Free alternatives to Buffer

Six networks, a visual editor and a thousand scheduled posts a month; analytics and team workflow are not invited.

Versus paying: It does not replace Buffer's dedicated community inbox or channel-focused advanced analytics, so engagement and performance review remain shallower.

Setup: Hosted web signup or Adobe Express mobile app

Watch for: Each social profile needs OAuth authorization, and Adobe says scheduler connections expire after 60 days and must be reconnected.

A startlingly complete free scheduler: approvals, inbox, analytics, clients, API and MCP, with someone else running the servers.

Versus paying: Its biggest weakness is maturity: a much smaller project and hosted service have less established platform-change coverage and support history than Buffer.

Setup: Hosted signup, or Docker Compose for self-hosting

Watch for: The hosted version is straightforward; self-hosting needs Docker, a public domain, and developer credentials or OAuth apps for the social networks.

2,100 GitHub stars (checked Aug 6, 2026)

Ten network accounts and ten queued posts total, refilling forever; generous until you plan eleven things at once.

Versus paying: Fedica permits only 10 live scheduled posts across the whole free account and only one account per platform, a much tighter working queue than paid Buffer.

Setup: Hosted signup plus social-account connections

A polished single-user scheduler with queues and basic analytics; the serious team features live in the paid edition.

Versus paying: Mixpost Lite replaces Buffer's managed service with a server you must secure, back up, update, and keep connected to changing social APIs.

Setup: Docker Compose; manual Laravel installation is also documented

Watch for: A non-expert needs a server, Docker, a domain with TLS, cron/queue workers, and social-platform application credentials.

3,500 GitHub stars (checked Aug 6, 2026)

The broadest open scheduler here; free means running PostgreSQL, Redis, Temporal and your own platform credentials.

Versus paying: The software is broad, but self-hosting its PostgreSQL, Redis, Temporal, storage, and OAuth stack is far more operational work than paying Buffer.

Setup: Hosted signup, or the official Docker Compose stack

Watch for: Self-hosting is a substantial stack: the docs call for PostgreSQL, Redis, Temporal, persistent storage, a public domain, and each network's OAuth credentials, with 4 vCPU and 8 GB RAM recommended.

34,300 GitHub stars (checked Aug 6, 2026)

Three non-X accounts and ten queued posts each; yesterday's history disappears tomorrow.

Versus paying: The free plan excludes X and retains published-post history for only 24 hours, which makes meaningful review and reuse markedly worse than Buffer.

Setup: Hosted signup plus social-account connections

Three non-X accounts, fifteen queued posts each, analytics and an inbox; one user and no X publishing.

Versus paying: The free plan excludes X and limits the queue to 15 posts per account, while Buffer's paid plan supports X and effectively removes the queue ceiling.

Setup: Hosted signup plus social-account connections