Bufferis a powerful platform to help you manage your social media, with a range of plans to suit everyone from beginners to expert marketers. in this article, we’ll walk you through the details and features of each plan, step by step, and carefully guide you through which plan is right for you in which situation. Let’s take a look at each of Buffer’s plans in a way that’s easy to understand for beginners.
for reference, I’m using make.com and the buffer free plan to summarize my blog posts and automate them to Threads and Instagram. thread does not provide a separate API, so you need to connect buffer to make.com and buffer to automate it, and in the case of Twitter(x), you can issue an API, but the API keeps changing to only read, so I’m using it in conjunction with buffer.
Buffer Pricing Plans: Features of each plan



plan | can connect channels | scheduled posts | hashtag manager | advanced analytics | number of users | recommendations |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Free | up to 3 | 10 per channel | not included | basic (30 days) | 1 user | social media beginner, simple management |
Essentials | 1 basic (can be added) | unlimited | included | included | 1 user | small businesses, individual marketers |
Team | 1 basic (can be added) | unlimited | included | included | unlimited | team-based operations, agencies |
1️⃣ Free Plan: Entry-level plan for social media beginners
🔹 Pricing: Free (available forever)
🔹 Key features:
- channel connections: You can connect up to 3 social media channels (e.g. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook).
- scheduled posts
- you can schedule up to 10 postsper channel.
- once a scheduled post is published, you can schedule more again, which is enough for small management.
- content creation assistance
- AI Assistant: Provides the ability to create or improve posts with AI.
- idea storage: Store up to 100 content ideas.
- basic analytics
- you can view engagement rate data per post for 30 days.
🔹 Recommended for:
- personal bloggers who are new to social media or those working on small projects.
- if you don’t have a large number of scheduled posts and only need basic management features.
2️⃣ Essentials Plan: A streamlined plan for individual marketers and small businesses
🔹 Rates:
- monthly rate: $6/month
- annual plan: $60/year (with 2 months off)
🔹 Key features:
- scheduled Posts: Schedule an unlimited numberof posts
- no more worrying about how many posts you can schedule.
- hashtag Manager
- store and reuse up to 250 ofyour favorite hashtags.
- advanced Analytics
- overview ofyour posts’ performance andrecommendations for optimal posting times.
- analyze your content with user-specified tags.
- additional features
- First Comment Scheduling: schedule first comments on Instagram and LinkedIn posts.
- Custom Video Covers: Customize your own video thumbnails.
🔹 Recommended for:
- solopreneurs or freelancers who need to publish content consistently.
- social media marketers who want to stay organized and manage their performance with advanced analytics.
3️⃣ Team Plan: Optimized for team-based collaboration and large-scale management
🔹 Pricing:
- monthly rate: $12/month
- annual plan: $120/year (with 2 months off)
🔹 Key features:
- unlimited users: Allows team members to manage social media accounts simultaneously.
- approval workflow
- after you draft a post, you can set up an approval process between team members.
- this is an essential feature for working with clients or running a large team.
- branding reports
- add your brand logo and customized cover page to your reports for added professionalism.
- add-ons
- Includes all features in the Essentials plan.
- granular control over user roles and permissions.
🔹 Recommended for:
- agencies that run social media operations as a team or manage multiple clients.
- if you need to manage approval processes and permissions per team member.
💡 What to consider when choosing a plan
- number of channels and number of scheduled posts
- if you have 3 or fewer channels and a small number of scheduled posts, the Free plan issufficient.
- if you need more channels and posts, upgrade to Essentials or Team.
- whether you need collaboration and approvals
- if collaboration and approval workflows are important to you, the Team plan isfor you.
- if you’re a solo operator, the Essentials plan is enough.
- budget
- if you’re looking to save money, opt for the annual subscription to the Essentials plan. you’ll get advanced features for as little as $6 per month.
- whether you need advanced analytics
- if you want to strategize with your post performance data, the Essentials or Team plan is a must.
Key takeaways for choosing a Buffer plan
Buffer is a powerful tool for efficiently managing your social media.
- The Free planis great for small management and beginners.
- The Essentials planis a practical option for solopreneurs and freelancers.
- The Team planis for team-based operations and collaboration.
choose a plan that fits your social media goals and budget, and start managing your content efficiently with Buffer! 😊
Learn how Buffer marketing and automation works
How Buffer works
Buffer simplifies the marketing process with steps like.
🔹 Create and schedule content
Buffer’s AI Assistanthelps you quickly create content or optimize existing content. once written, content can be scheduled for publication by platform.
- scheduled publishing: schedule publishing to multiple platforms, including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook.Threads, and more.
- published content: create long-form posts to platforms like Twitter, Threads, and more.
🔹 Hashtag management and optimization
- reuse your favorite hashtags by saving them in Buffer Hashtag Manager.
- get recommendations for the best hashtags to maximize your posts’ exposure.
Buffer’s Hashtag Managerlets you save and reuse your favorite hashtags, saving you time and effort.
🔹 Performance analytics
Buffer’s performance analytics tools provide you with the following information
- reach: How many users your posts reached.
- engagement rate: User reactions like likes, comments, and shares.
- best time recommendations: Ideal posting times based on performance data
for example, it analyzes the reach and engagement rate of your posts during certain times of the day and suggests the best time to post to maximize your reach.
🔹 Team collaboration and workflow management
- advanced plans enable collaboration between team members
- role division: separate content creators from reviewers.
- approval process: Team leader approval before publishing.
Buffer use cases
- personal blogger example
- situation: a blogger wants to automatically share his weekly posts to various platforms.
- How to use Buffer
- write a short summary content with a link to your blog.
- Schedule the same content on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook in Buffer.
- easily add new hashtags each time with the hashtag management feature.
- small business example
- the Situation: A small cafe wants to announce weekly events.
- How to use Buffer
- Create event posts with AI Assistant.
- Schedule a post on Instagram with an image.
- Schedule the same post on Facebook, but add a link to your menu in the first comment.
- after the event, check the performance data to see which platforms were most effective.
- marketing team example
- the situation: A large e-commerce company manages a Black Friday sales campaign.
- How they use Buffer
- team members each write a draft, and the team leader reviews posts with an approval workflow.
- Text optimization with AI Assistant.
- scheduled publishing of campaign posts to Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
- analyze campaign performance to inform your next marketing strategy.
Benefits of Buffer
- save time
- prepare the same content for multiple platforms at once with scheduled publishing.
- Quickly create and optimize content with AI Assistant.
- increase efficiency
- stay organized with a hashtag manager and content calendar to manage your marketing strategy.
- continuously improve your strategy with performance data.
- increase collaboration
- set up roles and approval processes among team members for an efficient workflow.
- reduce costs
- The Free plan is enough to manage a small team.
- Essentials and Team plans offer advanced features at an affordable price.
Tips for automation success with Buffer
- set goals: Be clear about the purpose of your posts (reach, sales, engagement)
- manage your schedule: Utilize Buffer’s calendar to maintain a consistent publishing cycle.
- analyze yourperformance: Use analytics data to identify the best times and platforms.
- collaborate efficiently: Increase collaboration among team members with Team plans and utilize approval workflows.