Buffer vs Metricool 2026: Which Is Better (and Cheaper)?

Buffer and Metricool are two of the most popular social media schedulers that still have a free-forever plan, and at first glance they do the same thing: connect your accounts, write a post, pick a time. Under the hood they are built for different jobs. Buffer is a publishing tool with light analytics on top. Metricool is an analytics tool that also publishes.

This guide compares Buffer vs Metricool on what actually decides the choice: how each one charges, what the free plans really include, analytics, LinkedIn and X support, and the real monthly cost for a creator, a small business, and an agency. If Later is also on your shortlist, see our three-way Buffer vs Later vs Metricool comparison.

Disclosure: Buffer and Metricool are both affiliate partners, so we may earn a commission if you sign up through our links, at no extra cost to you. Because we earn from either one, the verdict below is about fit, and we point out where each tool falls short.

All prices and plan limits below come from Buffer's and Metricool's official pricing pages, checked on November 1, 2026. Metricool's prices exclude VAT.

Buffer vs Metricool: The Short Answer

Choose Buffer if publishing is the job and you want the simplest tool that does it well, especially if X or LinkedIn is one of your main channels.

Choose Metricool if you want to see what is working (your analytics, your competitors, your ads) in the same place you schedule, or if you manage more than one brand.

Already picked one? Neither tool writes platform-tuned hashtags for you. Our Free AI Hashtag Generator builds the right set for each platform in seconds, ready to paste into Buffer or Metricool.

The Real Difference: A Publishing Tool vs an Analytics Tool

Buffer is built around the queue for your posts, and it shows. The queue and calendar are quick to use, the AI Assistant rewrites a post for each network, and the community inbox lets you answer comments across ten networks from one place. Analytics are included, but they cover your own accounts only.

Metricool is built around its analytics dashboard, with publishing alongside it. It tracks your social profiles, your website or blog, and your Facebook, Google and TikTok ad accounts side by side, benchmarks you against competitors, and turns it all into PDF or PowerPoint reports. Its planner handles publishing well, but the reason people pick Metricool is the data around it.

So the useful question is not "which scheduler is better" but "do I need analytics and reporting inside my scheduler, or just scheduling?"

Pricing 2026: Per Channel vs Per Brand

The two tools charge in completely different ways, and that decides which one is cheaper for you.

• Buffer charges per channel. A channel is one connected account: one Instagram profile, one TikTok account, one LinkedIn page. Every channel you add raises the bill.
• Metricool charges per plan, sized by brands. A brand is one business, client or creator, with one profile per network. Starter covers up to 5 brands at its entry price, so adding networks, or even whole brands, often costs nothing extra.

Buffer Pricing

Channels above 10 are billed at a lower rate, and paid plans start with a 14-day free trial. For the full breakdown of the free tier, see our Buffer free plan guide.

Try it: Start with Buffer's free plan. There is no trial clock, so you can run your real workflow on it before paying anything.

Metricool Pricing

Advanced also comes in 25-brand ($107 monthly, $85 billed yearly) and 50-brand ($210 monthly, $159 billed yearly) sizes, and annual billing saves up to 24%. X is not included in any plan price: it costs $10 a month per connected X account as an add-on.

Try it: Start with Metricool. First-time users get a 30-day free trial with code HASHTAGTOOLS30, which is enough time to see whether the analytics are worth paying for.

The Quick Cost Rule

Leaving X aside, the break-even is easy to remember:

• Up to 3 channels: Buffer Essentials is cheaper ($15 a month billed yearly vs Metricool's $20).
• 4 channels: a tie on annual billing ($20 vs $20).
• 5 channels or more: Metricool Starter is cheaper, and the gap grows with every account you add, because Metricool's price does not change until you pass 5 brands.

For teams that need post approvals, the same logic applies one tier up: Buffer Team is cheaper for up to 5 channels ($50 a month billed yearly), and Metricool Advanced ($53) is cheaper from 6 channels on.

What You Will Actually Pay

Annual billing first, monthly billing in brackets.

