Buffer vs. Meta Business Suite

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Buffer
Score 8.4 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
Buffer is a social sharing tool. When browsing content, clicking on the Buffer icon automatically stores the content and schedules posts to social media channels throughout the day.
$0
Meta Business Suite
Score 6.6 out of 10
N/A
Formerly known as Facebook Business Suite or Facebook for Business, a solution for small businesses used to manage all business activity on Facebook, Messenger and Instagram from one place. It is presented as a one-stop shop where business owners can manage all marketing and advertising activities on Facebook and Instagram. It centralizes tools that help the user to connect with customers on all apps and get better business results.N/A
Pricing
BufferMeta Business Suite
Editions & Modules
Free
$0
Essentials
$6
per month per channel
Team
$12
per month per channel
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BufferMeta Business Suite
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsA discount is offered for annual billing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BufferMeta Business Suite
Considered Both Products
Buffer
Chose Buffer
Buffer is way easier to use and setup than Hubspot and Meta. You'd think Meta would make it easy to post on both Facebook and Instagram, but I have consistently run into issues when uploading files. I've never had an issue with Buffer.
Chose Buffer
Buffer is simple and easy to use and has a great free version.
Chose Buffer
Buffer is much more affordable than Hootsuite. Another benefit is that Buffer allows more accounts to be loaded onto the platform. Hootsuite charges in tiered levels based on how many accounts you want to load onto the software. This makes it difficult to schedule and post for …
Chose Buffer
Buffer's interface when logged in is more beautiful and easier to use than the others I've tried. Especially HighLevel which does a lot of other stuff as well - the difference with Buffer is that it is ONLY for social scheduling so it does that really well and the entire screen …
Chose Buffer
Buffer is way more user-friendly and gets straight to what I need to do. There is no frilly extra stuff—it's straight to the point. Buffer incorporates all the parts of the apps as well.
Chose Buffer
Hootsuite is good if you have the budget for social media baked into your communications budget/a communications budget in and of itself. Buffer is better for small teams, teams that may have a more limited budget or organizations that don't have a large social media …
Chose Buffer
They all solve the same problem. Buffer initially started as a way to post content without worrying about the "when". Just add to the queue, and Buffer would post at a specified cadence. Buffer's price point is very reasonable for the services that it offers. They've grown …
Chose Buffer
I think Sprout Social and Hootsuite provide more comprehensive tools and analytics, but they have more expensive plans that don't cater to businesses of all sizes. Plus, all of that complexity can make it hard to find what you're looking for. That's where Buffer excels. It's …
Chose Buffer
Buffer has a clear, easy to use interface and a reliable scheduling calendar.
Chose Buffer
Buffer had the best free version, but Zoho social had the most social media channels available in the price range.
Hootsuite was the tool we first wanted, but the price was considerably more, for tools we are not sure if we need at this time.
Chose Buffer
In my opinion, Hootsuite has it all, except TikTok, which hopefully will open up some sort of interface soon. It is a much smoother and more customizable experience. I have not had any posts missing after scheduling, like I have had with Buffer in my past experience. Just an …
Chose Buffer
Both software are good, but personally I like Buffer just because it is easy to use and it has good costumer support. Buffer lets me put my updates on a schedule so I can set it up for weeks at a time and then not have to worry.
Chose Buffer
Both of them are great at their own levels but I find Buffer quite easy to go and the way they perform every task is quite like my way of work so I personally like Buffer more, it has helped me save my most of the time hence improved my work efficiency and also the creativity …
Chose Buffer
We tried CloudCampaign and Social Bee (that wasn't on the list above) - and they all are good. Buffer is in a class of its own and super useful to individuals and companies alike.
Chose Buffer
We selected this tool to maintain the activity of publication in social networks at a low cost and good productivity, we consider that it adds to our objectives of brand awareness or discovery, since it allows us to keep our channels active with information and content that we …
Chose Buffer
Buffer and Hootsuite are considered as best tools for managing your social media accounts . The only difference which I feel between the two is Buffer is [more] focused on pre-scheduling and Hootsuite is a advanced version of Buffer you can say it allows you full -fledged …
Chose Buffer
I also used Combin which is easy and free to use. However, Combin only posts when the computer is active and connected to the internet. So, posting while you are not actively using your computer at that moment is not possible, therefore Buffer is much more efficient as you can …
Chose Buffer
Buffer is the first one I have used, and then I tried other platforms like Hootsuite, and HubSpot, but still, the other two haven't matched up to that level of ease and comfort, and the features I like of Buffer. So I switched back to Buffer.
