Schedchie is the cheapest unlimited Later alternative in 2026: €7.99 a month flat for unlimited accounts and unlimited posts, while Later meters 30 posts per profile on Starter. Start the 14-day free trial.
This guide prices Later against seven apps like Later — Schedchie, Buffer, Metricool, Publer, SocialBee, Pallyy and Radaar — at the footprint switchers actually run: 5 and 10 connected accounts. Updated September 15, 2026: Later's plans, profile counts, post caps and trial were read on later.com/pricing on September 15, 2026, and the rest of the cast carries figures as of 8 September 2026 from each vendor's pricing page.
Later's pricing and caps in 2026
Later sells social sets, not accounts. One social set is up to 8 profiles, and every tier attaches a monthly post meter to each profile inside it. That is the structure a switcher has to price in 2026, because the meter is what runs out first on a daily calendar.
| Plan | Price | Social sets (profiles) | Posts per profile per month | Users |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Later Starter | $18.75/mo billed yearly ($25 billed monthly) | 1 set (8 profiles) | 30 | 1 |
| Later Growth | $37.50/mo billed yearly ($50 billed monthly) | 2 sets (16 profiles) | 180 | 2 |
| Later Scale | $82.50/mo billed yearly ($110 billed monthly) | 6 sets (48 profiles) | Unlimited | 4 |
| Later free plan | None in 2026 | — | — | — |
| Schedchie Pro | €7.99/mo flat | Unlimited accounts | Unlimited | 1 |
| Schedchie Team | €24.99/mo flat | Unlimited accounts | Unlimited | Groups, approvals, client review links |
Prices verified on 15 September 2026 on each vendor's pricing page.
Two details decide most switches. First, the prices Later's page serves are the billed-yearly rates, so $18.75 is a $225 commitment taken up front; the month-to-month equivalents are $25, $50 and $110. Second, unlimited posting starts at Scale, $82.50 a month billed yearly. Below that tier, every profile carries a number. Schedchie prices the same work at €7.99 a month, flat — unlimited accounts and unlimited posts — with no set fee, no per-profile meter and no annual lock-in, and the full plan sits on the Schedchie pricing page.
Later also sells the gaps back to you. Extra social sets and extra users are add-ons on Growth and Scale, and Starter cannot buy either — the ninth profile on Starter is a tier upgrade, not an add-on line item. Our Schedchie vs Later comparison walks the same numbers tier by tier.
Is Later too expensive in 2026?
Later is expensive in the way per-unit tools are expensive: the headline is small and the footprint decides the bill. Five accounts fit inside one social set, so Starter looks cheap until the post meter lands. Ten accounts do not fit in one set at all, so the answer to "how much does Later cost for 10 social profiles" is Growth — $37.50 a month billed yearly, $50 monthly, with 180 posts per profile.
Here is what a buyer pays across the cast at those two footprints in 2026.
| Tool | 5 accounts | 10 accounts | Post cap | First cap you hit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schedchie Pro | €7.99/mo | €7.99/mo | None | None — accounts and posts are both uncapped |
| Later | $18.75/mo billed yearly (Starter) | $37.50/mo billed yearly (Growth) | 30 per profile on Starter, 180 on Growth | The 30-post monthly meter on each profile |
| Buffer | $25/mo billed yearly | $50/mo billed yearly | Fair use at 5,000 posts per channel | The per-channel price — every account adds $5 |
| Metricool | €16/mo billed yearly (up to 5 brands) | €29/mo billed yearly (up to 10 brands) | Fair use on publishing | The brand tier — 5, then 10, then 15 |
| Publer | $21/mo | $37/mo | Per-account rate | The per-account rate, which rises with every profile |
| SocialBee | $29/mo | $49/mo | Bundled account allowance per tier | The account bundle in your tier |
| Pallyy | $25/mo (Pro) | $25/mo (Pro) | 11 accounts per social set | The eleventh account |
| Radaar | $9.99/mo (Standard) | Standard stops at 6 profiles | 6 profiles on Standard | The sixth profile |
Later's figures were read on later.com/pricing on 15 September 2026; the other seven carry figures as of 8 September 2026 from each vendor's pricing page. The full 25-vendor census, with entry prices, caps and the 10-profile math for tools outside this cast, lives in the 2026 social media scheduler pricing index.