For one creator, the two land within a few dollars of each other, and X tips the scale toward Buffer. The moment you manage more than one brand, Metricool wins by a mile: that last agency row stays at $53 on Metricool Advanced even with client approvals, while Buffer Team for the same 20 channels comes to a bit under $200.

Free Plans: Different Limits, Different Winners

Both free plans have no time limit, but they ration different things.

In practice the limits feel very different:

• Buffer's limit is a queue, not a monthly cap. Every post that goes out frees a slot, so you can publish as much as you like as long as no more than 10 posts per channel are waiting. It limits how far ahead you can batch, not how much you publish.
• Metricool's limit is a hard monthly cap. 20 scheduled posts a month is about five a week across all your networks combined. Post daily to two networks and you hit it in ten days.
• Metricool spreads one brand across many networks. Its free plan connects one profile on each supported network, including Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Threads, Bluesky, Pinterest and Google Business Profile. Buffer stops at three accounts in total.

Free-plan verdict: Buffer Free is the better free scheduler, because it lets you publish more and covers LinkedIn and X. Metricool Free is the better free analytics tool, with competitor tracking and ad reporting that Buffer does not offer at any price.

Features Head to Head

Where Metricool Wins: Analytics, Competitors and Ads

Metricool's advantage is everything around the post:

• Competitor benchmarking. Track up to 100 competitor profiles on paid plans (5 on the free plan) and see how their content performs next to yours. Buffer has no equivalent.
• Paid and organic in one view. Connect Facebook Ads, Google Ads and TikTok Ads accounts and report paid results next to organic ones. If you boost posts or run small ad campaigns, this alone can justify the switch.
• Website analytics. Metricool tracks your website or blog alongside your social profiles, so one dashboard shows whether social traffic actually lands.
• Client-ready reporting. Starter sends automated PDF or PowerPoint reports; Advanced adds custom report templates and a Looker Studio connector.
• Multi-brand pricing. Starter covers 5 brands for one price, which is why freelancers and agencies end up here.

The trade-offs: the dashboard has more to learn, X costs extra on every paid plan, full X analytics need the Advanced plan, and AI credits are capped per brand.

Where Buffer Wins: Simplicity, LinkedIn and X, and AI

Buffer's advantage is how little stands between you and a published post:

• Less to learn. Buffer does publishing, engagement and basic analytics, and stops there. For a one-to-three-person operation, that is the whole job.
• LinkedIn and X on every plan. Both networks count as normal channels, even on the free plan, and both work in the community inbox.
• A free plan you can publish a lot on. The queue refills as posts go out, so a creator who plans weekly can run three accounts for free indefinitely.
• Unlimited AI Assistant. Buffer lists unlimited AI credits on every plan, while Metricool rations them per brand.
• Cheap team access for small setups. Team adds unlimited users and approval workflows from $10 per channel billed yearly, so a three-channel team pays $30 a month.

The trade-offs: no competitor tracking, no ads reporting, no website analytics, and the per-channel bill climbs fast once you pass a handful of accounts.

The LinkedIn and X Gotcha

This is the detail that decides the choice for a lot of people, so it is worth spelling out:

• Metricool Free: no LinkedIn, no X.
• Metricool Starter: LinkedIn included; X costs $10 a month per connected account, with reduced X analytics.
• Metricool Advanced: LinkedIn included; X is still a $10 add-on per account, with complete X analytics.
• Buffer, every plan: LinkedIn and X are ordinary channels at the ordinary price, free plan included.

If X is one of your main channels and you run a single brand, Buffer is usually simpler and cheaper. If you manage several brands that each have an X account, add $10 per account to Metricool's price before you compare. With 5 client brands, that is $50 a month extra, and Metricool often still comes out ahead.

Which One Should You Choose?

Solo creators who post to two or three accounts and mostly need to get posts out the door should start with Buffer's free plan. If X or LinkedIn is central to your content, Buffer is the clear choice. If you live on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube and want to study what works, Metricool's free plan is worth connecting for the analytics alone.

Small businesses that want social analytics and planning in one place are usually better off with Metricool. One brand covers a profile on every supported network, Starter includes LinkedIn, and competitor tracking and ad reporting come built in for $20 to $25 a month. Choose Buffer instead if you only publish to two or three accounts, rely on X, or want to stay free.

