Best Social Media Scheduler for Solo Founders (2026 Prices)

Short answer: Start with Buffer. Its free plan covers 3 channels, including X, LinkedIn, Bluesky and Threads, and when you outgrow it, Essentials costs $5 per channel per month on yearly billing. Choose something else only if you have a specific need: Metricool for analytics, SocialBee for recycling evergreen posts, Postiz for self-hosting.

We checked every price, limit and network below on the vendors' own pages on 8 Nov 2026. Where a page would not give us a number, we left it out. The picks and opinions are ours and are labelled that way.

TL;DR#

• Best default: Buffer. Free for up to 3 channels and 10 scheduled posts per channel. Paid plans are $5 (Essentials) or $10 (Team) per channel per month, billed yearly (Buffer pricing).
• Best Buffer alternative with a calculator: Publer. Paid plans start at $5/month (Professional) and $10/month (Business) for 1 social account. Its free plan excludes X (Publer plans help).
• Best for analytics: Metricool. Free for 1 brand and 20 posts a month, but X and LinkedIn need a paid plan, and X is a $10/month add-on (Metricool X add-on).
• Best for evergreen recycling: SocialBee. From $29/month, or $24/month billed yearly, for 5 profiles (SocialBee pricing).
• Best to self-host: Postiz. AGPL-3.0 open source, with cloud plans from $29/month (Postiz pricing, GitHub).
• Watch out for X. Hypefury and Later no longer list it among their supported networks.

Disclosure: ZeroRaised publishes this guide and is a launch site for bootstrapped products. We have no commercial relationship with any tool here and earn nothing if you sign up. Facts come from the linked sources, checked on 8 Nov 2026.

What a solo founder actually needs from a scheduler#

Agency tools sell approval workflows, client reporting and dozens of seats. A solo founder doing build in public needs far less:

1. The right networks. For most B2B and indie makers that means X, LinkedIn, and often Bluesky or Threads. Check that your networks are supported on the plan you will actually pay for, not just somewhere on the vendor's site.
2. A queue you can batch. Write a week of posts on Sunday, then forget about them.
3. Threads and long posts. Build-in-public updates often run longer than one post.
4. A price that scales per channel, not per seat. You are one person.

That is the lens for everything below.

Price table (verified 8 Nov 2026)#

Notes on the table:

• Buffer shows the yearly-billed price on its pricing page ("1 channel · $60 billed yearly") and says annual billing is a 20% discount. Paid plans include unlimited scheduled posts, capped by a fair use policy at 5,000 posts per channel.
• Publer's help article says yearly billing "includes a 20% discount compared to paying monthly" and that "the 10th one is free" for every 9 social accounts or members. The article does not list the price of each extra account, so use Publer's in-app calculator for anything beyond one.
• Metricool's pricing page has Annual ("save up to 24%") and Monthly tabs, and lists Starter "From $20/month" and Advanced "From $53/month". Check which tab you are on before you compare. Metricool has dedicated Threads and Bluesky pages, and the free plan's only stated network exclusions are LinkedIn and X.
• Hypefury's pricing FAQ says "Instagram, Facebook, Threads, LinkedIn, TikTok and Bluesky are 1 platform each". X is not in that list.
• Later says it "supports Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Threads, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Snapchat". We could not read its month-to-month prices, so the table shows only the yearly-billed figure.
• Typefully says on its homepage that it is "a social media publishing and scheduling platform for X, LinkedIn, Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon, and Instagram" (Typefully). Its pricing page did not show prices to our checker today, so we left Typefully out of the table rather than repeat third-party numbers.

Example: what 3 channels cost (X, LinkedIn, Bluesky)#

This is an illustrative example, using published entry prices from the pages above. It assumes one X account, one LinkedIn profile and one Bluesky account, and it ignores tax.

Our read: for three personal channels, Buffer is hard to beat. Free covers you while you are posting a few times a week, and Essentials at $180 a year is about the cost of one month on some all-in-one suites. SocialBee and Postiz both look pricier for three channels, but they include 5, so the gap narrows if you add Threads and a LinkedIn company page.

Network support notes: X, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Threads#

X. This is where tools differ most. Publer says "we can only support Twitter accounts on a paid subscription basis" (Publer supported networks). Metricool's X add-on costs "€10/$10 per month" per connected account, and says "current pricing took effect on July 13, 2026". Accounts added before then keep $5/month (Metricool help). Buffer lists both "X / Twitter free profiles" and "X / Twitter premium profiles" with automatic publishing included, but basic analytics is not included for free X profiles (Buffer pricing). Hypefury and Later do not list X among their supported networks.

Our read: if X is your main channel, confirm X support on the exact plan before you pay, and recheck after any vendor pricing change. X access is the line item vendors have been repricing.

LinkedIn. Buffer, Publer and SocialBee each support both personal profiles and company pages. Metricool keeps LinkedIn off its free plan and adds a "LinkedIn connection" on Starter. For most B2B founders the personal profile matters more than the page, which our guide to LinkedIn for B2B SaaS marketing covers in depth.

