Scheduling is the easy part. Picking a time and pressing a button takes seconds. The real cost of social media for a small business is everything before that: deciding what to post, writing the captions and designing the visuals. In our guide to what social media marketing really costs a small business, doing it yourself with native tools takes 5 to 10+ hours a week. A scheduler saves you from posting by hand, but it doesn't write or design anything.
The quick answer: if you want the posts written and scheduled, with nothing going live until you approve it, start with Beevi (our product). If your posts are already made and you only need them to go out on time, the best pure schedulers are Buffer (the easiest to start), Meta Business Suite (free for Facebook and Instagram), Later (Instagram-first), Planable (teams that approve every post), SocialBee (recycling evergreen posts) and Hootsuite (only when inbox and monitoring are a daily job).
Try Beevi free for 7 days. Connect your accounts, get your first on-brand drafts, approve the ones you like, and they post on schedule. No card needed. After the trial, scheduling and publishing stay free on the Free plan, and AI writing and images use credits. Start your free trial
Below you'll find all nine options compared on price, free plans and approvals, a worked example of what each one costs a typical four-account small business in money and in time, and a quick way to choose. We make Beevi, so we've put it first and labeled it. Every price and limit for the other eight comes from their own pricing pages, so you can judge for yourself.
The short list at a glance 🧭
Prices below come from each vendor's public pricing page, checked on October 8, 2026. Many vendors show the annual-billing price by default, so we say which one you're looking at. Prices change often, so confirm on the vendor's page before you buy.
| Tool | Best for | Free option | Starting paid price | Approvals start on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beevi (our product) | Owners who need the posts written, not just scheduled | 7-day trial, then a Free plan for scheduling and publishing | $35 a month, unlimited social accounts | Built in on every plan |
| Buffer | Simple scheduling for one person | Free plan: 3 channels, 10 queued posts per channel | $5 per channel per month (billed yearly) | Team plan, $10 per channel per month (billed yearly) |
| Meta Business Suite | Facebook and Instagram only | Free | Free | Not covered (Meta apps only) |
| Later | Visual, Instagram-first planning | 14-day trial | $18.75 a month (billed yearly) | Growth, $37.50 a month (billed yearly) |
| Metricool | Scheduling plus performance data on a budget | Free plan: 1 brand, 20 posts a month, no LinkedIn or X | From $20 a month | Advanced, from $53 a month |
| SocialBee | Recycling evergreen posts by category | 14-day trial | $29 a month, or $24.20 a month billed yearly | Accelerate, $49 a month or $40.80 billed yearly |
| Planable | Teams and clients who review every post | First 50 posts free, no time limit | $33 per workspace per month (billed yearly) | Included from Basic |
| Vista Social | Small agencies with many profiles | 14-day trial | $99 a month, or $950 a year | Included (approval workflows) |
| Hootsuite | Inbox, monitoring and larger teams | 14-day trial | $99 per user per month (billed yearly) | Advanced, $399 per user per month (billed yearly) |
The rule that saves most people money: count your accounts first, then count the people who need to approve. Those two numbers decide your real price far more than any feature list. Then ask who will write the posts, because that decides your real time.
What a scheduler costs for a real small business
Starting prices are hard to compare because every tool counts differently. Buffer charges per channel, Later sells "social sets" (one profile on each network), SocialBee and Metricool bundle a number of profiles, Hootsuite charges per user, Planable charges per workspace, and Beevi includes unlimited social accounts on each plan.
So here's one realistic example. A cafe posts to Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and LinkedIn (four accounts), and the owner does it alone.
