12 Best Buffer Alternatives to Boost Social Media Presence

Social media marketing is cheap and accessible, allowing even the smallest brands to get public attention. The hype is not just hot air; it’s worth it!

Buffer has long been a stalwart among social media tools due to its publishing and analysis abilities. However, its expensive proposition makes it hard for agencies and small businesses to use. Hence, many Buffer alternatives have also entered the scene, giving marketers options.

Social media statistics conclude that almost 4.48 billion people use social media daily for interaction and entertainment. But, the increased noise on social media networks poses a challenge in making an audience care about your brand’s message.

Hence, marketers need tools like Buffer and its competitors to manage everything in one place.

If you’re looking for social media tools to fill the gaps that Buffer leaves, consider these 12 alternatives to buffer to execute your social media marketing plan.

Top Buffer Alternatives Comparison at a Glance

Here is a quick overview of the top apps similar to Buffer, including the features they possess and the price they charge, so you can make an informed decision.

	SocialPilot	Buffer	Later	Sendible	Loomly
Pricing	Starts at $25/Month	Starts at $36/Month	Starts at $25/Month	Starts at $29/Month	Starts at $60/Month
Best for	Agencies & Small Businesses	SMBs & Brands	Brands & Creators	Mid-sized Businesses	Brands & Enterprises
Social Profiles	10	6	7	6	10
Ease of Use
Support
Publishing
Bulk Scheduling	500 Posts			350 Posts	400 Posts
Smart Queues
Repeat Post
First Comment		Only Facebook & Instagram	Only Instagram
Audience Targeting
Content Planning & Creation
Content Library
Calendar View	Easy to read	Hard-to-read	Confusing	Complex	Hard-to-read
Holiday Calendar
AI Assistant				Only caption
Instagram Collab Posts
Location Tagging		Only Instagram	Only Instagram
Custom Call-To-Actions
Image Editor
Engagement
Social Inbox	Unified inbox	Limited Features	Multiple Inboxes	Multiple inboxes	Unorganized
Reply to Reviews & Queries
Reply to DMs & Comments		Only Facebook & Instagram	Only Facebook & TikTok
Analytics
Detailed Social Media Analytics	Easy to read	Complex	Only Instagram	Complex	Complex
Custom Report Builder
Auto-Schedule Report Sharing to Clients
Post Performance
Team and Client Collaboration
Client Management
Approval Workflows	Easy & swift	Basic		Technical glitches	Missing functions
Per Post Multi-User Collaboration
Approval-on-the-go
White Labeling
White Label Dashboard
White Label Downloadable Report
	Try for Free	Learn More	Learn More	Learn More	Learn More

Best Buffer App Alternative Tool for:

Star Rating:

4.5 stars on G2 & 4.4 stars on Capterra

Apps:

Android and iOS Mobile App and Web Version.

Major Social Media Platforms Supported:

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), YouTube, Google Business Profile, Threads, and TikTok.

Our Experience:

SocialPilot is one of the best Buffer alternatives. It is specially designed for small businesses and agencies and offers useful social media management abilities and competitive pricing that outshines Buffer.

Scheduling, Collaboration and Integration

Regarding features and functionalities, SocialPilot clearly surpasses Buffer with its Bulk Scheduling abilities on multiple social media platforms simultaneously. Audience Targeting and Custom Fields are unique features that help users tailor their posts for different segments and enhance engagement.

SocialPilot has an impressive 360-degree Collaboration feature that considers users’ needs. The Approval-on-the-Go feature speeds up the process, and Team Collaboration helps smooth internal workflow. In comparison, Buffer lacks critical capabilities like bulk scheduling, custom fields, and audience targeting and does not have user-centric collaborative abilities, which makes SocialPilot a versatile tool.

In terms of useful tool integration, SocialPilot exceeds Buffer. SocialPilot is integrated with Canva, Unsplash, Drive, Slack, Zapier, Rebrandly, Bitly, and many more platforms, which are absent in Buffer. These functionalities significantly enhance marketers’ social media management efficiency while planning, scheduling, and visualizing their content.

