Later built its name on Instagram, and it's still good at it. But there's no free plan on its pricing page, Starter caps you at 30 posts per profile, and you need Growth for a second user. If you're hunting for the best Later alternative for Instagram and TikTok scheduling, the right pick depends on who you are: a solo creator, a brand or an agency.
Quick answer: creators on a budget should look at GoBrandIt or Publer, both with free plans that cover Instagram and TikTok. Brands that live on reports should look at Metricool. And if link in bio and a visual grid are the heart of your setup, Later is still hard to beat.
Every competitor price below comes from the vendor's own site, checked on 13 October 2026.
The short version
Later Starter is $18.75 a month billed yearly: 1 social set, 1 user, 30 posts per profile. No free plan is listed.
Best free Later alternatives for Instagram and TikTok: GoBrandIt and Publer.
Best for reports: Metricool. Best for a visual Instagram grid: Planoly, or Later itself.
Meta Business Suite and TikTok's own scheduler are free, but each only covers its own app.
What Later costs and what you get
Plan
Price (billed yearly)
Social sets
Users
Posts per profile
Starter
$18.75/mo
1 (8 profiles)
1
30
Growth
$37.50/mo
2 (16 profiles)
2
180
Scale
$82.50/mo
6 (48 profiles)
4
Unlimited
A social set is one profile on each network Later supports: Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Pinterest, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube and Snapchat. Annual billing saves 25% against monthly, every plan has a 14-day trial, and Starter can't buy extra users or sets. Source: Later's pricing page.
For Instagram and TikTok specifically, Later auto-publishes to Instagram business and creator accounts and to TikTok on every plan. It includes link in bio with unlimited buttons and best-time-to-post suggestions for both networks. Instagram product tagging starts on Growth.
What Instagram and TikTok creators need from a scheduler
Reels, Stories and carousels, not just feed photos
TikTok settings (privacy, comments, Duet, Stitch) chosen before you schedule
A separate caption per network, because a TikTok caption and an Instagram caption rarely match
First comment, for hashtags or a link
Best time to post based on your own audience
A calendar that shows the whole week at a glance
Price comes after that. A cheap tool that can't publish a Reel just moves the work back to your phone.
The best Later alternative for Instagram and TikTok scheduling, compared
Tool
Free plan
Instagram + TikTok
Paid from
GoBrandIt
3 accounts, 15 posts
Feed, Reels, Stories; full TikTok settings
$4.99/mo
Publer
3 accounts, 10 posts each
Feed, Reels, Stories; TikTok videos and carousels
Per account
Metricool
1 brand, 20 posts a month
Both on free
$20/mo, yearly
Buffer
3 channels, 10 posts each
Both
$5/channel/mo, yearly
Planoly
10 uploads a month (mobile)
Auto-posts where allowed
$14/mo
Pallyy
15 posts a month, images only
Images on free
$25/mo
Later
None listed
Auto-publishes both
$18.75/mo, yearly
Tip
Before you switch, schedule one Reel and one TikTok on the new tool's free plan or trial. If either fails, you've lost nothing.
Seven Later alternatives, reviewed
1. GoBrandIt: best free option for creators and small brands
Full disclosure: it's ours. Instagram and Facebook posts go out as a feed post, Reel or Story, and "Also share to Story" sends one post to the feed and Stories together. You can add Instagram collaborators and a first comment. TikTok posts carry privacy, comments, Duet, Stitch and content disclosure settings. Carousels of up to 10 pages come from the Social Designer, and "Adapt with AI" turns one caption into a TikTok version and an Instagram version.
Free covers 3 accounts and 15 scheduled posts. Creator is $4.99 a month for 10 accounts and 30 scheduled posts. Best time to post suggestions kick in once you have about 10 posts with stats from the past year. Later's link in bio tool is a real plus, so if it's central to how you sell, factor that in. Details on our Instagram and TikTok integration pages.
2. Publer: best for carousels on a budget
Publer auto-posts to Instagram feeds, Reels and Stories, and publishes TikTok videos and carousels. Its feed preview for Instagram and TikTok lets you drag posts to rearrange them, which is the closest thing to Later's grid on this list. Free gives you 3 accounts (no X), 10 scheduled posts per account and 1 user. Published posts are only kept for 24 hours on free.
