Buffer is a social sharing tool. When browsing content, clicking on the Buffer icon automatically stores the content and schedules posts to social media channels throughout the day.
$6
per month per channel
Later Social
Score 7.7 out of 10
N/A
Later (formerly Latergramme) in Vancouver offers an Instagram focused social media marketing platform, which supports the planning and scheduling of content to Instagram, as well as Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.
$25
per month
Oktopost
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Oktopost empowers B2B enterprise and mid-market companies across Tech, Financial Services, Healthcare and other sectors to adopt a data-driven approach to social media marketing. Oktopost's social media management, social listening, and employee advocacy solutions enable B2B organizations to amplify their brand on social and measure the real impact of social on the business. Oktopost aims to enable marketers to better engage with customers and prospects, get actionable insights, and…
$49
per month
Pricing
Buffer
Later Social
Oktopost
Editions & Modules
Free
$0
Essentials
$6
per month per channel
Team
$12
per month per channel
Starter
$25
per month
Growth
$50
per month
Scale
$100
per month
Enterprise
Contact Sales
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Buffer
Later Social
Oktopost
Free Trial
Yes
Yes
No
Free/Freemium Version
Yes
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
A discount is offered for annual billing.
33% discount available for annual subscription.
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More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Buffer
Later Social
Oktopost
Considered Multiple Products
Buffer
Verified User
Employee
Chose Buffer
Buffer keeps it simple. It was great for when I worked at smaller companies and also for when I have done freelance social media work. Put it this way, Buffer is an accessible tool. The functionality is basic and intuitive so anyone can learn to use it. They also have a free …
Buffer is much more affordable than some of the other apps we have tried! It also is more user-friendly, the support was quick to help and respond, and we had more success with posts.
As a social media manager I find that Buffer, Hootsuite and Sproutsocial are superior to all features available on Later.
Oktopost
Verified User
Account Manager
Chose Oktopost
Buffer - it's good but I would say ideal for smaller teams. HubSpot - is great as you have everything in one place - not as good as Oktopost for content curation though.
It helps me save hours by devoting only half an hour in a month's worth of posting, in addition to that it is quite simple to use. Buffer for scheduling social posts well in advance, but I have begun using it instead of posting natively on the social apps themselves because it makes it super easy to post the same messages to more than one platform.
The free version is more than enough for personal use. But if you have a small business or if you're trying to grow your brand, it's better to use one of the premium plans. It's worth it. Later is especially useful if you manage multiple accounts for multiple brands/companies because you'll be managing everything with just one tool
Oktopost is great if you have several Social Media profiles you want to manage and want to schedule and post all your things in a simple interface. They have a great calendar view that shows everything that is coming up and you can easily move or change postings with a few clicks. It is also good for managing a single account. It has all the features I need for our single account markets, like campaigns, tracking, scheduling, etc. I think if you are trying to manage a very large number of social media profiles it might get a bit difficult. There are tools more suited for that than Oktopost that may be easier, but Oktopost would still work.
Expensive Analytics: The upgrade you need to access your analytics is quite expensive, and I have come across other tools that provide the same or even more for a lesser priced plan.
No Media Library: The one feature I have found on another social media planning tool that I wish Buffer had is a media library. This allows you to upload photos you aren't using right away to have them readily available when you do decide to use them. This is not a feature in Buffer.
I wish I could edit the look and feel of my pictures within Later a little easier. There are standard filters, but for brand sake, I need everything to be consistent.
I wish there was a direct integration with things like Canva and Lightroom to make uploading and editing my images seamless.
The biggest thing I wish Later did was allowing a better threshold for the free accounts. All of the helpful and useful features are for paid only (video posts, multi-image posts, analytics, etc). I can't justify the cost for just a few posts a month. I end up doing all of the video and multi-image posts manually, which lately has me questioning the benefit of Later's free version as a small business.
Sometimes there were bugs in the user experience, but they seemed to be quickly addressed.
They didn't seem to have experience dealing with large-scale company use when integrating with Eloqua information. We had a lot of issues with false data or form submits showing up.
