Best Social Media Schedulers for 2027: Buffer, Hootsuite, Later and Zynta Flow Compared

Most lists of the best social media schedulers compare calendars. If you schedule for clients, what changes the bill is how the tool charges and which plan unlocks client approval.

A disclosure first: Zynta Flow publishes this blog and is one of the seven tools compared. Each tool below gets the profile it fits best, including cases where Zynta Flow is the wrong pick.

How we compared

We read every pricing page from the United States: list prices in USD, before tax. Six criteria:

1. Entry price. The cheapest paid plan.
2. Billing model. It decides how the bill grows with each new client.
3. Free plan. A permanent plan, not a trial.
4. Approval. Whether a post can wait for a sign-off, and on which plan that starts. For agencies, the question is whether the client can approve without a seat. Our guide to the client approval process covers the workflow itself.
5. AI. What the AI does: write a caption, suggest ideas, or produce the post. We cover the difference in is an AI carousel generator worth it.
6. Trial. Length, and whether the page says a card is needed.

Social media scheduling tools compared

Tool	Entry price	Billing model	Free plan	Approval starts on	AI	Trial
Buffer	Essentials, $6 per channel a month ($5 billed annually)	Per channel	Yes: 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time	Team, $12 per channel a month ($10 annually)	AI Assistant on every plan, Free included	14 days on paid plans
Hootsuite	Standard, $99 per user a month, billed annually	Per user	No	Advanced, up to $399 per user a month, billed annually	Standard generates posts and images	14 days
Later	Starter, $18.75 a month, billed annually	Per social set and user	No	Growth, $37.50 a month, billed annually (internal and external)	By credits: 5, 50 or 100 a month	14 days
Sprout Social	Essentials, $79 per seat a month annually ($99 monthly)	Per seat	No	Internal: Professional, $299 per seat. External: Advanced, $399 per seat (both annual)	Trellis, 100 credits per seat a month on every plan	30 days, no card
SocialPilot	Essentials, $30 a month ($25.50 annually)	Per plan, by accounts and users	No	Client approval: Premium, $100 a month ($85 annually)	AI Pilot, credits by plan	14 days, no card
Metricool	Starter, from $25 a month ($20 annually)	Per number of brands	Yes: 1 brand, 20 posts a month, no LinkedIn	Advanced, from $67 a month ($53 annually)	AI assistant from the Free plan, credits per brand	Not mentioned on the page
Zynta Flow	Starter, $19 a month (700 credits)	Per credit	No	Every plan, client approves without an account	Writes slide text and caption, applies the brand template	30 days, 350 credits, no card

*Prices in USD from each official page, read on November 10, 2026: Buffer, Hootsuite, Later, Sprout Social, SocialPilot, Metricool. Prices change, and Black Friday offers may change them before you read this; check before you buy.*

Who each tool is for

Buffer

Best for freelancers and small businesses that want a free start and pay only for the accounts they run. Buffer publishes automatically to LinkedIn pages and LinkedIn profiles, Instagram business and creator accounts, and TikTok business profiles, among others (Buffer pricing, 2026). The Team plan has unlimited users.

What weighs against it: the page describes Team approval as managing "who can draft and approve posts across your team". It does not mention approval by an outside client.

Hootsuite

Best for in-house teams that run many networks and want one AI across drafting and analytics, which Hootsuite calls Wisdom. Its help center lists connection guides for Instagram Business, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, Threads, X, YouTube, Pinterest, Google Business Profile, Bluesky, Reddit and WhatsApp Business (Hootsuite Help Center, 2026).

What weighs against it: Standard caps you at 10 social accounts. During the trial, an organization can publish 10 to 20 posts a day, with no bulk scheduling (Hootsuite plans, 2026).

Later

Best for creators and small teams. A social set is one profile from each supported network, so Starter's single set covers 8 profiles. Later publishes automatically to Instagram business or creator accounts, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Pinterest and LinkedIn (Later pricing, 2026).

What weighs against it: Starter allows 1 user and 30 posts per profile a month, and cannot buy extras. One AI credit writes one caption or three ideas, so Starter's 5 credits a month cover 5 captions or 15 ideas. The page does not say whether LinkedIn means a profile, a page or both.

Sprout Social

Best for larger teams that accept per-seat pricing and need many profiles and both internal and external approval (Sprout Social pricing, 2026).

What weighs against it: Essentials and Standard cap you at 5 profiles. "Enhance Post by AI Assist" starts on Professional, and Trellis Plus costs $28 per seat a month extra, billed annually.

SocialPilot

Best for small agencies that want fixed plan prices with a set number of accounts per plan. Premium includes 25 accounts and 6 users. An extra account costs $4 a month and an extra user $5 (SocialPilot plans, 2026). LinkedIn Document Publishing comes with every plan.

What weighs against it: Standard has only manager approval. The page does not confirm whether LinkedIn scheduling covers personal profiles.

Metricool

Best for solo managers who start on the free plan and grow by brand count. Advanced covers up to 15 brands at its entry price, with client management (Metricool pricing, 2026).

