Sked social vs. buffer

The Buffer alternative for visual-first social media marketers

Buffer is for text-based social media such as Twitter and LinkedIn. With Sked Social’s visual planner, real auto-posting, and unlimited users — your team can work together and dominate Instagram with scroll-stopping visual content.

We’re Instagram-first, not Instagram-only

Cross-post everything, everywhere. Repurpose Instagram posts in a couple of clicks, or create original content for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok and more.

”Sked makes it easier to post to multiple social platforms and tailor the media and copy for each accordingly. The visual planner is a great tool for strategy and overall look/feel.”

Mark King
CryptoStreet Academy

”Sked makes planning social media content (specifically for Instagram) extremely easy, and I love the calendar and feed view so I can get an idea of what our feed will look like.”

Riley Schnepf
Junebug Weddings

Executing on a visual content strategy is different, and Buffer isn’t built for it

Buffer was founded in 2010, when Twitter and LinkedIn were for business and Instagram was for documenting everyday moments. They bolted on Instagram support after it took off, but never adapted the platform to the realities of planning, creating, and collaborating on visual content.

Sked Social was built from the ground up for Instagram-first (not only) brands and agencies. Content creation, planning, publishing, and collaboration feel natural for anyone who lives in Instagram.

Visual-first marketers say Buffer “falls short”

Buffer wasn’t built with Instagram in mind and it shows. You can’t plan your feed’s aesthetic in advance, collaboration and approval workflows are “clunky,” and managing multiple Instagram accounts is described as “a problem.”

”It doesn’t work well with Instagram. I always need go there separately and approve the post.”

Verified Buffer review on G2

”If [ ... ] you have multiple clients and multiple internal and external stakeholders, this platform falls short.”

Verified Buffer review on G2

”Scheduling drafts for approval is incredibly clunky and hard to use.”

Verified Buffer review on G2

”The preview function doesn’t show an accurate representation of how content will actually look once posted.”

Verified Buffer review on G2

” Videos don’t seem to be published correctly. Also, you can’t post multiple images to an Instagram post.”

Verified Buffer review on G2

”Connecting to Instagram is tricky. Instagram has to be linked to a FB account. This can be a problem if you’re using multiple Insta accounts.”

Verified Buffer review on G2

sked social

Sked Social is the first and sometimes only platform to ship the features you need

Plan a pixel-perfect Insta feed weeks in advance

With Buffer, you can schedule images to auto-post, but you won’t really know what your Instagram feed will look like in advance.

With Sked, you can drag and drop content onto a perfect copy of your Instagram feed. Move content around until your aesthetic is just right, and trust that each post will go out on the date and time you’ve assigned to each slot.

Auto-post Stories (for real)

Buffer sends you a notification to manually post Stories. With Sked, Stories post automatically at the scheduled time, just like basic image posts.

”Sked Social consistently and successfully auto-publishes both carousel & video posts toInstagram. The ability to schedule stories is just the icing on the cake.”

Catherine Mendez
Digital Marketing Strategist

Sell more with shoppable tags

Send people to your product pages by scheduling posts with shoppable tags. No more manually adding tags to posts before they go live.

”Our favourite feature is being able to schedule the shopping tag. This has directed customers straight to our website and in many cases has resulted in an instant purchase.”

Nicola Payne
Oklahoma Ltd.

Easily fill your content calendar

Find trending hashtags, collect user-generated content, and save images to your Sked library for later. Then, drop content into our planner, add a caption and a first comment with hashtags, and you’re done.

”It’s almost effortless to do collections and stories from my desktop. No other tool comes close.”

Elaine Vydra
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Optimize your Stories and Reels

Get insights from Stories and Reels — not just posts. See likes, plays, reach, shares, total interactions and more. Plus, you can see how you compare to your competitors.

”As Instagram has evolved, not all scheduling platforms have kept up. Sked Social has allowed us to stay current with our customer's needs, and now, to also explore usage data via their new Analytics feature.”

Victor Machado
PW Digital Agency

sked social

Everything you need to collaborate with teams and clients on visual content

Sked inbox

Triage responses to DMs, comments, and posts you’re tagged in across accounts

With our new social inbox, you can see all mentions across multiple accounts in one place — no more logging in and out of accounts.

Then, you can work with your team to reply to DMs, chime in on comments you’re mentioned in, and engage with posts you’re tagged in. This is how Sked customers turn their faceless brands into engaging ones.

