Social Media Scheduler Pricing Compared 2026: 10 Tools for 5 Profiles

Short answer: For one marketer publishing to five profiles (Instagram, Facebook, a LinkedIn page, TikTok and YouTube), Zoho Social Standard is the cheapest paid scheduler at $10/mo billed annually, or $120 a year. Later Starter ($225 a year) and Metricool Starter ($240) come next. Per-seat suites cost far more: Hootsuite Standard is $1,188 a year, nearly ten times Zoho's price. Prices read on each vendor's pricing page on 27 October 2026.

The spread is wide because these tools do not sell the same thing. Six of the ten price by plan with a profile cap, Buffer prices by channel, and Agorapulse, Sprout Social and Hootsuite price by user. For a solo marketer the cheapest plan is enough. For a team that needs a second login or an approval step, the order changes, and the second table below shows by how much.

Toolradar data: Toolradar, the software directory we run, tracks 162 social media management tools as of 26 October 2026, and the median cheapest paid plan is $20/mo across the 49 that publish a price. Three of the ten schedulers here start at or below that median on yearly billing. See the Toolradar social media management ranking.

The scenario behind every number

Each price assumes one user, one brand and five profiles on five different networks: Instagram, Facebook, a LinkedIn company page, TikTok and YouTube. X is left out on purpose, because two of these vendors sell it as a paid add-on. All figures are US dollars before tax. Where a vendor prints a monthly rate for yearly billing, the year total is that rate times 12, which is our arithmetic. Where it prints a yearly charge, we use the yearly charge.

The cheapest plan that fits the scenario is the one we price. A cheaper plan that caps profiles below five, or drops one of the five networks, does not count.

The cost for 5 profiles, one user

Two rows need a note. Vista Social prints a yearly charge, so its monthly figure is our division. SocialBee's plan cards show $24 a month billed annually while its comparison table prints a yearly charge, and we use the printed yearly charge for the totals. Buffer's per-month figures match the five-channel example on its own pricing page.

Reading the table. Six tools cost $306 a year or less for this scenario, and four cost $948 or more. Nothing sits in between, because the cheap group prices by plan or channel and the expensive group prices by person. On monthly billing, among the vendors that print a monthly rate, Metricool is the lowest at $25/mo ($300 over a year, our arithmetic), then SocialBee at $29 and Buffer and SocialPilot at $30.

What a second user changes

Most cheap plans are single-user. The moment a second person needs a login, to draft posts or to sign them off, the cheapest plan changes. This table prices the cheapest plan each vendor sells for two users and five profiles, on yearly billing.

The takeaway: a second login roughly doubles the bill for the per-seat tools and quadruples Zoho's, yet Later Growth still costs less than one Agorapulse seat. Vista Social is the one tool whose price does not move, since its Professional plan already includes two users. All totals in this table are our arithmetic on the printed rates.

Zoho Social, the cheapest paid plan for one brand

Zoho Social's Standard plan, the cheapest yearly bill in the table, holds one brand. A brand covers one profile on each of up to 14 networks, including Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest and Threads, so five profiles fit with room left. The catch is what Standard leaves out. Message replies, bulk scheduling, post insights and the media library start on Professional at $30/mo, and approvals start on Premium at $40/mo.

The free plan does not fit this scenario. It holds six channels, but they are X, Instagram, Facebook, a LinkedIn page, a LinkedIn profile and a Google Business Profile, with no TikTok or YouTube. A brand that only posts to Meta and LinkedIn can start there at $0.

Later and Metricool, priced per brand

Later and Metricool both count one profile per network as a single unit, which suits one brand on many networks. Later Starter is $18.75/mo billed yearly for one social set, eight profiles with one of each, and one user. Its limit is volume: 30 scheduled posts per profile each month, so a brand posting daily to Instagram runs out in a 31-day month. Growth lifts that to 180 posts per profile. Our Later pricing breakdown covers the set rules.

Metricool Starter is $20/mo billed annually or $25 billed monthly, for up to five brands with unlimited publishing under a fair-use policy. It is the cheapest monthly option here and the one with the most room to add clients. The free plan manages one brand but excludes LinkedIn and X and caps scheduling at 20 posts a month, so it fails a five-profile mix that includes a LinkedIn page. See Metricool pricing for the brand tiers.

SocialBee, Buffer and SocialPilot, priced by profile

These three charge for profiles, so the scenario lands on their entry plans. SocialBee Bootstrap is $290 a year or $29 a month and holds exactly five profiles, so a sixth profile means Accelerate at $490 a year. The SocialBee pricing page in our series walks through that jump.

Buffer charges per channel. Essentials is $5 per channel a month on yearly billing and $6 on monthly billing, so five channels cost $300 a year. Buffer's free plan covers three channels with 10 scheduled posts each, two short of this scenario. More detail is on our Buffer pricing page, and you can try Buffer here.

SocialPilot Essentials is $25.50/mo billed annually or $30 billed monthly, with seven accounts, the most headroom among the cheap plans. Extra accounts are $4 a month each. Essentials holds one user, and extra users are sold only from Standard upward.

