Buffer vs. Later: Which is the Tool for Your Brand’s Success?

Overview

The tool empowers users to manage numerous social media accounts on different social platforms simultaneously from the same space. This involves creating content, customizing it for different platforms, and scheduling it to be published at the designated time. By automating social media content management for the near future, marketers can eliminate mundane tasks and focus on more important things.

Buffer has integrated all the major social media platforms, including Facebook, Google Business Profile, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, and Shopify. It is the first tool to have included Mastodon, one of the new social platforms, into its repertoire of supported channels.

Buffer is known to be a cost-effective tool with a very user-friendly interface. Hence a new user takes very little time to get used to the workflow and functions in Buffer.

Users can connect their business profiles and pages from Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and TikTok and start automating their post-publishing activities.

Content creation in a span of minutes and scheduling them for publishing on multiple social media platforms saves a lot of the users’ time. They can as easily reschedule their planned posts by using the calendar dashboard. Just dragging and dropping the content from the previous slot to the date and time of your choice will do the trick.

Its strong analytical capabilities give many valuable insights related to the content and the performance of the pages overall to guide the social marketing strategy in the right direction.

Best Suitable for

Buffer

Start with $60

Freelancer, Small Business, Agency

Later

Start with $25

Influencers, Small Business

SocialPilot

Start with $30

SMBs, Agencies, Multi-Location Brands

At a Glance

In this section, we have tried to sum up, in short, the quality of experience users felt they had while using the tools. The conclusions drawn here are based on the scores the same users gave Buffer and Later.

Based on overall ratings, Buffer is ahead of Later by a fair margin. But when the setup process and the ease of usage are considered, Buffer and Later match each other closely. Both the social media tools are hailed for their user-friendliness, so it is no surprise that they got rated pretty well in this regard.

But when it came to the quality of support they provided to their customers, Buffer gets trumped over by Later, albeit by a small margin.

Here are all the actual scores we got while comparing Buffer vs. Later. We also included SocialPilot in the mix for a frame of reference.

	Buffer	Later	SocialPilot
Number of Reviews	962	283	741
Overall Star Rating
Ease of Use
Quality of Support
Ease of Setup
	Learn More	Learn More	14 Days Trial

Quick Comparison – Buffer vs. Later

Here, we will weigh Later vs. Buffer based on the fundamental features of a social media management tool that lays the groundwork for any comparison or selection by users.

Although both tools are affordable, Later comes at a much lower price than Buffer. That difference might result from Buffer supporting more channels than Later. Google Business Profiles, Shopify, and Mastodon are integrated into Buffer but not in Later. But unlike Buffer’s alternatives, just like Later, the tool itself limits the number of posts a user can schedule per month.

As for the other important capabilities, both tools are well-equipped for scheduling, publishing, social media analytics, and collaboration. Where global accessibility is concerned, Buffer is available in only English and Spanish, but Later is available in five languages.

But one of the most important features of a social media marketing tool is missing from both Buffer and Later, and that is white label solutions. This feature is essential for agencies and brands to have a customized marketing experience that fits their needs perfectly.

Here’s an overview of all the essential features compared side by side for Buffer vs. Later, and alongside is SocialPilot for a better frame of reference.

	Buffer	Later	SocialPilot
Can't Miss to Compare
Minimum Pricing	$60/Month	$25/Month	$30/Month
Number of Accounts	10	7	10
Number of Team Members	1	1	2
Number of Posts that Can Be Scheduled	2000	Unlimited	Unlimited
Core Capabilities
Scheduling & Publishing
Analytics
Inbox
Collaboration
Competitor Tracking
Whitelabel
Localization	English & Spanish	English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese	German, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish
Support	FAQs, How-To-Guides, Video Tutorials, Social Media Support & Email Support	Email & Live Chat	Email, Chat, Social Media, Phone
	Learn More	Learn More	14 Days Trial

Reviews

Buffer

Positive

• Buffer provides an optimal solution for managing and scheduling content across multiple social media platforms. With its centralized platform, users are able to efficiently publish their content on all of their social media accounts simultaneously.
• Buffer offers valuable insights into the performance and engagement of each individual post, allowing users to optimize their content strategies and measure their success.
• With Buffer, users have the ability to monitor and analyze customer responses from multiple social media platforms in a single, centralized location, facilitating a better understanding of their audience.

