What social media schedulers really cost at 3, 5 and 10 accounts (2026)

Disclosure: Buffer, Later and Vista Social links on this page are affiliate links. If you sign up through them, BestCreates may earn a commission. Hootsuite, Metricool, Publer, SocialBee, Typefully and Hypefury links are direct and earn us nothing. Commission doesn't change the order below, and where a non-partner tool is cheaper, we say so. How we make money.

Review status: Editorially reviewed · By Carlos Gil · Prices checked on official pricing pages Oct 10, 2026

At 3 and 5 accounts, Publer is the cheapest paid scheduler in this group that covers video and visual networks: $12 a month for three accounts and $20 for five on monthly billing. At 10 accounts, Metricool wins, because its $25-a-month Starter plan covers up to five brands with one profile per network in each. Neither has an affiliate program with us. Buffer, one of our partners, is the cheapest per-account option with the simplest math, and its free plan still covers three channels. Hootsuite costs more than any other option here at every size.

The reason this is hard to compare: each vendor counts something different. Buffer charges per channel, Later per "social set," Metricool per brand, Publer per account, and Hootsuite per user. Same creator, five different meters.

The short answer

• Cheapest at 3 or 5 accounts: Publer Professional. $12/mo for three accounts, $20/mo for five.
• Cheapest at 10 accounts: Metricool Starter. $25/mo, or $240 a year, as long as your accounts fit into five brands.
• Simplest per-channel pricing with a real free plan: BufferAFFILIATE (affiliate link). Free for 3 channels, then $6 per channel a month.
• Best value for Instagram-first planners: LaterAFFILIATE (affiliate link). One price covers one profile on each of eight networks.
• Best for 10+ profiles across clients or locations: Vista SocialAFFILIATE (affiliate link). $99/mo for 15 profiles, but overkill below that.
• Best for text-first writers: Typefully. $99 a year for one profile on each text network.
• Hard to justify for one creator: Hootsuite. $99 per user per month, billed annually.

How each scheduler counts your accounts

Before comparing prices, check the unit. A "channel" at Buffer is one connected profile. A "social set" at Later is a bundle of one profile per network. Get this wrong and you'll misjudge the bill by a factor of three.

The cost table: 3, 5 and 10 accounts

Example. Assumptions: one creator, one user seat, USD list prices before tax, no promo codes, cheapest plan that fits. Three accounts are Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Five add LinkedIn and Threads. Ten accounts are two brands (say, your personal brand plus a podcast or business) with those same five networks each. No X in the base case; X costs are covered further down. Annual figures are the full yearly charge. Typefully and Hypefury don't publish to all of these networks, so their rows price an equivalent text-network setup and aren't like-for-like.

What jumps out:

• At 3 accounts, Publer Professional is cheapest on both billing options. Buffer's free plan beats everything if 10 queued posts per channel is enough, and Metricool Free does too if 20 posts a month across all three is enough.
• At 5 accounts, Publer still leads at $20/mo. Later and Metricool tie at $25/mo, and Later's annual price ($225) undercuts Metricool's ($240). Buffer has climbed to $30/mo.
• At 10 accounts, Metricool is cheapest by a wide margin: $25/mo against $36 for Publer and $60 for Buffer. It's not a partner of ours. If you run two brands, it's the number to beat.
• Vista Social costs the same at 3 and 10 because 15 profiles are bundled. Per profile it only gets competitive past about 10 profiles, which is the audience it's built for.
• Hootsuite is $1,188 a year at every size here, and that's one seat. It's the most expensive way to schedule 3 to 10 accounts in this group.

Monthly vs annual billing

Annual billing saves real money on every tool that offers it, but check the size of the discount before you lock in for a year.

• Buffer: annual is two months free (about 17% off).
• Later: 25% off annual.
• Vista Social: $950 a year vs $1,188 on monthly, about 20% off.
• Metricool: "save up to 24%," per its pricing page.
• Publer: its calculator applies 20% off yearly at these sizes, while the toggle says "2 months free." Check the checkout total.
• SocialBee: 16% off.
• Typefully: Creator is annual only. Business is $18 per set billed yearly, $20 monthly.
• Hypefury: Flexible drops from $6 to $5 per channel; Full is $199 a year vs $228 on monthly.
• Hootsuite: publishes only annual-billing prices. Its FAQ says monthly billing exists at a higher rate, but the rate isn't on the plans page.

If you're still figuring out which networks matter, pay monthly for two or three months. A year of Later Growth you outgrow in March costs more than the 25% you saved.

What changes the math

The table assumes one person, no X and light AI use. Change any of those and the ranking can flip.