What weighs against it: LinkedIn and X are excluded from the free plan; LinkedIn starts on Starter and X is an add-on. The price climbs by brand bracket: $85 a month for 25 brands and $159 for 50, billed annually.

Zynta Flow

Best for agencies and freelancers who create carousels for Instagram and LinkedIn and want writing, design, approval and scheduling in one app. The next sections cover it.

The real cost of scheduling for clients

A hypothetical agency has 5 clients, each on Instagram and LinkedIn: 10 channels. One person runs the account, and clients must approve posts. Here is what the cheapest plan with approval costs, using only the prices above.

Tool and plan	Monthly billing	Annual billing, per month
Buffer Team	10 x $12 = $120	10 x $10 = $100
Hootsuite Advanced, 1 user	Not shown on the page	Up to $399
Later Growth plus 3 extra social sets	Not shown on the page	$37.50 + 3 x $11.25 = $71.25
Sprout Social Advanced, 1 seat (external approval)	Not shown on the page	$399
SocialPilot Premium	$100	$85
Metricool Advanced, up to 15 brands	$67	$53
Zynta Flow Starter, publishing only	$19	$15.83
Zynta Flow Studio, publishing plus 20 AI carousels	$49	$40.83

How the lines work:

• Later: Growth includes 2 social sets. The other 3 clients need extra sets at $11.25 a month each. Scale, with 6 sets, costs $82.50.
• Sprout Social: Professional ($299) approves internally only, so the line uses Advanced.
• Zynta Flow: scheduling is free, and publishing costs 5 credits per post per network. At 12 posts a month on each of the 10 channels, that is 120 posts x 5 = 600 credits, inside Starter's 700. Adding the 4 extra brands costs 5 credits each, once. If the agency also generates one AI carousel of 4 to 6 slides per client per week, with its caption (20 a month x 40 credits = 800), the month needs 1,400 credits, which moves it to Studio (2,000). A failed post is not charged.

A per-channel tool costs the same at 2 posts or 50; a per-credit tool does not. Run the numbers with your own volume.

Where Zynta Flow fits, and where it does not

Zynta Flow starts from the post, not the calendar. You give it a topic, it writes the text of each slide and the caption in your brand kit's voice, applies your brand template, and schedules the carousel. See how scheduling to Instagram and LinkedIn works, including LinkedIn company pages.

What it offers an agency:

• Client approval without an account, on every plan, with an optional block that stops publishing until the client approves.
• Unlimited brands, members and features on every plan. The four self-service plans differ only in monthly credits: Starter $19 (700), Studio $49 (2,000), Agency $99 (4,500) and Scale $249 (12,000). Annual billing charges 10 months. Enterprise is priced on request.
• Instagram, plus LinkedIn personal profiles and company pages, through the official APIs.

Where it does not fit:

• You need a permanent free plan. Zynta Flow has none. Trial exports carry a watermark, and access closes when the trial ends until you subscribe.
• You publish to other networks. Zynta Flow covers Instagram and LinkedIn. If you also need Facebook, Threads, Pinterest, YouTube or Bluesky, Buffer, Hootsuite and SocialPilot cover more networks.
• Your clients sit in several time zones, and you want a time zone picker. Each post saves its own time zone, which defaults to your browser's; there is no picker.
• You want best-time suggestions for LinkedIn. The "Best time" button calculates for Instagram only.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best social media scheduler in 2027?

It depends on how you work. For a free start with few channels, Buffer or Metricool. For a large team on many networks, Hootsuite or Sprout Social. For an agency that creates carousels for Instagram and LinkedIn and needs client approval, Zynta Flow costs the least in our 10-channel example.

Is there a free social media scheduler?

Yes. Buffer's free plan covers up to 3 channels and 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time, with its AI Assistant included. Metricool's free plan covers 1 brand and 20 posts a month, but leaves out LinkedIn and X. Hootsuite, Later, Sprout Social, SocialPilot and Zynta Flow have no free plan, only trials.

What should I check in an Instagram scheduler or LinkedIn scheduler?

Check which accounts it publishes to. Buffer publishes to Instagram business and creator accounts and to LinkedIn pages and profiles. Zynta Flow covers Instagram plus LinkedIn personal profiles and company pages. Later's and SocialPilot's pages do not confirm LinkedIn personal profiles, and Metricool's free plan leaves LinkedIn out.

Which social media scheduling tools include client approval?

All seven have an approval workflow, but only some let the client approve, and the plan differs. Zynta Flow includes it on every plan, and the client approves without an account. Buffer needs Team, Later needs Growth, Metricool needs Advanced, SocialPilot needs Premium for client approval, Hootsuite needs Advanced, and Sprout Social needs Advanced for external approval.

Why do schedulers charge so differently?

Each one picked a different unit. Buffer charges per channel, Hootsuite and Sprout Social per user, Later per social set, Metricool per brand, SocialPilot per account bundle, and Zynta Flow per credit. The cheapest tool for 2 channels can be the most expensive for 20, so price your real setup.

Does Zynta Flow have a free plan?

No. Zynta Flow offers a 30-day trial with 350 credits and no card. Exports during the trial carry a watermark, and access closes at the end until you subscribe. Paid plans start at $19 a month.