Buffer vs. SocialFlow by Piano

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Buffer
Score 8.1 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
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.
$15
per month
SocialFlow by Piano
Score 5.6 out of 10
N/A
A solution to amplify content with AI-powered social publishing. Used to grow and engage an audience through real-time data and machine-learning optimization, guiding users to content, and to just the right place in the social conversation. Socialflow was acquired by Piano in 2022, and is now a Piano solution.N/A
Pricing
BufferSocialFlow by Piano
Editions & Modules
Publish Pro
$15
per month
Analyze Pro
$35
per month
Analyze Premium
$50
per month
Publish Premium
$65
per month
Publish Business
$99
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BufferSocialFlow by Piano
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsHere are the prices of our various plans: Pro: $15/month Small Business: $99/month Medium Business: $199/month Large Business: $399/month Enterprise: Feel free to get in touch with us at onboarding@buffer.com. All plans can be paid on either a monthly or yearly basis. If you choose to pay yearly, you would receive a 15% discount, which works out to be approximately two months free per year.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BufferSocialFlow by Piano
Considered Both Products
Buffer
Chose Buffer
Buffer has a clear, easy to use interface and a reliable scheduling calendar.
SocialFlow by Piano
Chose SocialFlow by Piano
I inherited SocialFlow at my new job. We used FocialFlow at my last employment but we moved to Buffer as it was more dynamic, cheaper, easy for larger teams to use, and had a better calendar function. The same can be said for Later, which is also superior to social flow in my …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
BufferSocialFlow by Piano
Publishing
Comparison of Publishing features of Product A and Product B
Buffer
7.6
64 Ratings
5% below category average
SocialFlow by Piano
5.1
3 Ratings
44% below category average
Content planning and scheduling9.364 Ratings5.13 Ratings
Content optimization6.457 Ratings5.13 Ratings
Workflow management7.053 Ratings5.13 Ratings
Audience targeting00 Ratings5.13 Ratings
Reporting/analytics
Comparison of Reporting/analytics features of Product A and Product B
Buffer
7.8
59 Ratings
1% below category average
SocialFlow by Piano
5.1
3 Ratings
42% below category average
Campaign success analytics7.859 Ratings5.13 Ratings
Real-time tracking00 Ratings5.13 Ratings
Competitor analysis00 Ratings5.12 Ratings
Account management
Comparison of Account management features of Product A and Product B
Buffer
8.4
61 Ratings
3% above category average
SocialFlow by Piano
7.1
3 Ratings
13% below category average
Role-based user permissions & privileges7.649 Ratings7.13 Ratings
Mobile access9.259 Ratings7.13 Ratings
Listening/monitoring
Comparison of Listening/monitoring features of Product A and Product B
Buffer
-
Ratings
SocialFlow by Piano
5.0
2 Ratings
42% below category average
Boolean keyword searches00 Ratings5.12 Ratings
Filtering out noise/spam00 Ratings4.62 Ratings
Sentiment analysis00 Ratings5.12 Ratings
Broad channel coverage00 Ratings5.12 Ratings
Engagement
Comparison of Engagement features of Product A and Product B
Buffer
-
Ratings
SocialFlow by Piano
4.9
3 Ratings
49% below category average
Automated routing and prioritization00 Ratings5.12 Ratings
Customer interaction histories00 Ratings4.62 Ratings
Bulk actions00 Ratings5.13 Ratings
Marketing
Comparison of Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Buffer
-
Ratings
SocialFlow by Piano
5.1
3 Ratings
40% below category average
Lead generation00 Ratings5.13 Ratings
Content marketing00 Ratings5.13 Ratings
Paid media management00 Ratings5.13 Ratings
Campaigns and promotions00 Ratings5.13 Ratings
Channel coverage/integration
Comparison of Channel coverage/integration features of Product A and Product B
Buffer
-
Ratings
SocialFlow by Piano
5.7
3 Ratings
40% below category average
Twitter00 Ratings5.13 Ratings
Facebook00 Ratings5.13 Ratings
LinkedIn00 Ratings5.13 Ratings
Google+00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Instagram00 Ratings5.13 Ratings
Pinterest00 Ratings5.12 Ratings
YouTube00 Ratings5.12 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BufferSocialFlow by Piano
Small Businesses
Publer
Publer
Score 9.8 out of 10
Publer
Publer
Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Score 9.3 out of 10
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Score 9.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Score 9.3 out of 10
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Score 9.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BufferSocialFlow by Piano
Likelihood to Recommend
8.2
(84 ratings)
5.6
(5 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(14 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Usability
8.1
(23 ratings)
5.1
(2 ratings)
Availability
8.2
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
6.3
(23 ratings)
5.6
(2 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.6
