Buffer charges per channel, per month. Essentials is $6 a month for each channel on monthly billing, or $5 on yearly billing, and Team is $12 a month for each channel, or $10 yearly. Three channels are free. So the bill is the price of one channel times the number of accounts you connect, and it grows in a straight line: eight channels on Essentials cost $48 a month, twenty cost $120. This page lists the plans as Buffer's pricing page shows them, what each one includes, and the total at the channel counts people ask about.
Buffer plans at a glance
| Plan | Monthly billing | Yearly billing | Users | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 1 | Up to 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel, 30 days of analytics |
| Essentials | $6 per channel | $5 per channel a month | 1 | Unlimited scheduled posts per channel, unlimited analytics history |
| Team | $12 per channel | $10 per channel a month | Unlimited | Content approval workflows on top of Essentials |
Essentials and Team start with a 14-day free trial. The AI assistant is on every plan. Yearly billing is shown as "save 2 months": $5 times twelve is $60, so a year costs ten months of the monthly price.
What Buffer costs at 3, 5, 8, 10 and 20 channels
These totals are the per-channel price multiplied by the channel count; Buffer's page does not print them.
| Channels | Essentials, monthly | Essentials, yearly (per month) | Team, monthly | Team, yearly (per month) | Preflight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| 5 | $30 | $25 | $60 | $50 | $13 |
| 8 | $48 | $40 | $96 | $80 | $13 |
| 10 | $60 | $50 | $120 | $100 | $24 |
| 20 | $120 | $100 | $240 | $200 | $24 |
The last column is Preflight's monthly price for the plan that covers that many channels: Starter ($13) holds eight, Pro ($24) holds twenty with three users. The Free plan of both tools stops at three channels.
What is and is not in the price
- Users. Essentials has one user. A second person means Team, which then doubles the per-channel price.
- Approvals. Content approval workflows are on Team only, so a client or a manager who has to sign off puts the whole account on $12 a channel.
- Scheduled posts. The Free plan holds 10 queued posts per channel. The paid plans are unlimited, with a fair-use ceiling of 5,000 scheduled posts per channel.
- Currency and tax. The page shows dollars and does not name the currency. Tax is added on top where it applies.
Is Buffer worth it?
For one to three accounts the Free plan does the job, and Buffer has been scheduling posts for fifteen years, with native apps and a long list of integrations. The per-channel model is fair when you have a few accounts and one person. It becomes the largest line in the budget when an agency or a studio has ten or twenty, because the price does not flatten: the twentieth channel costs the same as the first.
If the number of channels is the main cost, a flat plan changes the sum. Preflight's Starter is $13 for eight channels and Pro is $24 for twenty with three users; both free plans include the API. The full side by side is in Preflight against Buffer, and the wider field is on Buffer alternatives. Plans and limits are on the pricing page.
Prices read from buffer.com/pricing on 31 October 2026; totals are the per-channel price times the channel count. Preflight's from its plan table the same day. Buffer's page calls the yearly saving "2 months" and also mentions 20 percent; the figures shown here are the ones printed per plan.
Questions people ask
- How much does Buffer cost per month?
- Essentials is $6 per channel a month on monthly billing, or $5 on yearly billing. Team is $12 per channel monthly, or $10 yearly. Up to three channels are free.
- Is Buffer free?
- Yes, for up to three channels, one user and 10 scheduled posts per channel, with 30 days of analytics. A fourth channel needs a paid plan.
- How much is Buffer for 10 channels?
- Ten channels on Essentials cost $60 a month, or $50 a month on yearly billing. On Team they cost $120 a month, or $100 yearly. The totals are the per-channel price times ten.
- Does Buffer have a free trial?
- Yes. Essentials and Team both start with a 14-day free trial.
- What is cheaper than Buffer?
- Past three channels, a flat plan is cheaper. Preflight costs $13 a month for eight channels and $24 for twenty, against $48 and $120 on Buffer Essentials. Publer, Later and Metricool price differently; see Buffer alternatives for the field at eight channels.