The time column uses the do-it-yourself range from our social media cost guide (5 to 10+ hours a week). We use the same figure for every pure scheduler because none of them writes or designs the posts for you; your own number depends on how often you post.
| Tool | What fits | Monthly cost | Your time each week | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beevi | Solopreneur, 1 brand, unlimited accounts | $35 | Reviewing drafts | AI writing and images run on the plan's monthly credits |
| Meta Business Suite | Facebook and Instagram only | $0 | 5 to 10+ hours writing and designing posts yourself | TikTok and LinkedIn still need separate apps |
| Buffer | Essentials, 4 channels | $20 billed yearly | 5 to 10+ hours writing and designing posts yourself | The Free plan stops at 3 channels |
| Metricool | Starter (the Free plan can't connect LinkedIn) | From $20 | 5 to 10+ hours writing and designing posts yourself | The Free plan allows 20 posts a month |
| Later | Starter, one social set | $18.75 billed yearly | 5 to 10+ hours writing and designing posts yourself | 30 posts per profile per month, no X |
| SocialBee | Bootstrap, up to 5 profiles | $29, or $24.20 billed yearly | 5 to 10+ hours writing and designing posts yourself | No approvals on this tier |
| Planable | Basic, one workspace | $33 billed yearly | 5 to 10+ hours writing and designing posts yourself | 60 posts per workspace per month, 4 social pages |
| Vista Social | Professional, 15 profiles | $99, or about $79 billed yearly | 5 to 10+ hours writing and designing posts yourself | Built for more profiles than a cafe needs |
| Hootsuite | Standard, 1 user | $99 billed yearly | 5 to 10+ hours writing and designing posts yourself | You pay for inbox and monitoring you may not use |
On price alone, a pure scheduler is often the cheaper line on the bill. The question is whether those weekly hours are the part you actually want to keep doing yourself.
Now add a second person, a manager or partner who has to approve posts before they go out. This is where prices jump, because many tools only offer approvals on a higher plan:
- Beevi: approval is part of every plan, including the Free plan after the trial; a second seat comes with Growth at $100 a month.
- Buffer: the Team plan adds approvals and unlimited team members, so four channels become $40 a month billed yearly.
- Later: Growth adds a second user and approvals at $37.50 a month billed yearly.
- SocialBee: approvals start on Accelerate, and that plan still lists one user per workspace, so check the cost of an extra user.
- Metricool: the post approval system is on Advanced, from $53 a month.
- Planable: approvals and unlimited users are already on Basic, which is why it's the value pick for review-heavy teams that already write their own posts.
- Hootsuite: approvals sit on Advanced at $399 per user per month billed yearly, which is hard to justify for a small team.
Approvals are included on every Beevi plan. You never upgrade just to add a review step: Beevi drafts the posts, nothing publishes until it's approved, and approved posts go out on schedule. If a second person needs their own login, Growth adds a seat. Try Beevi free for 7 days
The 9 best social media schedulers for small business
1. Beevi: best if you want the posts written, not just scheduled
Beevi is our product, so weigh this entry with that in mind.
Every other tool on this list is a scheduler, which means it posts what you give it. Beevi is an AI social media manager: it learns your business (your products, photos, look and voice), drafts the posts, captions and visuals, adapts each post for its platform, and waits for your approval before anything is published. Scheduling is the last step, not the whole product.
Where it stands out against the other eight:
- Unlimited social accounts on the $35 plan. Buffer charges per channel, so its price climbs with every account you add. Beevi's Solopreneur plan doesn't count accounts.
- Approvals on every plan. Elsewhere, approvals start on Hootsuite Advanced ($399 per user per month billed yearly), Metricool Advanced (from $53 a month) or Later Growth ($37.50 a month billed yearly).
- Scheduling stays free after the trial. When the 7-day trial ends you move to the Free plan, where scheduling and publishing to your connected accounts cost nothing. AI writing and images use credits.
- Posts that sound like you. It learns your brand voice and works from your real photos and products, then adapts each post to the platform instead of pasting one caption everywhere.
- Nothing goes live without you. Every draft waits in your calendar until you approve it.
The details:
- Best for: owners who know they should post but never find the time to write and design the posts.
- Price: Solopreneur is $35 a month (1 brand, 1 seat, unlimited social accounts and monthly AI credits); Growth ($100 a month) adds a second seat. There's a 7-day free trial with no card, and our pricing page explains how scheduling and publishing keep working on the Free plan afterward while AI writing and images use credits.
- Networks: 6 platforms: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, TikTok and YouTube.
- Watch out for: Beevi doesn't publish to Pinterest, Threads, Bluesky or Google Business Profile, and it isn't a social listening or inbox tool. If you already have a steady supply of finished posts, a plain scheduler is cheaper.