Negative

• Buffer lacks support for various hashtags and limitations in the analytics capabilities, making it more challenging for users to optimize their social media strategies fully.
• A feature lacking in Buffer is a quick chat support option, which would be helpful for users seeking immediate assistance with an issue and were unable to find the answer in the help center.
• Buffer requires you to have the app installed in order to receive reminders to publish Instagram posts manually at a designated time, as scheduling posts directly on Instagram is not possible.

Later

Positive

• The availability of analytics in Later, including the ability to view the best posting times and the most engaging posts, offers some valuable insights into what works and what doesn’t.
• Later has a "link in bio" option, which serves as an easy reference for tracking links related to specific posts, and is a great advantage as Instagram does not allow links in posts, providing a convenient solution for effective link management.
• The capability of Later to preview the overall appearance of your grid on the platform, including a visual representation of how all your posts will look lined up on your profile, offers a valuable tool for ensuring a cohesive and visually appealing aesthetic.

Negative

• Later lacks integration with Shopify or Etsy. To tag a product, the user must manually schedule the post, copy and paste the information, add the product tag, then save the changes, making the process more time-consuming and complicated.
• Later has limited analytical functions, hindering access to essential data, which can be a drawback for the user. The absence of necessary information affects the user negatively.
• There is an absence of a feature to obtain feedback or approval from clients in Later, causing significant dissatisfaction. This can lead to miscommunication and added difficulties in collaborating.

SocialPilot

Positive

• SocialPilot can schedule posts in advance on multiple platforms at once while customizing the post for each one of them for the scheduler.
• You get a social media calendar screen in SocialPilot, which gives a bird-eye view of all the scheduled content as well as create and schedule new content from. You can also change the publishing time and date of any queued posts right from the calendar and reschedule it.
• Users get to see how each and every post would look on the social platform it is meant for even before it is published. The newly designed SocialPilot dashboard generates a preview of the post with all the content and customizations, before scheduling it. This gives insights as to how the customer would see the post content.

Negative

• Some users have reported receiving error messages with scheduled posts. However, they acknowledge that this issue is not unique to SocialPilot and is also present in other social posting platforms. It is simply a minor inconvenience at times.
• Users have expressed a desire for the ability to add music from platforms such as Instagram and TikTok to their reels. However, this limitation is not exclusive to SocialPilot and is also present in many other scheduling platforms.
• Some users have noted that specific posts require follow-up actions, such as importing them into Instagram and manually posting when they appear in the schedule. While this process may be necessary for particular posts, users find it frustrating.

Pricing – Buffer vs. Later

Now, we come to a crucial thing about any tool that becomes the deciding factor for prospective users, i.e., its pricing. So we will lay out each pricing plan for both the tools in question, Buffer vs. Later, and see which one offers a better deal.

As mentioned earlier, Buffer offers a free plan which is great for starters to use as it lets them manage three social media accounts. But if we’re talking about the utility of a free plan for a whole social media team, it doesn’t offer much. The paid plans for Buffer start from $6, offering a single user to connect one account. Later, on the other hand, it gives its lowest costing plan at $18 for a single user to connect six social accounts, one from each network it supports.

The most suitable plans for agencies for these tools are pretty affordable too. Buffer’s Agency plan costs $120 for unlimited users to connect ten social channels and schedule up to 2000 posts. Later, at only $80 gives six users access to manage up to 36 accounts and no cap on the number of posts. Both tools have fixed rates to add extra social accounts and users.

It looks like both the tools have a similar pricing model, but Later comes way cheaper. But where Later alternatives like Buffer and SocialPilot take the cake is the higher number of social media platforms which comes off as a noticeable lack for Later.

Here are all the pricing plans of both tools given for an adequate comparison. Also provided are SocialPilot’s pricing plans for better comparison.

Buffer	Later	SocialPilot
Free	Starter $25/per month	Professional $30/per month
Essential $6/per channel	Growth $45/per month	Small Team $50/per month
Team $12/per channel	Advanced $80/per month	Agency $100/per month
Agency $120/per channel	Agency $200/per month	Agency+ $200/per month
14 Days Free Trial No Credit Card Required	14 Days Free Trial Credit Card Required	14 Days Free Trial No Credit Card Required
Learn More	Learn More	Start Your free Trial

In-depth Scheduling and Publishing Capabilities Comparison

Social media content scheduling and publishing are the core reason for the existence of this whole genre of social media management tools like Buffer and Later. So let us see which of them has more extensive features related to scheduling and publishing.

