Disclosure: some links on this page are affiliate links. If you sign up for a paid plan through one of them, TechMachaw may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. The free plan limits below were checked against each provider’s own pricing page on 12 September 2026, and they are reported the same way whether the tool pays a commission or not.
Seven of the best known social media schedulers still advertise a free tier. Only five of them actually have one. Later and Hootsuite dropped theirs, so the cheapest way in on those two is now $18.75 and $99 a month.
That leaves a real question for anyone posting on their own or running a side project: which free plan lets you queue the most work before it forces a card out of your pocket? This page answers it with the published limits, side by side, and it names where each tool is weakest as well as where it wins.
QUICK ANSWER
What is the best free social media scheduler in 2026?
The honest answer depends on what you are short of. If you are short of posting capacity, Publer wins. If you are short of data, Metricool wins. If you live inside one Facebook page and one Instagram account and want the simplest possible interface, Buffer wins.
Here is every free plan worth considering, with the limits each company publishes itself.
| Tool | Free plan? | Accounts | Scheduled posts | Analytics on free | Users |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Publer | Yes, forever | 3 (X not included) | 10 pending per account, so 30 in total | 24 hours of post history | 1 |
| Buffer | Yes, forever | 3 channels | 10 per channel, refillable | 30 days of history | 1 |
| Metricool | Yes, forever | 1 brand, all networks except LinkedIn and X | 20 per month in total | 30 days of history | 1 |
| Zoho Social | Yes, forever | 1 brand, 6 channels | Not capped by a published number | Basic only | 1 |
| Post Planner | Yes, forever | 1 | 10 scheduled, 3 a day per profile | Basic only | 1 |
| Later | No | Starter: 8 profiles | 30 per profile per month | Up to 3 months on Starter | 1 |
| Hootsuite | No | Standard: 10 accounts | Unlimited | Included | 1 seat, priced per seat |
Two things jump out. First, the gap between the free tiers is smaller than the marketing suggests: Publer and Buffer are close to identical on raw capacity. Second, the gap between free and paid is enormous on the enterprise tools. Hootsuite’s cheapest seat costs 20 times Buffer’s cheapest plan.
Try the free plan that queues the most posts
Publer’s free tier connects 3 accounts across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Threads, Pinterest, YouTube, Bluesky, Mastodon, Google Business Profile and more, with 10 pending posts on each and no card required.
Which schedulers still have a genuinely free plan?
The distinction matters because a trial that ends leaves your scheduled posts stranded. A free forever plan does not. If you are testing a posting habit rather than committing to one, only the five permanent plans are actually testable.
Worth flagging: “free forever” tiers get trimmed. Later had a free plan and removed it. Buffer’s free plan has been reshaped more than once. Whichever you pick, keep your captions somewhere you own, not only inside the scheduler.
How does Publer’s free plan compare with Buffer’s?
| Feature | Publer Free | Buffer Free |
|---|---|---|
| Social accounts | 3, X excluded | 3 channels |
| Scheduled posts | 10 pending per account | 10 per channel, refill anytime |
| Saved drafts | 25 | Included, no published cap |
| Post history | 24 hours | 30 days of analytics |
| AI assistant | Limited, full version on Business | AI Assistant included |
| API access | Business plan only | 1 key, 3,000 requests a month |
| Cheapest upgrade | $5 a month for 1 account | $5 a month per channel tier |
The practical difference is the pending post counter. Publer counts posts that are still waiting to go out, so as each post publishes a slot frees up. Buffer works the same way and lets you refill. In both cases the cap is a queue depth limit, not a monthly ceiling, which means a disciplined poster can run either free plan indefinitely.
Metricool is the exception. Its 20 posts is a monthly total, so it genuinely runs out.
What does Metricool’s free plan give you that Publer’s does not?
If your job is to report on performance rather than run the calendar, Metricool’s free plan is the better desk tool. If your job is to keep a calendar full across three platforms, 20 posts a month works out to five a week across everything, which most creators burn through in the first ten days.