If you're unsure which kind of tool you need, our guide to AI social media managers vs schedulers walks through the difference.
2. Buffer: the easiest pure scheduler to start with
If your posts are already made, Buffer is the scheduler most small businesses should try first. When we checked this search, Google's AI Overview also named it the best overall pick for small businesses. The interface is clean, the queue is simple, and the Free plan covers three channels with up to 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time (a slot frees up each time a post goes out). It includes an AI assistant for rewriting captions.
- Best for: a solo owner posting to three or four accounts.
- Price: Free, then Essentials at $5 per channel per month billed yearly. Team, with approvals and unlimited users, is $10 per channel per month billed yearly.
- Networks: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, X, Threads, Pinterest, Bluesky, Google Business Profile and Mastodon.
- Watch out for: per-channel pricing adds up, and when you upgrade you pay for every channel, including the three that were free. Personal Instagram profiles get reminders instead of automatic posting.
If you're weighing the two directly, we also have a plain Beevi vs Buffer comparison.
3. Meta Business Suite: free, if you only post to Facebook and Instagram
Many owners forget that Meta's own tool can schedule posts to a Facebook Page and a connected Instagram account at no cost. If those two apps are where your customers are, start here before paying for anything.
- Best for: local businesses that live on Facebook and Instagram.
- Price: free.
- Watch out for: it only covers Meta's apps. The moment you add TikTok, LinkedIn or YouTube, you're back to juggling several apps.
4. Later: good value for visual, Instagram-first brands
Later grew up as a visual Instagram planner, and it still shines there: you can arrange your grid before posts go live, and it handles Reels, carousels and Stories. Its Starter plan includes one "social set", which means one profile each on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, Threads and Snapchat.
- Best for: cafes, boutiques, salons and makers whose sales start on Instagram.
- Price: Starter at $18.75 a month billed yearly (one user, 30 posts per profile per month, 5 AI credits). Growth at $37.50 billed yearly adds a second user and approvals.
- Watch out for: X isn't in the social set, there's no ongoing free plan (it's a 14-day trial), and Starter can't add extra users or sets.
5. Metricool: a generous free plan and lots of data
Metricool pairs scheduling with performance numbers, competitor tracking and reports, and its Free plan is unusually useful: one brand, auto-publishing, 20 posts a month and 30 days of analytics.
- Best for: owners who want to see what's working without paying for an enterprise suite.
- Price: Free, then Starter from $20 a month (up to 5 brands). Advanced, with the post approval system and team roles, starts at $53 a month.
- Watch out for: the Free plan doesn't connect LinkedIn or X, and approvals are only on Advanced.
6. SocialBee: best for recycling evergreen posts
SocialBee organizes posts into categories (tips, offers, reviews, behind the scenes) and rotates through them on a schedule, so useful posts can come back around without you rebuilding the calendar. Every plan includes unlimited AI content generation.
- Best for: service businesses and consultants with a library of posts worth reusing.
- Price: Bootstrap is $29 a month, or $24.20 a month billed yearly, for up to 5 profiles. Accelerate ($49, or $40.80 billed yearly) adds post approval and 10 profiles.
- Watch out for: no free plan, setup takes an afternoon, and recycled offers need an expiry date so last month's deal doesn't come back.
7. Planable: best for teams that review every post
Planable is built around feedback and approval. Posts appear as they'll look on each network, teammates comment right on them, and you can require approval before anything is published. Pricing is per workspace with unlimited users, so adding your partner or a client doesn't cost a seat.
- Best for: businesses where an owner, manager or client signs off on posts, and small agencies.
- Price: the first 50 posts are free with no time limit. Basic is $33 per workspace per month billed yearly (60 posts per month, 4 social pages, optional approvals). Pro is $49 and adds required approvals.
- Watch out for: analytics and the social inbox are paid add-ons, and the post caps matter if you post daily on several networks.
8. Vista Social: for small agencies with many profiles
Vista Social bundles scheduling, a shared inbox, reports and approval workflows, with 15 profiles and 2 users on its Professional plan. That's a lot of capacity, which is great for a small agency and more than most single businesses need.
