Buffer
Checked 24 Oct 2026 · source · 11 networks · API yes · AI yes
Solo creators and small teams who want simple, cheap per-channel scheduling across almost every network.
You need a unified inbox, social listening or approval workflows for a larger team.
Overview
Buffer is a social media management tool with a content ideas library, scheduling, analytics, a comment inbox, team approval workflows and a Start Page link-in-bio builder. Its homepage also mentions a mobile app and an API and MCP connection so AI tools can reach your account. My notes list eleven networks, including Bluesky, Mastodon, Google Business and Pinterest, which is a wider spread than most tools in this price range. Buffer also publishes to Substack.
The structure is simple. Everything is priced per connected channel, and the plan decides what you get on each one. The free plan allows 3 channels, 1 user and 10 scheduled posts per channel. Essentials keeps one user but removes the post cap. Team adds unlimited users.
What stands out to me is how little else changes between tiers: the sticker price is small, so the main question is how many channels you will connect. The pricing page also gives two different savings claims for annual billing (2 months free in one place, 20% in the FAQ), so I'd confirm the month-to-month rate at checkout before relying on it.
What it does well
- Covers a long list of networks, including Bluesky, Mastodon and Google Business.
- Has a real free plan with 3 channels.
- Per-channel pricing is easy to forecast when you only run a few accounts.
- Includes a link-in-bio Start Page and an AI assistant on the site's feature list.
What to watch out for
- The free plan caps you at 10 scheduled posts per channel.
- The month-to-month price is not confirmed, because the page gives conflicting annual savings figures.
- My notes say no unified inbox for large teams, social listening or approval workflows beyond what the Team plan offers.
- Channels above 10 are discounted, but the rates are not shown.
Plans and prices
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed annually, per month | Unit | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | per month | 3 channels, 1 user, 10 scheduled posts/channel |
| Essentials | Not published | $5 | per channel per month | 1 user, unlimited scheduled posts per channel |
| Team | Not published | $10 | per channel per month | Unlimited users, unlimited scheduled posts per channel |
Free plan: Up to 3 channels, 1 user, 10 scheduled posts per channel, 100 ideas, 30-day insights history, 5 AI reply suggestions/week
Buffer charges per channel, not per seat. Essentials is $5 per channel per month and Team is $10 per channel per month, both on annual billing ($60 and $120 per channel per year). The Free plan costs nothing for up to 3 channels. The bill grows with every channel you add, so ten channels on Team comes to $100 per month on the annual rate before any volume discount. The step from Essentials to Team doubles the per-channel price in exchange for unlimited users, which only pays off if more than one person needs access.
Networks listed by Buffer
- Supports Facebook
- Supports Instagram
- Supports X
- Supports LinkedIn
- Supports TikTok
- Supports YouTube
- Supports Threads
- Supports Bluesky
- Supports Pinterest
- Supports Google Business
- Supports Mastodon
What Buffer does on each network
Only what the vendor's own pages state. A blank cell means the pages do not say.
