Buffer Review - Pricing, Details & Features

Buffer schedules posts across 11 networks, billed per connected channel. Free plan for 3 channels, Essentials at $5 per channel per month.

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SaaS Radar Review

8/10

The simplest and most honest option on the market if all you want is to publish, but a tool that shows its limits quickly on analytics and moderation.

Immediate to pick up, effectively no learning curve
Permanent free plan covering 3 channels
Thin analytics as soon as you want depth

See full review ↓How I rate

Buffer is one of the oldest social media scheduling tools, launched in 2010. It made a deliberate choice against the grain of the market: stay a well-built publishing queue rather than become a full marketing suite. You understand the product in ten minutes.

Who is Buffer for?

Creators, freelancers and small teams whose need is to publish, not to analyse. Buffer covers LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, X, Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon, Pinterest and Google Business Profile. Per-channel billing makes it very cheap on one or two networks, and markedly less competitive once you run five or more.

What Buffer does not do

Analytics stay thin as soon as you want to understand why a post worked. There is no real unified inbox: moderation is limited to comments, with no assignment or status. If your day is spent replying as much as publishing, look at Agorapulse. If you want serious analytics at the same price, look at Metricool.

Transparency as a trademark

Buffer publishes its pricing, its revenue and its salary formula openly, with a fully distributed team and no physical office. That is rare in this sector and worth flagging: there are no hidden tiers and no sales rep to negotiate with.

How much does Buffer cost?

The free plan covers 3 channels, with 10 scheduled posts per channel and 30 days of analytics history. Essentials costs $5 per channel per month billed annually, or $60 per channel per year, and unlocks unlimited scheduling, exportable reports and tag-based analysis. Team costs $10 per channel per month and adds unlimited users, approval workflows and branded reports. There is a 14-day trial. The full picture is in our guide to the best social media tool.

Pros & Cons

What we love

Immediate to pick up, effectively no learning curve
Permanent free plan covering 3 channels
Transparent public pricing, no sales call required
Very cheap on one or two networks
Solid browser extension and mobile apps

What could be better

Thin analytics as soon as you want depth
No true unified inbox with assignment
Per-channel billing gets expensive beyond five networks
History capped at 30 days on the free plan
No French-language support

Key features of Buffer

Publishing queue

Set time slots per channel and the queue publishes automatically in order.

Visual calendar

Week or month view across every connected channel.

Ideas space

Capture and organise content ideas in columns before promoting them to posts.

AI Assistant

Rewrites and adapts one piece of content for several networks, with unlimited credits.

Start Page

A link-in-bio page hosted by Buffer, which counts as one channel against your plan.

Public API

1 to 5 keys depending on plan, up to 15,000 requests per month.

Buffer pricing

Buffer bills per connected channel rather than per user, which completely changes the maths depending on your situation. The free plan covers 3 channels with 10 scheduled posts per channel and 30 days of history. Essentials costs $5 per channel per month billed annually ($60 per channel per year) and unlocks unlimited scheduling, exportable reports and tag-based analysis. Team costs $10 per channel per month and adds unlimited users, approval workflows and branded reports. A 14-day trial is offered. In practice, a brand on five networks pays $25/month on Essentials, where a per-user tool would not move. Prices checked on 27 August 2026.

Free plan / trial

3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel and 30 days of analytics history.

Free

3 channels · 10 scheduled posts per channel · 30 days of history · 1 user

$0 per month

Essentials

Unlimited scheduling · Advanced analytics · Exportable reports · Hashtag manager

$5 per channel per month (annual)

Team

Unlimited users · Approval workflows · Branded reports · Per-channel access rights

$10 per channel per month (annual)

Pricing verified on August 27, 2026

Try Buffer

Who is Buffer for?

Best for

Creators and freelancers active on one to three networks
Anyone who wants to schedule without learning a complex tool
Small organisations on a tight budget
Agencies that want to drop a channel the moment a client leaves

Not recommended for

Teams who spend their day moderating comments and messages
Anyone needing fine-grained analysis to steer their content
Brands on six networks or more, where per-channel billing becomes punishing
Organisations bound by an EU data residency requirement

Want to try Buffer?

Head to the official site and the current offer.

Visit Buffer

Frequently asked questions about Buffer

Is Buffer free?▼

Yes, the free plan is permanent. It covers 3 channels with 10 scheduled posts per channel at any one time and 30 days of analytics history.

What counts as a channel in Buffer?▼

A channel is one connected social account. A Facebook page, an Instagram account and a LinkedIn profile count as three channels, and billing follows that count.

Does Buffer get expensive across several networks?▼

Yes, that is its main economic weakness. Five networks on Essentials costs $25 a month, where a per-user tool such as Metricool would cover the same for less.

Does Buffer auto-publish Instagram stories?▼

Not as direct publishing. Buffer sends a mobile notification at the scheduled time and you finish the post in the native app, a limit imposed by Meta's API rather than by Buffer.

Where is data hosted?▼

Buffer Inc. is a US company and data is hosted in the United States. It offers a GDPR-compliant data processing agreement for European customers.

Does Buffer have a head office?▼

No. The team has been fully distributed for years and the company has no physical office, a deliberate and publicly documented choice.