Buffer alternative
Buffer keeps posting simple. Add a teammate, a client or a second network and Sked already has approvals, a shared inbox, listening and AI built in.
Everything you outgrew Buffer for.
One workspace for scheduling, approvals, the inbox and reporting across every network. Start free, no credit card.
14-day free trial. No credit card required.
| Feature | Sked | Buffer |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A full workspace: ideas, scheduling, inbox, approvals, and analytics. | A simple publishing queue, strong for solo posting. |
| Approval workflows | Advanced approvals and no-login review portals from Accelerate, an add-on on Grow. | Basic approvals, and only on the Team tier. |
| Social listening | Included on the Accelerate plan, with up to 20 competitors tracked. | Not available. |
| Brand-trained AI | Captions in your voice across the whole workflow, plus report commentary. | A generic AI caption assistant. |
| Networks | Every major network from one calendar, with Stories and first comment. | Queue-first publishing, priced per channel. |
| Pricing as you grow | One plan price. Basic is $29/mo; Grow is $69/mo for a team of 3. | Cheap to start, but per-channel pricing climbs as your roster grows. |
Where Sked pulls ahead
Pre-production approvals, no-login client review portals, and an ideas board with pillar tags. The work before and after the post, not just the post.
Brand-trained AI drafts in your voice, up to 20 competitors tracked on Accelerate, and AI-written report commentary. Included, not premium add-ons.
One plan price with included seats, instead of a per-channel bill that multiplies as your roster grows.
The Basic plan runs as fast as Buffer for solo users. When your team grows, the approvals, AI, and listening are already there. Start a 14-day free trial, no credit card required.
Approvals
Route posts for sign-off, collect feedback with no-login review portals, and publish once approved. Buffer keeps this on its top tier; Sked includes advanced approvals from Accelerate.
Holiday gift boxes are open for pre-order: seeded rye, chocolate babka, house granola and a jar of hot honey butter, $58. Limited to 80 boxes. Order at the counter or through the link in bio. Pre-orders close the 18th, or when they're gone. Local delivery available the final week before the holidays. #giftideas #holidayshopping #shoplocal
five years of salt theory this month. we started with one suit and a folding table at a saturday market. there's a pattern room now, and eleven pieces, and all of you. thank you. anniversary offer drops next week. waitlist hears first, link in bio. and if you were one of our first hundred orders, check your inbox this week. #fiveyears #smallbusiness
Some news: from next month, our counter coffee comes from Cooper Lane Roasters, a small-batch roastery 11 streets away. We tried nine local roasters before picking. Their medium roast plus one of our morning buns is the best $9 breakfast in the neighbourhood. Retail bags hit our shelf the same week, $19. #localcoffee #shoplocal
We're hiring a Head Coach for Dockside. Lead a team of five, own the programming calendar, coach the floor daily. This is not a clipboard job. 5+ years coaching strength and experience developing coaches required. Salary range is in the posting. Full details on our careers page, and applications close end of month. Know someone perfect? Send this their way.
This weekend's specials: cardamom knots, pear and frangipane tart, and the breakfast pie is back. The pie sells out every single week, usually before 10am. Want a sure thing? Pre-order at the counter by Friday close. Doors at 7, Saturday and Sunday. #weekendbaking #breakfastpie #bakerylife
Saturday: Riverside Market, stall 14, 8am until sold out. New this week: rye crackers made from offcuts of the seeded loaf, $6 a bag, great with the cheddar from the dairy stall next to us. Zero waste, very good snack. Come tell us what you think.
Winter menu lands Wednesday. New: braised leek and gruyere danish, a darker city loaf, and hot honey butter for the morning buns. Full list goes up on the board and here at 9am, and we'll be sampling the danish at the counter all morning. The favourites aren't going anywhere. We're just adding.
Buffer is a great way to keep a queue moving. Sked is the workspace around it, so growing past a solo queue does not mean migrating to yet another tool.
Reporting
Track performance across every channel and send a clean, branded report on a schedule, with AI-written commentary.
Trusted by 10,000+ brands and agencies
In short
Buffer customers usually outgrow the tool at three points: approvals, reporting depth and per-channel pricing. Sked Social picks up there with pre-production approvals, no-login client review portals, an ideas board with pillar tags, brand-trained AI and competitor listening, priced per plan with included seats instead of per channel. The entry plan stays as fast as Buffer for solo use.
What teams say
“Sked saves me between five and ten hours a week. And in the past, it also saved me from having to hire another person.”
“Sked Social is so easy to use. I can knock out a week's worth of content in less than 30 minutes.”
FAQs
Not at the entry level, and we will not pretend otherwise. Buffer is one of the cheapest ways to post to a single channel, and if that is all you need, it is a fine choice. Sked earns its price the moment you add a teammate, a client, or a second network, because approvals, a shared inbox, listening, and brand-trained AI are included rather than bolted on. Buffer's per-channel pricing also climbs as your roster grows, so the gap narrows fast for teams.
Buffer keeps the queue simple. Sked adds the work around the post: approval workflows, no-login client review portals, an ideas board, social listening, and brand-trained AI for captions and report commentary. It is the workspace a growing team reaches for once one queue stops being enough.
Most teams move over in a weekend. You connect your social profiles, rebuild your posting schedule with bulk upload and the content library, and invite your team. Our support team helps you get set up so nothing slips while you transition.
Sked publishes to eight native channels, including Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, X, and Google Business Profile, with first-comment posting, Stories, and link-in-bio, and Threads and Snapchat via notification-based publishing. You plan every channel from one calendar instead of jumping between tabs.
Yes. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial, and no credit card is required to begin.
Try Sked free for 14 days. No credit card, no lock-in. Just the connected workspace your team has been asking for.
Can we swap the second photo? Otherwise good to go.