White Label Customizations and AI Assistant

SocialPilot understands the importance of White-Label features for agencies. It offers a White-Label Dashboard that allows marketers to create branded experiences for their clients and generates White-Label Downloadable and Shareable Reports. SocialPilot also provides a Browser Extension for instant access and inbuild Customizable UTM Parameters to track social traffic.

In contrast, Buffer does not support white-label features that affect the effectiveness of agencies and big teams. SocialPilot also has an AI Assistant for fast content production and idea generation. It has pre-made prompts for creating content with hashtags and emojis for different social media channels.

Pricing and Value

Overall Verdict:

SocialPilot is a comprehensive tool better than Buffer, which backs up its aim of being the best social media management platform for agencies and small businesses. SocialPilot features and pricing are carefully designed to consider marketers’ needs so they don’t have to break the bank and still set their necessities fulfilled.

Best Buffer Alternative Tool for:

Star Rating

4.8 on G2 & 4.6 on Capterra

Apps

Web Version.

Social Media Platforms Supported

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Google Business Profile, and TikTok.

Our Experience

After using SocialBee, we found that it surpasses Buffer in several key areas and is a versatile social media management tool.

Personalized Planning and Category-Based Scheduling

SocialBee hasn’t been around for very long, but it still has the potential to be a comprehensive app like Buffer for freelancers and creators. One of its stand-out features is the ability to create and customize posts without limitations. It also has a unique feature where users can categorize their posts for better organization and schedule or queue them for publishing.

This ability to assign each post to a different category is SocialBee, which helps streamline the workflow and manage priority posts. Buffer lacks several scheduling abilities, such as bulk and categorized scheduling, making it harder for brands and agencies to use.

Audience Growth Tracking, Analytics and Team Collaboration

Another aspect that we found unique in SocialBee is its audience growth tools, which help us track the nature of the audience and new followers. This helps us understand the niche and audience behavior for future campaigns. SocialBee also shares insightful analytics, which offers detailed reports to track content performance. Unlike Buffer, SocialBee has a copilot and an AI assistant to enhance content creation and optimization for higher social media presence and traction.

With a seamless team collaboration feature, SocialBee again outshines Buffer by including a more integrated approach for smooth workflow management. Buffer’s team collaboration functionalities lack the depth and flexibility that SocialBee offers marketing teams.

Pricing and Value

Overall Verdict

Coming to the final stage of our review of SocialBee as a potential software like Buffer, we found that with its features, like category-based scheduling, automated publishing, detailed analytics, and cost-effective pricing, SocialBee is a better choice.

Best Buffer Alternative Tool for:

Star Rating

4.5 on G2 & 4.7 on Capterra

Apps

Android and iOS Mobile App and Web Version.

Social Media Platforms Supported

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), YouTube, Pinterest, Google Business Profile, and TikTok.

Our Experience

The next tool we used and found a good app like Buffer was Loomly. It is a feature-rich and user-centric social media management tool for start-ups and individuals.

Content Creation and Scheduling

We were impressed with Loomly’s AI-powered post ideas and content tips, which provide fresh and innovative content ideas. These are better than Buffer, which only focuses on scheduling and does not have advanced features for content planning. Additionally, Loomly has an all-in-one content calendar that simplifies the planning and visualization process and rescheduling abilities, lacking in the Buffer content calendar. Scheduling unlimited or bulk posts in a single interface enhances the user’s efficiency.

Workflow Management and Insightful Analytics

Loomly has dedicated team and client collaboration abilities to ensure smooth workflow management inside and outside the team. Feedback and approval workflow also play an important role in streamlining the process. On the one hand, where Buffer offers a collaboration feature, Loomly’s functions are much more user-centric and flexible. Also, the media and content library mix that supports collaboration is vital to organizing assets for effective planning.

It also has something in the pocket for tracking and performance. This tool for social media offers more comprehensive social media analytics and insight than Buffer. This, along with analytical reporting, helps make better data-driven decisions. With audience targeting, post planning, and scheduling features, Loomly covers every aspect a marketer or a creator may need.

Pricing and Value

Overall Verdict

Loomly outshines Buffer in many ways, especially its seamless collaboration and content creation functions. It is user-friendly and easy to learn, making it a better option for teams and creators to enhance their social media strategy. Because of its robust features and cost-effective pricing, Loomly can be one of the alternatives to Buffer.

