Buffer
Classic social scheduling with an AI assistant.
why this verdict
Downgrade — pay for the workflow, not the AI
ChatGPT and Metricool cover the headline feature free, so the $6/mo is now paying for the workflow around it.
- A named launch, not a vibe named, unlinked
- Free ChatGPT drafting + native scheduling. OpenAI, November 6, 2023 — no announcement link recorded yet.
- How much of the job it covers headline only editorial call
- The headline feature, but not the workflow, data or integrations around it.
- Is there a free way to do it? yes
- 3 of 3 listed replacements have a usable free tier: ChatGPT, Metricool and Publer.
- What the call is worth $72/yr
- $6/mo at the entry paid tier — $72 a year per seat.
- Threatened by
- OpenAI
- Since
- November 6, 2023
- List price
- $6/mo
- Per year
- $72
The backstory
Buffer is one of the original social-media scheduling tools, letting you queue posts across platforms from one dashboard. Its AI Assistant, a paid upsell for generating captions, now competes with a free chatbot that writes the same posts. That leaves Buffer wounded but standing: the scheduling core, the calendar, the analytics and the multi-account plumbing are the real product, and drafting was only ever a bolt-on. People still pay to publish reliably, not to have Buffer write the words.
Escape hatches
switching could free up $72/yrFree drafting for social captions
chatgpt.com open_in_newScheduling plus deeper analytics
metricool.com open_in_newAffordable multi-platform scheduler with free tier
publer.com open_in_new3 of 3 replacements have a usable free tier.