How to use Buffer

AS part of the fallout from the twitter migration, I had another look at Buffer. It’s has changed since I made this page, and now supports Blue Sky and Mastodon. It still only permits three channels on the free version which is getting a bit tight and to increase this one needs the top tier of plan which comes bundles with a lot of impact discovery tools. (This isn’t what I want, or to spend my money on). What are the alternative [free] options?

Free

Google AI perspectives says, there are free alternatives to Buffer for social media management. Several platforms offer free plans with varying features and limitations, allowing you to schedule and manage posts on social media platforms without a subscription fee. It lists the following free Buffer alternatives:

• Later: While known for its visual planning and focus on Instagram, Later offers a free plan that includes scheduling posts for multiple platforms and a visual content calendar. 
• Metricool: Metricool provides a free plan with up to 50 monthly posts, allowing for basic social media management tasks like scheduling and analyzing performance. 
• SocialPilot: Although known for its affordability, SocialPilot also offers a free plan with limited features, making it suitable for individual users or small teams. 
• SocialOomph: This platform offers a free plan for managing one social profile, with unlimited scheduled posts and a limit of three posts per hour. 
• Hootsuite: While primarily a paid platform, Hootsuite offers a free plan with limited features, including the ability to manage a few social media accounts and schedule posts. 
• Planable: For content collaboration, Planable offers a free plan that allows scheduling up to 50 posts, with features for content feedback, file storage, and real-time collaboration. 
• Vista Social: This platform offers a free plan with team features, scheduling, inbox monitoring, and task management. 
• Postiz: As an open-source option, Postiz provides a free alternative to Buffer, focusing on automation solutions. 

“These free alternatives offer a range of features and functionalities to help you manage your social media presence without a subscription fee”. However, I believe that Postiz only offers free for seven days, and its fees are higher than buffer. So I will need to check them out.

Buffer publish much of their code on github.

I also found https://socioboard.com/ which offers a seven day trial but otherwise charges and this which claims that Postiz is open source. and I found a bunch of github repos that claim to be Postiz, one of which claims to be a docker implementation.

Using Buffer

1. https://publish.buffer.com
2. https://buffer.com/library/how-to-use-buffer-for-your-social-media-team/

And here’s a video, I replaced it in June 2025

I also mention Buffer in an article on this wiki, “New-rss/xml-tools”. It wasn’t what I expected. It seems to be a cron for twitter posts.