Buffer prices per channel, Hootsuite per user, Schedchie flat — €7.99/month for unlimited accounts and unlimited posts. From two accounts up, Schedchie is the cheapest of the three (prices verified 7 August 2026).
All three tools schedule posts to the major networks. The difference that decides your bill is the pricing model: Buffer's meter runs on channels, Hootsuite's on seats, and Schedchie's does not run at all. This comparison prices each tool at one, five and ten accounts, then at a three-person team, using the figures each vendor displays on its own pricing page as of 7 August 2026.
The comparison at a glance
| Buffer | Hootsuite | Schedchie | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per channel — $5/mo billed yearly, $6/mo billed monthly | Per user — Standard €99/user/mo, annual billing | Flat €7.99/mo, all accounts and posts included |
| 5 accounts | $25/mo (annual billing) | €99/mo (one seat) | €7.99/mo |
| 10 accounts | $50/mo (annual billing) | €99/mo (Standard's account cap) | €7.99/mo |
| Free plan | 3 channels, 10 queued posts per channel | None — 14-day trial | 14-day free trial |
| Scheduled-post limits | 10 per channel on free; 5,000 per channel fair-use cap on paid | No cap published | None — unlimited posts |
| 3-person team | Team plan, $10/channel/mo (annual billing) | €297/mo (3 × Standard seats) | Team plan, €24.99/mo total |
| Schedule from ChatGPT or Claude (MCP) | Yes | Yes | Yes — OAuth sign-in; posting, media, analytics and approvals included on every plan |
Prices as displayed on buffer.com/pricing and hootsuite.com/plans on 7 August 2026. Hootsuite publishes annual-billing rates only; US visitors see the same numerals in dollars.
Buffer: cheap for one channel, a meter after that
Buffer is the simplest tool of the three, and for a single profile it is also the cheapest paid option: the Essentials plan is $5 per channel per month billed yearly, or $6 billed monthly. The free plan connects up to 3 channels and holds 10 scheduled posts per channel.
The per-channel model is the thing to check before committing. Every profile you add moves the bill: five channels cost $25 a month, ten cost $50 — and those are the annual-billing rates. The Team plan, which adds unlimited collaborators and approval steps, doubles the meter to $10 per channel. One more number worth knowing: Buffer's own pricing FAQ caps "unlimited" scheduling at 5,000 posts per channel under its fair-use policy. For a line-by-line feature comparison, see Schedchie vs Buffer or the longer Schedchie vs Buffer 2026 comparison.
Hootsuite: per-seat pricing built for enterprise budgets
Hootsuite bundles scheduling with social listening, a unified inbox and an ads console — and prices for organisations that budget per seat. The Standard plan is €99 per user per month on annual billing and covers 10 social accounts; Professional is €199 per user with unlimited accounts; Advanced is €399. There has been no free plan since 2023, only a 14-day trial.
Every seat is priced individually, so a three-person marketing team on Standard pays €297 a month — €3,564 a year — before adding a single account past ten. That maths is why Hootsuite makes sense mainly for teams that will genuinely use the listening and ads tooling every week. If the seats would only ever schedule posts, the budget is paying for features nobody opens. The direct comparison is at Schedchie vs Hootsuite, with a deeper version in the Schedchie vs Hootsuite 2026 comparison.
Schedchie: one flat price, nothing metered
Schedchie charges €7.99 a month, full stop. Unlimited social accounts, unlimited scheduled posts — it is the only tool in this comparison where neither number carries a cap. Connect two profiles or forty; the invoice does not change.
It is also the only one of the three you can drive from the AI assistant you already use. Schedchie ships a built-in MCP server: sign in from ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor or VS Code with OAuth and your assistant fills the queue, reschedules posts and reads results in plain language — no credits, no add-on tier.
Teams are flat-priced too. The €24.99 Team plan covers three invited members with no per-seat fees, posts held until the owner approves, per-client groups, and client review links that open without an account or login. A 14-day free trial covers everything, and you can cancel anytime — no questions asked. The one paid extra is X (Twitter) publishing at €4.99 per 30 posts, priced at what X charges for API access; every other platform is inside the flat rate.
What a year costs
Annualised, the three models separate sharply:
Hootsuite Standard, one seat: €1,188 a year.
Buffer Essentials, ten channels: $600 billed yearly.
Schedchie: €95.88 a year — less than one month of a single Hootsuite seat.
To see how the whole market prices against these three, the social media scheduler pricing index tracks every major vendor's verified rates in one table.
Which should you choose
One brand, one or two profiles, light posting: Buffer's free plan covers it until you hit the 3-channel and 10-post caps. Past them, the per-channel meter starts, and by the second account Schedchie is already cheaper.
A team or agency: Schedchie's €24.99 Team plan — approvals, per-client groups, client review links — against €297 a month for three Hootsuite Standard seats. Agencies comparing the wider market can work through scheduler pricing for agencies in 2026.
Enterprise social listening and ads management in one console, with a budget line that absorbs per-seat pricing: that is the buyer Hootsuite prices for.
Multiple accounts on a budget: Schedchie. The flat €7.99 is the lowest price in this comparison at every footprint above a single channel, and it is the only plan with no account or post caps at all.
FAQ
Which is cheapest: Buffer, Hootsuite, or Schedchie?
For a single account, Buffer ($5/month billed yearly) and Schedchie (€7.99/month) are close. From two accounts up, Schedchie is cheapest, because its price never grows: ten accounts cost €7.99 on Schedchie, $50 on Buffer and €99 on Hootsuite.
How much do Buffer and Hootsuite cost for 10 social media accounts?
As of August 2026: Buffer Essentials runs $50/month on annual billing at ten channels. Hootsuite Standard covers ten accounts for €99 per user per month, annual billing. Schedchie schedules the same ten accounts — and any number beyond — for a flat €7.99/month.
Does Hootsuite still have a free plan?
No — Hootsuite removed its free plan in 2023. It offers a 14-day trial, after which plans start at €99 per user per month on annual billing.
Is Buffer's unlimited posting actually unlimited?
Buffer's pricing FAQ caps paid-plan scheduling at 5,000 posts per channel under a fair-use policy, and the free plan holds 10 posts per channel. Schedchie sets no post cap on any plan.
Does Schedchie handle team approvals?
Yes, on the €24.99 Team plan: three invited members with no seat fees, posts held until the owner approves, per-client groups, and client review links the client opens with no account and no login. The same three people need €297 a month on Hootsuite Standard.
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