3. Metricool: best for reports
Metricool's free plan connects one Instagram and one TikTok account under one brand, with up to 20 scheduled posts a month. Starter, at $20 a month on yearly billing, covers up to 5 brands and adds analytics with unlimited history and a Canva integration. If you report to a boss or a client every month, that's the reason to pick it.
4. Buffer: best for simple, steady posting
Buffer counts each Instagram or TikTok account as one channel. Free covers 3 channels with 10 scheduled posts each, and Essentials is $5 a month per channel on yearly billing. It's the plainest tool here, which is the point. If you post three times a week and want a clean queue, Buffer does it without fuss.
5. Planoly: best for a visual Instagram grid
Planoly is grid-first, like Later. Starter is $14 a month for one social set and one user, Growth is $24 for two of each, and Pro is $47 for six. The free plan lives in the mobile app with 10 uploads a month. Planoly says it auto-posts when platforms allow it and sends you a push notification to post natively when they don't.
6. Pallyy: simple and cheap, images on free
Pallyy's free plan gives you one social set and 15 scheduled posts a month, image posts only. For Reels and TikTok videos you'll need a paid plan, which starts with Pro at $25 a month.
7. Native tools: Meta Business Suite and TikTok's scheduler
Both are free. Meta Business Suite schedules posts and Stories to your Facebook Page and Instagram account. TikTok's business blog says you can schedule from the web upload page anywhere from 15 minutes to 10 days ahead, and that desktop scheduling needs a Business Account. Fine for one account each. Painful once you're juggling three apps and two calendars.
Where Later is still the better buy
Link in bio with unlimited buttons on every plan, plus up to 5 links on Instagram feed posts
Social sets: one Starter set covers eight profiles across eight networks
Instagram and TikTok best-time suggestions on every plan
Instagram product tagging and UGC collection from Growth up
Up to 2 years of analytics history on Scale
If your shop sells straight from Instagram, product tagging alone might keep you on Later. Our GoBrandIt vs Later comparison goes through the rest feature by feature.
Which one should you pick?
Solo creator, tight budget: GoBrandIt Free or Publer Free.
Small brand on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook: GoBrandIt Creator, $50 a year for 10 accounts.
Brand that reports monthly: Metricool Starter.
Grid-first Instagram account: Planoly, or stay on Later.
Shop that tags products: Later Growth.
A real-world example: a Pokhara trekking company posting Reels and TikToks three times a week, plus a Facebook Page and a Google Business Profile, would pay $50 a year on GoBrandIt Creator for all four accounts, with logins for the owner and a guide. If you're setting up for the first time, our guides on scheduling Instagram posts and scheduling TikTok videos walk you through it.
Schedule Reels, Stories and TikToks from one composer
Start free with 3 accounts and no card. Paid plans come with a 14-day free trial.
Frequently asked questions
Does Later have a free plan?
Later's pricing page lists three paid plans, Starter, Growth and Scale, each with a 14-day free trial. It doesn't list a permanent free plan.
What is cheaper than Later for Instagram?
GoBrandIt Creator ($4.99 a month or $50 a year), Buffer Essentials ($5 per channel a month, billed yearly) and Planoly Starter ($14 a month) all cost less than Later Starter at $18.75 a month billed yearly.
Can I schedule Instagram and TikTok posts for free?
Yes. GoBrandIt, Publer, Metricool and Buffer all let you connect Instagram and TikTok on their free plans, with limits on scheduled posts. Meta Business Suite and TikTok's own web scheduler are free for their own apps.
What is a social set in Later?
One profile on each network Later supports, such as one Instagram, one TikTok and one Facebook. Starter includes one set, Growth two and Scale six.
Which Later alternative is best for Reels?
Pick a tool that publishes Reels directly instead of sending a reminder. GoBrandIt and Publer both publish Instagram Reels and Stories.
Sources: Later pricing · Publer plans · Metricool pricing · Buffer pricing · Planoly pricing · Pallyy pricing · Meta Business Suite help: create and manage posts · TikTok for Business: Video Scheduler. Prices and features checked October 2026. Tools change their plans often, so confirm on their own pricing page before you buy.