Schedchie is the most affordable Buffer alternative in 2026: €7.99 a month flat for unlimited social accounts and unlimited scheduled posts, while Buffer starts at $5 per channel — a price that grows with every account you connect.
This guide compares Buffer with five alternatives — Schedchie, Publer, Metricool, SocialBee and SocialPilot — on what a real footprint of 5 and 10 connected accounts costs, and on how each handles an AI content workflow in 2026. Every price below was checked on the vendor's own pricing page on 5 August 2026.
Why per-channel pricing sends people looking
Buffer's free plan connects up to 3 channels and holds 10 scheduled posts per channel. That works until it doesn't: the queue cap arrives first, then the channel cap. The paid Essentials plan is $5 per month per channel on annual billing, and the Team plan is $10 per channel. So the bill scales linearly with your accounts:
| Connected channels | Buffer Essentials | Buffer Team | Schedchie |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | $15/mo | $30/mo | €7.99/mo |
| 5 | $25/mo | $50/mo | €7.99/mo |
| 10 | $50/mo | $100/mo | €7.99/mo |
Buffer's rates are the annual-billing prices its pricing page displays ($60 per channel per year on Essentials). The Schedchie vs Buffer comparison walks the same math channel by channel.
Cheaper alternatives to Buffer for multiple social accounts
The five tools below all cost less than Buffer at a 10-account footprint. They meter different things — accounts, brands, or capped bundles — so the second column states what you are actually buying. Prices are monthly-billing rates unless marked otherwise, verified 5 August 2026.
| Tool | What the price meters | 5 accounts | 10 accounts | Built-in AI writer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schedchie | Flat rate — unlimited accounts and unlimited posts | €7.99 | €7.99 | None — your own assistant connects over MCP |
| Buffer (Essentials) | $5 per channel, billed yearly | $25 | $50 | AI Assistant, all plans |
| Publer (Professional) | $5 base + $4 per additional account | $21 | $41 | AI Assist on Business only ($10 base + $7 per account) |
| Metricool (Starter) | Per brand — €20 for 5 brands | €20 | €37 (10-brand tier) | Credit-metered (20 credits per brand/month) |
| SocialBee | Capped profile bundles | $29 (Bootstrap, 5 profiles) | $49 (Accelerate, 10 profiles) | AI post generator included |
| SocialPilot | Capped account bundles | $20 (Essentials, 5 accounts) | $40 (Standard, 10 accounts) | Credit-metered (500–1,000 credits/month) |
Publer's figures come from its own help-center pricing article; its main pricing page was unreachable when we checked. The full-market census with every vendor lives in the social media scheduler pricing index.
Schedchie: one flat price, nothing metered
Schedchie's Pro plan is €7.99 a month. That is the entire price list for a solo marketer: unlimited social accounts, unlimited scheduled posts, no per-channel fee, no post credits. It publishes to nine platforms — Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Threads, Bluesky and Google Business — from one calendar.
The feature set is built for volume. Bulk CSV import fills a month of posts in one upload. Recurring posts reshare evergreen content on a schedule you set. Drag-and-drop rescheduling moves anything on the calendar. For agencies and teams, the Team plan at €24.99 adds members, approval workflows, client review links and an activity log — still flat, still without per-seat multiplication.
The AI story is different from everyone else's on this list, and it is the reason the workflow section below exists: Schedchie ships no built-in caption generator. Instead it runs a live MCP server, so ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor or VS Code can sign in with OAuth and schedule posts directly. Here is how the connection works.
Publer: per-account pricing at a lower rate
Publer prices like Buffer — per account — but cheaper: Professional is $5 a month for the first account and $4 for each additional one, which lands at $41 for ten accounts. The free tier connects 3 accounts with 10 pending posts each. AI Assist is not on Professional; it requires the Business plan at $10 base plus $7 per account, which is $73 at the same ten-account footprint.
Metricool: per-brand pricing with metered AI
Metricool sells "brands" — bundles of one profile per network. The free plan schedules 20 posts a month on 1 brand. Starter is €20 a month for 5 brands on monthly billing, €37 for the 10-brand tier, and its pricing page defaults to the annual-billing toggle, so read the numbers carefully. The AI assistant is metered on every plan: 20 credits per brand per month on Starter. The Schedchie vs Metricool comparison prices the two side by side.
SocialBee and SocialPilot: capped bundles
Both replace per-channel pricing with fixed bundles. SocialBee's Bootstrap plan is $29 a month for 5 profiles and one user; the next 5 profiles cost another $20 a month via the Accelerate upgrade. SocialPilot's Essentials is $20 for 5 accounts, Standard $40 for 10 accounts and 3 users, with AI metered at 500–1,000 credits. Neither has a free plan. The step pattern is the thing to notice: each time your account count crosses a cap, the price jumps to the next bundle — the eleventh account is never free.
AI content workflows without credit meters
Four of the five competitors above bundle an AI caption writer, and three of the four meter or gate it — credits on Metricool, credits on SocialPilot, a higher plan on Publer. Meanwhile the platforms themselves are turning against generic AI output: in late July 2026 LinkedIn announced reduced reach for content its classifiers flag as AI slop, as covered in our LinkedIn scheduler guide.
The workflow that avoids both problems: draft where you already draft. If ChatGPT or Claude writes your posts, connect it to Schedchie over MCP and let it schedule them too — create the posts, attach media, set times, reorder the queue, pull analytics. No credits to buy, no second AI to prompt, and your own voice in every caption. You write "schedule these five posts across next week, mornings" in the assistant you already pay for, and the calendar fills.
FAQ
What is the cheapest alternative to Buffer?
Schedchie, at €7.99 a month flat for unlimited accounts and unlimited posts. Every other tool in this comparison costs more at a 5-account footprint ($20–$29) and scales further from there, while Buffer itself is $25 at five channels on annual billing.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Buffer for multiple social accounts?
Yes — the more accounts you run, the wider the gap gets. At ten accounts Buffer Essentials is $50 a month; Publer is $41, SocialPilot $40, SocialBee $49, and Schedchie stays at €7.99 because it has no per-account pricing at all.
Is there a free alternative to Buffer?
Free tiers exist but cap hard: Publer's free plan holds 3 accounts with 10 pending posts each, and Metricool's free plan schedules 20 posts a month on 1 brand. Schedchie takes the other route — a 14-day free trial of the full product, then €7.99 flat. Cancel anytime — no questions asked.
Can ChatGPT or Claude schedule my social media posts?
Yes, through Schedchie's MCP server. The assistant signs in with OAuth and can create and edit scheduled posts, upload media, reschedule, and read analytics — the connect guide shows the setup for ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor and VS Code.
Try it: no per-channel meter, no post cap, no AI credits to top up. Schedchie is €7.99 a month for unlimited accounts and unlimited posts across nine platforms. Start the 14-day free trial or read the wider alternatives comparison.