User seats

• Buffer: Essentials is 1 user. Team ($12 per channel a month, or $10 billed annually) adds unlimited users and approvals.
• Later: Starter is 1 user and can't add more. Growth includes 2, then $5 a month per extra user ($3.75 on annual).
• Vista Social: plan cards say 2 users on Professional; the FAQ on the same page says 3. Confirm before you buy if seats decide it.
• Hootsuite: every user is a full seat. Add an assistant on Standard and the bill doubles to $2,376 a year.
• Metricool: team roles, client access and approvals start on Advanced ($53/mo billed annually).
• Publer: extra team members raise the price on its calculator; every 10th member is free.
• SocialBee: $10 a month per extra user ($100 a year on yearly plans).
• Typefully: Business includes unlimited users.

Post caps

Several cheap plans meter posts, not accounts. Buffer Free allows 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time. Later Starter allows 30 posts per profile per month, roughly one a day, and Growth allows 180. Metricool Free allows 20 posts a month across the brand. Publer Free allows 10 scheduled posts per account. Typefully Free allows 10 posts a month, Creator 1,000. If you post Stories and feed content daily, Later Starter won't hold you.

Analytics tiers

Cheap plans often keep short history. Buffer Free keeps 30 days. Later keeps 3 months on Starter, a year on Growth and 2 years on Scale. SocialBee keeps 3 months on Bootstrap and 2 years on Accelerate. Publer's analytics, best times and competitor tracking sit on Business, which nearly doubles its price ($21/mo at 3 accounts, $35 at 5, $63 at 10). Metricool Starter keeps unlimited history and 100 competitor profiles, which is a big part of why it's good value at 10 accounts. If you report numbers to sponsors, price the analytics tier, not the entry tier.

X and TikTok support

X is where pricing gets messy:

• Buffer includes X and TikTok on every plan, though some TikTok posts (over 10 minutes, or with music or polls) go out as phone notifications, per Buffer's documentation.
• Later doesn't support X at all.
• Vista Social charges $29 a month for X.
• Metricool charges $10 a month per connected X account, on any paid plan.
• Publer supports X only on paid plans.
• Hypefury no longer supports X, per its own FAQ.
• Typefully publishes to X but not to Instagram, TikTok or YouTube.

Example: five accounts plus one X account (6 total, monthly billing). Publer Professional is $24, Metricool Starter plus X is $35, Buffer Essentials is $36, and Vista Social is $128. Later can't do it.

AI credits

"AI included" means different things. Later gives 5 AI credits a month on Starter and 50 on Growth (one caption costs one credit), with 100 extra credits for $5 a month on Growth. Metricool gives 5, 20 or 35 credits per brand a month on Free, Starter and Advanced. Vista Social includes 1,000 credits a month on Professional. SocialBee lists unlimited AI generation on every plan. Publer lists unlimited AI prompts on Business. Buffer's AI Assistant is on every plan, including Free. Credit counts matter less than whether the output sounds like you; our guide on how to schedule social media without losing your voice covers that.

Picks by creator setup

Solo creator, 3 networks, posting a few times a week. Start on Buffer Free or Metricool Free and pay nothing. When you outgrow the caps, Publer Professional ($12/mo) is the cheapest paid step; BufferAFFILIATE (affiliate link) at $18/mo costs more but has the simpler interface.

Instagram-first visual creator, 5 networks. LaterAFFILIATE (affiliate link) Starter at $25/mo ($225 a year) covers one profile on eight networks, so adding Pinterest or YouTube costs nothing. Skip it if X matters or you post more than 30 times a month to any one profile.

Creator plus a second brand (10 accounts). Metricool Starter at $25/mo is the cheapest option with real analytics. Publer Professional at $36/mo is next if you want per-account pricing and recycling isn't needed. Buffer at $60/mo is the calm, simple choice if you'll pay for that.

Writer on X, LinkedIn and Threads. Typefully Creator at $99 a year. If you also post video, pair it with a video scheduler; Typefully vs Buffer prices that combination. Hypefury is cheaper for Threads, Bluesky and LinkedIn, but it no longer posts to X.

Evergreen library you want to recycle. SocialBee Bootstrap at $29/mo for up to 5 profiles. Its category-based recycling is the reason to pay more than Publer.

Creator with a team, clients or locations (10+ profiles). Vista SocialAFFILIATE (affiliate link) Professional at $99/mo covers 15 profiles with an inbox, review management and reports. Hootsuite makes sense only if your organization needs its listening and approval tooling and will pay per seat.

What would change these picks: a vendor raising per-account rates, Later adding X, or Metricool ending its five-brands-on-Starter allowance. We'll update this page when that happens. More options are on our Buffer alternatives page and in the scheduling and publishing category.