17 of the Best Buffer Alternatives for Social Media Automation

It’s no easy feat being an all-star social media manager. (cue the Smash Mouth throwback)

The posts start coming and they don’t stop coming: fed to the rules and you hit the ground running.

*record scratch* But if you don’t pick the sharpest tools in the shed for managing client accounts — your client will be the one looking kinda dumb.

Nope. Can’t let that happen.

Truth be told, there are dozens of Buffer alternatives out there. Sure, everybody knows about Buffer and Hootsuite, but sometimes it can help to look around to see if there are new and improved tools that will make your life easier. Plus, it’s really common to use multiple social media scheduling tools. Many users tend to designate different use cases for each one, so they can build up a custom social media toolkit that works for their unique case.

So much to do, so much to see. Ready to get your game on, get paid? (We’ll be making our way through the whole song – bear with us.)

Let’s go.

Top Buffer alternatives for social media managers

In this post, we’ll go through 17 different social media scheduling tools that serve as Buffer alternatives—or at least options that you should consider in conjunction with Buffer. We focus on price as well as features and available social networks relative to Buffer.

1. Sociamonials

Sociamonials focuses on building campaign types with 16 different campaign layouts. A WYSIWYG editor controls all the elements of each post. You can also run sweepstakes, optimize for sharing, upload videos to YouTube, and use the social CRM to manage who downloads or refers prospects for outreach later on. Fill up to a year’s calendar with posts and enjoy integrations with many of the AppSumo tools you already use.

Chrome extension: No

Supported social channels: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

Downsides: No Pinterest; some users say the UI is a bit dated.

Pricing: Starts at $15 per month, billed annually, for 10 social media accounts. Or you can get it on AppSumo for a one-time payment of $69 today.

2. Metricool

Metricool helps you schedule optimized social media content, analyze metrics, and automatically generate custom white-label reports, monitor competitors, and manage permissions, making this tool super agency-ready. With a wide array of social media site integrations, you can manage all your client social data all in one place. Some users note that Metricool’s planner feature can replace a tool like Buffer Publish, allowing you to schedule posts to go to all your profiles, while also monitoring and creating ad campaigns right from the app.

Chrome extension: No

Supported social channels: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Google My Business.

Downsides: *No direct posting to IG, no link shortener or Pinterest integrations (yet).

Pricing: You can start using it for free. Paid plans start at $12 for up to five brands. Or you can get it on AppSumo for a one-time payment of $69 today.

3. Hootsuite

Hootsuite is clearly an enterprise-friendly platform – it serves as a complete social media management solution used by employees at 800+ of the Fortune 1000. In general, this is reflected in the fact that Hootsuite has a broader feature base focused on A-Z social media management. It includes features Buffer doesn’t have, like managing ads or replying directly to comments. (Though Buffer does offer a separate app for that–Buffer Reply.) Buffer has a cleaner UI than Hootsuite, and has a tighter focus on social media scheduling, compared to the deeper management features of Hootsuite.

Chrome extension: Yes

Supported social channels: Facebook pages and groups, Twitter, Instagram business profiles, LinkedIn profiles and pages, Pinterest profiles, WordPress blogs, and YouTube channels

Downsides: No RSS feed monitoring

Pricing: You can use it for free. Paid plans start at $49 per month for up to 10 social profiles and 1 user.

4. Social Champ

Social Champ is a social media management tool to create, edit, design, and schedule up to 2000 social media posts for all major networks. The tool offers multiple amazing features, including the bulk upload, auto RSS feed, content suggestions, queue, sentiment analysis, social media calendar, team collaboration, analytics, and others. It also has integrations for Canva and bit.ly, as well as a royalty-free visual library.

As a Buffer alternative, you can customize each post for a specific social media network right there in the content composer. Unlike Buffer, you can easily white label all the reports and repeat your posts.

Additionally, Social Champ offers recycle posting features to create a collection using your evergreen posts and using them in campaigns for maximum engagement.

Chrome extension: Yes

Supported social channels: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google My Business, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Downsides: Instagram stories can be posted using “Reminder”.

Pricing: Social Champ offers a 7-day free trial period. The paid plans start from $26 per month, billed annually.

5. Crowdfire

Known for its Twitter-focused features back in the day, today Crowdfire has a lot of interesting automation tools compared to the more straightforward nature of Buffer. For example, users love Crowdfire’s article curation feature which auto-populates content from around the web that’s relevant to your channel. It also has a similar feature with curated images that you can share. Track and reply to mentions from Facebook with Crowdfire’s social CRM.

