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Later is a social media scheduler. You make your photos and videos, drop them on a calendar, and Later publishes them to Instagram and seven other networks, with a link-in-bio page and analytics. It’s a good tool for what it does. But if you run a small online store, the hard part may not be the scheduling. It may be making the posts at all.
This guide covers seven Later alternatives of three kinds: schedulers that do Later’s job differently, AI tools that make posts when you ask, and done-for-you services that make and publish them on a rhythm. For each one you get what it is, who it suits, its price with the billing toggle it belongs to, and its limits. Every price was checked on the tool’s own website on Oct 13, 2026. Prices change, so open the page before you buy.
What Later does, and what it leaves to you
Later’s pricing page opens on yearly billing. That view shows Starter at $18.75, Growth at $37.50 and Scale at $82.50 a month, “billed yearly”, with “3 months free” and “25% off” next to each. Its Bill Monthly toggle shows $25, $50 and $110 a month. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial.
What you get for that:
- Eight networks. Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Pinterest, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube and Snapchat, grouped in “social sets”.
- Instagram formats. Later auto-publishes single-photo posts, carousels and Reels. You can also schedule Stories; ones with stickers, polls, music or links go through a phone reminder, and you finish them in Instagram.
- Volume and AI by plan. Starter schedules up to 30 posts per profile a month, with 5 AI credits for its caption and idea tools. Growth raises that to 180 posts and 50 credits, and Scale to unlimited posts and 100 credits.
- Approvals on Growth and up. Starter has no content approval workflow.
- Link in bio and analytics on every plan, with 3 months of analytics history on Starter.
What Later leaves to you is the making: the product photos, the designs, the captions and the plan behind them. That’s the question to answer before you switch. If Later works but costs too much, look at the schedulers. If what you’re missing is the posts themselves, look further down.
Schedulers: Later’s job, done differently
Schedulers publish what you make. They’re the closest swap for Later, and the cheapest.
Planoly
What it is. A visual planner and scheduler, built around arranging your grid before anything goes out, with a free link-in-bio page that can sell digital products and physical merch.
Who it’s for. Store owners who like planning the grid by hand and selling through link in bio.
Price. Planoly’s pricing page opens with its “Pay annually” switch on: Starter $14, Growth $24 and Pro $47 a month. Switched to monthly, they’re $16, $28 and $55. Paid plans have a 14-day free trial, and a free plan on the mobile app allows 10 uploads a month.
Limits. It auto-posts “when platforms allow it” and sends you a push notification to post yourself when they don’t. Its AI generates content ideas; the photos and designs are still yours. Starter is 1 social set and 1 user.
Buffer
What it is. A simple scheduler priced per channel, with a free plan and an AI Assistant on every plan, for twelve networks from Instagram and TikTok to LinkedIn, Bluesky and Substack.
Who it’s for. Owners who write and design their own posts and want the lowest price for one or a few accounts.
Price. Buffer’s pricing page opens on yearly billing: Essentials is $5 a month per channel (“$60 billed yearly”), Team $10. Its Monthly toggle shows $6 and $12. The free plan covers up to 3 channels with 10 scheduled posts each. Paid plans have a 14-day free trial.
Limits. You bring every post. Approval workflows are on Team only. The bill grows with each channel you add.
Metricool
What it is. A scheduler with analytics, competitor tracking and link in bio, priced by number of brands.
Who it’s for. Stores that want numbers next to their calendar, and freelancers who run several brands.
Price. Metricool’s pricing page opens on its “Annual (save up to 24%)” tab: Starter from $20 a month for up to 5 brands, Advanced from $53. The Monthly tab shows $25 and $67. The free plan covers 1 brand and 20 scheduled posts a month, without LinkedIn or X.
Limits. You make the posts. The post approval system starts on Advanced. The free plan keeps 30 days of analytics.
AI post makers: posts made when you ask
These tools create the visuals and captions. You still ask for each batch, pick what works and schedule it.
Predis.ai
What it is. An AI generator of images, carousels, videos and ads, made from a product link, a prompt or an image, with brand kits that hold your colors, tone and logo (Predis.ai). Its plans connect to Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix and Squarespace.
Who it’s for. Stores that want video and ad creatives as well as posts, across several networks.
Price. Predis.ai’s pricing page opens on annual billing (“Annually 30% off”): Core $24 a month ($288 billed yearly), Rise $55 ($664). Its Monthly view shows $32 and $79. Every plan starts with 3 days free, and a card is taken to start the trial.
Limits. Output runs on monthly credits: about 325 images or 33 videos on Core. Core can schedule and publish, but says “No Auto Posting”. Auto Post is the feature where the AI creates a week of posts and publishes them on schedule; that’s on Rise and up. We compared it in detail in Season vs Predis.ai.
Marky
What it is. An AI tool that learns your voice, style and audience from your website, then makes graphics, carousels and captions and schedules them to Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, Google Business, TikTok and Pinterest (Marky).
Who it’s for. Owners who want AI-made posts on several networks at a low monthly price.
Price. Marky’s pricing page opens on monthly billing: Solo $39 a month, Growth $79. Its Yearly toggle shows $19 and $39 a month, billed annually (“Save 50%”). You get your first 30 posts free, with no credit card needed.
Limits. Solo covers 3 channels, and each extra one is $7 a month. The approval workflow is on Pro ($229 a month, or $114 a month billed annually). For video, Marky animates a post or you upload your own.
Done for you: posts made and published on a rhythm
Here you don’t ask for each post. Someone, or something, plans them, makes them and publishes them, and you approve.
