Social media scheduling
Buffer vs Later compared on 19 fields
- Buffer score
- 98/100 (6 of 8 criteria)
- Later score
- 73/100 (6 of 8 criteria)
- Fields won by Buffer
- 3 of 12
- Fields won by Later
- 0 of 12
Buffer
Later
Data checked Oct 14, 2026 against the vendors' own pages. How we verify
Buffer and Later are both social media scheduling tools. We compared them on 19 fields read from each vendor's own pages.
On the social media scheduling tools scorecard Buffer scores 98/100 (6 of 8 criteria) and Later 73/100 (6 of 8 criteria) (ranks 1 and 34 in the category).
Of the 12 fields with a clear rule (lower price, higher count, yes over no), Buffer wins 3, Later wins 0 and 9 are ties.
Buffer scores clearly higher on free plan or trial and entry price.
Side by side
| Field | Buffer | Later | Winner and basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid plan (billed monthly) | ✓ $5/month | $18.75/month | Buffer |
| Same plan, per month billed annually | ✓ $5/month | $18.75/month | Buffer |
| Free plan | ✓ Yes | No | Buffer |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Trial length (days) | 14 | 14 | Tie |
| Accounts on the free plan | 3 | – | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Platforms supported | – | 8 | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Public API | Yes | – | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Posting queue | Yes | – | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Calendar view | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| First-comment scheduling | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| AI caption assistant | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Post and account analytics | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Best-time-to-post suggestions | – | Yes | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Approval workflows | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| User roles and permissions | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Unified social inbox | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Content repurposing | Yes | – | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| UGC collection | – | Yes | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
– = not published by the vendor, or not verified yet.
Sources: Buffer pricing page, checked Oct 14, 2026; Later pricing page, checked Oct 14, 2026. Each feature value links its own source on the tool's page.
Scorecard, criterion by criterion
| Criterion | Weight | Buffer | Later |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | 25% | 100$5/month per account billed annually on Essentials; no monthly-billed price published (scored against annual-billed prices) | 61$18.75/month billed annually on Starter; no monthly-billed price published (scored against annual-billed prices) |
| Free plan or trial | 15% | 100Free plan (Free) | 60Free trial (14 days), no free plan |
| Pricing transparency | 10% | 1003 of 3 plans have a public price | 1003 of 3 plans have a public price |
| Verified features | 15% | 909 of 19 tracked features verified: posting queue, calendar view, first-comment scheduling, ai caption assistant, post and account analytics, approval workflows, user roles and permissions, unified social inbox, content repurposing | 909 of 19 tracked features verified: calendar view, first-comment scheduling, ai caption assistant, post and account analytics, best-time-to-post suggestions, approval workflows, user roles and permissions, unified social inbox, ugc collection |
| API, integrations and export | 10% | 100public API | – |
| Platform coverage | 10% | – | 808 of 15 tracked platforms supported |
| Cost per connected account | 10% | – | 62$6.25 per connected account per month on Starter (3 accounts, 1 user, billed annually) |
| Free plan limits | 5% | 100Free plan: 3 connected accounts | – |
| Total score | 100% | 98/100 (6 of 8 criteria) | 73/100 (6 of 8 criteria) |
Buffer plans
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly | Charged per | Published limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free | per social account |
|
| Essentials | Not offered | $5 | per social account |
|
| Team | Not offered | $10 | per social account |
|
Prices in USD per month, before tax. Read from the vendor's pricing page on Oct 14, 2026. "Not stated" means the page does not publish it.
Later plans
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly | Charged per | Published limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | Not offered | $18.75 | per workspace |
|
| Growth | Not offered | $37.50 | per workspace |
|
| Scale | Not offered | $82.50 | per workspace |
|
Prices in USD per month, before tax. Read from the vendor's pricing page on Oct 14, 2026. "Not stated" means the page does not publish it.
How we picked
Every one of these social media scheduling tools is scored by the same 8 criteria (scorecard v2). Each criterion gives 0 to 100 from the vendor's published data; the total is the weighted average. A criterion without verified data is left out and the other weights are re-normalised. A tool with under 60% of the weight covered is listed as not ranked, and so is a tool with no verified price and fewer than 2 verified features (“needs a verified price”); each score shows how many criteria it is based on. The core criteria are the same in every category; the category criteria are specific to social media scheduling tools. Nobody gets custom weights, including our own products.
| Criterion | Weight | Type | What we measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | 25% | Core | Price per month of the cheapest paid plan, against the prices of other social media scheduling tools on the same billing basis (monthly-billed prices against monthly, annual-billed against annual).Log scale. Billed monthly: $9/month or less = 100, $49 or more = 0. Only billed annually: $9/month or less = 100, $58 or more = 0. Only free plans = 100. Usage-priced and one-time plans are not scored. |
| Free plan or trial | 15% | Core | Whether you can use the tool before paying: a free plan, or failing that a free trial, as shown on the vendor's pricing page.Free plan = 100. No free plan but a free trial = 60. The pricing page lists plans but shows neither = 0. No plans read = not scored. |
| Pricing transparency | 10% | Core | How much of the pricing is public: the share of plans with a published price ("contact sales" counts against), and whether there are at least 3 published tiers.80 x (plans with a public price / plans listed) + 20 x (public plans, up to 3) / 3. No plans read = not scored. |
| Verified features | 15% | Core | How many of the 19 features we track for this category the vendor's own pages verifiably show (posting queue, bulk scheduling (csv or multi-post), calendar view, first-comment scheduling, direct auto-publishing, recurring posts, media library, ai caption assistant, post and account analytics, report exports (pdf/csv), best-time-to-post suggestions, approval workflows, user roles and permissions, separate client workspaces, unified social inbox, white-label reports, link tracking (utm / short links), content repurposing, ugc collection). This counts verified features only: a tool that documents less scores lower here, and only here.Linear: verified features / 10 (half the tracked list) x 100, capped at 100. No tracked feature verified = not scored. |
| API, integrations and export | 10% | Core | Whether a public API exists, how many integrations the vendor states, and whether the vendor documents a way to export your data.Average of the parts with data: public API yes = 100, no = 0; integrations on a log scale (100 or more = 100); a documented data export = 100. None verified = not scored. |
| Platform coverage | 10% | Category | How many of the 15 social platforms we track the vendor says the tool supports.Linear: platforms / 10 x 100, capped at 100. No verified platform list = not scored. |
| Cost per connected account | 10% | Category | Monthly price per connected account on the cheapest paid plan that allows at least 3 social accounts.Log scale: $2 per account or less = 100, $40 or more = 0. Plans that do not state an account limit are not used. |
| Free plan limits | 5% | Category | What the free plan allows: connected accounts (full marks at 3), scheduled posts per month (full marks at 100).Each stated limit linear up to its full mark (unlimited = 100), averaged. Tools without a free plan, or whose free plan states none of these limits, are not scored here. |
Sources are vendor pricing pages, docs and changelogs, each with the date we checked it. We did not test these tools hands-on unless a listing says so. Full formulas: methodology.
Questions, answered from the data
Is Buffer cheaper than Later?
Buffer starts lower: $5 per social account per month billed yearly on the Essentials plan, against $18.75 per month billed yearly on the Starter plan for Later. Check the unit: per-user and per-account prices scale differently.
Do Buffer and Later have free plans?
Buffer has a free plan; Later does not.
Which is better, Buffer or Later?
On our scorecard Buffer scores higher (98/100 (6 of 8 criteria) vs 73/100 (6 of 8 criteria)). The score weighs every criterion the same way for every tool; check the rows above for the ones that matter to you.