Head to head
Buffer vs Zoho Social
Last updated 4 June 2026
vs
The simplest way to schedule a few accounts, and the cheapest entry if you only run one to three channels.
- From
- $5 per channel / mo
- Free plan
Zoho Social is the scheduler inside Zoho's wider business suite: capable publishing, a monitoring dashboard, and reporting that plugs straight into Zoho CRM. Pricing splits into single-brand business plans, billed per brand per member, and flat agency plans for managing many brands.
- From
- $10 /mo
- Free plan
Bottom line
Buffer and Zoho Social both cover the basics; the right one comes down to how you post. Buffer is the stronger pick for Solo creators; choose Zoho Social for Businesses already using Zoho CRM or the wider Zoho suite.
Features compared
| Feature | Buffer | Zoho Social |
|---|---|---|
| AI captions | Yes | Yes |
| Basic analytics | Yes | Yes |
| Advanced reports | Partial | Yes |
| Bulk upload | No | Yes |
| Evergreen recycling | No | Partial |
| Team roles | Yes | Yes |
| Approvals | Yes | Yes |
| Link in bio | Yes | Yes |
Platforms compared
| Network | Buffer | Zoho Social |
|---|---|---|
| Auto | Auto | |
| Auto | Auto | |
| X (Twitter) | Auto | Auto |
| Auto | Auto | |
| TikTok | Auto | Auto |
| Auto | Auto | |
| YouTube | Auto | Auto |
| Threads | Auto | Auto |
| Bluesky | Auto | Auto |
| Google Business | Auto | Auto |
| Mastodon | Auto | Auto |
| Telegram | No | Auto |
Pricing
Buffer
Free
Free
- Seats
- 1
- Accounts
- 3
- Scheduled posts
- 10
- 3 channels
- 10 scheduled posts per channel
Essentials
Popular$6 per channel / mo
$5/mo billed annually
- Seats
- 1
- Accounts
- 1
- Scheduled posts
- Unlimited
- $6 per channel/mo, $5 on annual
- Analytics
- Engagement tools
Team
$12 per channel / mo
$10/mo billed annually
- Seats
- Unlimited
- Accounts
- 1
- Scheduled posts
- Unlimited
- $12 per channel/mo, $10 on annual
- Unlimited team members
- Approvals
- Priced per channel: the headline $6 / $12 is for a single channel and scales with how many you connect.
- Volume discount lowers the per-channel rate above 10 channels (down to $1-$2 per channel at 51+).
- Annual billing saves about two months, so a channel works out near $60 / $120 per year.
Zoho Social
Free
Free
- Seats
- 1
- Accounts
- 6
- 1 brand, 6 channels (Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn profile and page, Google Business), 1 member
- Home dashboard, drafts, basic publishing, 5 AI credits
- Forever free after the 15-day all-access trial
Standard
$15 /mo
$10/mo billed annually
- Seats
- 1
- Accounts
- 12
- $15/mo, $10 on annual (per brand, per member)
- 1 brand, 12 channels (adds YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok, Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky), 1 member
- Publishing calendar, multi-channel publishing, zurl shortener, summary reports, 40 AI credits
Professional
$40 /mo
$30/mo billed annually
- Seats
- 1
- Accounts
- 12
- $40/mo, $30 on annual (per brand, per member)
- 1 brand, 12 channels, 1 member
- Adds bulk scheduling, repeat posting, post insights, monitoring dashboard, media library, RSS, messages, first comment
Premium
Popular$65 /mo
$40/mo billed annually
- Seats
- 3
- Accounts
- 14
- $65/mo, $40 on annual (per brand)
- 1 brand, 14 channels (adds WhatsApp Business and Telegram Business), 3 members
- Adds SmartQ, unified Inbox, content approvals and workflow, custom reports, UTM, Zoho CRM and Desk integration, 80 AI credits
Agency
$320 /mo
$230/mo billed annually
- Seats
- 5
- Accounts
- 140
- $320/mo, $230 on annual
- 10 brands, up to 140 channels, 5 members
- Client invite, customizable client portal, agency-branded reports, all Premium features
Agency Plus
$460 /mo
$330/mo billed annually
- Seats
- 5
- Accounts
- 280
- $460/mo, $330 on annual
- 20 brands, up to 280 channels, 5 members
- All Agency features, with 10 more brands available as add-ons
- Zoho splits into business plans (one brand) and agency plans (many brands). The business tiers (Standard, Professional, Premium) are billed per brand per team member, so the headline is for a single brand with the bundled members; the agency tiers bundle 10 or 20 brands at a flat price.
- Extra brands and members are add-ons: roughly $19.50 a brand each month and $10 a member each month on annual billing (a little more monthly, and the brand rate varies by plan), so a single-brand business with a few people climbs past the sticker price.
- Annual billing is up to about 33% cheaper: Standard $10 vs $15, Professional $30 vs $40, Premium $40 vs $65 a month.
- There's a forever-free plan (1 brand, 6 channels, 1 member) that kicks in after the 15-day all-access trial, no card required.
- Records are USD. The live pricing page geo-locates and showed Australian dollars including GST here, so the USD list figures were taken from Zoho's US pricing and current third-party listings, then cross-checked by stripping the 10% GST from the AUD and converting (for example Premium A$66.91, less GST, times about 0.66, lands near $40).
Pros and cons
Buffer
- Clean, fast interface
- Cheapest entry for one to three channels
- Widest network list, including Bluesky and Mastodon
- Genuinely useful free plan
- Per-channel pricing adds up quickly
- No CSV bulk upload
- No evergreen recycling
- Analytics are basic
Zoho Social
- Deep Zoho CRM and Desk integration, a genuine differentiator
- Direct publishing to a dozen channels, with monitoring and a unified inbox
- Forever-free plan and a clear annual discount
- Flat agency plans for managing many brands
- Per-brand-per-member pricing plus add-ons gets fiddly
- WhatsApp and Telegram are Premium-only
- No evergreen recycling queue or visual feed planner
- Listed business-plan prices are before brand and member add-ons
Buffer vs Zoho Social: FAQ
- Is Buffer or Zoho Social cheaper?
- Buffer is cheaper to start, from $5 against $10 for Zoho Social. The unit each one charges by differs, so the real bill depends on how many channels or seats you run.
- Does Buffer or Zoho Social have a free plan?
- Both have a free plan, so you can try either one before paying.
- Which is better, Buffer or Zoho Social?
- Buffer is the stronger pick for solo creators, while Zoho Social is the better fit for businesses already using Zoho CRM or the wider Zoho suite. We don't score them; the right call comes down to how you post.