We sell a competing product, so weigh this accordingly. VoiceMoat is not a Later replacement and this page says where it is and is not relevant. ‼️ Every figure below was read off the vendor's own pricing page on 27 August 2026, in both billing positions, driven in a browser because these pages render their prices in JavaScript. Where a vendor served us a currency other than US dollars, its price is left out rather than converted.

What does Later actually cost?

Later is $18.75 a month billed yearly and $25 billed monthly for Starter, rising to $37.50 and $50 for Growth and $82.50 and $110 for Scale. It bills by social set, meaning one profile on each supported platform, which Later counts as eight profiles.

Later's published plans in both toggle positions, read in a browser on 27 August 2026. The last two columns are what actually decide which tier you need.

• ‼️ Thirty posts per profile per month is roughly one a day. If you post twice a day on a single profile you will hit the Starter cap around the middle of the month, and the fix is a tier upgrade rather than a top-up.

• ‼️ Starter cannot buy extras at any price. Its own card reads "Extra Social Sets, users and AI credits not available". On Growth and Scale an extra social set is $11.25 a month billed yearly and $15 monthly, and an extra user is $3.75 and $5.

• The annual discount is a flat 25% and Later states it as "3 months free", which is what 25% of twelve months is. The add-on prices discount at exactly the same rate.

• The trial is 14 days.

• ⚠️ The user count is the second cap and it is easy to miss. Growth includes two users. A three-person team needs Scale at $82.50, not Growth at $37.50.

The six different units these tools bill by, and why an entry price tells you almost nothing on its own, is answered in our social media tools answers.

Sources: Later pricing.

Buffer, if your problem is the price

Buffer is $5 per channel a month billed yearly and $6 billed monthly, with a genuinely free tier for up to three channels. Unlike Later's Starter it has no monthly post cap on paid plans. ‼️ Its Essentials plan includes "1 user account", so a team needs Team at $10 per channel.

Buffer's published plans in both toggle positions. Buffer bills per channel, so multiply by every account you connect.

• ‼️ If the reason you are leaving Later is the 30-post cap, this is the direct answer. Buffer's paid plans state unlimited scheduled posts per channel.

• If the reason is the price, the answer depends on how many channels you run. Later's $18.75 buys eight profiles. Eight channels on Buffer Essentials is 8 x $5 = $40 a month billed yearly, which is more than double.

• Buffer's free plan is real, not a trial. Three channels, ten scheduled posts per channel, one user account, and Buffer's own page says "Free forever".

• ‼️ The seat trap is the same shape as Later's, in a different place. Later caps users per tier; Buffer gives Essentials exactly one and charges double per channel for the tier that lifts it.

• The paid trial is 14 days.

Sources: Buffer pricing, and our plan-by-plan breakdown at Buffer pricing explained.

Sendible, if your problem is the people

Sendible states "Unlimited users on all plans" and bills by workspace, which is the structural opposite of Later's per-tier user cap. Core is $35 a month billed monthly and $30 billed yearly, for one workspace and six social profiles.

Sendible's published plans in both toggle positions. Every tier states unlimited users. Yearly is a flat 15%.

• ‼️ This is the one to compare against Later when the constraint is headcount rather than posting volume. Three people on Later means Scale at $82.50. Three people on Sendible means whatever tier your profile count needs, because the people are free.

• The arithmetic where it matters: three people needing 16 profiles is Later Scale at $82.50 a month billed yearly, or Sendible Plus at $84 for 18 profiles. Within $1.50 of each other by completely different routes.

• The annual discount is a flat 15%, and it checks out on every tier: $35 becomes $30, $99 becomes $84, $199 becomes $169, $299 becomes $254, $750 becomes $638.

• Sendible's page states a 14-day free trial, "No card required", "Cancel anytime" and "No contract".

• Sendible offers a currency switcher between dollars, pounds and euros rather than deciding for you, which is worth noting given what the rest of this category does.

Sources: Sendible pricing.