Collaborate

Add unmissable feedback

Email and Slack messages get missed. Instead, tag team members, and provide feedback and suggestions in the same place your team collaborates on visual content — inside Sked.

”Sked has allowed our social media team to more effectively create storylines and arcs and coordinate with our marketing team through its engaging layout and useful planning tools.”

Samantha Lin
360 Painting

external review

Make clients part of your team

Invite clients to Sked Social to plan, create, and publish content together. Set custom permissions and access so they can only contribute in the way you need them to, and they’ll only see what you want them to see.

”We can go ahead and schedule content in advance and add it to the planner, and then the client can jump in, make any necessary changes, and then approve posts.”

Ashley Hunt
Foodshot

custom workflows

No more chasing approvals

Get work approved faster by internal and external stakeholders. Set up custom approval workflows designed with visual content in mind, and everyone will know who needs to do what and when to get content across the finish line.

”Sked Social has helped us streamline our entire Instagram social media process. No other social media scheduling platform allows us to do this and we’ve tried them all.”

James Breese
Strength Matters

4-minute response times

Invite unlimited team members and clients to work with you at no extra cost. Now you can build a visual content dream team without sharing logins or paying per seat.

1:1 onboarding is included

Give clients a premium experience with a client portal that matches your brand. Now they can review and approve work without logging in or learning to use a new tool.

Over 10,000 Instagram-first agencies and brands trust Sked Social

Compare Buffer’s and Sked Social’s Instagram capabilities

Buffer
Users
Users
$199+/month per extra users
Unlimited users
at no extra cost
Users
  • Visual planner
  • Auto-post stories
  • Auto-post link stickers
  • Shoppable tags
  • Branded client portal
  • Link in Bio
  • Instagram first comments
  • Supported platforms
  • buffer
  • Not available
  • Get reminders and post manually
  • Manually add them after publishing
  • Not available
  • Not available
  • See how your feed looks before posts go live
  • 100% automatic posting – no notifications
  • 100% automatic posting
  • Send traffic to your product pages
  • Build an on-brand experience for clients
  • Add links to anywhere on the web
  • Schedule first comments with hashtags included

Get to know our support and success teams by name

Buffer
Users
Users
$199+/month per extra users
Unlimited users
at no extra cost
Users
  • Customer support
  • Phone support
  • Onboarding support
  • Customer success manager
  • buffer
  • Email and social media support only
  • Not available
  • Self-service knowledge base
  • Not available
  • 24/7 live chat and email support
  • Talk to areal person when you need it
  • Get one-on-one training
  • Get a dedicated success manager

Get a free 1-on-1 session to help set up your account when you switch

buffer vs. sked social

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I auto-post to Instagram without checking the app?
Is Sked Social limited to Instagram scheduling?
Does Sked Social have a free plan?
How does Buffer's and Sked Social's pricing compare?
How many users can I add to my Sked Social account?
What kind of customer support do I get with Sked Social?

Later vs. buffer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I auto-post to Instagram without checking the app?

You can. Sked Social automatically publishes your posts without you lifting a finger.Your carousels, reels, and stories too. Be it at 2 AM or 2 PM, your posts go out exactly when you schedule them. No more annoying push notifications telling you to log in and post manually.

Is Sked Social limited to Instagram scheduling?

While it’s true we’re built with Instagram-first brands and agencies in mind, you can also schedule and cross-post content to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, and Google Business Profile.

Does Sked Social have a free plan?

You can try Sked Social risk-free for 7 days. To learn more about our pricing plans, click here.

How does post approval work in Sked Social?

Our post approval workflow makes getting work done as a team easy. Add content to your branded portal — which clients can use without logging in — and get approval from internal and external stakeholders. You can create custom, multi-step approval workflows that fit the way you work, like requesting sign-off from your lead designer before the client sees your work.

How many users can I add to my Sked Social account?

With Sked Social, you get unlimited users on the Essentials and Professional plans, starting at just $75/month. Users can be your team, freelancers, agency partners, or clients.

What kind of customer support do I get with Sked Social?

The kind of customer support that puts you on a first-name basis with our team. Our Essentials plan includes 24/7 live chat and email support with a 4-minute response time on average. The Professional plan includes phone support. Go annual and you get a dedicated customer success manager.