Bluesky. Supported by Buffer, Publer, SocialBee, Postiz, Hypefury and Typefully, according to their own pages. Later's list does not include it.

Threads. Every tool in our table lists Threads.

Picks by workflow#

These picks are our editorial advice, based on the published prices and features above.

"I post a few times a week to X and LinkedIn"#

Buffer Free. Three channels, 10 queued posts each, no card. When 10 queued posts per channel starts to feel tight, move to Essentials at $5 per channel per month on yearly billing.

"I batch a week of posts and want one cheap paid plan"#

Buffer Essentials or Publer Professional. Both start at $5 for one channel or account. Buffer's per-channel pricing is published in full, which makes it easier to budget. Publer is worth a look if you want its calculator's volume discount (the 10th account free).

"I want to recycle evergreen posts"#

SocialBee. It organises posts into categories and lists "Posts per category" limits of 1,000 on Bootstrap and 5,000 on higher plans. Bootstrap covers 5 profiles for $29/month, or $24/month billed yearly. A 14-day trial needs no card, and SocialBee offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

"I care about analytics more than the queue"#

Metricool. The free plan covers 1 brand and 20 posts a month, but excludes X and LinkedIn. Advanced adds "Complete Twitter/X analytics". Budget the $10/month X add-on on top of Starter if X matters to you.

"I want to self-host and own the data"#

Postiz. The repository is under the AGPL-3.0 licence, and its README lists X, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Threads, Mastodon, Reddit, Discord and others (GitHub). Postiz describes self-hosting as "a secondary option" and notes that "getting your own social media apps approved by each network can take weeks" (Postiz pricing). Our read: self-hosting saves cash, not time. If you would rather not run a server, its Standard cloud plan is $29/month or $23/month billed yearly.

"I write long threads and LinkedIn carousels, and I do not need X"#

Hypefury at $6 per platform per month on the Flexible plan, or Creator at $19/month for all 6 of its platforms. Its 7-day trial needs no card. Just check that its network list matches yours.

"I am Instagram and TikTok first"#

Later is built for visual networks, starting at $18.75/month billed yearly for one social set of 8 profiles. For an X and LinkedIn founder it is the wrong tool.

How to set it up in an afternoon#

1. Pick one primary network. Our free marketing channels guide helps you choose. Cross-post to a second network, but write for the first one.
2. Start on a free plan. Buffer Free or Metricool Free cost nothing, so use the trial period to learn what you actually post.
3. Batch once a week. Write five to seven posts in one sitting: one product update, one lesson, one number, one question, one link to something you shipped.
4. Leave gaps for live replies. Schedulers handle broadcasting. Replies, DMs and conversations still need you in the app.
5. Review after four weeks. If the free queue limit is the only thing stopping you, upgrade. If you are not posting at all, a new tool will not fix that.

Our read: the scheduler is the least important part of the stack. Consistency and having something worth saying matter more. Pick the cheapest tool that supports your networks and spend the saved time shipping.

Frequently asked questions#

What is the best free social media scheduler for a solo founder?#

Buffer, for most. Its free plan connects up to 3 channels, holds 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time and lists X, LinkedIn, Bluesky and Threads with automatic publishing. Publer's free plan also covers 3 accounts but excludes X, and Metricool's free plan excludes both X and LinkedIn.

Which schedulers still support X (Twitter) in 2026?#

On the pages we checked on 8 Nov 2026, Buffer, SocialBee, Postiz and Publer's paid plans list X. Metricool supports X through a paid add-on at $10 per month per connected account. Hypefury's pricing page lists six platforms without X, and Later's supported network list does not include X.

Is Buffer still cheap for a solo founder?#

Yes. Buffer charges per channel. Essentials is $5 per channel per month on yearly billing ($60 a year per channel), with unlimited scheduled posts subject to a fair use cap of 5,000 posts per channel. Three channels cost $180 a year.

Can I self-host a social media scheduler?#

Yes. Postiz is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence and its README lists X, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Threads, Mastodon and more. Postiz says self-hosting is a secondary option and that getting your own social media apps approved by each network can take weeks, so budget time as well as server cost.

Do I need a scheduler at all for building in public?#

Not on day one. If you post a few times a week to one network, the network's own composer is enough. A scheduler earns its place when you post to two or more networks, want to batch a week of posts in one sitting, or want a queue that keeps posting while you ship.

Give your posts somewhere to point#

A scheduled post works best when it links to something people can try. ZeroRaised is a launch directory for products built without institutional VC: submit your product for free and use the launch as your next build-in-public update. For more guides on growing without investors, join the ZeroRaised newsletter.

Sources#

All last checked 8 Nov 2026.

• Buffer pricing
• Publer: What are Publer's plans and pricing?
• Publer: What social networks are supported?
• Metricool pricing
• Metricool: Your guide to the X/Twitter add-on
• Metricool: Premium vs free plans
• Metricool Threads and Metricool Bluesky pages
• SocialBee pricing
• Postiz pricing
• Postiz on GitHub
• Hypefury pricing
• Later pricing
• Typefully homepage