A reasonable setup is to use both: Publer or Buffer for scheduling, Metricool for the monthly read. Nothing stops you running two free plans side by side.
Is Later free in 2026?
Later is still strong on visual planning for Instagram, and the 8 profile social set is generous for the money. But it is now a paid tool, and anyone landing on an older blog post promising “Later free” is reading stale information.
Is Hootsuite free in 2026?
At $99 a seat, Hootsuite is not competing with the free tier at all. It is competing with agency retainers. For a solo creator or a small brand, the value case is hard to make when Buffer’s Team plan costs $10 a month.
What does Zoho Social’s free plan cover?
That is a real advantage. Publer excludes X from free, Metricool excludes both LinkedIn and X. If your two most important channels are LinkedIn and X, Zoho Social is the free plan that fits, even though its scheduling interface is less polished than Publer’s or Buffer’s.
What is the cheapest paid upgrade when you outgrow free?
| Tool | Entry paid plan | Monthly price | What it unlocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Publer | Professional | From $5, plus $4 per extra account | Unlimited scheduling, X support, eternal post history, recycling |
| Publer | Business | From $10, plus $7 per extra account | Analytics reports, AI Assist, hashtag suggestions, competitor view |
| Buffer | Essentials | $5, or $60 a year | Unlimited posts, full analytics history |
| Buffer | Team | $10, or $120 a year | Unlimited users, approval workflow |
| Post Planner | Starter | $14, or $168 a year | 3 accounts, 150 scheduled posts, 12 a day per profile |
| Metricool | Starter | About $20 to $25 | More brands, LinkedIn and X, longer analytics window |
| Later | Starter | $18.75 billed yearly | 8 profiles, 30 posts per profile per month |
| Hootsuite | Standard | $99 per user | 10 accounts, unlimited posts, full suite |
Note the shape of Publer’s pricing. Because it charges per account rather than per plan, a one account creator pays $5 while a five account brand pays $21 on Professional. That is cheaper than most flat tiers at the small end and competitive at the middle. Annual billing takes two months off.
Publer free, then $5 a month if you outgrow it
Start on 3 accounts free. If you hit the 10 post ceiling, Professional removes the cap, adds X and keeps your entire post history instead of 24 hours.
How many posts can you actually schedule on each free plan?
Run that against a normal posting rhythm. Three posts a week on each of three platforms is 36 posts a month. Publer and Buffer handle it comfortably because the queue drains. Metricool runs out on day 17. Post Planner runs out on one account.
If you want to work out how often the same person will actually see those posts, the reach and frequency calculator does the arithmetic for paid campaigns, and the same logic applies to organic reach with a smaller audience base.
Which free scheduler is best for Instagram creators?
Before anything goes into a scheduler it has to be cut to the right size. The 10 free social media tools page on this site handles the pre scheduling work in the browser with no signup: carousel splitting, platform image resizing, Reels safe zone previews, caption and hashtag counting, and a YouTube thumbnail grabber.
Which free scheduler is best for a small agency managing clients?
Buffer Team is the cheapest genuine multi user option at $10 a month. Publer gets there differently: $5 for the first account, $4 per extra account, $2 per extra member, which is often cheaper for an agency with many accounts but few people, and more expensive for one with few accounts and many people. Price both against your actual headcount before choosing.
If you are tagging client campaigns for reporting, build the links consistently with the UTM campaign URL builder, because no scheduler will fix inconsistent tracking parameters after the fact.
What do free social media schedulers never include?
- Team seats. Every free plan here is single user. The moment a second person needs access, you are paying.
- Approvals. No free plan has a review step, so nothing stops a draft going live.
- History. Publer free keeps 24 hours. Buffer and Metricool keep 30 days. Anything older is gone unless you pay.
- Bulk and recycling. CSV upload and evergreen recycling are paid features everywhere, and they are usually the reason people upgrade.
- X support. Publer and Metricool both exclude X from free. Only Zoho Social includes it.
How do you choose in under five minutes?