Chose Buffer
Buffer has all the analytics tools and features that allow us to determine whether the result of our marketing is positive or negative. There are more complete alternatives, but Buffer is all I need at the moment.
Chose Buffer
Both Hootsuite and Buffer are excellent tools but they both target different users. If you're an individual user, small firm, or non-profit and you want to simplify your social media challenges, then Buffer is likely your best option. Hootsuite on the other hand is more likely …
Chose Buffer
The reason for selecting Buffer was mainly due to good UI and easy to use functionality. Hootsuite was not that user friendly and a bit complicated. Buffer is more straight forward and easy to use when you compare it with Hootsuite. Also, I like Buffer's mobile friendliness …
Chose Buffer
We have not used any other similar products to manage, organize, schedule, and analyze our social media posting. We have used other posting platforms within the channels themselves, however. Facebook is slightly more advanced than Buffer for posting on Facebook — but that is …
Chose Buffer
The price point is very affordable compared to other products that offer more features but charge a lot more. For my entire team, the price point has made it easy to get a good ROI. More than anything, it allows us to do what's necessary. Hootsuite definitely provides more …
Meta Business Suite
Chose Meta Business Suite
Meta Business Suite is a good paid media option that offers several features for building ad campaigns, which other paid media channels lack. The usability is generally good, but it probably isn't quite as intuitive as Google, as a comparison. LinkedIn is behind all of these …
Chose Meta Business Suite
There is literally no alternative to Meta Business Suite when it comes to adding Facebook and Instagram admins and access.
Chose Meta Business Suite
In my opinion the Google products give me a better result that I am looking for - which is what - but more of my customers need to be reached on the Meta Business Suite platforms, and that is where I need to be. We have to be where our customers are, not just the feedback that …
Chose Meta Business Suite
Meta Business Suite is super easy, and it's also free compared to Hootsuite. Hootsuite, in comparison, can manage a wider variety of platforms, but Meta crushes it for any of its native platforms that you add to the account. If you have Instagram or Facebook, you must have Meta …
Chose Meta Business Suite
I think Meta Business Suite is a great option especially for a smaller non-profit business like ours. I like that on a base level it is much more cost effective, whereas a platform like Hootsuite and SocialPilot cost a high monthly fee. I do with Meta Business Suite would …
Chose Meta Business Suite
In my opinion, all three platforms are much better - with the exception of their customer service (excluding HubSpot) - I think LinkedIn and Google are just as poor in this area.
Chose Meta Business Suite
Hootsuite is effective for scheduling posts across multiple social media feeds. Hootsuite offers Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok and Google Business Profile integration, and you can use Google Analytics with it, but it no longer offers a free plan.
W…
Chose Meta Business Suite
The backend platform of Meta Business Suite is a little more confusing and less configueable than other platforms. There is a little less intuitive navigation and certain tools are buried deep/nested in places that are not straightforward. Effective and efficient customer …
Chose Meta Business Suite
Compared to the other tools listed above, Meta Business Suite has good navigation, great interest audience-building tools, okay ad analytics, a great messaging system, and below-average customer support. We chose Meta Business Suite for its massive user base and for its …
Chose Meta Business Suite
Meta Business Suite has been much better, more effective, user friendly, and successful in helping us manage our business marketing though social media sites. Meta Business Suite helps manage multiple social media platforms and our marketing campaigns on them. Meta Business …
Chose Meta Business Suite
I believe since YouTube started with shorts, TikTok with their incentives for small businesses, and also Snapchat with their incentives for small businesses, it was time for Facebook/Meta to step up to the plate. Around late 2020/early 2021, Facebook/Meta offered small-business …
Chose Meta Business Suite
Facebook stacks up against them in terms of its service. I choose Facebook for Business since I use it for business for almost more than a year now and I need to say this it is the most best possible business tool definitely a must-have for all the businesses type.