| Network | Post types | Publishing | First comment | Analytics | Inbox |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| imagecarouselreelstory | Mixed | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| textimagevideoreelstory | Mixed | Yes | Yes | ||
| X | textimagevideothread | Auto-publish | Yes | ||
| Auto-publish | Yes | ||||
| TikTok | video | Phone reminder | Yes | ||
| YouTube | short | Phone reminder | Yes | ||
| Threads | Auto-publish | Yes | |||
| Bluesky | Auto-publish | Yes | |||
| Auto-publish | |||||
| Google Business | Auto-publish | Yes | |||
| Mastodon | Auto-publish | Yes |
- Needs: Professional (Business or Creator) account for automatic publishing; Personal accounts use notifications
- Limits: Video max 300 MB; Reel 3 sec to 15 min; Story 3 to 60 sec; carousel up to 10 images; up to 5 hashtags in caption
- support.buffer.com
- Needs: Pages auto-publish; Facebook Groups use notifications (per publish page)
- Limits: Daily limit 35 posts per 24 hours
- support.buffer.com
Publishing and scheduling
- Calendar views
- week; month
- Queue
- Queue with Next Available, Prioritize, Now or a specific date and time; posts can be re-ordered
- Recurring and evergreen posts
- Recurring posts (Beta): repeat one scheduled post a set number of times on a chosen cadence
- Best time suggestions
- Recommended posting times based on engagement patterns and, on some plans, recent performance
- Drafts and notes
- Drafts on every plan; Notes let collaborators comment on posts
- First comment
- Paid plans only; Instagram requires a Professional account and automatic publishing
- Hashtag tools
- Saved hashtag groups on paid plans; AI Hashtag Generator listed in help center
- Link in bio
- Start Page, counted as a channel
- RSS and curation
- RSS automation via Zapier (help center article); WordPress queue integration
- Time zones
- Each channel has its own time zone; times adjust for daylight saving
- Also listed
- Post Groups; Browser extension; Duplicate posts; Posts with images and video together (changelog 2026-09-28); Streaks
Sources: buffer.com, support.buffer.com, support.buffer.com, support.buffer.com
Teams, approvals and clients
- Seats
- Free and Essentials: 1 user; Team: unlimited users
- Roles
- Permission levels from full posting access to approval-only roles
- Approvals
- Team plan only; members draft and submit, admins or managers approve before scheduling
Sources: buffer.com, buffer.com
Content creation and AI
- AI features
- Content ideas and post generation: Generates posts and captions from prompts; Repurposing: Turns one post or long content into several formats; Rewrite, shorten, expand, tone change; AI reply suggestions in Community: 5 per week on Free, unlimited on paid
- AI credits
- Pricing page lists unlimited credits; vendor states AI Assistant can be used without limits on a free account; text entered is shared with OpenAI
- Design tools
- Image editor (crop, rotate, flip, zoom, alt text); Canva integration; Magic Resizer
- Media library
- Attach media from Dropbox, Google Drive, Google Photos, OneDrive
- Templates
- Templates in the composer
- Links and UTM
- Custom UTM parameters on Essentials and Team
Sources: buffer.com, buffer.com, support.buffer.com, buffer.com
Analytics and reporting
- Metrics
- reach; engagement; follower changes; top performing content; likes; comments; impressions; new followers
- Report exports
- PDF; CSV
- Data history
- Free: 30 days; Team: unlimited Insights history
- White label reports
- Branded reports on Team plan
Sources: buffer.com, buffer.com
Inbox and engagement
- Inbox
- Community: filter unanswered comments, saved replies, reply in Buffer or natively, comment score
Source: buffer.com
Integrations, API and apps
- Integrations
- Zapier; IFTTT; Canva; WordPress; Dropbox; Google Drive; Google Photos; OneDrive; Substack Notes
- Zapier
- Yes
- MCP server
- Yes
- Public API
- Yes
- API docs
- https://developers.buffer.com
- API authentication
- Bearer token from an API key created in settings
- API rate limits
- Free plan: 3,000 requests per month, 1 API key; other limits not read
- iOS app
- iOS app (requires iOS 18.0 or later) with Apple Watch app
- Android app
- Android app (push notification settings referenced in changelog)
- Browser extension
- Browser extension
Sources: developers.buffer.com, support.buffer.com, status.buffer.com, apps.apple.com
Pricing details
- Billing model
- Per channel pricing: Essentials $5/month and Team $10/month per channel; Free up to 3 channels
- Annual discount
- Vendor states 20% discount (plan cards say save 2 months); Essentials $60/yr, Team $120/yr per channel
- Trial
- 14-day free trial on paid plans; downgrades to Free if no payment added
- Free plan
- 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel, 1 user, 100 ideas, 30-day Insights
- Overage
- Fair use cap of 5,000 scheduled posts per channel on paid plans
- Discounts
- Lower per-channel cost above 10 channels
- Refunds
- Prorations or refunds applied automatically when switching between monthly and annual (vendor states)
- Currencies
- USD
Sources: buffer.com, support.buffer.com
Security and compliance
- GDPR
- Privacy pages include GDPR section, Data Protection Agreement and sub-processor list
- Status page
- https://status.buffer.com (19 components incl. Buffer API and Buffer MCP)
Sources: buffer.com, status.buffer.com
Support and onboarding
- Help centre
- https://support.buffer.com/
Source: support.buffer.com
About the company
- Founded
- 2010
- Team size
- 73 teammates across 15 countries (Open Company metrics on about page)
Source: buffer.com
What review sites show
Scores and counts as the review site displays them on the date shown. They are other people's ratings, not ours.