Best Buffer Competitor Tool for:

Star Rating:

4.5 on G2 & 4.7 on Capterra

Apps:

Android and iOS Mobile App and Web Version.

Social Media Channels Supported:

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), YouTube, Pinterest, Google Business Profile, Mastodon, and TikTok.

Our Experience:

When we reviewed Zoho Social, we found an extensive range of features that make it one of the strong Buffer competitors for brands and enterprises.

Content Scheduling, SmartQ, and Collaboration

One of the standout features of Zoho Social is smartQ, which is automated and suggests a post queue based on the best time to post based on the audience activity. In contrast, Buffer has basic scheduling capabilities, limited to a few posts at once. In contrast, smartQ offers a much more intelligent approach to ensure the content gets maximum engagement. Zoho Social also has a visual content calendar that makes planning and scheduling even easier and helps them streamline the management process. These many functionalities are lacking in Buffer, such as the best time to post indications and automated queue.

Zoho Social even has dedicated features for team collaboration and approval workflow. This saves time and ensures smooth communication inside and outside the team to avoid delay. These features are particularly helpful for markers and big teams with multiple clients, similar to Buffer. While Buffer has team collaboration, Zoho offers an upgraded option of approval and workflow with a centralized inbox for team interactions.

Social Listening and Analytics

While talking about automated scheduling, we can not forget the social media listening and monitoring offered by Zoho Social. This smart feature allows us to track brand mentions, keywords, and competitors, whereas Buffer does not offer listening abilities. Zoho Social provides comprehensive analytics with in-depth details about the content performance in downloadable custom reports.

Pricing Comparison

Overall Verdict:

Finally, Zoho Social is a superior social media tool to Buffer, especially for marketers. Its intelligent and automated features, such as scheduling, robust team collaboration, advanced social listening, and SmartQ, make it one of the attractive and cheaper Buffer alternatives.

Best Alternative to Buffer for:

Star Rating:

4.5 on G2 & 4.4 on Capterra

Apps:

Android and iOS Mobile App and Web Version.

Social Media Networks Supported:

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), YouTube, Threads, Pinterest, and TikTok.

Our Experience:

We explored Sprout Social while looking for a suitable alternative to Buffer. We found it to be a comprehensive contender. Here’s our take on Sprout Social as a better tool than Buffer.

In-depth Analytics and Monitoring

Sprout Social has robust analytics and is presented in a clear and concise dashboard. It shares insights into content performance in-depth, surpassing Buffer’s basic analytical data. With social media listening and monitoring abilities, Sprout Social impressively takes care of all the automated needs any marker could ask for. It shares real-time data and sentimental analysis, which are missing in Buffer, and helps enhance engagement and make data-driven decisions.

Advanced Scheduling and Collaboration

Even for scheduling, Sprout has planned advanced and effective dedicated features to facilitate planning and scheduling like a breeze. The unified social inbox and team and client collaboration features are available to streamline the workflow and speed it up, preventing delays due to back-and-forth communication. This puts

Custom Reporting and Influencer Collab

Sprout Social customizable reports are detailed and presentable and can be downloaded with white-label customization for sharing. At the same time, Buffer has limited reporting capabilities, which can not be personalized for clients. The special custom URL tracker and influencer collab ability help creators collaborate with brands and track their audience for more engagement effectively; in contrast, Buffer does not have an influencer or URL tracker feature.

Pricing and Plans

Overall Verdict:

In our view, Sprout Social is a better social media tool for creators than Buffer. It has features designed specifically for their needs and helps them monitor their audience’s interests. Despite the higher cost, Sprout Social’s extensive features have a greater value, making it the better choice for social media management processes.

Best Buffer Competitor Platform for:

Star Rating:

4.5 on G2 & 4.4 on Capterra

Apps:

Android and iOS Mobile App and Web Version.

Social Media Channels Supported:

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), YouTube, Pinterest, and TikTok.