Chose Meta Business Suite
Facebook for Business is free and linked in premium is a paid version for linked in. If you’re a startup Facebook is an excellent starting point. If you rely on networking or followers this one does an excellent job. Facebook integrates personal and business accounts so you’re …
Chose Meta Business Suite
I believe that Twitter Ads and Facebook for Business fill a very similar marketing space. Most of the users are browsing for recreational reasons and advertisements are mostly seen as an annoyance. It's very crucial to provide an add that is not just relevant to the user, but …
Chose Meta Business Suite
Facebook for Business has the best self-serve interface. It copied the capabilities and structure of Google and then surpassed it. They are the pioneers in the industry and the first to become compliant with iOS14.5, CCPA, GDPR and any other new regulations. We've found it hard …
Chose Meta Business Suite
There's nothing else like native Facebook Business Manager. Some 3rd party tools perform certain tasks more efficiently, but they aren't free.
Chose Meta Business Suite
Facebook for Business offers its unique platform, user reach, targeting and interest classifications that most other platforms fail to offer. It's ads management, with analytics, insights, etc. makes it offer three-sixty degree solutions, such as being a one-stop-shop for …
Chose Meta Business Suite
I have used HubSpot for creating forms to acquire leads. Now that Facebook lets me create forms right in their new Lead Ads, I can not only capture data, but I can also capture the leads' information. Currently that is the only tool that I have used or considered as an …
Chose Meta Business Suite
While we have tried to utilize other platforms for managing social media in the past, we have found that managing each social channel in its own platform is especially helpful. We want the content to be unique and it helps ensure that. You are generally presented with more …
Chose Meta Business Suite
Facebook for Business has the best ad platform. Creative options, control, data sharing, etc. Hands down the best.
Chose Meta Business Suite
We have a listing on Google Business where people can find us easily online, but Facebook makes it so much easier to interact directly with customers. Google Business is invaluable for one-off internet searches where people are looking either for us or for what we offer, but …
Chose Meta Business Suite
Echobox is very similar to Facebook for Business in that you can switch between Facebook pages and reschedule and edit posts. It’s a better form of Business, as we can quickly edit posts’ captions and images without having to wait 10 minutes to put them out, and we can tweak …
Chose Meta Business Suite
Facebook for Business is comparable in that it allows you to manage user permissions inside and outside your organization for the various accounts required to operate ads effectively on each respective platform. Facebook for Business offers less support for users than Google …
Features
BufferMeta Business Suite
Publishing
Comparison of Publishing features of Product A and Product B
Buffer
8.6
Ratings
7% above category average
Meta Business Suite
6.3
Ratings
24% below category average
Content planning and scheduling9.00 Ratings6.30 Ratings
Content optimization8.00 Ratings5.30 Ratings
Workflow management8.80 Ratings6.70 Ratings
Audience targeting00 Ratings6.90 Ratings
Reporting/analytics
Comparison of Reporting/analytics features of Product A and Product B
Buffer
8.3
Ratings
5% above category average
Meta Business Suite
6.3
Ratings
23% below category average
Campaign success analytics8.30 Ratings6.20 Ratings
Real-time tracking00 Ratings6.70 Ratings
Competitor analysis00 Ratings6.00 Ratings
Account management
Comparison of Account management features of Product A and Product B
Buffer
9.0
Ratings
12% above category average
Meta Business Suite
4.8
Ratings
50% below category average
Role-based user permissions & privileges9.00 Ratings4.80 Ratings
Mobile access9.00 Ratings4.70 Ratings
Listening/monitoring
Comparison of Listening/monitoring features of Product A and Product B
Buffer
-
Ratings
Meta Business Suite
4.7
Ratings
49% below category average
Boolean keyword searches00 Ratings4.00 Ratings
Filtering out noise/spam00 Ratings4.30 Ratings
Sentiment analysis00 Ratings5.00 Ratings
Broad channel coverage00 Ratings5.30 Ratings
Engagement
Comparison of Engagement features of Product A and Product B
Buffer
-
Ratings
Meta Business Suite
5.3
Ratings
40% below category average
Automated routing and prioritization00 Ratings5.80 Ratings
Customer interaction histories00 Ratings4.10 Ratings
Bulk actions00 Ratings6.00 Ratings
Marketing
Comparison of Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Buffer
-
Ratings
Meta Business Suite
7.0
Ratings
10% below category average
Lead generation00 Ratings5.90 Ratings
Content marketing00 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Paid media management00 Ratings7.50 Ratings
Campaigns and promotions00 Ratings7.20 Ratings
Channel coverage/integration
Comparison of Channel coverage/integration features of Product A and Product B
Buffer
-
