Alternatives

The best Buffer alternatives

7 tools, ranked by how much of the job each one does, with Munshi Social, the AI content marketing engine for small teams, first and the reasons to skip it stated under its own entry.

Prices dated on every entry · Updated September 2026

The short answer

Buffer is hard to beat as a plain scheduler, so people usually leave it for one of two reasons: nine channels at $5 each stopped being cheap, or the queue is empty because nobody has time to write. Munshi solves the second problem and the first at once: it writes 15 articles and 1,000 posts a month and publishes them to every network for one flat price. If you still write your own posts and only run two or three channels, stay on Buffer.

Why people look

What sends Buffer customers shopping

Stated as fairly as we can: these are Buffer's own published terms and the complaints its users repeat in public reviews, not our opinion of the product.

  • Pricing is per channel, so a brand on every major network pays about $45 a month for Essentials
  • The AI assistant refines what you write; it does not write for you, and the queue stays empty when you are busy
  • No blog publishing: Buffer is social only
  • No content strategy or keyword plan behind the calendar

The full side-by-side is on Munshi vs Buffer.

Ranked

7 Buffer alternatives, in order

Every list ranks by how completely the tool does the job of a small business's content marketing: strategy, writing, publishing to a blog and to social, and measurement. Munshi is the only tool here that does all five, which is why it is first, and it is also the youngest and the narrowest in team features, which is why each page says who should skip it. Prices are quoted from each vendor's pricing page and dated. 1,000 posts and 9 networks are Munshi's own numbers, from our pricing page.

  1. Munshi Social

    Munshi Social is the AI content marketing engine for small teams: it plans the content, writes the articles and the posts, publishes them to your CMS and your networks, and reports the results, all from one weekly approval.

    Best for
    A business where nobody has time to write. The output is the product: 15 articles and 1,000 posts a month, finished, not a blank editor with an AI button.
    Price
    $15/mo founding price, locked for life, two seats included. Rises to $49 at public launch.
    The gap
    Two seats and no role hierarchy, five blog destinations (WordPress, Ghost, Webflow, Framer, or Sanity), and a track record that starts in 2026.

    Skip to number two if you write everything yourself and just want the queue to run. Buffer's free plan and Metricool's free plan are both better than paying us for writing you do not need.

    Our own pricing page, September 2026

  2. Metricool

    Metricool pairs a scheduler with unusually good analytics: every network, competitors, and ads in one dashboard, with a free plan that covers one brand.

    Best for
    A marketer who cares about the numbers first and wants reports, competitor tracking, and scheduling in one inexpensive tool.
    Price
    Free for one brand; Starter about $20 to $22/mo billed yearly; Advanced from about $53/mo. Each connected X account is an extra $10/mo.
    The gap
    It measures and schedules; it does not write. No blog publishing and no keyword plan, and X costs extra on every paid tier.

    Pricing checked against metricool.com/pricing and published reviews, September 2026

  3. Later

    Later is a visual-first social planner that grew up on Instagram: a drag-and-drop grid preview, a link-in-bio page, and a creator marketplace.

    Best for
    A visual brand that lives on Instagram and TikTok and wants to see the grid before it posts.
    Price
    Starter $25/mo, Growth $50/mo, Scale $110/mo; about 25% less billed yearly.
    The gap
    Social only, and the writing is yours. There is no blog publishing and no content strategy behind the calendar.

    Pricing checked against later.com/pricing, September 2026

  4. SocialBee

    SocialBee is a social scheduler built around evergreen recycling: sort posts into categories and it re-queues them on a rhythm you set.

    Best for
    A brand with a deep library of evergreen posts, where re-running the best of them is the whole strategy.
    Price
    Bootstrap $29/mo (5 profiles); Accelerate $49; Pro $99 (25 profiles)
    The gap
    Social only. There is no blog publishing and no keyword strategy, and profile counts are capped per plan.

    Pricing verified from socialbee.com/pricing, August 2026

  5. StoryChief

    StoryChief is a content marketing platform for teams that write: articles and social posts from one calendar, with editorial approvals and an AI assistant metered in credits.

    Best for
    A staffed content team or an agency that needs roles, a review chain, client workspaces, and seventeen CMS destinations.
    Price
    Social Calendar $22/mo yearly ($27 quarterly); articles need Team Editorial at $81/seat/mo
    The gap
    Article publishing starts at $81 a seat a month, billing is quarterly or yearly only, and the AI assists a writer rather than replacing one.

    Pricing and features checked against storychief.io/pricing, its help centre and its integrations directory on 29 August 2026

  6. Hootsuite

    Hootsuite is the enterprise standard for social media management: listening, a shared inbox, compliance, and multi-team approvals.

    Best for
    An organization with a dedicated social team, many accounts across regions or departments, and social customer service at scale.
    Price
    Standard from $99/mo (10 accounts); Professional $199; Advanced $399
    The gap
    It starts at $99 a month for tooling alone and assumes people whose whole job is social. Nothing is written for you.

    Pricing verified from hootsuite.com/plans, August 2026

  7. Jasper

    Jasper is an AI writing platform for marketing teams: brand voice, campaign templates, and long-form drafting, with a chat interface on top.

    Best for
    A marketing team that writes a lot and wants an AI that holds a brand voice across many people, and already has a scheduler and a CMS workflow.
    Price
    Pro about $59/seat/mo billed yearly ($69 monthly); Business is quoted.
    The gap
    It drafts. It does not plan the calendar, publish to your CMS or your networks, or read the results, so you still run the rest of the stack.

    Pricing checked against jasper.ai/pricing and published reviews, September 2026

Try the first one

The trial is the honest pitch

Describe your business and read what Munshi plans and writes for it. 14 days, 3 real articles and 50 posts, no card. If the output is not better than what you were getting, you have lost an afternoon.

Other lists: StoryChief alternatives · SocialBee alternatives · Hootsuite alternatives · every comparison