Buffer and Later have efficient content scheduling capabilities with platform-specific customizations, visual content support, cloud content storage, link shortening, draft scheduling, content calendar, browser extensions, and much more. However, there are some discrepancies in their abilities, and here, we’ll highlight some important ones.

The content library, which is a useful asset for content management, is missing from Later. The other contender, Buffer, lacks important Facebook content scheduling abilities such as carousel posting, audience targeting, and boost posting of Facebook ads.

Here is the detailed comparison of scheduling and publishing capabilities, Later vs. Buffer, along with SocialPilot.

	Buffer	Later	SocialPilot
Smart & Advanced Queueing
Customize Post for Each Platform
Post Preview
Canva Integration
Unsplash Integration
Slack Integration
URL Shortener
Visual Post Support (Image, Video, GIF)
UTM Parameters
Cloud Storage
Hashtag Suggestions
Advance Publishing Capabilities
Save Draft Posts
AI Assistant
Watermark on Images
Bulk Scheduling
Content Curation
Auto publishing from RSS
Social media calendar
Mobile App
Browser Extension
Advance Facebook Publishing Capabilities
Reel Scheduling
Support Album Posts
Support Carousel Posts
Alternate Text on Image
Support Facebook First Comment
Audience Targeting
Boost Post Scheduling
Support Mention and Hashtags
Advance Twitter Publishing Capabilities
Location Tagging
Support Mention and Hashtags
Support Multiple Image Posts
Threads Scheduling
Advance Instagram Publishing Capabilities
Reel Scheduling
Story Scheduling
Tag Profiles on Images
Location Tagging
Support Instagram First Comment
Instagram Grid
Advance LinkedIn Publishing Capabilities
Audience Targeting
Support LinkedIn First Comment
Advance YouTube Publishing Capabilities
#shorts Scheduling
Mention of Other Youtube Accounts
	Learn More	Learn More	14 Days Trial

In-depth Analytics Capability Comparison

The analytics section in a social media marketing tool works as a compass for its users, guiding the strategy-making in the right direction. So let us see which of the tools in question have better analytical capabilities.

Buffer and Later have above-average data-driven insights, although this is not their USP. Users get comprehensive information on how their business profiles are performing on the relevant social media platforms, all in the same streamlined dashboard.

But Buffer does not have the ability to email customized reports generated to relevant stakeholders, nor can it schedule the PDFs of these said reports to be sent at a dictated time. Later, in turn, doesn’t even generate downloadable white-label PDF reports, which is a considerable gap as far as agencies with multiple clients are concerned.

Here’s the comparison, Buffer vs. Later, regarding their analytics and reporting features, and thrown in the mix is SocialPilot for better reference.

	Buffer	Later	SocialPilot
Whitelabel Downloadable Report in PDF Format
Email PDF Report to Client
Auto Schedule Report with Team and Client
Custom Report Builder
	Learn More	Learn More	14 Days Trial

In-depth Inbox/Listening Capability Comparison

Now we come to the listening capabilities of the tools in question. Listening to and monitoring social media conversations, comments, and reviews from the audience helps a business manage and respond to them, creating the image of a brand that is self-aware and cares about its customers.

However, Buffer and Later have little to offer with respect to listening. In Buffer’s case, users can only reply to messages on Facebook and Instagram comments business accounts. For Later, that ability is persistent for Instagram and TikTok. Other than this, there is not much else the tools have.

Here is a glance at all the listening capabilities, Later vs. Buffer, along with SocialPilot, for an effective comparison.

	Buffer	Later	SocialPilot
Can Reply Message
Can Reply Questions and Reviews
Can Reply on Visitor Posts
Real-Time Social Listening
	Learn More	Learn More	14 Days Trial

In-depth Social Media Collaboration Capability Comparison

At last, we come to the collaboration capabilities of Buffer vs. Later. So let us see which one of them is better equipped to handle a whole social media team and their clients.

Both tools allow multi-user access to their agency-level plans. For Buffer, an unlimited number of users are allowed in one profile, while Later charges users for every person they add after the limit of six is crossed.

The account admin can assign these users, particular roles and give selective access. They can collaborate on each post and use approval workflow to perfect each piece of content they create before scheduling.

Here is an overview of all the team and client collaborative abilities, comparing Buffer vs. Later along with SocialPilot.

	Buffer	Later	SocialPilot
Free Unlimited Client Onboarding
Per Post Multi-User Collaboration
Access Management
Content Approval Workflow
	Learn More	Learn More	14 Days Trial