Social media tools price in four ways, and which one you're on decides whether your software bill grows with your client list. Worked examples at 40 and 100 accounts, with list prices checked in November 2026.
An agency's software bill should be a line it rarely thinks about. With most social media tools it's the opposite: the bill moves each time you sign a client, hire someone or open a location. Which way it moves depends on what the tool charges for.
The four pricing models
| Model | Your bill grows when | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Per person | Someone joins the team | Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Agorapulse |
| Per account | You connect another social account | Buffer |
| Per brand or workspace | You add a client or a location | Metricool, Planable |
| Per plan | You move up a plan | FlashPosts |
None of these is wrong. Per person suits a small team running a few large brands. Per account suits a freelancer with a handful of channels. They get expensive in the situation agencies and multi-location brands are in: many accounts, run by a small team, with the count going up.
What it comes to
Two typical buyers: an agency with 10 clients and 4 accounts each (40 accounts, 3 people), and a brand with 50 locations, each with a Facebook Page and an Instagram account (100 accounts, 5 people). Cheapest self-serve plan that fits, US dollars a month before tax.
| Tool | 40 accounts, 3 people | 100 accounts, 5 people |
|---|---|---|
| FlashPosts | $19 (Pro) | $49 (Agency) |
| Hootsuite | $597 | $995 |
| Buffer | up to $400 | up to $1,000 |
| Metricool | $53 to $67 | $159 to $210 |
| Planable | $330 | $490, or an Enterprise quote |
List prices were read from each company's pricing page on 9 November 2026. Hootsuite's are billed annually; Buffer discounts channels past the tenth by an amount it doesn't publish; Metricool's lower figure is with annual billing. The working for each is on its comparison page: Hootsuite, Buffer, Metricool and Planable.
What the headline number hides
Networks. Check that the plan covers every network you post to, and how. Metricool sells X as an add-on, Buffer adds channels such as Mastodon and Substack, and FlashPosts covers ten networks on every plan. The cheapest tool that can't post where your clients are isn't cheap.
Which features sit on which plan. Approvals, inboxes and client reports are often reserved for higher plans. Hootsuite puts approvals on Advanced, Metricool puts team management on Advanced, Buffer puts approvals and branded reports on Team, and Planable requires Pro before an approval can be made mandatory. FlashPosts has the same features on every plan, Free included.
Caps that aren't in the headline. Hootsuite's Standard plan stops at 10 accounts. Planable allows 60 posts a month per workspace on Basic and 150 on Pro. Metricool's brand is one business with at most one profile per network.
Annual or monthly. Several pricing pages lead with the annual rate. Paying monthly usually costs more.
Questions to ask before you choose
- What will this cost when we have twice as many clients?
- What exactly counts as an account, a brand or a workspace?
- Which plan has the features we need, not just the price we like?
- Is there a cap on posts, accounts or people inside the plan?
- Is the price shown monthly or annual?
Frequently asked questions
Why do social media tools charge per account?
Because the cost of serving a customer grows roughly with what they connect and publish, and per-account pricing tracks it. For an agency, it means each new client raises the bill.
What is the cheapest social media scheduling tool for agencies?
For many accounts, a flat-price plan costs least of the tools compared here: FlashPosts is $19 a month for 40 accounts and $49 for unlimited, with approvals and client reports included. Whichever you choose, compare the plan you'd actually need, not the cheapest one on the page.
Is per-user or per-account pricing better for an agency?
Per-user pricing is better when a few people run many accounts; per-account pricing is better when many people share a few. Most agencies are the first kind, which is why per-account pricing tends to cost them more as they grow.