Chrome extension: Yes

Supported social channels: Twitter, Instagram*, Facebook Pages, LinkedIn, and Pinterest

Downsides: *No direct posting to IG; best for Twitter account management, but due to API changes some of those key features were removed

Pricing: You can use it for free. Paid plans start at $7.48 per month for 2 linked accounts per social network and 1 user.

6. ContentStudio

ContentStudio gives you AI-powered personalized content recommendations, letting you create content for multiple channels, manage UTMs, and optimize for SEO right in the post editor. It’s pretty sophisticated. Using “automation recipes,” you can easily set up evergreen content recycling or configure rules for how you want posts to go out. Plus, with features like white-label reports, a content spinner for quick rewriting, link shortener integrations, and a broader range of publishing platforms, ContentStudio is super agency-friendly.

Chrome extension: No

Supported social channels: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Instagram*, Pinterest, Google My Business, Medium, WordPress, Shopify, and Pocket

Downsides: *No direct posting to IG, added complexity comes with a learning curve

Pricing: Starts at $39 per month, billed annually, for up to 10 social accounts and 1 user.

7. PromoRepublic

PromoRepublic has 7,500+ social media post templates and 100K stock images, PLUS a Canva-like graphics editor. That way, you don’t have to leave the tool for social post inspiration… or creation. Never miss an obscure holiday opportunity with a post ideas library. But PromoRepublic also has the standard post scheduling and calendar view, so you won’t miss out on those go-to automation features as well. Also, note that this tool has special functionality for multi-location brands and franchisors—and it’s super agency-friendly.

Chrome extension: No

Supported social channels: Facebook, Instagram*, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter.

Downsides: *No direct posting to IG, some users wish it allowed scheduling further out or more features for evergreen content repurposing.

Pricing: Starts at $49 per month, billed annually, for 10 social media pages and 2 team members.

8. Later

Later is known for its direct Instagram-scheduling, but it also allows for management of Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter as well. Create a shoppable feed like the Buffer shop grid, and add multiple links to a single post for a shoppable IG feed. Plus, you can schedule stories on larger plans. On the Pinterest side, schedule image and video pins. Later also allows you to repurpose posts from one platform for the others, so you can really Gary Vee it up with your content.

Chrome extension: Yes

Supported social channels: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest.

Downsides: No LinkedIn; it has a couple of contributor/approval features, but some agencies may need more white-label or advanced tools for collaboration; IG stories cannot be scheduled, but Later does have a workaround scheduling + notification system like other tools.

Pricing: You can use it for free. Plans start at $12.50 per month, billed annually, for 1 profile per platform and 60 scheduled posts.

9. MeetEdgar

MeetEdgar offers a super handy auto-refilling feature, drawing from a library of automatically saved social posts. It’s also got a smart composer to help you avoid those hours spent trying to figure out “what to say” with each post. Users like the layout of the unlimited content library, automatic post variations for the same piece of content, and ease of managing multiple accounts at once.

Chrome extension: Yes

Supported social channels: Facebook pages and groups, Twitter, LinkedIn profile and company pages, Instagram*.

Downsides: *No direct posting to IG, no Pinterest, no multiple users, not super agency-focused.

Pricing: Starts at $24.91 per month, billed annually, for 5 social media accounts.

10. Amplifr

Amplifr has an evergreen scheduling algorithm that helps you keep profiles super fresh with on-brand content. Chats embedded in your workflow tools mean you can easily collaborate with this tool as well.  Amplifr also gives you deeper, conversion-focused insights into post-performance that can help you optimize for sales—powered in part by the Google Analytics integration, which many tools don’t have.

Chrome extension: No

Supported social channels: Facebook profiles, pages, groups, Twitter, Instagram*, Linkedin, Pinterest, Tumblr, Viber public chats, Telegram public channels, VK.com, and OK.ru.

Downsides: *No direct posting to IG, some users have difficulty viewing posts scheduled out in advance, slower development times.

Pricing: Starts at $24 per month, billed annually, for 1 user and 5 pages.

11. SocialPilot

SocialPilot is the only Buffer alternative on our list that has a Tik Tok video scheduler (to date). This tool is specifically geared toward agencies that need to schedule and manage social media accounts for clients. SocialPilot offers helpful tools like a mobile app, repeating post feature, advanced audience targeting on Facebook, robust white-label solutions, and a social inbox.

Chrome extension: Yes

Supported social channels: Facebook pages and groups, Twitter, Instagram*, Google My Business, LinkedIn profile and pages, Pinterest, Tumblr, TikTok, and VK.