I am giving buffer this rating because of a couple issues that it has compared to other platforms. It does not always post to instagram and you will need to go in an manually post. Also, one of the biggest qualms that we have with buffer is the price it costs to have robust analytics
I give Oktopost a 9, as a 10 means NO improvement is needed, but all platforms must iterate and improve. Hands down Oktopost is the B2B marketing leader in the social and content marketing world. They are also very quick to work on things and make the experience better for users. I would say I was a very early adopter of Oktopost and have seen them grow into a very useful tool and also a great company! I am VERY excited to see what they will do next to make our B2B marketing jobs more efficient and results producing! Thanks for helping our business close 10 accounts from LinkedIn in the last year! And that is up from ZERO the year before NOT using Oktopost.
We use Buffer for certain website content that should be shared on social networks, having this tool helps us to do it faster and easier since we can send the publications from the internet browser and the stack of scheduled messages. It is really fast and easy for all team members who share access to the account, so at the same time that we analyze the information that we can share, the message stack is prepared
The desktop site is almost perfect, I love it. I love that I can drag and drop, I love that I can easily and quickly switch to analytics and switching profiles... love the ease of link in bio. so great!
Because in general is very good, the support team is always happy to help and you can ask them anything. They always have the solution. I also like the new functionalities that they are implementing; each month, we have something new. The end user platform is very easy to be used by the sales people.
Buffer performs well on both desktop and mobile platforms. The one area as I have stated before is that it does not always want to automatically push to Instagram and the user will have to go do it manually. Buffer works very well pushing to other platforms. The instagram issue is the only reason buffer does not get a 10 on this section
Later are not just a software tool, they also provide marketing advice, tips, and tutorials via their blog. I’ve only had to reach out to them for help a few times and have found them to respond much faster than other tools in their category. I receive weekly emails with updates, marketing tips and invites to online events. I look forward to their emails as I’ve learned a lot of things that I’ve been able to actually implement.
When I have sent in questions to support, I have received answers pretty quickly and they were helpful. However, I would like to see more information on the support page rather than having to contact them directly.
We were very satisfied with the implementation of Buffer. We had no issues switching from the platform that we were using over to buffer. Our staff did not even miss a beat when it came to posting content. It was an easy transition and I feel that is something that buffer has really done well. They have an "out of the box" usability platform
As I stated earlier, I would suggest doing a quick session with the Oktopost team in order to properly set up the account and make sure you are getting the full experience.
I also used Combin which is easy and free to use. However, Combin only posts when the computer is active and connected to the internet. So, posting while you are not actively using your computer at that moment is not possible, therefore Buffer is much more efficient as you can even post while being on vacation without working.
I went with Later for the lower cost subscription. The Hootsuite copy features is missed, but Later has hashtag suggestions which is nice. I really need something to post across multiple platforms. I also needed the ability to schedule more than the 5 free scheduled posts offered by Hootsuite. Later has been working great for what I need it to do to support my small event promotion business.
The integration with SalesForce and Marketo was the number one reason we went with Oktopost. It wasn't until after I got inside and got my hands dirty that I saw how great Oktopost was. The analytics reporting is sensational. It allowed me to easily pull reports to organize for my marketing department.
Buffer does what it say on tin as they say! you can always count on Buffer. Buffer can be scale to 25 social account with 2,000 scheduled post which is enough for most agencies or businesses
Increased social media involvement - Since utilizing Later and another social media scheduling tool, we have seen our growth rise as much as 12% in just a few months. This includes followers, likes, and engagement. This is huge for us since social media is a great way to generate new customers and increase brand awareness.
Easier reporting - Analytics tools on most of the big three (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) are pretty limited. Later is a great way to take a look at our Analytics, and it makes it easy to understand the numbers.
Ability to quickly and comprehensively provide metrics on all activities to internal users and external clients helps inform and direct immediate and long term posting decisions.
Ability to integrate with websites and marketing platforms allows for an understanding of user interest beyond the awareness arena and into the conversion arena.
Ability to quickly post allows for immediate input during time sensitive social discussions.
