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The short answer
Buffer is $5/mo per channel (Essentials). Hootsuite is ~$99/user/mo (Standard, list). Buffer suits the cheapest way to start on one or two channels, while Hootsuite suits enterprise listening, ads, support inbox. Work out which description fits how you actually post, because the feature lists overlap far more than the pricing models do.
Buffer vs Hootsuite at a glance
| Buffer | Hootsuite | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry paid price | $5/mo per channel (Essentials) | ~$99/user/mo (Standard, list) |
| Free plan | Yes, 3 channels and 10 scheduled posts | No, discontinued |
| Best for | The cheapest way to start on one or two channels | Enterprise listening, ads, support inbox |
Buffer
Per-channel pricing is the whole story: $5/mo for one channel, so two channels cost $10/mo and ten cost $50/mo. Cheapest entry here for a narrow setup, middling for a wide one. The free plan is permanent, capped at 3 channels and 10 scheduled posts at a time. Publishing-first and deliberately shallow on analytics and inbox. Wide platform coverage including Bluesky, Mastodon, Pinterest and Google Business Profile.
Hootsuite
The enterprise default since the early 2010s, and priced like it. Social listening via Talkwalker, ad management, and a support inbox with auto-routing and agent collision avoidance. The free plan is gone and Standard is per-user and billed annually, which is what sends most people looking. Worth the money only if you genuinely use the listening and inbox depth.
If neither fits
These two are not the only options, and for a lot of people they are not the right two. Everything below is a working alternative, cheapest first.
| Tool | Entry paid price | Free plan | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Publer | $5/mo Professional ($4/mo billed yearly) | Yes, free forever tier | The cheapest paid tier with a real free plan |
| Post Bridge | $29/mo (Starter, 5 accounts) | No, 7-day trial | Deliberately minimal publishing |
| Zoho Social | $10/mo (Standard, billed annually) | No | Teams already inside the Zoho suite |
| PostNext.io | 19 EUR/mo (Premium, 15 channels); 11 EUR/mo billed yearly | Yes, 1 connected account and 10 posts/mo | AI post and blog generation on a flat price |
| Planoly | Around $16/mo Starter (annual) | Yes, limited to 1 user and 1 social set | Instagram-first visual planning |
| Tailwind | $17.99/mo annual Pin Scheduling ($29.99 monthly) | Yes | Pinterest, and Pinterest SEO in particular |
| Later | $18.75/mo Starter (annual, 25% off) | No | Visual planning for Instagram-led brands |
| FeedHive | $19/mo (Creator, 4 social accounts) | No | Solo creators who want AI recycling |
| CoSchedule | $19/mo Social Calendar (annual) | Yes, Free Calendar with 1 user and 1 profile | A marketing calendar that happens to post |
| Metricool | $20/mo (Starter, 5 brands) | Yes, 1 brand and 20 posts/mo | Analytics depth at a small-team price |
| SocialPilot | $20/mo Essentials ($17/mo annual) | No | Agencies managing many client accounts |
| Sprout Social | $79/seat/mo Essentials (annual), $99 monthly | No, 30-day trial | Enterprise reporting and workflow |
| SocialBee | $29/mo Bootstrap ($20.17/mo annual), 5 profiles | No, 14-day trial | Category-based evergreen recycling |
| MeetEdgar | $29.99/mo Eddie ($24.91/mo annual), 5 accounts | No, 30-day trial | Set-and-forget evergreen automation |
| Sendible | $29/mo Creator (1 user, 6 profiles) | No | White-label agency reporting |
| Planable | $33/workspace/mo Basic | Yes, 50 free posts with no time limit | The cleanest approval and review experience |
| HeyOrca | $35/mo per calendar (Agency Basic) | Yes, light posting on 1 calendar | Client approval workflows |
| Kontentino | $39/mo (Basic, billed annually) | No | Approvals with a brand-safety review step |
| Loomly | $49/mo Starter ($65/mo monthly) | No, trial only | Unlimited calendars and a post-ideas board |
| eClincher | $65/mo (Basic, 10 profiles, 1 user) | No | The closest all-in-one to Hootsuite itself |
| Agorapulse | $79/mo Standard (annual) | Yes, limited | A social inbox without enterprise pricing |
| Mixpost | $299 one-time (Pro), self-hosted | Yes, Lite is open source | Owning your data on your own server |
What 15 connected accounts cost
PostNext Premium includes 15 connected accounts. This is what the same fifteen cost on the tools people compare it with, taken from each vendor's own pricing page on 5 September 2026, billed monthly, in the currency the vendor lists.
| Tool | Plan that covers 15 accounts | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| PostNext | Premium, 15 connected accounts | $19 |
| Post Bridge | Creator, 15 connected accounts | $39 |
| Postiz | Pro, 30 channels (Standard stops at 5) | $49 |
| Buffer | Essentials, $5 per channel, times 15 | $75 |
Buffer prices per channel, so fifteen channels is fifteen times the Essentials price. Postiz's entry plan stops at 5 channels; the next plan up carries 30. Post Bridge's Creator plan carries exactly 15. Prices move, so check the vendor pages before you decide.
Checked (2026-09-05)
Read the full comparisons
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