Buffer vs Hootsuite: price per channel or per person, compared
Buffer charges per channel, Hootsuite per user: the monthly bill for real setups, free plans, inbox, approvals and AI agents, each with a dated source.
By Mellow · UpdatedThe short answer
Buffer is the cheaper of the two for almost every one-person setup: it charges per channel, from $6 a channel a month ($5 billed yearly), has a free plan for three channels, and its MCP server and API work on every plan. Hootsuite charges per person, from $99 a user a month billed yearly for 10 social accounts, has no free plan, and adds what Buffer does not sell: inbox automation, competitor benchmarks and, on Advanced, approval workflows for a team priced per person.
Choose Buffer to publish to many channels on a budget, or to let an AI assistant post. Choose Hootsuite when several people answer messages and need reporting across a brand, and the per-person price is not the deciding cost.
Disclosure: Mellow publishes this page and makes Mellow Hub, shown as a third column. Every Buffer and Hootsuite cell links to that company’s own page, read on 7 November 2026; Hub’s column comes from its own pricing configuration and code. Where a vendor’s pages do not say something, the table says so.
Buffer vs Hootsuite, side by side
US dollars a month; “yearly” is the monthly price when billed for a year. Checked on 7 November 2026.
| Buffer | Hootsuite | Mellow Hub (ours) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Priced per | channel | user | brand profile |
| Cheapest paid plan | Essentials: $6 a channel a month, $5 yearly, for the first 10 channels; less per channel above that. Sources: pricing, tiers | Standard: $99 per user a month billed yearly; 10 social accounts. The monthly-billing price is not published. Source: plans | Solo: $19 a month, or $190 a year; 1 brand profile and unlimited publishing, with a fair-use ceiling of 900 publications a month. Source: pricing |
| Free plan or trial | Free: 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time, 1 user. 14-day trial of paid plans, no card. Source: pricing | No free plan. 14-day trial, no card, limited to 10 to 20 posts a day. Source: plans | No free plan. A new account starts with a 7-day free trial of a monthly plan: it takes a card, charges $0 that day and nothing if cancelled before it ends. A yearly plan is charged the day it is chosen. Source: pricing |
| X and Bluesky | Both included. Source: pricing | Both included. Source: networks | Both included. Source: networks |
| AI agents: MCP and API | MCP server and API on every plan, Free included: create, schedule and manage posts. Sources: MCP, API | Hosted MCP servers since June 2026; the publishing one, Perch, saves drafts and does not publish or schedule. A REST API needs an approved developer account, and its publishing API does not reach TikTok, YouTube or Bluesky. Sources: MCP, Perch docs, API | Hosted MCP server and REST API. Each key or OAuth grant carries its channels, review or autopilot, a daily ceiling and an expiry, and every action goes in a journal. Source: MCP guide |
| Approvals | Team plan: $12 a channel a month, $10 yearly. Source: pricing | From Advanced: $399 per user a month, yearly. Source: plans | Review mode: an agent’s posts wait for a signed-in person to approve them. No team seats. Source: MCP guide |
What each costs for your setup
Buffer’s prices are for monthly billing, from its published tiers ($6 a channel for the first 10, $4 for 11 to 25, $3 for 26 to 50; Team $12, then $4). Hootsuite publishes only yearly-billed prices, so its column is billed yearly. A brand here is one account on each network.
Sources: Buffer tiers, Hootsuite plans
| Setup | Buffer | Hootsuite | Mellow Hub (ours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 brand on 5 networks, 1 person | $30 a month (Essentials), or $25 billed yearly; the free plan covers 3 of the 5. | $99 a month (Standard, up to 10 accounts). | $19 a month, or $15.83 billed yearly (Solo, 1 brand). |
| 2 brands, 10 channels, 1 person | $60 a month (Essentials), or $50 billed yearly. | $99 a month (Standard). | $49 a month, or $40.83 billed yearly (Studio, up to 3 brands). |
| 4 brands, 20 channels, 1 person | $100 a month (Essentials). | $199 a month (Professional: Standard stops at 10 accounts). | $99 a month, or $82.50 billed yearly (Scale, up to 10 brands). |
| 2 brands, 10 channels, a team of 3 with approvals | $120 a month (Team, unlimited members). | $1,197 a month (Advanced, 3 users × $399). | Not offered: no team seats. An agent’s posts can wait for the owner’s approval. |
Where they differ
How the bill grows
Buffer’s bill follows channels: adding a person to Team costs nothing, adding a channel does. Hootsuite’s follows people: Standard includes 10 social accounts for one user, Professional and Advanced unlimited accounts, and every user is another $99, $199 or $399 a month billed yearly.
