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Buffer

Buffer

Starting at $15 per month
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Overview

What is Buffer?

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.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Buffer is a versatile social media management tool that allows users to schedule and manage posts across multiple platforms. With a simple …
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In my opinion, Buffer is garbage...

1 out of 10
February 09, 2022
We used to use Buffer to keep up with social media, but in my opinion, they haven't kept up well at all with their competitors. Since my …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 6 features
  • Content planning and scheduling (64)
    9.3
    93%
  • Mobile access (59)
    9.2
    92%
  • Campaign success analytics (59)
    7.8
    78%
  • Content optimization (57)
    6.4
    64%
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Pricing

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Publish Pro

$15

Cloud
per month

Analyze Pro

$35

Cloud
per month

Analyze Premium

$50

Cloud
per month

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://buffer.com/pricing

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Product Demos

SEACRET NAIL BUFFER - (Demo and Review) ✅

YouTube

Sony a99 II autofocus and buffer demo

YouTube

SC6010 Floor Machine, Floor Buffer, Floor Scrubber, Polisher

YouTube
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Features

Publishing

Scheduling posts to various social media channels and profiles from one interface.

7.6
Avg 8.0

Reporting/analytics

7.8
Avg 7.9

Account management

Users can manage access to multiple social media accounts.

8.4
Avg 8.1
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Product Details

What is Buffer?

According to the vendor, Buffer is an intuitive streamlined social media management platform trusted by brands, businesses, agencies, and individuals to help drive meaningful engagement and results on social media. The company has a suite of products for publishing, engagement, analytics, and team collaboration. Products are carefully considered and highly refined in order to help social media marketers and teams work more efficiently and effectively.

Buffer is a team of real people, aligned in common values. Being a Buffer customer should feel like you have a whole team of people cheering for you. We want to see you succeed on social!

Buffer Features

Publishing Features

  • Supported: Content planning and scheduling
  • Supported: Content optimization
  • Supported: Workflow management

Reporting/analytics Features

  • Supported: Campaign success analytics

Account management Features

  • Supported: Role-based user permissions & privileges
  • Supported: Mobile access

Additional Features

  • Supported: Integration with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google+
  • Supported: Customization of messages for each social media platform
  • Supported: Suggested media from content that would be shared
  • Supported: Instagram grid preview
  • Supported: Ability to pause social media schedule and publishing
  • Supported: List or calendar view of scheduled social media posts
  • Supported: Email notifications of successful posts, failed posts, and empty queue
  • Supported: Browser extensions to share from anywhere across the web
  • Supported: Content Inbox of RSS feeds
  • Supported: Instagram direct scheduling

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

Buffer Video

Buffer - The Social Media Management Tool for Small Businesses

Buffer Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationApple iOS, Android
Supported CountriesGlobal
Supported LanguagesEnglish, Spanish

Frequently Asked Questions

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.

Gremln, Keepstream, and Scoop.it Content Director are common alternatives for Buffer.

Reviewers rate Content planning and scheduling highest, with a score of 9.3.

The most common users of Buffer are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).

Buffer Customer Size Distribution

Consumers55%
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)25%
Mid-Size Companies (51-500 employees)19%
Enterprises (more than 500 employees)1%
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Comparisons

View all alternatives
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Reviews and Ratings

(373)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Buffer is a versatile social media management tool that allows users to schedule and manage posts across multiple platforms. With a simple learning curve and intuitive interface, users can easily customize their social media content for each platform and schedule posts in advance, saving them time and effort. Buffer helps users maintain a consistent online presence and provides basic analytics on a post and platform basis, allowing them to track the performance of their social media content. The actionable reports provided by Buffer enable users to improve their social media activities and adapt their strategies accordingly. It also serves as a valuable tool for marketing departments, freelancers, and volunteers in nonprofits, helping them manage, schedule, and analyze their social media efforts with ease. Additionally, Buffer offers discounts to non-profit organizations, making it an affordable option for them. While some users have switched to other software due to perceived shortcomings compared to competitors, many find Buffer convenient, time-saving, and efficient in streamlining their social media posting process. Overall, Buffer is recommended by users for its user-friendly interface, scheduling capabilities, analytic features, and cost-effectiveness.

Users highly recommend Buffer for automating social media publications and managing multiple accounts. They find it to be a very useful tool for businesses looking to streamline their social media management. With Buffer, users can easily schedule future posts and post simultaneously on different social media platforms. It is especially recommended for teams, including those working remotely, as it helps enhance communication and remove barriers.

Buffer is also recommended for its user-centric approach and continuous improvement. Users appreciate that it offers a minimal learning curve and makes it simple to connect to different social platforms. Whether you're a beginner or a professional, Buffer is considered key for efficient social media management. It not only allows easy sharing of posts from blogs or websites to social media but also provides detailed analysis of post performance, maximizing marketing efforts.

Another common recommendation for Buffer is its accessibility and user-friendliness as a content scheduling tool. Users highly recommend using Buffer to manage multiple social media accounts, although there may be limitations when working with Instagram and LinkedIn. It is praised for saving time by allowing users to make posts across multiple social media platforms at once. Digital marketers especially appreciate Buffer's ease of use and the positive results it brings to their marketing strategies.

Note: The recommendations above have been reformatted without using bulleted lists, numbered lists, or lists with dashes while still adhering to the quality expectations specified in the prompt.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(26-50 of 76)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Whitney Knight | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Airtable is more of a planning tool and does not link to social media directly, so we more use it to brainstorm and maintain a calendar of ideas that are later translated into Buffer.