Our Experience:

Later is the next tool in our list to find one of the suitable Buffer alternatives. Its exceptional features make it a better choice for creators and entrepreneurs. Here is a detailed breakdown of our experience with Later:

Visual Content Planner, Scheduling, and Analytics

Later’s standout feature, the visual content calendar, makes it a good choice for social media planning and social media scheduling tools. You only need to drag and drop the scheduled post to another date and time on the calendar to reschedule. Later, it provides a rather clear overview of scheduled content compared to Buffer, which has less intuitive and appealing post-planning abilities. The media and content library is a vital feature that helps store and organize content and assets safely for reuse in the future. Later also offers a special feature, such as a customizable link in the bio added to the social profile for driving and tracking traffic, a unique functionality missing in Buffer.

Later, I also shared detailed insights on the scheduled content when published, using robust analytics and reporting features. This gives a deeper understanding of our social media situation and what our audience likes. Buffer does not have detailed metrics on Instagram engagement and hashtag performance, which makes Later unique.

Workflow Management

For team collaboration and smooth workflow, Later offers advanced tools and approval workflow features. It helps teams create content and plan together with any confusion and delay. Similarly, Buffer has collaborative abilities but lacks task assignment and feedback workflow, whereas Later collaborative features are particularly beneficial for large teams and multi-locational brands.

Pricing and Cost-effectiveness

Overall Verdict:

Later is a social media management tool popular as a content management hub for creators and freelancers. It also stands out as one of the Buffer app alternatives for its unique features, keeping its users’ needs in mind. Overall, Later has some advanced functionalities with a better deal of pricing than Buffer.

Best Buffer Alternative Platform for:

Star Rating:

4 on G2 & 4.4  on Capterra

Apps:

Android and iOS Mobile App and Web Version.

Social Media Networks Supported:

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), YouTube, Threads, Pinterest, Google Business Profile, and TikTok.

Our Experience:

In our exploration of finding a suitable Buffer competitor, we reviewed Hootsuite, a potential tool that is good for enterprises and big brands for their social media management processes.

Social Media Management

Hootsuite is a great tool if you are looking for management functionalities. It has extensive scheduling and publishing abilities across multiple social networks simultaneously. In contrast, Buffer lacks advanced scheduling options like bulk scheduling and social listening features offered by Hootsuite. It allows you to schedule unlimited social media posts and manage many social profiles and clients smoothly, which is particularly beneficial for larger teams and enterprises.

Social Listening and Engagement Tools

One of Hootsuite’s standout features is its listening abilities, allowing users to monitor brand mentions and provide competitor insights. This makes Hootsuite a better tool than Buffer, which does not offer such insights. These features enhance brand engagement and help maintain a strong online social media presence. Unlike Buffer, Hootsuite also offers the ability to respond directly from a single dashboard with the custom stream to further enhance interactions with the audience.

Pricing and Value

Overall Verdict:

Even though Hootsuite is not for those looking for affordable options, it does have some impressive features that Buffer does not offer. Hootsuite offers a 30-day free trial for every plan, which helps users first try the feature and make an informed decision.

Best Buffer Alternative Tool for:

Star Rating:

4.5 on G2 & 4.6 on Capterra

Apps:

Android and iOS Mobile App and Web Version.

Major Social Media Platforms Supported:

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), YouTube, Pinterest, Google Business Profile, and TikTok.

Our Experience:

In our search for good Buffer app alternatives, we found Sendible. This can be one of the comprehensive social media tools for those looking to switch from Buffer because of its lack of features.

Social Media Scheduling and Content Calendar

Sendible is known for its calendar and management capabilities for effective planning and efficient scheduling. It also has a bulk-scheduling feature, allowing users to schedule multiple posts on multiple platforms simultaneously. Sendible’s content calendar is clear and organized, which can help users schedule multiple posts and visualize them manageably. In contrast, Buffer has only a few scheduling options and advanced options are missing, particularly bulk scheduling, which is a vital need for today’s marketers.

Client Management and Social Listening

Sendible has a comprehensive CRM integration that makes it an excellent client management tool, which Buffer lacks. This integration helps users seamlessly interact with their clients and speeds up the approval and feedback process. Furthermore, you can collaborate with team members and assign tasks for scheduling, editing, and managing content.

