The useful question is not which tool is best. It is which part of the job you want to stop doing.
Later is a strong visual planner. Businesses leave it for one of three reasons: it costs more than they need for simple scheduling, they are still staring at an empty calendar every week, or they never wanted to run a tool in the first place. Those are three different problems with three different answers, so this page is organised by how much of the work stays with you.
The short answer
- You already have posts and only need them scheduled — Meta Business Suite, Buffer, Metricool
- You have ideas but stall on the writing and design — Loomly, SocialBee, Planoly
- You want recurring preparation handled — Boomp, a human content service, or a local agency
Compare by who does the work
| Tool | Decides what to post | Writes and designs it | Publishes it | Free tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meta Business Suite | You | You | Tool | Yes |
| Buffer | You | You, with AI caption help | Tool | Yes |
| Metricool | You | You, with AI assist | Tool | Yes |
| Planoly | You | You, with AI assist | Tool | Limited |
| Later | You | You | Tool | Limited |
| Loomly | You | Tool, on your prompt | Tool | Trial only |
| SocialBee | You | Tool, on your prompt | Tool | Trial only |
| $99 Social | Service | Service | Service | No |
| Boomp | Service, from your website | Service | Service, after you approve | Free preview |
Read the second column first. It is the one that decides whether you are still doing this in six months.
If you only need scheduling
Meta Business Suite. Free, and it schedules Facebook and Instagram natively. If those are the only two places you post, you may not need a paid tool at all. It does nothing for LinkedIn, Pinterest or Google Business Profile. Meta Business Suite
Buffer. The simplest paid scheduler in the category, with a free tier covering a few channels. It has added AI caption assistance, but the post is still yours to think of. Buffer pricing
Metricool. Scheduling plus genuinely useful analytics, and a free tier. The strongest choice if you want to see what worked rather than only get things posted. Metricool pricing
If you want help making the posts
This is where the category changed in 2026, and it is worth saying plainly: the newer schedulers do write content now. Comparison pages still claiming otherwise — including an earlier version of this one — are out of date.
Loomly. Advertises AI that learns your brand voice and generates content consistent with it, plus AI help on comments and DMs. The closest a scheduler currently gets to doing the writing. You still open it and drive it. Loomly pricing
SocialBee. AI post generation organised around evergreen content categories, so a good post can recycle instead of being written twice. Useful if you post often. SocialBee pricing
Planoly. Describes itself as going beyond scheduling, with AI assistance and strong visual planning. Instagram-first in its instincts. Planoly pricing
If you do not want to run a tool at all
$99 Social. A done-for-you service operating since 2012, at $99/month for 10 posts on a single channel, with further channels priced separately. Long track record and a large customer base. $99 Social
A local agency. The right answer when you need campaign strategy, paid advertising, photo shoots or community management. Expect a different order of pricing, and expect to sit in briefs.
Boomp. Starts with the public website, shows ten finished posts before any account or card, then continues into saved post ideas and paid finished work. The difference from a visual planner is not that Later cannot assist with content; it is who owns the recurring source-to-review preparation. Review the website-grounded first look before choosing a plan.
What they cost
Entry pricing, taken from each vendor's own pricing page. Prices checked 2026-07-29.
| Tool | Entry price | What that buys | Free tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meta Business Suite | Free | Facebook and Instagram scheduling | Yes |
| Buffer | $5 / month per channel | Essentials, one channel; $60 billed yearly | Yes |
| Metricool | $20 / month billed yearly | Starter; $25 month-to-month | Yes, one brand |
| SocialBee | $29 / month | Bootstrap, billed monthly | 14-day trial |
| Loomly | from $49 / month billed yearly | Base tier | Trial only |
| Later | check current pricing | Not published in a form we could verify | Limited |
| Planoly | check current pricing | Tiers vary by add-on | Limited |
| $99 Social | $99 / month | 10 posts, one channel; further channels extra | No |
| Boomp | $9 / $39 / $275 a month | Packs: ten finished posts by email you publish. Core: 20 posts, a carousel and a video published after you approve each one. Done-for-you: the same, with Boomp's founder approving for you | Ten finished posts before any account or card |
Two notes, because this is where comparison pages usually mislead.
Buffer's price is per channel. At $5 a channel, four channels is $20 a month, not $5. Pages that list Buffer at "$5" against a competitor's all-in price are not comparing the same thing.
Two entries say "check" rather than a number. Later's pricing is rendered in a way we could not read reliably, and Planoly's varies by add-on. We would rather show a gap than a guess — the same tool is currently listed at three materially different prices across three vendors' comparison pages, and the vendor with the lowest own-price tends to list everyone else highest. Every price here links to its source, so checking takes a minute.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best alternative to Later for a local business?
It depends which part of the job you want to stop doing. If you already have posts and only need them scheduled, Buffer or Metricool do that for less. If you want help writing them, Loomly or SocialBee generate content you then review. If you want recurring content preparation rather than another scheduler, compare Boomp with a human service such as $99 Social.
Is there a free alternative to Later?
Yes. Meta Business Suite schedules Facebook and Instagram at no cost, and Buffer and Metricool both keep free tiers. A free scheduler solves publishing, not deciding what to post, which is the part most local businesses actually stall on.
Do the newer tools write the posts for you?
Increasingly yes, and it is worth being accurate about that. Loomly, Metricool, Planoly and Buffer all advertise AI content features now. The difference is who operates it. Those tools generate on request, so you open the app, prompt it, review and schedule. A done-for-you service produces the batch on a cadence and waits for your approval.
Can I trust the prices on this page?
They were taken from each vendor's own pricing page and checked on 29 July 2026, and each links back to its source. Two entries say "check current pricing" instead of a number, because Later's pricing could not be read reliably and Planoly's varies by add-on — we would rather show a gap than a guess. Note that Buffer's price is per channel, which is the most common way this comparison gets misreported.
Is Boomp a Later alternative?
Only if what you want is to stop doing the work. If you enjoy planning your grid and mainly want a better calendar, Later is the better fit and Boomp is not what you are looking for. Boomp replaces the job rather than the interface.
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