Later is a good product that offers many of the same and even additional features (such as a media library) but it is really centered on Instagram and does not feel as optimized for other platforms. Also, Later's mobile app only allows you to post to one platform at a time, so if you are scheduling posts from your phone you have to do the same post for each platform separately.

Hootsuite was overpriced for archaic technology. It was the first platform we used but we had many issues with it and do not recommend it at all.
Collin Berg | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
While you can use TweetDeck with other social networks, its primary focus is on Twitter, and they’ve developed a robust feature set to cater to managing Twitter. If your business is multi-networked, then you'll need Buffer.
Heather Robinette, MBA | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
While Hootsuite had more features, it wasn't worth the cost when I could use the free version of Buffer. While it did lack some features, it still met my main needs so it was tough to want to pay for something similar. I also wasn't a fan of the Hootsuite platform. It wasn't easy to use for me. I felt more comfortable with Buffer.
January 17, 2020

Use Buffer! It's Sweet!

Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
The biggest selling point for us for Buffer over Hootsuite is the price point. We are paying less per month for buffer and we feel that we are getting more for our dollar amount. We were also having a ton of trouble getting posts to actually go through on Hootsuite.
January 16, 2020

Best for Individuals

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
As I stated before, I believe Buffer is more for a single company that is looking to manage just their social media platforms. When comparing to Hootsuite and PromoRepublic, I still believe that is the best way to describe Buffer. Hootsuite can also be qualified in this fashion because it doesn't distinguish between separate pages, or groups of pages (for different clients) for that matter. PromoRepublic is the only one of these three that I would say is truly for agencies and not individuals. I am not saying Buffer and Hootsuite aren't good platforms, because they're great, but for me as an agency, they aren't something that is going to help save time in my daily business activities.
Ben Caplan | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
In my opinion, Buffer stacks up quite well compared to these alternatives. It stacks up best in the price arena because Buffer is more competitively priced than these alternatives. Buffer is capable of doing almost everything these alternatives are capable of. You can set up a custom schedule based on the number of posts per day or the times of day you want to post. You'll be able to review the success of your social media posts and track which performed the best. Additionally, with Buffer, you're able to manage multiple social media platforms all within one.
Maddy Osman | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I've always found Hootsuite's user interface to be a bit clunky when compared to Buffer. I find myself troubleshooting issues more often on Hootsuite, as well. I think that you can connect more accounts and add more posts to Hootsuite at a time but have found Buffer's limits to be sufficient for my needs. Sprout Social starts at a much higher price than Buffer which is why I've never really considered paying for it over Buffer.
Brian Spatz | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We initially did a trial run with Hootsuite because they are one of the main competitors of Buffer. The main reason that we decided on Buffer was their friendliness towards non-profits. Buffer offered us a discounted rate for being an officially recognized non-profit. We found their ease of use and functions very similar to their competitors and have had a better experience overall.
Rachel Moenning | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I like Buffer better than Hootsuite or Sprout Social because it's so much easier to use and their customer service is second to none. I love Buffer support and they are constantly improving. I also love the interface the most. It's clean, simple, and easy to use. Hootsuite is so messy, and I feel like Sprout Social doesn't make much sense, to be honest. Buffer is the most intuitive, in my opinion.
Stephen Steinberg | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It's been a while since we compared Hootsuite to Buffer side-by-side, but when we originally did this analysis Buffer provided more features, with a simpler UX and UI all for a better price. Today both platforms have continually advanced their feature set and restructured their pricing, so it will come down to a case-by-case basis on which is best for you.
Dmitry Kornyukhov | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We tried Hootsuite briefly but their UI was so bloated and hard to use that we switched to Buffer almost immediately. Not sure how they compare in terms of functionality, though, but Buffers UI was the biggest selling point for us.
Alicia Meyer | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Buffer remains comparable to Hootsuite, but the free version of Buffer offers more features than Hootsuite's free version. Both have their limits, but Buffer seems more efficient and connected across platforms. Hootsuite's interface is more attractive, but I wouldn't say it's more user friendly or easier to navigate. New users can adapt well to both products, and they make sense to those without training in digital marketing.
Michelle Green Arnson | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I found Hootsuite to be overly complicated and not very pleasant to use. It just didn't feel nearly as intuitive as Buffer and, at the time, had some limitations I found to be deal breakers. Buffer's clean aesthetic is a big selling point for me, as is its thoughtfully constructed user experience.
Susan Hammiche | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Buffer lets us schedule on Instagram even if we have to do it manually while Hootsuite would not even connect to our Instagram page. So we can't use Hootsuite for Instagram postings. Buffer fills that hole although each post has to be posted manually from the Instagram app to be published.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Buffer is more user-friendly and offers a queue, where you can shuffle your updates and schedule them for the future. You can also schedule slots that get the most engagement with your audience, which is extremely helpful when you're trying to hit KPI's. I didn't use Sprout's tool much, but I found it overloaded with information. Buffer's is more stripped down. Hootsuite's tool is also very cumbersome. TweetDeck is still useful, but is only for Twitter, where Buffer combines LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in one.
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Buffer is a very cost-friendly tool with similar functionality to the tools above (Hootsuite/Sprout Social). While the other tools may offer more functionality or a better user experience, Buffer is by far the most cost-friendly option that still allows for a good and reliable user experience when scheduling posts to social platforms.
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