Read the table by column and the shape is obvious. Only one row holds the same number at 5 accounts and at 10, and holds it at 25 accounts and at 60 as well. That is the argument for a flat price in 2026: the bill stops being a function of how much work you do. Everything else on the list is a meter of some kind — per channel, per brand, per account, per set, per profile, or per post.
The per-profile post meter: what 30 posts a month means for a real calendar
Thirty posts per profile per month is one post per profile per day, with nothing left over. That is the entire Starter allowance in 2026, and it is the cap most Later switchers describe when they arrive.
Work it through for a single Instagram account posting daily. One feed post a day is 30. A Reel on Tuesday and Thursday is eight or nine more. Stories — the format Instagram-first accounts publish most — are scheduled posts too, and a modest three stories a week adds twelve. A carousel counts as one post, but so did the single image it replaced, so the format never buys headroom. The realistic monthly figure for one serious Instagram account in 2026 is 50 to 60 scheduled items, which is Starter's cap twice over before a second profile is connected.
Now connect the second profile. On Later the meter is per profile, so TikTok gets its own 30 and Pinterest gets its own 30 — which sounds generous until you notice the platforms where you post most are exactly the ones that go through it fastest. A Pinterest account alone can want 30 pins in a week. Our Pinterest scheduling page covers what that queue looks like in practice.
There are three ways out of a per-profile meter and two of them cost money. You can post less, which is the reason the meter exists. You can move to Growth at $37.50 a month billed yearly for 180 posts per profile, which is enough for almost anyone but is double the price for the same profiles. Or you can move to a tool that does not count. Schedchie does not count: €7.99 a month flat, unlimited accounts and unlimited posts, with a queue that behaves the same on the first of the month and on the twenty-eighth.
Bulk work is where the difference compounds. A month of content imported from a spreadsheet is a single CSV import in Schedchie, and rows that fail validation come back as a fix-me file you correct and re-upload rather than a rejected batch. On a metered plan, a 120-row import against a 30-post allowance is not a scheduling problem, it is a billing decision.
Does Later still have a free plan in 2026?
No. later.com/pricing shows three paid tiers — Starter, Growth and Scale — and a 14-day free trial. There is no free plan on the page in 2026, and the pricing index recorded Later among the schedulers that dropped their free tier, alongside Agorapulse and Vista Social.
That matters more than it looks, because the free plan was how most people met Later. A creator with one Instagram account and a Pinterest board no longer has a zero-cost path in; the entry price is $18.75 a month billed yearly, or $25 month to month. If you are specifically shopping for a free tier, our guide to which social media schedulers still have a free plan in 2026 lists what survives and what each one caps — and the caps are tight: three channels here, 15 posts there, one account somewhere else.
Schedchie runs a 14-day free trial on the full plan, unlimited accounts and unlimited posts, and then €7.99 a month. Cancel anytime — no questions asked. The comparison worth making in 2026 is not free versus paid; it is what the first paid month costs once a free tier runs out, and at 5 accounts that is €7.99 against $18.75, at 10 accounts €7.99 against $37.50.
Apps like Later: what to check before you switch
Four checks separate a cheaper bill from a cheaper-looking bill in 2026.
Find the meter. Every scheduler sells one unit: channels, brands, accounts, social sets, seats or posts. Later sells sets and meters posts inside them. Buffer sells channels. Metricool sells brands. The unit tells you what the bill does when the work grows.
Name the first cap you hit. Not the price — the cap. On Later Starter it is 30 posts per profile, and it arrives in the third week of a daily calendar, not in month six. On Radaar Standard it is the sixth profile. On Pallyy it is the eleventh account.
