The cheapest social media scheduler depends on how much you post
Free plans win if you post a little. Flat monthly plans win if you post a lot with extras. Postlefy has no monthly bill, so it costs less for most small businesses in between. Try your own numbers, and we will say plainly when another tool costs less.
Jump to the calculator ↓Work out your monthly cost
At this pace Postlefy costs the least of these paid tools: about $1 a month. The next lowest is PostEverywhere at $15.83.
- Postlefy1 credit a post$1/mo
- PostEverywhereStarter$15.83/mo
- SocialPilotEssentials$17/mo
- LaterStarter$18.75/mo
- PostizStandard$23/mo
- SocialBeeBootstrap$24.17/mo
- BufferEssentials$25/mo
- Sprout SocialEssentials$79/mo
- Vista SocialProfessional$79.17/mo
- HootsuiteStandard$99/mo
- PublerProfessionaln/a
Needs a higher plan: extra accounts cost more
Your first 50 credits are free: that's 50 plain posts, or fewer with AI images or X. After that the figures assume the $10 pack (300 credits, about $0.03 a credit). Other tools' figures are plan prices only: we did not check whether each plan includes AI images or X. Other tools are shown at the lowest monthly price we could verify that covers your accounts. Buffer, PostEverywhere, SocialPilot, Later, Postiz and Sprout Social are billed yearly; SocialBee and Vista Social are their yearly price divided by 12. Publer and Hootsuite list a monthly price without saying how it is billed.
What each tool charges
US dollars a month. Yearly billing where the vendor offers it. Swipe the table sideways on a phone.
| Tool | Price | Accounts | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postlefy | Pay per post, from about $0.03 a post. No monthly price | One per platform, up to 13 | 30 Oct 2026 |
| Publer | Professional from $5 a month. Extra accounts cost more | 1 on this price | 30 Oct 2026 |
| Buffer | Essentials $5 per account a month, billed yearly | 1 to 10 at this rate; cheaper per channel above 10 | 27 Oct 2026 |
| PostEverywhere | Lite $7.50, Starter $15.83, Growth $23.17, Scale $31.17 a month, billed yearly | 2 / 5 / 10 / 20 by plan | 30 Oct 2026 |
| SocialPilot | Essentials $17 a month, billed yearly | Up to 5 | 27 Oct 2026 |
| Later | Starter $18.75 a month, billed yearly | Up to 8, max 30 posts per profile a month | 27 Oct 2026 |
| Postiz | Standard $23, Team $31, Pro $39 a month, billed yearly | 5 / 10 / 30 by plan | 27 Oct 2026 |
| SocialBee | Bootstrap $290 a year ($24.17 a month) | Up to 5 | 27 Oct 2026 |
| Vista Social | Professional $950 a year ($79.17 a month) | Up to 15 | 27 Oct 2026 |
| Sprout Social | Essentials $79 per seat a month, billed yearly | Up to 5 | 27 Oct 2026 |
| Hootsuite | Standard $99 per user a month | Up to 10 | 27 Oct 2026 |
Prices change, so check each vendor too. Sources are listed at the bottom of the page.
Cost at three posting paces
A few posts a week
12 posts a month, 3 accounts, your own photos
Postlefy: about $0.40 a month
Lowest paid plan that fits: Buffer, $15 a month
One post a day
30 posts a month, 5 accounts, your own photos
Postlefy: about $1 a month
Lowest paid plan that fits: PostEverywhere, $15.83 a month
A busy brand
90 posts a month, 5 accounts, an AI image on each, X posts without links
Postlefy: about $12 a month
Lowest paid plan that fits: PostEverywhere, $15.83 a month
When a free plan wins
If any of these sounds like you, a free plan costs $0 and you should use it.
- You post a few times a week to 3 accounts or fewer. Buffer's free plan covers 3 channels and 10 scheduled posts per channel.
- You do not use X and want to stay on a free plan. Publer's free plan covers up to 3 accounts, not X.
- You post about 20 times a month or less to one brand, without LinkedIn or X. Metricool's free plan covers that.