Freelancers and agencies managing several clients should pick Metricool in almost every case. Five brands on Starter cost the same as one, Advanced adds client management and approvals for up to 15 brands, and the automated reports are made for sending to clients.

Can You Use Both?

Yes, and on free plans it can be the smartest setup. Publish through Buffer's free plan, which includes X and LinkedIn, and connect your profiles to Metricool's free plan for analytics, competitor tracking and ad reporting. You get Buffer's publishing allowance and Metricool's data without paying for either.

Once you are ready to pay, pick one. Paying two tools to schedule the same posts makes no sense, and the cost rule above tells you which one fits your account count.

Where Hashtags Fit in Either Tool

Both tools touch hashtags, but neither picks them for you. Buffer's hashtag manager stores sets you have already written (Essentials and Team). Metricool's Hashtag Tracker follows a campaign hashtag on Instagram or X, sold pay-per-use at $25 per day per network. Neither tells you which hashtags to use on a specific post for each platform.

That matters in 2026, because every network wants something different: Instagram caps posts at 5 hashtags, X works best with 1 or 2, LinkedIn with 3 to 5, and Threads allows a single topic tag. Pasting the same set everywhere costs you reach.

Our Free AI Hashtag Generator builds a platform-correct set in seconds. Describe the post, pick the platform, and paste the result into Buffer or Metricool before you schedule.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, Buffer or Metricool?

Buffer is better if you mainly need to publish: it is simpler, includes LinkedIn and X on every plan, and its free plan lets you publish more. Metricool is better if you want analytics in the same tool, including competitor tracking, ad reporting and client reports, and it is much cheaper once you manage more than one brand.

Is Metricool cheaper than Buffer?

From about 5 accounts, yes. Buffer is cheaper for up to 3 channels, the two tie at 4 channels on annual billing, and Metricool Starter ($20 a month billed yearly for up to 5 brands) is cheaper from 5 channels on. Metricool's $10 monthly X add-on can tip a single creator back to Buffer.

Which is better for a small business, Metricool or Buffer?

For social analytics and planning in one place, Metricool: one brand covers every supported network, Starter includes LinkedIn, and competitor tracking, ad reporting and PDF reports are included for $20 to $25 a month. Buffer fits better if the business publishes to 2 or 3 accounts, relies on X, or wants a free plan.

Does Metricool's free plan include LinkedIn and X?

No. LinkedIn starts on the Starter plan, and X is a $10 monthly add-on per account on paid plans. Buffer includes both on every plan, including Free.

How many posts can you schedule on Buffer's and Metricool's free plans?

Buffer allows 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time across 3 channels, refilled as posts go out, with no monthly cap. Metricool allows 20 scheduled posts per month in total for one brand.

Does Buffer have competitor analysis like Metricool?

No. Buffer's analytics cover your own accounts only. Metricool tracks 5 competitor profiles on its free plan and up to 100 on paid plans.

Can I use Buffer and Metricool together?

Yes. A practical free setup is publishing through Buffer's free plan and connecting the same profiles to Metricool's free plan for analytics and competitor tracking. Once you pay, pick one.

Schedule Smarter, Tag Smarter

Buffer and Metricool are both good tools that answer different questions. Buffer asks "how fast can I get this posted?" Metricool asks "what is working, for every brand I manage?" Pick the question that matters more to you, and use the cost rule above to check the bill.

Start with Buffer's free plan or try Metricool with code HASHTAGTOOLS30, then build each post's hashtag set with our Free AI Hashtag Generator before you queue it.

Try the free AI Hashtag Generator

Related Guides

• Buffer vs Later vs Metricool - The three-way comparison, with Later's visual planner in the mix
• Buffer Free Plan 2026 - Every limit of Buffer's free tier and when upgrading pays off
• Buffer vs Hootsuite - Pricing, free plans, and features compared
• Best Free Hashtag Research Tools 2026 - Including what Metricool's Hashtag Tracker does
• How Many Hashtags Per Platform - Optimal counts for every network