Agorapulse, Sprout Social, Vista Social and Hootsuite, priced by seat

The four expensive tools add a shared inbox, reporting and team features on top of scheduling, and three of them charge per person. Agorapulse Standard is $79 a user a month on annual billing, with 10 profiles, unlimited scheduled posts and branded report exports. Its pricing page offers a 30-day trial with no card. Compare it with Hootsuite in Agorapulse pricing.

Sprout Social Essentials is $79 a seat a month on annual billing, with five profiles, optimal send times and post-level reports. It is the cheapest way into Sprout, but a sixth profile means Standard at $199 a seat. Our Sprout Social pricing page and the cheaper Sprout Social alternatives list cover that step.

Vista Social Professional is $950 a year on yearly billing, with 15 profiles and two users included. On a per-user basis it is the cheapest of the four for a two-person team. X integration is a separate $29/mo add-on. More in Vista Social pricing.

Hootsuite Standard is billed per user on an annual contract, with 10 social accounts, AI post and image generation, one inbox and brand monitoring. It is the most expensive way to schedule five profiles in this set. Hootsuite's plans page says trial accounts carry daily posting limits of 10 to 20 posts and no bulk scheduling. For the seat maths see Hootsuite pricing and Hootsuite vs Buffer.

Costs the plan cards leave out

• Profile caps with no headroom. SocialBee Bootstrap and Sprout Social Essentials both stop at five profiles. A sixth means $490 a year on SocialBee or a $199 seat on Sprout.
• Post caps. Later Starter allows 30 posts per profile a month, Metricool's free plan 20 a month, and Buffer's free plan 10 queued posts per channel.
• Add-on networks. Metricool sells X as an add-on, and Vista Social charges extra for its X integration, so a mix that includes X costs more on both.
• Per-seat pricing. On Agorapulse, Sprout Social and Hootsuite every extra login repeats the full seat price, as the second table shows.
• Extra users on cheap plans. Later lists extra users on Growth and Scale only, SocialPilot from Standard, and Zoho Social team members at $10 a member a month from Professional.

How to estimate your own bill

Count profiles first, then logins. If one person schedules for one brand, take the cheapest plan that holds your profile count and networks. If two or more people log in, price the plan that includes them, or multiply the seat price by the number of users. Example: a three-person team on Agorapulse Standard pays $79 x 3 x 12 = $2,844 a year, while SocialBee Pro holds three users for $990.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a social media scheduler cost for 5 profiles?

Between $120 and $1,188 a year for one user on yearly billing, across the ten tools priced here on 27 October 2026. Zoho Social Standard is the lowest at $10/mo billed annually, and Hootsuite Standard is the highest at $99 a user a month billed annually. Six of the ten cost $306 a year or less.

What is the cheapest social media scheduler for 5 profiles?

Zoho Social Standard, the lowest yearly bill here, for one brand with up to 14 networks and one team member. It lacks a reply inbox and bulk scheduling. On monthly billing, Metricool Starter at $25 a month is the lowest of the vendors that print a monthly rate.

Is there a free scheduler that handles 5 profiles?

Not for this mix of networks. Buffer's free plan stops at three channels, Metricool's free plan excludes LinkedIn and caps posts at 20 a month, and Zoho Social's free plan has six channels but no TikTok or YouTube. Read the best free social media schedulers list for what each free tier allows.

How much does Hootsuite cost for 5 profiles?

Hootsuite Standard costs $99 a user a month billed annually, or $1,188 a year for one user. Standard holds up to 10 social accounts, so five profiles fit, but a second user doubles the bill to $2,376 a year.

Which scheduler is cheapest for a two-person team?

Later Growth at $450 a year on yearly billing, with two users and approvals included. Zoho Social Premium is next at $480 a year with three team members, then SocialPilot Standard at $510 with three users.

Does yearly billing save money on schedulers?

Yes, on every tool that prints both rates. Buffer and SocialPilot save $5 a month for five profiles, Metricool saves $5 a month on Starter, and Agorapulse and Sprout Social save $20 a seat a month. Vista Social's yearly charge also comes in below twelve monthly payments, which suits a team sure it will keep the tool all year.

Cite this: MarketingShot, "Social Media Scheduler Pricing Compared 2026: 10 Tools for 5 Profiles", November 2026.

How we priced this

Every price was read on the vendor's own pricing page on 27 October 2026: Zoho Social, Later, Metricool, SocialBee, Buffer (with Buffer's machine-readable pricing), SocialPilot, Agorapulse, Sprout Social, Vista Social and Hootsuite. Totals are our arithmetic on those prices for the scenario above, before tax. The Toolradar figures come from the Toolradar ranking, updated 26 October 2026, and each tool has a profile there, for example Zoho Social, Metricool and SocialPilot. The Buffer link may earn MarketingShot a commission; it does not change the order, which follows price. Recheck each page before you buy, since plans and limits change.

For fit beyond price, read the best social media management tools list, compare Later vs Buffer, and see the social media marketing statistics for benchmarks.

MarketingShot tracks what marketing tools really cost, one short brief a day. Subscribe at marketingshot.com.

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