Ratings
Meta Business Suite
6.2
Ratings
30% below category average
Twitter00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Facebook00 Ratings7.50 Ratings
LinkedIn00 Ratings5.00 Ratings
Google+00 Ratings4.50 Ratings
Instagram00 Ratings8.30 Ratings
Pinterest00 Ratings5.00 Ratings
YouTube00 Ratings5.00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BufferMeta Business Suite
Small Businesses
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
Score 10.0 out of 10
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
Score 10.0 out of 10
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Score 9.4 out of 10
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Score 9.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BufferMeta Business Suite
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(0 ratings)
5.3
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(0 ratings)
4.3
(0 ratings)
Availability
8.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(0 ratings)
3.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
6.1
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.6
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BufferMeta Business Suite
Likelihood to Recommend
It is a very interesting tool for entrepreneurs or CEOs of startups who do not have much time to manage social media communication and also have few resources at the beginning of their venture. It can also be convenient for small companies that do not have specific personnel with training in community management and require easy-to-use tools to carry out the basic actions of scheduled publication on social media.
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Meta Business Suite is great if you are a business that is heavily reliant on paid media performance. It is also a great platform if we are looking to scale paid performance and look to send partnership ads live with existent creators and influencers we are working with.
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Pros
  • I can plan and publish content on social channels.
  • Buffer's interface is quite tidy and generates the necessary facilities to save us time in publishing consistent content.
  • It has a special price; it is pretty affordable.
  • It has the possibility of integrating with other tools to improve its functions.
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  • Allows you to upload current email lists and drive ads to them more passively than email.
  • Audience segmentation tools make it easy to target prospects based on actions taken on specific pages.
  • Lookalike tools allow you to build new prospect lists based on common interests of your current clients.
  • The ability to test multiple variations of ads against each other and report on them directly from the dashboard simplifies the decision-making process to optimize advertising efforts.
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Cons
  • Analytics-- The analytics on the Pro plan are limited at best. You can simply review your posts from the past 30 days, but you can't access any analysis (or even simple tallying of Likes, Shares, etc.) without upgrading to the Premium or Business plans, which are otherwise more than we need at the moment.
  • Publish+Reply+Analyze-- It's a bit tedious to have these basic social media functions/tools separated out as three distinct products, as well as overkill for a small nonprofit without a dedicated social media team. I imagine each tool is good at its job if you need 'em.
  • Linking to Accounts-- Buffer seems to lose touch with Facebook and LinkedIn somewhat frequently. It's vaguely annoying but very simple to fix, so I just roll with it.
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  • Reporting, especially as you drill down. For example, it won't show you purchases by region or hour of the day.
  • Consistency has been an issue. Top-performing campaigns/ad sets/ads will hit a wall overnight for no apparent reason.
  • Cloning ads doesn't work between certain campaign types. It seems like they could make it so that even a partial copy can be made, with other required fields left empty.
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Likelihood to Renew
Ease of use, affordability, time saved and just love for the app and the team. It's not a miracle tool that will suddenly increase your company's value or leads, you still need to put in quality posts, thoughts and content but when used regularly and with thought, you'll be happy in the long run
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We have to continue using this tool in order to be effective on this marketing platform. Though there are several changes I wish we could see, the fact is that we will still need to use this product to provide customers with the information they need.
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Usability
Easy enough to use even my boss got it right away. It helps to off-set the workload to less active times, and we can preschedule way in advance, which also helps to keep the team on track as we know what we have planned and want to reach our milestones before posts go online.