Sprout Social, and its new entry tier

Sprout has added an Essentials tier at $79 per seat a month billed annually, and "$99 per seat/month billed monthly", for up to 5 social profiles. Above it, Standard is $199 per seat, Professional $299 and Advanced $399. Its trial is 30 days with no credit card.

Sprout Social's published plans. Prices are per seat, and the profile counts come from its own comparison table.

• ‼️ Essentials and Standard both carry 5 social profiles, at $79 and $199 per seat. The gap buys the inbox, monitoring and review management rather than more profiles.

• Per seat is the expensive unit in this comparison. Three people on Essentials is $237 a month, against Later Scale at $82.50 for four users.

• The 30-day trial is the longest of any tool on this page, and Sprout's page states "No credit card required. Annual billing."

• ⚠️ This tier is marked NEW on Sprout's page, so anything written about Sprout's entry price before it appeared will be describing a different lineup.

Sources: Sprout Social pricing.

What the same team actually pays across all four

One person on one social set is $18.75 on Later and $40 on Buffer for the equivalent eight channels. Three people needing sixteen profiles is $82.50 on Later and $84 on Sendible, and $237 on Sprout. The unit each vendor bills by decides who wins, and it changes with the setup.

The arithmetic worked in the open on annual billing, using each vendor's own published figures. Check it yourself.

• ‼️ Later wins the solo row outright and it is not close. $18.75 for eight profiles is the cheapest way to hold that many accounts of anything priced on this page.

• ‼️ At three people it inverts, and Later and Sendible land within $1.50 of each other. One got there by capping users and charging for a bigger bundle, the other by giving users away and charging for profiles.

• ‼️ Sendible is $84 in both rows, and that is the whole point of its model. Adding two more people changes nothing, because the price tracks profiles rather than seats.

• ⚠️ Two cells in that table do not deliver the stated setup and are marked as such. Sprout Essentials caps at 5 social profiles, so it cannot do 8 or 16 at that price at all. Sendible Core is 6 profiles, so the 8-profile row uses Plus.

• None of this compares what the tools do. Later's Scale includes analytics and listening that Buffer's Team does not; Sprout's price buys an inbox neither includes. We have not tested any of them and no quality claim appears on this page.

• ⚠️ Every row is annual billing. On monthly, Later's rows become $25 and $110, and Buffer's become $48 and $192.

Where we fit, and where we do not

We make VoiceMoat, and it is not a Later replacement. Later is a scheduler with a visual calendar across eight platforms. We write posts for Twitter and LinkedIn in your own voice. If you are leaving Later over the post cap or the price, the answer on this page is Buffer or Sendible.

• ‼️ Said plainly: we have no Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest or Facebook publishing, no visual content calendar and no link in bio. Those are the reasons most people use Later.

• Where a writing tool is the right purchase is when the scheduling was never the hard part and the writing was.

• Our prices, on the same basis as every table above: Free at $0, Creator $35 a month, Pro $69, Enterprise $150, annual billed at ten times monthly so two months are free.

• Our free tier runs at 10 credits a day and exists to keep an account alive after a trial. It is not comparable to Buffer's free plan and we are not going to imply that it is.

Sources: VoiceMoat pricing.

What this page could not answer

Two tools that belong in an honest Later comparison are not priced here, because they did not serve us US dollars. They are named rather than quietly dropped.

• ‼️ Metricool served this machine euros and Publer served rupees. We do not convert prices, because a converted price is not the price the vendor charges, so neither appears in any table above.

• What Publer's free plan does tell you, in its own words, and it does not depend on currency: "3 social accounts (except 𝕏)" and "You cannot connect Twitter / X accounts in the free version."

• ‼️ This is a finding in itself. Three of the vendors we checked decided our currency for us without asking. Only Sendible offered a switcher. If you are outside the US, the number you see will not be the number in this article, and that is true of every published comparison of these tools, not just this one.

• Whether any of these tools is better than the others. We have not run them side by side and no claim about quality appears anywhere on this page.

• ⚠️ Prices change. Everything here was read on 27 August 2026 in both billing positions. Open the pricing page before you buy.

• We sell a competing product, which is why this page gives you each vendor's own numbers and the arithmetic rather than a verdict.