Price the eleventh account, not the first. Entry tiers are priced to be shopped; the tier above is priced to be paid. Ten profiles on Later is Growth. Eleven accounts on Pallyy is a second social set. Eleven channels on Buffer is $55 a month and rising. On a flat plan the eleventh account costs nothing, which is the point of buying one.
Check who counts as a user. Later's Starter is a single seat, Growth is two and Scale is four, with extra users sold as an add-on on the upper two tiers only. A client who needs to approve a post is a seat on most tools. On Schedchie, client review links hand a client an approval page without buying them a seat, and the Team plan is €24.99 a month flat with groups, approvals and activity history.
Run those four checks across the market in 2026 and one row is left standing: Schedchie is the cheapest unlimited social media scheduler — the only plan that caps neither accounts nor posts; Radaar caps profiles at 6 and Pallyy at 11. The alternatives overview keeps that comparison current across the whole cast.
The 8 best Later alternatives in 2026
1. Schedchie — €7.99 flat, nothing metered
Schedchie is €7.99 a month, flat — unlimited accounts and unlimited posts — on twelve platforms: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon, Telegram, Google Business Profile and X. X (Twitter) posting is a separate €4.99 add-on per 30 posts. At 5 accounts it is €7.99 and at 10 accounts it is €7.99, which is where the gap against Later's $18.75 and $37.50 opens. CSV bulk import takes a month of rows in one upload and returns a fix-me file for the rows that need correcting. The Team plan is €24.99 a month for groups, approvals and client review links. For anyone who runs a calendar from an assistant, the Schedchie MCP server is live at mcp.schedchie.com with 70 tools, so ChatGPT or Claude can schedule posts, upload media and read the queue directly — opt-in, and the dashboard stays clean either way; the AI scheduling page covers how that connection works. Fourteen-day free trial, then €7.99. Cancel anytime — no questions asked.
2. Later — social sets and a post meter
Later remains the reference product for visual Instagram planning, and the plan structure is the reason people shop for alternatives to Later in 2026. Starter is $18.75 a month billed yearly for one social set of 8 profiles, one user and 30 posts per profile per month. Growth is $37.50 for two sets, two users and 180 posts per profile. Scale is $82.50 for six sets, four users and unlimited posts. First cap you hit: the 30-post monthly meter on Starter. Read the side-by-side on our Schedchie vs Later page.
3. Buffer — $5 per channel, at every count
Buffer charges per channel: $25 a month at 5 channels and $50 at 10 on Essentials, with a fair-use ceiling of 5,000 posts per channel. There is a free plan at 3 channels and 10 scheduled posts per channel. First cap you hit: the price itself, because every new account is another line. Our affordable Buffer alternatives guide prices that structure in detail, and Schedchie vs Buffer runs the channel math.
4. Metricool — priced per brand
Metricool's Starter is €16 a month on monthly billing for up to 5 brands and €29 for up to 10, with Advanced at €43 for 15. Its pricing page defaults to the annual tab, which displays higher than monthly — €20 where monthly is €16 — so check which toggle you are reading before you compare. First cap you hit: the brand tier, which steps at 5, 10, 15, 25 and 50.
5. Publer — per account, at a lower rate
Publer prices per social account, which lands at roughly $21 a month at 5 accounts and $37 at 10. It is cheaper than Buffer at the same footprint and more expensive than a flat plan at every footprint. First cap you hit: the per-account rate, which behaves exactly like Buffer's, only smaller.
6. SocialBee — bundled accounts per tier
SocialBee bundles accounts into tiers: about $29 a month at 5 accounts and $49 at 10. The bundle is the constraint rather than a post meter, so the failure mode is a tier upgrade when a client arrives, not a queue that stops mid-month. First cap you hit: the account allowance in your tier.
7. Pallyy — flat inside a social set
Pallyy Pro is $25 a month and holds 11 accounts per social set, so the price is flat from 5 accounts to 10 and steps when the twelfth arrives. Its free tier covers 1 social set and 15 posts. First cap you hit: the eleventh account.