| Site | Score | Reviews | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trustpilot | 4.2 | 143 | 2026-10 |
| App store | 4.7 | 35000 | 2026-10 |
Recent product changes
2026-10-14
Real-time collaboration with Notes
Notes revamped; mention a teammate to start a live conversation about a post
2026-10-07
Music, collaborators, and more for Instagram
Finish Instagram posts in Buffer, such as adding music to reels and tagging collaborators
2026-09-28
Publish posts with images and video together
Schedule a single post that includes both images and videos
2026-09-23
Substack Notes is now in Buffer
Connect Substack to publish Notes from Buffer
2026-09-17
Multi-channel Takeaways in Insights
Takeaways works with the All Channels view
2026-09-15
Crop, rotate, flip, zoom and alt text in the image editor
2026-09-02
Filter Instagram and Facebook posts by type
Filter by Story, Post or Reel in Insights and Publish
Limits the vendor documents
- Instagram notification posts cannot be completed from desktop and need the mobile app(support.buffer.com)
- Instagram carousels are images only; custom cover thumbnail uploads are not supported(support.buffer.com)
- Instagram auto-publish falls back to notification for music, story links, stickers or product tags(support.buffer.com)
- Buffer blocks scheduling the same post more than once within 24 hours; recurring posts are in Beta(support.buffer.com)
- Free plan: 10 scheduled posts per channel, no first comment or hashtag manager(buffer.com)
Pages read for this profile (22)
- https://buffer.com/pricing
- https://buffer.com/about
- https://buffer.com/publish
- https://support.buffer.com/
- https://buffer.com/changelog
- https://support.buffer.com/categories/scheduling-posts-e1hknhmG7A
- https://support.buffer.com/categories/buffers-api-xqiJBbfa0i
- https://support.buffer.com/categories/integrations-CppU4MFhnx
- https://buffer.com/security
- https://buffer.com/resources/buffer-api/
- https://support.buffer.com/articles/scheduling-instagram-posts-reels-stories-and-notifications-3XA98S9Q5p
- https://support.buffer.com/articles/daily-posting-limits-kJ0JtpsdvD
- https://support.buffer.com/articles/is-it-possible-to-schedule-one-post-to-repeat-multiple-times-521zxc7H5D
- https://developers.buffer.com
- https://support.buffer.com/articles/how-many-posts-can-i-schedule-in-advance-Kmy2IEecqm
- https://status.buffer.com
- https://www.trustpilot.com/review/buffer.com
- https://apps.apple.com/us/app/buffer-social-media-planner/id490474324
- https://buffer.com/ai-assistant
- https://buffer.com/analyze
- https://buffer.com/engage
- https://buffer.com/collaborate
Pick Buffer if
Pick Buffer if you run a handful of accounts, want to start free and prefer to pay per channel. It fits a solo creator or a small team that does not need approval chains or social listening.
Questions people ask
Does Buffer have a free plan?
Yes. The Free plan includes up to 3 channels, 1 user, 10 scheduled posts per channel, 100 ideas and a 30-day insights history.
Which networks does Buffer support?
Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Threads, Bluesky, Pinterest, Google Business and Mastodon. It also publishes to Substack.
How much does Buffer cost to start?
Essentials is $5 per channel per month on annual billing, and Team is $10 per channel per month. The month-to-month rate is not confirmed.
Alternatives
Tools for a similar audience that share the most networks with Buffer.
How we checked
Page shows $5 (Essentials) and $10 (Team) per channel with annual billing at $60/$120 per channel per year. The page says annual saves '2 months' in one place and '20%' in the FAQ, so the exact month-to-month rate could not be confirmed and is null. Channels above 10 are discounted, rates not shown. Also publishes to Substack. Public API listed with request quotas per plan (Free 3,000 req/month).