- Best for: freelancers and small agencies managing several clients.
- Price: Professional is $99 a month or $950 a year; X publishing is a separate $29 a month add-on.
- Watch out for: a one-location business will pay for profiles it never connects.
9. Hootsuite: when social is a full-time job
Hootsuite is one of the oldest and broadest suites: scheduling, a unified inbox, brand monitoring and AI tools, with up to 10 accounts on its Standard plan. It earns its price when someone on your team answers messages and watches mentions every day.
- Best for: businesses that handle customer service through social, or teams with several people posting.
- Price: Standard at $99 per user per month billed yearly. Content approvals are on Advanced at $399 per user per month billed yearly.
- Watch out for: there's no free plan, and per-user pricing grows quickly. If you mainly need a calendar, the tools above cost a fraction. Our Beevi vs Hootsuite page goes into more detail.
How to choose in five minutes 🛠️
Answer three questions, in this order:
- What's your real bottleneck? If the calendar stays empty because nobody has time to write, a scheduler won't fix that; look at a tool that drafts the posts for you. If you have posts ready and just need them to go out on time, pick a scheduler.
- Which accounts do you really post to? Write them down. If it's only Facebook and Instagram, start with Meta Business Suite. If you need X, rule out Later. If you need Pinterest, Threads or Google Business Profile, check the network list before anything else.
- Who approves posts? If it's only you, skip any plan you'd buy just for approvals. If someone else signs off, compare the approval tiers above, because that's where the price jumps.
| If this sounds like you... | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| "The posts never get written in the first place." | Beevi | Drafts on-brand posts and visuals for your approval, then schedules them |
| "I post to Facebook and Instagram and want to spend nothing." | Meta Business Suite | Free and native to both apps |
| "I'm on my own with three or four accounts." | Buffer | Free plan, then a few dollars per channel |
| "Instagram is my storefront." | Later | Visual grid planning at a low yearly price |
| "I want numbers on what's working, for free." | Metricool | Free plan with analytics and auto-publishing |
| "I reuse the same tips and offers every month." | SocialBee | Category queues and evergreen recycling |
| "My manager or client approves every post." | Planable | Approvals and unlimited users on the entry plan |
| "I manage several clients." | Vista Social or Planable | Profile bundles or per-workspace pricing |
| "We answer customers on social all day." | Hootsuite | Inbox and monitoring alongside scheduling |
Free vs paid: when a free scheduler is enough
A free plan is enough when you post to three or fewer accounts, a handful of times a week, and nobody else needs to approve. Buffer's Free plan, Metricool's Free plan and Meta Business Suite all cover that well. Planable's 50 free posts are better treated as a long trial for a team. Beevi's Free plan works a little differently: after the 7-day trial, scheduling and publishing to your connected accounts stay free, and you pay in credits only when you want AI to write posts or make images.
You'll outgrow free when you add a fourth account, want more than a few weeks of performance history, or need a second person to review posts. At that point, price the plan that covers all of those needs, not just the first one. A cheap plan that leaves your reviewer emailing screenshots isn't really cheaper.
Two habits help whichever tool you pick. Plan a week at a time rather than a day at a time; our batching guide shows how to make a month of posts in one sitting. And don't paste the same caption everywhere; posting to all your accounts at once works best when each version fits its platform.
A common worry is that scheduled posts get less reach. There's no good evidence that posting through an approved scheduler hurts reach; what matters is the post itself, when your audience is online and how people respond. So schedule for when your customers are around, stay nearby to answer the first comments, and if you're stuck for what to put in the queue, start with our list of what to post on social media for your business.
The bottom line
If you already have finished posts, pick the cheapest scheduler that covers your accounts and your approval step, use the trial to schedule one real week, and only then pay for a year. For a wider look at all-in-one tools, see our guide to the best social media management tools for small businesses.
If the hard part is writing the posts rather than scheduling them, let Beevi take that part. Connect your accounts, get your first on-brand drafts across up to 6 platforms, approve what you like, and they go out on schedule. Nothing publishes without you, and if you stop after the trial, scheduling and publishing stay free. Start your 7-day free trial