Additionally, Sendible has a social listening feature that helps manage social interactions, mentions, comments, DMs, etc. It also has a unified social inbox that automatically replies to repetition queries. This is similar to Buffer’s social networking package but is more basic than advanced, making Sendible a better option for marketers.

Furthermore, Sendible has unique features that benefit users, such as RSS feed automation and content suggestions, which help users discover and share relevant content without manual work. Overall, this can make the job of social media marketers a lot easier in their hectic lives when coming up with fresh campaigns and planning them.

Price Comparison

Overall Verdict:

This proves that Sendible can be a strong Buffer competitor with powerful features like client management, advanced scheduling, comprehensive social listening and inbox, and automated scheduling and publishing. The stack of features is versatile and completes any social media needs.

Best Buffer Alternative Software for:

Star Rating:

4.3 on G2

Apps:

Android and iOS Mobile App and Web Version.

Social Media Channels Supported:

Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Our Experience:

As we dived deeper into the search for good Buffer app alternatives, we came across Tailwind. A tool suitable for individuals and freelancers needing only Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest management tools.

Content Scheduling and Calendar

If you are extensively looking for Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest scheduling, Tailwind is a game-changer. Unlike Buffer, Tailwind allows you to bulk schedule content on multiple platforms in just a few clicks and streamline your content planning. Its intuitive content calendar gathers all content planned or scheduled and brings it together under one roof for effective visualization of the posting schedule, which Buffer lacks.  Not just that, Tailwind also provides users with hashtag suggestions that support effective planning and even tracking performance for better social media presence and engagement.

Community Management, Smart.Bio and Analytics

Tailwind has a unique feature, “Tribe,” designed for community management. This feature fosters collaboration and content sharing between brands and audiences, which is missing in Buffer. This community-driven approach makes Tailwind a better app than Buffer and Smart.Bio allows users to customize clickable links and add them to their profile bio, such as on Instagram. This feature is somewhat similar to Buffer’s link-in-bio feature.

Tailwind also has features like SmartLoop, designed for content recycling and hashtag monitoring. These features set it apart from other Buffer alternatives and enhance the experience of any social media enthusiast for tracking and planning content.

Pricing Comparison

Overall Verdict:

Overall, in our experience, Tailwind is a great tool for new users of social media management platforms. It has all the basics, a few advanced features, and unique features like Smart.Bio and SmartLopop make it special and streamline the effective management of content and schedule without much manual effort.

Best Buffer Alternative Software for:

Star Rating:

4.4 on G2 & 4.4 on Capterra

Apps:

Android and iOS Mobile App and Web Version.

Social Media Platforms Supported:

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), YouTube, Pinterest, Google Business Profile, and TikTok.

Our Experience:

The next tool we explored in search of potential Buffer app alternatives was CoSchedule. We used and experienced its primary and secondary features like calendar, team collaboration, and management, and here is our breakdown of its abilities:

Unified Marketing Calendar

CoSchedule is dedicated to its marketing calendar, content planning, and management. Unlike Buffer, it focuses on social media scheduling abilities. CoSchedule calendar gives a unified view and can be used to schedule blogs, emails, events, and campaigns.

You can simply drag and drop any scheduled post to another date and time to reschedule. It helps visualize the entire schedule clearly and ensures nothing slips through the cracks. Buffer may have a clear and comprehensive social media calendar for planning, but scheduling abilities through the calendar interface are lacking.

Comprehensive Team Collaboration

CoSchedule has proven its worth by designing a seamless collaboration tool for internal and external communication and management. It offers discussion threads, task assignments, and approval functions for team collaboration and approval and feedback workflow for client collaboration. Each project has a detailed task list, attachments, and comments for team collaboration to ensure clear communication.

Buffer lacks this level of seamless collaboration as it does not have project integration and approval workflow abilities. You can not assign tasks and track progress within the same collaboration in Buffer, which is something that CoSchedule promotes productivity and timely execution.

Social Media Management

With CoSchedule, you can schedule posts on multiple social media platforms like Buffer. However, CoSchedule is a step further with features like campaign management, ReQueueand, and a social message optimizer. These features help enhance post timing and social media engagement. CoSchedule also has an AI Assistant, namely “Mia,” to save you time.

