◆ BUFFER PRICING
Buffer pricing in 2026.
Per channel, not per plan.
Buffer is one of the few social tools with a genuinely useful free plan, and one of the few that bills per connected channel rather than per seat. That makes it very cheap at three channels and less obviously cheap at ten.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0forever | 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel, 1 user, AI assistant, 30-day analytics. |
| Essentials | $5per channel / month | Unlimited scheduling, full analytics, engagement tools. $60 per channel billed yearly. |
| Team | $10per channel / month | Everything in Essentials plus unlimited team members and draft approvals. $120 per channel yearly. |
Pricing as published on buffer.com in August 2026 and subject to change. Channels 1–10 are charged at the standard rate; channels above 10 cost less per channel. Check buffer.com/pricing for current figures.
Free trial: No trial needed — the free plan is permanent and covers 3 channels.
How per-channel pricing actually adds up
A 'channel' is one connected social account. Instagram, TikTok, and X together are three channels, which on Essentials is $15 a month. Add Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest and you are at six channels, or $30 a month for the same features.
This is unusually honest pricing — you pay for what you connect, and a single-platform business pays $5. It also means the cost scales with reach rather than with team size, which is the opposite of how Hootsuite and Sprout Social work.
Buffer applies a volume discount above ten channels, so agencies and multi-location businesses do not pay a flat $5 all the way up. Below ten channels, the maths is simply channels × rate.
Is the free plan actually usable?
More than most. Three channels, one user, the AI assistant, and 30 days of analytics is a real product rather than a demo. For a business posting a few times a week to a couple of platforms, it can genuinely be enough.
The binding constraint is the 10 scheduled posts per channel. You are not capped on how much you post overall, but you can only have ten queued at a time per channel — so the free plan pushes you toward topping up the queue regularly rather than batching a month ahead.
If that rhythm suits you, the free plan may never need upgrading. If you want to sit down once and schedule six weeks, Essentials is the tier that unlocks it.
Where the money goes — and where it doesn't
Buffer's strengths are reliability, breadth of networks, a clean calendar, and the Start Page link-in-bio tool included at no extra cost. It has been doing publishing longer than almost anyone and it rarely breaks.
What no tier buys you is content. Buffer's AI assistant helps you draft and repurpose copy, but you supply the ideas, the photographs, and the video. The queue is only ever as full as you have made it.
That is worth naming because it is the most common reason people churn off schedulers: the tool worked perfectly and the account still went quiet. If your queue empties every fortnight, a cheaper or more expensive scheduler changes nothing.
What to check before you commit
- The free plan's real limit is 10 queued posts per channel at a time, not a monthly posting cap.
- Price scales with connected channels, so adding networks is what raises your bill — not adding people.
- Team at $10 per channel is only worth it if you need multiple people and approvals; solo users should stay on Essentials.
- Annual billing is roughly two months free ($60 per channel per year on Essentials).
- No tier generates images or video. Budget for Canva or similar on top if you need visuals made.
◆ A CHEAPER ALTERNATIVE
If the bottleneck is making the posts, not scheduling them
Buffer is excellent and cheap if you already make content. If the queue keeps running dry, the missing piece is production, not scheduling — PostOtter writes the captions, generates on-brand images and real 9:16 video, and publishes 21 posts a week to Instagram, TikTok, and X for $14.99/month. At three channels that is close to Buffer's $15, but nothing needs filling. Buffer still wins on network coverage and gives you a link-in-bio page, which PostOtter does not.
Buffer pricing FAQ
How much does Buffer cost per month?
Essentials is $5 per connected channel per month and Team is $10 per channel. Three channels on Essentials is $15/month. There is also a permanent free plan for 3 channels.
Is Buffer really free?
Yes, permanently, for up to 3 channels with 1 user. The main limit is 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time, plus 30-day analytics history.
Does Buffer charge per user or per channel?
Per channel. Essentials is single-user; Team at $10 per channel adds unlimited team members, so people only cost money on the Team tier.
How much is Buffer for 10 channels?
On Essentials, 10 channels at the standard $5 rate is $50/month. Above 10 channels Buffer applies a reduced per-channel rate.
Does Buffer create posts for me?
It has an AI assistant that helps draft and repurpose copy, but you supply the ideas and all images and video. No Buffer tier generates visual content.
Is Buffer cheaper than Hootsuite?
Substantially, for a small business. Buffer at three channels is $15/month versus Hootsuite's $99 per user per month. Hootsuite covers far more ground — listening, approvals, deep reporting — which is what the gap pays for.
Set it up once.
Go do anything else.
Two minutes of setup. Posts every day, on their own. No card. Cancel whenever.