Buffer vs. SocialBee

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
SocialBee
Score 1.0 out of 10
N/A
SocialBee is an AI-powered social media management tool that empowers its customers to share content across multiple social networks from one place. Using such a tool, the user can set a posting schedule, have content shared as planned, and then analyze the performance of their accounts. Supported platforms: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Google my Business, TikTok, YouTube, and Bluesky. The AI Copilot can generate an entire social…
$29
per month
Pricing
BufferSocialBee
Editions & Modules
Free
$0
Essentials
$6
per month per channel
Team
$12
per month per channel
Bootstrap
$29
per month
Accelerate
$49
per month
Pro
$99
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BufferSocialBee
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsA discount is offered for annual billing.A discount is offered for annual billing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BufferSocialBee
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 …
SocialBee
Chose SocialBee
SocialBee provides multiple features that you can get from other multiple different tools. It's kinda all in one solution for social media management. So cost-wise, it saves us a lot of money. It is also from a stable company with a sufficient MRR that helps with the security …
Features
BufferSocialBee
Publishing
Comparison of Publishing features of Product A and Product B
Buffer
8.6
Ratings
7% above category average
SocialBee
9.3
Ratings
15% above category average
Content planning and scheduling9.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Content optimization8.00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Workflow management8.80 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Reporting/analytics
Comparison of Reporting/analytics features of Product A and Product B
Buffer
8.3
Ratings
5% above category average
SocialBee
8.0
Ratings
1% above category average
Campaign success analytics8.30 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Account management
Comparison of Account management features of Product A and Product B
Buffer
9.0
Ratings
12% above category average
SocialBee
8.5
Ratings
6% above category average
Role-based user permissions & privileges9.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Mobile access9.00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Engagement
Comparison of Engagement features of Product A and Product B
Buffer
-
Ratings
SocialBee
10.0
Ratings
23% above category average
Bulk actions00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Channel coverage/integration
Comparison of Channel coverage/integration features of Product A and Product B
Buffer
-
Ratings
SocialBee
10.0
Ratings
17% above category average
Twitter00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Facebook00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
LinkedIn00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Google+00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Instagram00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Pinterest00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BufferSocialBee
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
BufferSocialBee
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
8.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
6.1
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.6
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BufferSocialBee
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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SocialBee is very ideal for busy individuals or small agencies that are not privileged with time. Social media management can be one of the most tedious tasks in anybody's business. SocialBee covers the majority of the tasks. Set it up once and you're done (practically forever) With all its powerful features though, it can be a little more complicated for a non-techie person. If your requirements are just simple post-scheduling, you can use other alternatives.
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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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  • All major social platforms are available.
  • Posts can be organized per category, per client.
  • Hashtag organizer.
  • Links manager, with integrations to popular link shortener tools (we use Switchy, and it works smoothly)
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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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  • Though it's not clunky, it can improve on the loading speeds while working.
  • The UI/UX can be further improved (nice and neat instead of big cards especially on the categories page)
  • I would love it if the scheduler can be expanded into 2-weeks or monthly range. So we can post categories that are on a 2x a month and 1x a month frequency.
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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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No answers on this topic
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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Currently, SocialBee is the only software that we use for our social media clients, the confidence that we have for SB is above the fold. It saves us a lot of time and business management is easy because it's highly quantifiable with the client as to the number of posts, schedules, and results.
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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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No answers on this topic
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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No answers on this topic
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 have encountered their support just a couple of times since the platform is very straightforward for me. But on those occasions, it was so smooth. They responded to my concerns in just a few hours. Not too many companies offer that convenience nowadays. Plus, they do live webinars regularly which is totally amazing!
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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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No answers on this topic
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.
Read full review
SocialBee provides multiple features that you can get from other multiple different tools. It's kinda all in one solution for social media management. So cost-wise, it saves us a lot of money. It is also from a stable company with a sufficient MRR that helps with the security and development of the software.
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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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No answers on this topic
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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  • It provides us higher margin because it requires minimal resources.
  • Lesser working time means more marketing and leads generation time.
  • Very cost efficient solution.
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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