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The main barriers is that Facebook has stitched together so many legacy systems and verifications and whatnot that it's sometimes hard to onboard new people or get all of the accounts to work together. Once it does, it does work very well.
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Reliability and Availability
Buffer is always on hand and very reliable, their software suite rarely has outages
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I've only dealt with the API having issues a couple times, but as you can imagine an outage is not something an advertiser would find acceptable, especially during any ecommerce-heavy time of year. The overall platform could use some help with availability when it comes to authentication, as it struggles with consistency in authentication.
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Performance
Buffer performs well on both desktop and mobile platforms. The one area as I have stated before is that it does not always want to automatically push to Instagram and the user will have to go do it manually. Buffer works very well pushing to other platforms. The instagram issue is the only reason buffer does not get a 10 on this section
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There are a lot of shortcomings when it comes to performance. There are pages that I do not expect to have much information to load on the page, yet it takes an incredibly long time (10+ secondes). I have not had experience with the integration slowing other platforms down too much.
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Support Rating
  1. It really helped to my business to grow online.
  2. I was able to take actions mindfully as the analytics are damn good.
  3. Also used for managing clients social media accounts and it proved to be a best resource.
  4. Clients were really happy as they got high demand and growth on internet and the secret is Buffer.
  5. The user interface is really easy to understand and manage. Support is 24/7 available to help.
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I've found the Facebook for Business support to be hit or miss. For billing questions they're timely and helpful. For complex questions about specific services I've often received a longer wait and a less helpful experience. I'm often redirected to their docs, which are often not particularly helpful.
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Implementation Rating
We were very satisfied with the implementation of Buffer. We had no issues switching from the platform that we were using over to buffer. Our staff did not even miss a beat when it came to posting content. It was an easy transition and I feel that is something that buffer has really done well. They have an "out of the box" usability platform
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If you don't want to display your feed to your boss before going over scheduled posts for the week, use the Business site and it will be less awkward instantly. Having someone lean over your shoulder is always a bit awkward, you think about how you smell, maybe consider offering them gum because they have bad breath
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Alternatives Considered
Both of them are great at their own levels but I find Buffer quite easy to go and the way they perform every task is quite like my way of work so I personally like Buffer more, it has helped me save my most of the time hence improved my work efficiency and also the creativity they put into my work is outstanding. The support I get whenever I run into problems they provide a quick response every time.
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Meta Business Suite is a good paid media option that offers several features for building ad campaigns, which other paid media channels lack. The usability is generally good, but it probably isn't quite as intuitive as Google, as a comparison. LinkedIn is behind all of these platforms, as its ad features are not as advanced. Overall, Meta is highly ranked.
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Scalability
Buffer does what it say on tin as they say! you can always count on Buffer. Buffer can be scale to 25 social account with 2,000 scheduled post which is enough for most agencies or businesses
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This product is definitely able to run at scale, but it would be wise to have enough eyeballs to oversee it and the tools for keeping the campaigns, adsets, and ads organized could use some improvement. I can also see the UI interfering with usability at greater amounts of scale.
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Return on Investment
  • It has saved money by allowing us to automate our social using one person
  • It allows us to connect one channel at a time instead of wasting money on larger account management tools
  • We are making money, because it has already delivered several clients
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  • Definitely has a positive ROI with increasing sales, but beware because it's not easy to measure on every stage of the funnel (how much does an ad in the very top of the funnel should be accounted for on a sale?). Attribution is hard sometimes.
  • Managing is expensive and time-consuming. So far we haven't been able to find any solution to automate this. We are using automatic rules but you still need to be on top of things (considering how much budget we are spending on this).
  • Beware on Facebook suspending your account. As I said before, the suspension was completely unjustified (they ended up activating it again) but don't over-rely on this platform because they just don't care if you spend your money there or elsewhere. They just don't give a damn about the customer (you).
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ScreenShots

Buffer Screenshots

Screenshot of The Buffer dashboardScreenshot of Customizable posting scheduleScreenshot of Tailored PostsScreenshot of List or calendar view of scheduled postsScreenshot of Browser extensionScreenshot of Social media analytics