Downsides: *No direct posting to IG; some users say the analytics features could be more in-depth.

Pricing: Starts at $42.50 per month, billed annually, for 3 team members and 25 social media accounts.

12. SocialBee

SocialBee is an all-in-one social media tool that lets you schedule posts, curate content, and grow an audience. Category-based scheduling means you can make sure you’re evenly posting about the topics you or your clients care about—and building evergreen posting into your workflow. Plus, SocialBee has advanced audience tracking features for Twitter, so you can follow the right accounts and unfollow if they don’t return the favor.

Chrome extension: Yes

Supported social channels: Facebook, Instagram*, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest*, Google My Business.

Downsides: *No direct posting to IG and Pinterest, but they have automated workarounds that notify you when to post (plus it’s on the roadmap).

Pricing: Starts at $19 per month for 1 user and 5 social profiles.

13. Missinglettr

Missinglettr is distinct from other tools on this list—but still worth a quick mention within the realm of social media posting automation and content repurposing. This tool actually takes blog content and automatically turns it into social-ready posts spread out over a year(!!) Many people complain about how time-consuming social media management is, and this tool truly does a lot of the work for you. Using AI and machine learning, Missinglettr creates post copy and adds hashtags, so you can have an easier time with content. Though this tool is geared toward bloggers, it does have agency-friendly features like the ability to directly schedule posts, a drag-and-drop calendar, and a one-click client approval feature.

Chrome extension: No

Supported social channels: Twitter, Facebook pages and groups, LinkedIn personal and company feeds, Google My Business (coming soon).

Downsides: Fewer channels as this is largely a written content-focused automation tool.

Pricing: Starts free; with paid plans start at $15 per month, billed annually, for 3 social profiles.

14. Kontentino

Kontentino is a professional tool that aims to help large agencies reduce the amount of time it takes to manage social media. With advanced analytics, approval workflows with version control, and an inspiration calendar for clients, this tool is worth a closer look. Plus, with a big focus on LinkedIn, Kontentino helps you holistically plan content strategy on the business social network, including carousels, videos, and LinkedIn tagging. Bonus: you don’t have to wait until Facebook posts are published to boost them.

Chrome extension: No

Supported social channels: Facebook business pages, Twitter, Instagram*, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

Downsides: *No direct posting to IG; UI is a bit outdated.

Pricing: Starts at $53 per month, billed annually, for 3 users and 10 social media profiles

15. Loomly

With a crisp UI, integrations with email, push notifications, Slack, and Microsoft Teams, Loomly gives you lots of inspiration for how to create and manage successful social media posts. With agency-friendly features like version logs, post and ad mockups, and an approval workflow, teams can get social media work done and out the door. Interact with comments on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This tool is great for managing a lot of different clients.

Chrome extension: No

Supported social channels: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram*, and Google My Business.

Downsides: *No direct posting to IG.

Pricing: Starts at $26 per month, billed annually, for 2 users and 10 social accounts.

16. Tailwind

Tailwind is hyper-focused on two networks: Pinterest and Instagram. If you’re looking to optimize your strategy on those two channels, this tool is definitely worth the double-take. Tailwind Tribes for Pinterest allow you to partner with other users. Meanwhile, SmartLoop lets you put repinning on autopilot to help your pins go farther. For Instagram, Tailwind is like an IG assistant in your pocket. It helps you visually plan posts, schedule with hashtags, and integrate with Smart.Bio, so you can get the clicks and conversions from IG you want (much like Buffer’s shop grid feature). Overall, this is a powerful, but niche tool.

Chrome extension: Yes

Supported social channels: Instagram and Pinterest.

Downsides: Fewer social networks.

Pricing: Starts at $9.99 per account per month, billed annually.

17. Sendible

Sendible is focused on advanced brand monitoring. As a super agency-friendly tool, Sendible offers a mobile app that helps you manage engagement across social streams. Users really like the scheduling flexibility and ability to set up repeat posts. It’s also got great customer support.

Chrome extension: Yes

Supported social channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Google My Business.

Downsides: Some users complain that the mobile app is glitchy; no single post optimization for multiple channels.

Pricing: Starts at $25 per month, billed annually, for 1 user and 6 social media profiles.

Level up your social media game

Hey now… that you’ve found the best tool: you’re a rock star, get the show on, get paid.

Even if you keep using Buffer (or integrate it to post on certain channels, like Instagram), you may want to layer one of these other tools into your workflow to maximize your social media management.

Wanted to take your social media game up to another notch? Check out the best social media tools available on AppSumo today.