Sources: Buffer pricing, Hootsuite plans
Free plan and trial
Buffer’s free plan covers 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time and one user, and paid plans have a 14-day trial. Hootsuite has no free plan; its 14-day trial is limited to 10 to 20 posts a day.
Sources: Buffer pricing, Hootsuite plans
Networks
Both publish to Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Threads, X, TikTok, Bluesky, Pinterest and Google Business Profile. Buffer adds Mastodon and Substack Notes, and publishes YouTube Shorts rather than long videos; Hootsuite lists YouTube without that limit, reads Reddit in its inbox without publishing there, and reaches Mastodon only through a third-party app.
Sources: Buffer channels, Hootsuite networks
Inbox, listening and approvals
Buffer has a comment inbox on every plan, the free one included, and approvals on Team. Hootsuite’s inbox starts on Standard, with benchmarks against five competitors; automation comes with Professional, and approval workflows with Advanced.
Sources: Buffer pricing, Hootsuite plans
AI agents, MCP and API
Buffer’s MCP server is on every plan, the free one included, and can create, schedule or publish a post; its API is on every plan too. Hootsuite launched hosted MCP servers in June 2026, but the one for publishing, Perch, saves drafts and does not publish or schedule; its REST API needs an approved developer account and does not publish to TikTok, YouTube or Bluesky.
Sources: Buffer MCP, Perch docs, Hootsuite API
Which one to choose
Choose Buffer if
- You work alone or in a small team and publish to many channels: the bill grows by channel, not by person.
- You want a free plan, or to try three channels without paying.
- An AI assistant such as Claude or ChatGPT should schedule or publish for you.
- You post to Mastodon or Substack Notes.
Choose Hootsuite if
- Several people answer comments and messages, and you need the inbox automation and competitor benchmarks Hootsuite sells.
- You need approval workflows with roles for a larger team and can pay $399 a user a month billed yearly.
A third option: where Mellow Hub fits, and where it does not
Mellow Hub publishes one post to 10 networks at once, by hand in its composer or through an AI agent, and checks every network’s rules before anything is sent. It is built for agents that publish: each key or OAuth grant is limited to the channels, the mode, the daily ceiling and the expiry its owner chose, and every action is recorded where the owner can revoke it. It is weaker in these ways:
- No free plan. Publishing needs a plan. A new account starts with a 7-day free trial of a monthly plan, which takes a card; a yearly plan is charged the day it is chosen.
- 10 networks. No Google Business Profile, Mastodon, Reddit or Snapchat.
- No inbox and no listening. No shared inbox, comment moderation or monitoring. On Instagram it answers by keyword: a comment gets a public reply and one private message, a direct message gets an answer (comment-to-DM). Analytics are per post.
- No team seats. One owner’s brand profiles, without roles or client logins.
- Newer. Mellow has published live, with public links, to Instagram, YouTube, X, LinkedIn, Threads, Bluesky, Pinterest and Facebook. On TikTok, uploads are accepted but, on our test accounts, visible only to their owner.
See the plans, each network’s rules, or the comparison of publishing APIs if an agent or your own code will do the posting.
Questions
Is Buffer cheaper than Hootsuite?
For one person, almost always. Buffer is $6 a channel a month on monthly billing ($30 for five channels, $60 for ten); Hootsuite Standard is $99 a user a month billed yearly for up to 10 accounts. Prices checked on 7 November 2026.
Does Hootsuite have a free plan?
No. Hootsuite offers a 14-day trial, limited to 10 to 20 posts a day. Buffer has a free plan for 3 channels with 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time.
Which one works with ChatGPT or Claude?
Both have MCP servers, but they do different things. Buffer’s, on every plan including Free, can create, schedule or publish posts. Hootsuite’s publishing server, Perch, saves drafts and, its developer documentation says, does not publish or schedule.
Which has approval workflows?
Buffer has approvals on its Team plan, $12 a channel a month for the first ten channels, with unlimited members. Hootsuite has them from Advanced, $399 a user a month billed yearly.
Does Hootsuite publish to more networks than Buffer?
Not by much. Both publish to Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Threads, X, TikTok, Bluesky, Pinterest and Google Business Profile. Buffer adds Mastodon and Substack Notes and, on YouTube, publishes Shorts; Hootsuite lists YouTube without that limit.
Sources and more comparisons
Each cell links to the page it was read on, 7 November 2026. Prices change; check the vendor’s page before you buy. Figures marked as reviews come from G2’s summaries of its users’ reviews, not from the vendor.
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