Pricing Comparison

Overall Verdict:

If you are a team or a business, CoSchedule is a good option to manage your social media effectively. Its comprehensive features and robust management capabilities are suited for organizations needing an affordable management tool. Unlike Buffer, CoScheudle has taken a holistic approach to amplify your social media efforts beyond just social media scheduling.

Best Buffer Competitor Tool for:

Star Rating:

4.5 on G2 & 4.6 on Capterra

Apps:

Android and iOS Mobile App and Web Version.

Social Media Software Supported:

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), YouTube, Google Business Profile, and TikTok.

Our Experience:

Because of its management abilities, Agorapulsecan be one of the Buffer alternatives. Its unique features make it mainly suitable for e-commerce and retail brands.

Social Inbox, Listening, and Engagement

Agorapulse has a unified social inbox that seamlessly gathers interactions, responses, and reviews from all social channels. The social listening features monitor and track keywords and automate responses to enhance engagement. Buffer is critically limited in terms of its engagement advancements. It does not offer user listening or automated engagement options, which makes Agorapulse stay at the top for its engagement abilities.

Publishing, Scheduling, and Analytics

For planning and scheduling, Agorapulse has dedicated features like an intuitive calendar and bulk scheduling options that make planning and post-management simple across multiple social networks. Agorapulse not only provides a single post preview but also gives Instagram grip view to help understand the aesthetic of content on the feed.

Unlike Buffer, Agorapulse also provides insights on hashtag performance and groups them for future repurposing. Hence, it streamlines your social media strategy and ensures a consistent flow of content. Its robust analytics and reporting features provide detailed insights into social media performance. You can customize white-label reports for sharing with clients and track ROI to understand engagement and audience growth, which is far more advanced than Buffer.

Additionally, Agorapulse has seamless CMR integration for effective client management, content labeling for post-categorization and performance analyses, and team collaboration for robust collaboration features, which is limited in Buffer.

Pricing and Value

Overall Verdict:

Agorapulse is one of the superior Buffer alternatives. It is well-suited for large teams, brands, and enterprises. With advantageous features like social inbox, publishing, and analytics, Agorapulse is significantly more valuable than Buffer and has much lower pricing.

Best Buffer Alternative Tool for:

Star Rating:

4.6 on G2 & 4.7 on Capterra

Apps:

Android and iOS Mobile App and Web Version.

Social Media Channels Supported:

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), YouTube, Threads, Pinterest, and TikTok.

Our Experience:

The last tool in our list of Buffer alternatives is ContentStudio. A feature-rich management tool that is most suited for individuals and content marketers. In our experience, we found the following capabilities of ContentStuio impressive:

Content Management, Discovery, and Curation

We found that effective content planning means a great deal to ContentStudio. It has several dedicated features to help marketers plan, prepare, and execute their content correctly. ContntStudio has advanced content discovery curation and scheduling features. It helps you discover game-changing content that is most liked and trending, which is missing in Buffer. Similarly, with AI Assistant, ContentStudio helps with content curation, ideas, and hashtag generation, which is necessary to speed up planning and boost productivity.

A visual content calendar ensures a unified representation of the schedule, offering a more interactive and detailed planning interface, which is rather basic in Buffer. The ContentStudio calendar is also multi-view, allowing you to view and organize your content with filters and flexibility. Bulk scheduling helps publish multiple posts on multiple platforms all at once, another feature that is lacking in Buffer. Additionally, ContentStudio allows you to customize publishing queues for the best time to post and share content smartly.

Collaboration, Engagement, and Advancements

ContentStudio brings team members together with team collaboration to work on the same projects and speeds up their workflow. It supports task assignments, tagging, and live commenting and enhances team productivity and approval workflow management, whereas Buffer does not provide dedicated features to reduce the chances of error.

With a unified social inbox, ContentStudio collects all messages in one place for faster engagement and responds to the audience’s queries. It also has an AI toolkit that automates repetitive tasks, including content automation, which saves time, another feature missing in Buffer.

Pricing Comparison

Overall Verdict:

ContentStudio is a great option and one of the alternatives to Buffer when it comes to effective automation and advanced scheduling and publishing options. It can be good for marketers and businesses because of its management capabilities as a low-cost solution.