Pick by your constraint, not by the brand
- You post a lot across 3 platforms and have no budget. Publer free.
- You want the simplest interface and 30 days of numbers. Buffer free.
- You report more than you publish. Metricool free.
- LinkedIn and X are your main channels. Zoho Social free.
- You run one Facebook page and want curated content ideas. Post Planner free.
- You plan Instagram visually and have $18.75 a month. Later Starter.
- You are an enterprise team with compliance requirements. Hootsuite Standard.
Does a scheduler help you get found in AI search?
Generative engine optimisation is now a separate discipline from classic SEO, and most social content fails it because captions carry no standalone claim. If you want to see how your own pages score on the signals AI engines pick up, run them through the GEO readiness score, and if the vocabulary is unfamiliar the digital media planning glossary defines the terms used across this site.
Is it worth paying for a scheduler at all?
Below that line, free is genuinely sufficient. A solo creator running three accounts at three posts a week has no functional reason to upgrade. Above it, the cheap tiers from Publer and Buffer are so inexpensive that the deliberation costs more than the subscription.
What this means for marketers and creators
Three practical takeaways from the numbers above.
- Stop comparing feature lists, compare ceilings. The only free plan numbers that matter are accounts, queue depth and analytics window. Everything else on a pricing page is decoration.
- Run two free plans, not one. A scheduling tool plus a reporting tool costs nothing and covers the gap each one leaves. Publer or Buffer for the calendar, Metricool for the monthly read.
- Budget for the upgrade you will actually hit. For most people that is the account limit, not the post limit. Price the tool at the number of accounts you will have in six months, not today.
The free plan with the highest ceiling
Three accounts, thirty queued posts, eleven networks, no card. If you only test one free scheduler this month, test the one with the most room in it.
Frequently asked questions
Which social media scheduler has the best free plan in 2026?
Publer. Three social accounts, ten pending scheduled posts on each, twenty five saved drafts and one workspace, permanently free with no card. Buffer is the closest alternative and adds thirty days of analytics.
Can you schedule Instagram posts for free?
Yes. Publer, Buffer, Metricool and Zoho Social all publish directly to Instagram on their free plans, including Reels and carousels. Meta’s own Business Suite also schedules Instagram and Facebook free, but only those two networks.
Does Buffer still have a free plan?
Yes. Buffer’s free plan covers three channels, ten scheduled posts per channel with refills, one user, thirty days of analytics history and an AI assistant.
How much does Publer cost?
Publer Professional starts at $5 a month for one social account and $4 a month for each additional account. Business starts at $10 a month for one account and $7 for each extra. Annual billing gives two months free.
Is Hootsuite still free?
No. Hootsuite discontinued its free plan. Pricing now starts at $99 per user per month on the Standard plan, with a fourteen day trial available.
Is there a free scheduler that supports X or Twitter?
Zoho Social is the only free plan on this list that includes X. Publer excludes X from free and adds it on Professional. Metricool excludes both X and LinkedIn on free.
How many posts can you schedule on a free plan?
Publer and Buffer allow thirty posts in the queue at once across three accounts, and slots free up as posts publish, so there is no monthly cap. Metricool caps at twenty posts a month. Post Planner allows ten scheduled and three a day.
Do free schedulers include analytics?
Partly. Buffer and Metricool include thirty days of analytics history on free. Publer’s free plan shows only twenty four hours of post history and moves reporting to its Business plan.
What is the cheapest paid social media scheduler?
Publer and Buffer both start at $5 a month. Post Planner Starter is $14 a month, Metricool Starter runs around $20 to $25, Later Starter is $18.75 billed yearly and Hootsuite Standard is $99 per user.
Can a free plan handle client work?
No. Every free plan listed here allows one user and one brand or workspace, with no approval step. Client work starts at Buffer Team at $10 a month or Publer Professional with additional members at $2 each.
Prices and plan limits were taken from each provider’s own pricing and help pages on 12 September 2026 and are shown in US dollars. Plans change often, so check the current page before you pay.