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BufferSocialFlow by Piano
Likelihood to Recommend
Buffer
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.
Read full review
Piano Software
SocialFlow is well suited for Platform & keyword research : 1. In-depth research to identify requisite platforms & channels and the pertaining keywords, followed by query building to create search profiles & topic tags Social mediaplatforms Professional review forums Industry-focused discussion sites E-commerce websites Content streaming platforms data extraction​ 2. Setting up processes and tools for data extraction such as –-Social intelligence tools-Web scraping-Custom crawlers-Manual minimum (if applicable)
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Pros
Buffer
  • I can plan and publish content on social channels.
  • Buffer's interface is quite tidy and generates the necessary facilities to save us time in publishing consistent content.
  • It has a special price; it is pretty affordable.
  • It has the possibility of integrating with other tools to improve its functions.
Read full review
Piano Software
  • Posts without human input.
  • Monitors algorithms.
  • Easy to use interface.
Read full review
Cons
Buffer
  • 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.
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Piano Software
  • I'd like to open up windows for more than one account/platform at time.
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Likelihood to Renew
Buffer
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
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Piano Software
  • Clarity of communication
  • Quality of product
  • Its sheer utility
  • How we now rely on it greatly
  • Reasonable price point
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Usability
Buffer
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
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Piano Software
I give this rating as an outcome to understand competitor social strategy to improve strategic positioning. Drive improvement by benchmarking and serving to compete on content Identify trends, topics/themes, potential threats, etc. Improve campaigns by measuring and comparing audience reach, Interaction, etc. Measure engagement rate to analyze audience association.​ What themes/topics are generating higher engagement Insights to assist marketing teams in planning future campaigns
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Reliability and Availability
Buffer
Buffer is always on hand and very reliable, their software suite rarely has outages
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Piano Software
No answers on this topic
Performance
Buffer
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
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Piano Software
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Buffer
  1. It really helped to my business to grow online.
  2. I was able to take actions mindfully as the analytics are damn good.
  3. Also used for managing clients social media accounts and it proved to be a best resource.
  4. Clients were really happy as they got high demand and growth on internet and the secret is Buffer.
  5. The user interface is really easy to understand and manage. Support is 24/7 available to help.
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Piano Software
They don’t seem to understand the issues when we explain them.
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Implementation Rating
Buffer
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
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Piano Software
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Buffer
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.
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Piano Software
We've also evaluated HootSuite and Sprout Social, and we used both in the past. SocialFlow is superior in its content system for creating, editing, and publishing posts. It's ideal for a team of our size. The cost is fair. It was overall the best option in all of the categories we were looking for.
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Scalability
Buffer
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
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Piano Software
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Buffer
  • It has saved money by allowing us to automate our social using one person
  • It allows us to connect one channel at a time instead of wasting money on larger account management tools
  • We are making money, because it has already delivered several clients
Read full review
Piano Software
  • Increased engagement
  • ROI
  • Efficiency
  • Transparency/data/insight
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ScreenShots

Buffer Screenshots

Screenshot of The Buffer dashboardScreenshot of Customizable posting scheduleScreenshot of Tailored PostsScreenshot of List or calendar view of scheduled postsScreenshot of Browser extensionScreenshot of Social media analytics