There is no free plan
The free plan it used to have is gone. The way in now is a 14-day trial with no card, and after that you either subscribe or go back to publishing by hand.
Four schedulers for anyone who looked at the Hootsuite renewal and found it steep for what they actually use. One is the cheapest per channel, one measures as well, one puts old posts back in circulation, one gathers messages from every network.
ZapPost is number 1 on the list: it delivers the post ready to publish, instead of a tool for you to build it. Then come the four alternatives, in recommendation order. Click any one of them to drop straight to its block, with where it wins and where it loses.
| Tool | Best for | Free | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1ZapPostOurs | Getting the post finished, with nothing to build | – | US$19.00/mo |
| 2Buffer | Scheduling what you create yourself | US$6.00/mo | |
| 3Metricool | Scheduling and analytics in one place | US$20.00/mo | |
| 4SSocialBee | Recycling evergreen content | – | US$29.00/mo |
| 5AAgorapulse | Inbox and reporting for teams | – | US$99.00/mo |
Hootsuite was the first social media dashboard many people ever used, and people who leave today tend to leave over the bill.
The free plan it used to have is gone. The way in now is a 14-day trial with no card, and after that you either subscribe or go back to publishing by hand.
The advertised figure, US$99.00/mo, billed yearly, covers one person. When a partner or an assistant also needs to get in, that is another whole subscription, paid up front the same way.
The entry plan connects up to 10 accounts with one seat. Unlimited accounts start on Professional, and reviewing a post with your team before it goes live only shows up on Advanced. Anyone handling three clients who wanted a preview step ends up back in WhatsApp.
The built-in AI drafts a caption and an image. The subject, the copy and the carousel slides still come from you, before any publishing queue exists.
Few tools cover this many networks in one dashboard, and the unified inbox settles the day for anyone who fields questions all morning. It only means there is a moment to look at the rest.
ZapPost is number 1 here too, and the alternatives come after it. Every block has both halves: where the tool wins and where it loses. The price is the month-to-month one, with no commitment, read on the official page on August 6, 2026. Where paying for the full year comes out cheaper, that shows up inside the block.
Generates finished Instagram content the moment the customer asks, tuned to their niche: a carousel, a Reels script and a caption with a CTA.
Where it wins
Where it loses
Best for: People who get stuck deciding what to post and would rather receive the content finished than build each piece.
The pioneering post scheduler: you create the content, it publishes at the set time on each network.
Where it wins
Where it loses
Best for: People who already create their own content and just need the publishing queue in order.
Scheduler with analytics in the same dashboard: publishes to several networks and shows what performed, including competitor profiles.
Where it wins
Where it loses
Best for: People who want to schedule and measure in one dashboard and already have something to post.
Scheduler that files posts by category and recycles evergreen content, so the queue never runs dry.
Where it wins
Where it loses
Best for: People with content to spare who want it back in circulation on its own.
Social media hub for teams: unified inbox, unlimited scheduled posts and reporting, with simple approval from Professional up.
Where it wins
Where it loses
Best for: Teams that answer a lot of messages and need inbox and reporting in one place.
It opens the table above without competing for the same slot. It handles the step before scheduling, and it has no free plan.
ZapPost does not publish at a set time, does not organise a queue and answers no messages. If what you need is a dashboard that publishes and replies, stay with one of the four, or with Hootsuite itself.
What it solves is the step no scheduler solves: the post existing. You open Studio, pick the format (a carousel, a Reels script or a caption with a call to action), say the subject and walk out with the post finished, already in the tone of your niche. It is for the person who opens the calendar on Monday, sees an empty week and closes it without scheduling anything, because the missing piece was the content.
It costs US$19.00 a month on the monthly plan. On the six-month plan it drops to US$11.50/mo, billed every 6 months. There is no free plan, only a 7-day guarantee, and the output is built for Instagram.
See ZapPost and Hootsuite side by sideThe list above is indexed by tool. This one is indexed by what stops you, which is how the decision usually arrives.
What stops you is creating the post
No scheduler solves that different problem
That is where ZapPost comes in: you say the subject in Studio and walk out with the carousel built, the Reels script or the caption with a call to action, in the tone of your niche. Bear in mind it does not schedule: you download it and publish by hand, or drop it into the scheduler you already pay for.
You handle a couple of channels and want the lowest price there is
Buffer US$6.00/mo
It costs US$6.00 per channel, with unlimited posts. The free plan covers 3 channels and 10 scheduled posts per channel. With two or three channels, the monthly bill lands nowhere near a Hootsuite seat.
You want to schedule and read the numbers in the same dashboard
Metricool US$20.00/mo
It measures how your posts performed and how competitor profiles performed, and exports a PDF report for the meeting. The entry plan costs US$20.00 and the free one covers a single brand with 20 scheduled posts a month.
You already have posts published and want them back in circulation
SocialBee US$29.00/mo
The queue is filed by category and reposts evergreen content on its own, without you redoing the work. Bootstrap covers 5 profiles for US$29.00, and AI text generation comes with no cap on every plan. It only pays off for someone who already has a stock of finished posts.
Your team answers messages all day and needs reporting
Agorapulse US$99.00/mo
The inbox gathers comments and messages from every network, and scheduling is uncapped from Standard up, at US$99.00. Post approval and task assignment start on Professional. The plan covers one user, so each extra person is another seat, the same as over there.
Hootsuite itself has no free plan, only a 14-day trial. Among the alternatives, Buffer covers 3 channels and 10 scheduled posts per channel for nothing, and Metricool gives one brand with 20 scheduled posts a month, with no expiry date. SocialBee opens with a 14-day trial and a 30-day guarantee, and Agorapulse gives 30 days without asking for a card.
It depends how many profiles you look after. With one or two channels, Buffer comes out ahead, at US$6.00 per channel. Anyone who wants scheduling and analytics in one place pays US$20.00 on Metricool. With five profiles, SocialBee covers the lot for US$29.00. Agorapulse is the one that earns its place through the inbox rather than the price.
Hootsuite was built as a dashboard for several networks at once, with a unified inbox, and that is what it does best. Buffer, Metricool and SocialBee cover less and charge less for it. Agorapulse gets closest, with the inbox that gathers comments and messages from the networks, at the same monthly figure and without demanding the full year up front.
No. ZapPost does not schedule, does not publish and answers no messages: it generates the content on the spot, in Studio, and publishing stays with you or with the scheduler you already pay for. Anyone who needs posts going out on their own at a set time still needs a scheduler.
Each figure came from the tool's own pricing page, on the date shown in the footer of this page. Hootsuite only publishes the figure with annual billing, which is why its number appears that way next to the name.
Any of the four publishes at the set time. Three of them open below the price of a Hootsuite seat, and the fourth charges the same to hand you the inbox you went there for. None of them writes the post for your niche; that is what ZapPost does, before the queue exists.
Results vary by niche and consistency.