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Comparison

A Publer alternative that is API-first, not API-attached

Bulk scheduling stops being a UI problem the moment your queue comes from somewhere else — a content database, a release pipeline, a client sheet. PostMCP AI gives you the API to generate it, the pre-flight to rehearse it, and the per-profile tracking to repair it. Same seventeen tools in the dashboard, in your script, and in Claude.

Free plan, no credit card — 5 profiles and 20 credits a month.

# generate a week of posts from your own data
for row in schedule.csv:
    POST /api/tools/preflight_post   # rehearse
    POST /api/tools/create_post      # commit

# or collapse it into batches of 20
POST /api/tools/multicall
{ "calls": [ … ], "stopOnError": true }
→ { "ok": 18, "failed": 1, "skipped": 1 }

What volume publishing actually needs

Bulk that is scriptable, not just pasteable

CSV import is fine until you want the queue generated from something — a content database, a release pipeline, a client spreadsheet that changes weekly. multicall runs up to 20 operations per request, validates every tool name before executing, and returns one labelled result per call so you can reconcile a batch programmatically.

Partial retries at volume

When you push 200 posts, some will fail — a token expired, an image 404’d, a network throttled you. Every delivery is tracked per profile, and re-publishing skips the ones that already landed. A failed batch is repaired, not re-run.

One post per profile, addressable

A ten-target broadcast becomes ten posts with ten IDs. You can edit, reschedule, retry or cancel any one of them without touching the other nine — which is what makes volume manageable rather than merely possible.

Pre-flight before you spend

A dry run reports character overruns, unconnected profiles, missing media on networks that require it and the exact credit cost. Running it over a batch before committing is the difference between a 200-post publish and a 200-post incident.

What a month of volume costs

PlanMonthlyCreditsProfilesWorkspaces
Free$02051
Starter$20 · $16 annual2,000103
Professional$50 · $40 annual6,000255
Business$100 · $80 annual14,0005010

1 credit per profile delivered to, 5 for X, plus a one-off 50-credit surcharge on posts containing a link. One-time packs top up without changing your plan. Full pricing.

Figures here describe PostMCP AI. Other tools change plans often — compare against their current pricing page rather than a third-party summary.

Model Context Protocol

Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor can publish it themselves

Most schedulers bolt an API onto a finished dashboard. PostMCP ships the same seventeen tools three ways: the dashboard calls them, your script calls them over plain HTTP, and an AI assistant calls them over MCP. Drafting, pre-flight, scheduling and retries are the same operations wherever they are invoked — with an approval step before anything reaches a live account.

Install
npx @postmcpai/server

Open source under MIT. Runs over stdio or streamable HTTP.

Orientation

The other Publer alternatives worth knowing

Short, because most of this decision comes down to one question: do you need a finished dashboard, or something your own code can drive? These land on different sides of it.

  1. 01

    PostMCP AI

    OursBest for API-first publishing and AI agents

    Every tool the dashboard uses is a REST endpoint and an MCP tool, so a script, a CI job or Claude can publish. Free plan, no card.

  2. 02

    Buffer

    Best for the simplest queue

    The lightweight default. Small free tier, no meaningful API for building on.

  3. 03

    SocialBee

    Best for evergreen recycling

    Category-based queues that keep re-posting evergreen content on a rotation.

  4. 04

    Vista Social

    Best for many accounts on a budget

    Broad network coverage with reporting, aimed at agencies watching the invoice.

  5. 05

    Metricool

    Best for analytics-led scheduling

    Strong reporting and competitor tracking with a usable free tier.

  6. 06

    RecurPost

    Best for recurring content libraries

    Built around reusable content libraries that refill the queue automatically.

  7. 07

    Ayrshare

    Best for a posting API and nothing else

    Developer-first with no real dashboard. The cleaner answer if you only ever want an endpoint.

Positioning notes, not a feature audit. Every product here — ours included — changes plans and limits faster than a page like this can track.

Free plan

A free plan with an API key attached

Five connected profiles, 20 credits a month and the full calendar, with no credit card. The API and the MCP server are not a paid upgrade — you get a key on the free plan, which is the only honest way to let someone find out whether a publishing API fits their pipeline.

Bulk publishing FAQ

Is there a Publer alternative with a real free plan?
PostMCP’s Free Forever plan covers 5 connected profiles and 20 credits a month with the full calendar, and asks for no credit card to start. Buffer and Metricool also run free tiers. Every free plan in this category is capped by channels or volume rather than by trial length, so the question worth asking is which cap you hit first.
Can Claude or ChatGPT publish for me?
Yes, and this is the part most schedulers do not have. PostMCP is a Model Context Protocol server published as @postmcpai/server under MIT, so Claude Desktop, Claude.ai, ChatGPT and Cursor can call the same seventeen publishing and analytics tools the dashboard uses — draft, pre-flight, schedule, retry — with an approval step before anything goes out.
What are the top social media schedulers to compare?
For general scheduling, Buffer, Hootsuite, SocialBee, Metricool and Vista Social come up most often. For recurring content libraries, RecurPost. For pure API publishing with no dashboard, Ayrshare. PostMCP AI sits with the API-first group while still shipping a full calendar, which is the combination this comparison usually turns on.
What is a good Publer alternative with an API?
PostMCP AI exposes its entire publishing engine — seventeen tools — at POST /api/tools/{name} with an API key, plus an open-source MCP server for AI clients. There is no separate limited export API: the dashboard and your script use the same endpoints.
Can I bulk schedule posts?
Yes, two ways. multicall batches up to 20 operations into one validated request, and the plain create_post endpoint takes a date, time and timezone so a loop over your own data generates a queue directly. Both go through the same pre-flight checks as a post typed into the composer.
What happens when part of a bulk publish fails?
Each delivery keeps its own status, permalink and upstream error. Publishing the post again re-sends only the profiles that failed, so a partial failure is repaired rather than duplicated. With stopOnError on a batch, the response also names the calls that were skipped.
Does it write the posts as well as schedule them?
Yes, two ways. In the composer, Write with AI drafts a native version per selected network for 1 credit. Or connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor over MCP and your own agent drafts, generates an image, dry-runs the result and proposes slots — with an approval before anything publishes.
How is bulk publishing priced?
Per delivery: 1 credit per profile, 5 for X, plus a one-off 50-credit surcharge on posts containing a link. Plans bundle credits monthly — 2,000 on Starter, 6,000 on Professional, 14,000 on Business — and one-time packs top up without changing your plan.
Which networks are supported?
LinkedIn including company pages, X (Twitter), Facebook Pages, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky including self-hosted AT Protocol servers, and YouTube Shorts.