ✓, Pinterest ✓, YouTube ✓
8 platforms total per Social Set.
|
TikTok ✓, Facebook ✓, Pinterest ✓, YouTube ✓, Google Business ✓
Widest platform support. Google Business requires 1 brand per location.
|
TikTok ✓, Facebook ✓, Pinterest ✓, YouTube ✓, Mastodon ✓
Mastodon support is unique to Buffer among the four tools.
|
TikTok ✓, Facebook ✓, Pinterest ✓, YouTube ✓, Google Business ✓, Telegram ✓
Widest variety including Telegram. PDF posts on LinkedIn.
|
| 📊 Analytics Capabilities | ||||
Analytics Depth Reporting quality on paid plans |
Basic (Starter) → Advanced (Scale)
Scale only: custom reports, 20 competitors, brand health, 2-yr data. Growth: 1-yr history, best times.
|
Best-in-class
Unlimited history (Starter+), 100 competitors, PDF/PPT exports, Looker Studio integration, full Twitter analytics (Advanced).
|
Basic (Free) → Full (Essentials+)
Essentials unlocks full advanced analytics. Team adds branded/white-label PDF exports.
|
None (Free/Pro) → Full (Business+)
Free and Professional plans have zero analytics. Business includes competitor analysis for FB/IG/X, hashtag analytics.
|
Data History How far back analytics go |
3 months (Starter) / 1 year (Growth) / 2 years (Scale)
Starter plan's 3-month limit is a meaningful constraint.
|
Unlimited (Starter+)
Unlimited history from day one of any paid plan.
|
30 days (Free) / Unlimited (paid)
Any paid plan unlocks unlimited history.
|
N/A (Free/Pro) / Included (Business+)
Analytics only available on Business plan and above.
|
Best Time to Post AI-powered optimal scheduling |
IG/FB/TikTok (Starter) / All platforms (Growth+)
Multi-profile best times only on Growth and Scale.
|
All plans (paid)
Included on all paid plans. AI-powered scheduling on Advanced.
|
All paid plans
Available from Essentials upward.
|
Business+ only
Not available on Free or Professional.
|
Competitor Analysis Track and benchmark competitors |
Scale only (20 competitors)
Locked to highest paid tier. Not available on Starter or Growth.
|
100 competitors (Starter+)
Best competitor tracking among the four tools. 5 on Free.
|
Not available
Buffer does not offer competitor analysis on any plan.
|
FB, IG, X (Business+)
Available on Business plan. More limited than Metricool.
|
White-Label Reports Branded PDF exports for clients |
Scale plan (basic branding)
Custom analytics available Scale only.
|
Advanced: Metricool-branded / Custom: white-label
True white-label (no Metricool branding) only on Custom plan — contact sales.
|
Team plan (branded exports)
Logo + cover page on exported PDFs.
|
Business: white-label PDFs / Enterprise: fully white-labeled
Business plan includes white-label PDF reports — good agency value.
|
Best Fit Analysis
Solo Brand Owner
1 brand, starting out, budget-conscious
Best Pick
Buffer Essentials
- Free plan is actually usable — 3 channels, basic analytics, and unlimited AI captions with no trial expiry
- $5–18/mo scales linearly with exactly the channels you use — no overpaying for seats or brands you don't need
- Unlimited AI assistant on all plans including free, unlike Later (5 credits) or Publer (BYO key on Pro)
- Instagram + LinkedIn fully supported on free tier — the two platforms that matter most for brand building
- Simplest onboarding — no workspace setup, no per-brand configuration, get started in minutes
Also consider
Publer Pro
If you need X/Twitter. Free is too limited (no analytics, no X), but $4/mo annually for 1 account is the cheapest entry point.
Metricool Free
If you only need Instagram + Facebook and deep free analytics matter. The free tier is genuinely functional despite the post limits.
Scaling Agency Team
5+ clients, team collaboration, client reporting
Best Pick
Metricool Advanced
- Unlimited team members on Advanced at no per-seat cost — critical for agencies with multiple contributors and approvers
- Unlimited analytics history + 100 competitor tracking — the strongest reporting suite among all four tools
- Scales to 50 brands at $159/mo (annual) — flat per-brand pricing is predictable and agency-friendly
- Approval workflows and client portals included on Advanced — no need for external approval tools
- Looker Studio integration for custom client dashboards — a differentiator no other tool here offers
Also consider
Publer Business
If you need X/Twitter + white-label PDF reports and manage fewer brands. The per-account model can be cheaper for smaller agencies with many profiles per brand.
Buffer Team
If your clients have many channels but few brands. Per-channel pricing with unlimited users works well when each client has 8+ profiles.
Hidden Costs & Gotchas
Later
Add-ons Model
No free plan at all. Competitors offer free tiers; Later requires a $25/mo commitment just to start.
Starter is a dead end. Hard-locked to 1 user, 1 brand, 5 AI credits. No add-ons allowed — must upgrade to Growth ($50/mo) to unlock anything.
X/Twitter dropped entirely. If X is in your strategy, Later is completely off the table as of August 2025.
Extra Social Sets: +$11.25/set/mo (annual). More brands quickly add up.
Flat pricing per tier — no per-channel billing surprises once you're on a plan.
Metricool
Per-Brand + Add-ons
X/Twitter costs an extra $5/mo per account on top of your plan price. It's a mandatory paid add-on.
LinkedIn blocked on Free plan — surprising for a "free" tier.
Hashtag Tracker is $25/day as an add-on — easy to accidentally run up a bill.
White-label reports require Custom plan (enterprise pricing, contact sales) — Advanced shows Metricool branding on all reports.
No per-seat fees on Advanced — unlimited team members at a flat price is excellent for agencies.
Buffer
Per-Channel
Per-channel billing stacks fast. Managing 10 channels on Team = $100/mo. Agencies with many profiles can hit $300–500/mo quickly.
Adding channels mid-cycle triggers an immediate prorated charge. Removing channels only reduces bill at next renewal cycle.
Annual subscriptions are non-refundable — no partial refunds if you downgrade or cancel early.
Unlimited users on Team at no extra cost — scale your team without per-seat bills.
Volume discounts above 10 channels — rate drops significantly past channel 10.
Publer
Per-Account + Per-Seat
Double variable billing — you pay per social account AND per team member. Bills are harder to predict as teams and accounts grow.
Professional plan requires your own OpenAI API key for AI features. Publer doesn't cover AI costs at this tier.
Analytics locked behind Business tier ($10/mo base) — no data visibility on Free or Professional.
Every 10th account or seat is free — a small but meaningful discount for large teams.
Unlimited free workspaces — the most flexible brand organization of all four tools.
Sources & Notes: Pricing reflects publicly listed rates as of June 2025. All USD prices shown. Annual pricing shown as monthly equivalent. Publer's X/Twitter pricing note: Publer publicly stated it pays ~$42K/month for X Enterprise API access — a cost passed implicitly through Professional+ plan requirements. Later confirmed discontinuing X support in July–August 2025 via their Help Center. Metricool's $5/mo X add-on is required per connected account regardless of plan tier. Buffer eliminated its Agency plan in December 2025, folding it into the Team tier. All pricing subject to change — verify on each platform's official pricing page before purchasing.