99 Dollar Social
What it is. A done-for-you service where a team of people writes, designs, schedules and publishes your posts. Its site says it uses AI for brainstorming and that every post is made and approved by a person (99 Dollar Social).
Who it’s for. Owners who want people, not software, making their posts, and who are fine with a monthly batch.
Price. Standard is $99 a month for 10 posts, Plus $149 for 15, Premium $189 for 20 and Pro $279 for 30, billed monthly with no contract. One channel is included, and each extra one is $10 a month. There’s no free trial; plans come with a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Limits. Replies to comments and DMs stay with you. First posts take 7 to 10 business days. Cancelling needs 7 days’ notice before the next billing date.
Season
What it is. Season reads your store’s products, photos and prices, builds your brand’s identity with three looks to choose from, then plans, designs, writes and publishes a season of Instagram posts (3 months by default) through Instagram’s official API. Every Saturday you see the coming week: skip a post or change it in one line, or do nothing and it goes out as planned.
Who it’s for. Online stores whose main channel is Instagram and who’d rather approve a finished week than make it.
Price. $39 a month on Monthly, or $99 every 3 months on the Season plan, with a 7-day free trial; see pricing.
Limits. Instagram only. Feed posts and carousels only: no Reels, Stories or video. No link-in-bio page, no inbox and no comment replies, and analytics are light. There’s no free plan, and the trial needs a card. If those matter, Later or one of the tools above is a better fit; we compared the two in Season vs Later.
Side by side
Prices checked on Oct 13, 2026, on each tool’s own website. “Yearly” means the per-month price when you pay for a longer period up front.
| Tool | Kind | Entry plan, billed monthly | Entry plan, longer billing | Free plan or trial | Who makes the posts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Later | Scheduler | $25 | $18.75 a month, yearly | 14-day trial | You |
| Planoly | Scheduler | $16 | $14 a month, annual | Free mobile plan, 14-day trial | You |
| Buffer | Scheduler | $6 per channel | $5 per channel, yearly | Free plan, 14-day trial | You |
| Metricool | Scheduler and analytics | $25 | $20 a month, annual | Free plan | You |
| Predis.ai | AI post maker | $32 | $24 a month, yearly | 3-day trial, card taken | AI, when you ask |
| Marky | AI post maker | $39 | $19 a month, annual | First 30 posts free | AI, when you ask |
| 99 Dollar Social | Done for you, people | $99 for 10 posts | Not offered | 14-day money-back | People |
| Season | Done for you, software | $39 | $99 every 3 months | 7-day trial, card required | Season |
How to choose
Start with what’s actually missing, not with the price.
- If Later works and you just want to pay less, stay with a scheduler. Compare the plan you’d really need, not the entry plan: count your accounts, the posts you publish a month and whether you need approvals.
- If you never have time to make the posts, a cheaper scheduler won’t fix that. Look at the AI post makers or a done-for-you service.
- If you sell on several networks or post a lot of video, keep a tool that covers them, like Later, Buffer or Predis.ai. An Instagram-only tool will leave gaps.
- Check who approves, and when. Some tools approve per post, some per month, some per week. Some publish when you don’t answer, others wait. Pick the rhythm you’ll actually keep.
- Run a two-week test. Use the trial or the free plan, make or approve two weeks of posts, and time yourself. Then divide the monthly price by the posts you’d really publish.
To compare any of these with hiring a person, the social media cost calculator does the math from your own hours, and our guide to what a social media manager costs has the market rates.
Questions
Is there a free alternative to Later?
Yes, with limits. On Oct 13, 2026, Buffer’s free plan covered up to 3 channels with 10 scheduled posts each, Metricool’s free plan covered 1 brand and 20 scheduled posts a month, and Planoly’s free plan, on its mobile app only, allowed 10 uploads a month. In all three, you still make the posts.
How much does Later cost?
On Oct 13, 2026, Later’s pricing page opened on yearly billing: Starter $18.75, Growth $37.50 and Scale $82.50 a month. Its Bill Monthly toggle showed $25, $50 and $110. Every plan has a 14-day free trial.
Is there a Later alternative that makes the posts for me?
Two kinds do. AI post makers like Predis.ai and Marky create images, carousels and captions when you ask, and can schedule them. Done-for-you services plan, make and publish the posts on a set rhythm, with people (99 Dollar Social) or with software, and you approve them.
Which Later alternative is cheapest for one Instagram account?
Among the paid plans checked here, Buffer Essentials is $5 a month per channel billed yearly, or $6 billed monthly, so one Instagram account costs very little. You write and design the posts yourself. Planoly Starter is $14 a month billed annually, or $16 monthly.
Sources
- Later pricing (Later). Accessed Oct 13, 2026.
- Instagram Auto Publish (Later). Accessed Oct 13, 2026.
- Schedule and publish Instagram Stories (Later Help Center). Accessed Oct 13, 2026.
- Planoly pricing (Planoly). Accessed Oct 13, 2026.
- Buffer pricing (Buffer). Accessed Oct 13, 2026.
- Metricool pricing (Metricool). Accessed Oct 13, 2026.
- Predis.ai pricing (Predis.ai). Accessed Oct 13, 2026.
- Predis.ai home page (Predis.ai). Accessed Oct 13, 2026.
- Auto Post (Predis.ai). Accessed Oct 14, 2026.
- Marky pricing (Marky). Accessed Oct 13, 2026.
- Marky home page (Marky). Accessed Oct 13, 2026.
- Done-for-you social media plans and pricing (99 Dollar Social). Accessed Oct 13, 2026.
About this guide. Written by the Season team for small business owners who run their own Instagram. Every fact above links to where it comes from, and we update the guide when Instagram changes how things work.