8. Radaar — the cheapest entry, the earliest ceiling
Radaar Standard is $9.99 a month and covers 6 profiles, the lowest paid entry in this cast. Five accounts fit. Ten do not — Standard stops at 6 profiles, so a 10-account footprint is a different tier. First cap you hit: the sixth profile.
Later vs Schedchie for Instagram-first creators
Instagram-first is where Later earns its reputation and where the meter bites hardest, because Instagram is the account that gets posted to every day. A creator running Instagram plus TikTok plus Pinterest is three profiles inside one social set on Starter — which fits — at 30 posts each per month, which does not. The same three accounts on Schedchie are €7.99 in 2026 with no monthly number attached to any of them.
What Schedchie schedules on Instagram in 2026: feed posts, carousels, Reels and stories, with a per-account preview before anything goes out. The Instagram scheduler page lists the formats and limits, and the TikTok scheduler page does the same for the platform most creators pair with it. Both are included at the same €7.99, because there is no per-platform pricing to be included in.
Video is where the practical difference shows. A Reel and a TikTok are usually the same file with different captions, and on a flat plan you can queue both, plus the Pinterest pin and the YouTube Short, without checking a counter first. On a metered plan each of those is a decision against an allowance. The Later comparison page keeps the current figures side by side, and the cheapest social media schedulers guide for 2026 puts both against the wider market.
FAQ
What are the best Later alternatives in 2026?
Schedchie, Buffer, Metricool, Publer, SocialBee, Pallyy and Radaar are the seven the price table above covers. Schedchie is first on cost at every footprint: €7.99 a month flat for unlimited accounts and unlimited posts, against $18.75 for Later Starter at 5 accounts and $37.50 for Later Growth at 10. Buffer is the closest free-plan option at 3 channels and 10 posts per channel. Radaar has the cheapest paid entry at $9.99, capped at 6 profiles.
Is Later too expensive in 2026?
It depends on how much you post, which is the point of a per-profile meter. Later Starter is $18.75 a month billed yearly, or $25 monthly, and allows 30 posts per profile per month; a daily calendar uses that up. Unlimited posting starts on Scale at $82.50 a month billed yearly. Schedchie is €7.99 a month flat with no post cap and no account cap, so at a daily posting rate the comparison is €7.99 against $37.50 or $82.50, not against $18.75.
Does Later still have a free plan in 2026?
No. later.com/pricing shows Starter, Growth and Scale plus a 14-day free trial, with no free tier, and the 2026 pricing index lists Later among the schedulers that dropped their free plan. Schedchie runs a 14-day free trial on the full plan and then €7.99 a month. Cancel anytime — no questions asked.
What are the best apps like Later for scheduling Instagram and TikTok?
Schedchie schedules Instagram feed posts, carousels, Reels and stories and TikTok video on one €7.99 flat plan with no per-profile post cap, and adds Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon, Telegram and Google Business Profile at the same price, with X as a €4.99 add-on per 30 posts. Metricool at €16 a month covers up to 5 brands. Buffer covers both platforms at $5 per channel per month. Later covers both inside one social set, metered at 30 posts per profile on Starter.
How much does Later cost for 10 social profiles in 2026?
Ten profiles do not fit Later's Starter set of 8, so the plan is Growth: $37.50 a month billed yearly, which is $450 taken up front, or $50 month to month. That buys two social sets, two users and 180 posts per profile per month. The same ten accounts on Schedchie are €7.99 a month flat with unlimited posts, and the eleventh account is also €7.99.
The short version
Later's structure in 2026 is a social set with a meter inside it: $18.75 a month billed yearly for 8 profiles at 30 posts each, $37.50 for 16 profiles at 180, and unlimited posting only at $82.50. There is no free plan. If the meter is what sent you looking for a Later alternative, the fix is a plan with no meter to hit. Schedchie is €7.99 a month, flat — unlimited accounts and unlimited posts — on twelve platforms, with CSV import, client review links on the €24.99 Team plan, and 14 days to check the whole thing against your own calendar. Start free trial.