Free plans cap how many posts wait in your queue, and some leave out X or LinkedIn. Postlefy also starts free: your first 50 credits cost nothing.
When Postlefy isn't the cheapest
Pay per post is not always the lowest price. It can cost more, or be the wrong fit, when:
- You post to one account and add an AI image to nearly every post. Publer's single-account plan starts at $5 a month, which is hard to beat at high volume.
- You post to X with a link every day, on one or two accounts. A link in an X post costs 12 extra credits, so a daily link adds up fast.
- You run several accounts on one platform, like two Instagram accounts. Postlefy connects one account per platform today.
- You make a daily 8-second AI video with sound. That is 41 credits a post, about $41 a month.
- You need a shared inbox, approval flows or deep analytics for a team. The tools built for that cost more, and they are better at it.
No monthly bill in a quiet month
A monthly plan charges you whether you post once or a hundred times. With Postlefy you buy credits when you want them and they never expire while your account is active, so a holiday, a slow season or a month off costs nothing. See how Postlefy pricing works, or compare eight Buffer alternatives and Postlefy against Buffer and Hootsuite.
Common questions
What is the cheapest social media scheduler?
It depends on how much you post and how many accounts you connect. A free plan costs nothing if you post a little. Among the paid tools checked for this page, Publer starts at $5 a month for 1 account; Buffer is $5 per account a month, billed yearly; PostEverywhere starts at $7.50 for 2 accounts, billed yearly. Postlefy costs less for most small businesses that post a few times a week, and the calculator above shows the numbers for your pace.
Is there a social media scheduler with no subscription?
Yes. Postlefy has no monthly price: you buy credits and spend them on the posts you publish, and credits do not expire while your account is active. PostScheduler also sells credits instead of a monthly plan. Most other tools on this page charge a monthly or yearly fee whether you post or not.
Are there free social media schedulers?
Yes. Buffer's free plan covers 3 channels and 10 scheduled posts per channel. Publer's free plan covers up to 3 accounts (not X) and 10 scheduled posts at a time. Metricool's free plan covers 1 brand and 20 posts a month, without LinkedIn or X. Postlefy gives you 50 free credits to start.
How much does a post cost on Postlefy?
A plain post costs 1 credit, and a credit costs about $0.03 on the $10 pack (300 credits). A post with an AI image is 3 credits, a post that includes X costs 1 more credit, and a link in an X post adds 12. Your own photos and videos cost no extra credits. AI video is priced per second.
When is Postlefy more expensive than a monthly plan?
When you post a lot with extras: an AI image on every post, daily X posts with links, or daily AI video. A monthly plan has a fixed price however much you post, so at high volume with those extras a flat plan can cost less. The calculator shows where that happens.
Do Postlefy credits expire?
Not while your account is active. If an account has no login for 12 months or more, we may expire or freeze its credits after warning you by email, and logging back in restores access.
Sources
Every competitor price comes from the vendor's own page, on the date shown. Postlefy's figures use its live prices: the $10 pack gives 300 credits.
- Publer: https://publer.com/help/en/article/what-are-publers-plans-and-pricing-15h4yqh/ — checked 30 Oct 2026
- Buffer: https://buffer.com/pricing — checked 27 Oct 2026
- PostEverywhere: https://posteverywhere.ai/pricing — checked 30 Oct 2026
- SocialPilot: https://www.socialpilot.co/pricing — checked 27 Oct 2026
- Later: https://later.com/pricing/ — checked 27 Oct 2026
- Postiz: https://postiz.com/pricing — checked 27 Oct 2026
- SocialBee: https://socialbee.com/pricing — checked 27 Oct 2026
- Vista Social: https://vistasocial.com/pricing/ — checked 27 Oct 2026
- Sprout Social: https://sproutsocial.com/pricing/ — checked 27 Oct 2026
- Hootsuite: https://www.hootsuite.com/plans — checked 27 Oct 2026
- Metricool (free plan): https://metricool.com/pricing/ — checked 27 Oct 2026
- PostScheduler: https://www.producthunt.com/products/postscheduler-2 — checked 30 Oct 2026 (no public price found)
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