Planable vs Buffer vs Hootsuite, with MCP and AI agents
All three schedule posts and all three now ship an MCP connector, so "which one has MCP" is no longer the question - Planable lists an MCP Connector on every paid plan, Buffer ships Buffer MCP including on its free plan, and Hootsuite lists MCP connectors under Wisdom on every plan. What still separates them is the unit they charge for: Planable charges per workspace (from $33 a month), Buffer per channel (from $5 a channel a month), and Hootsuite per user (from $99 a user a month, billed annually). Pick by how your work is shaped - one brand with many accounts, a few accounts across many clients, or a team of seats - not by the AI feature list. Figures read off each vendor's own pricing page on 28 October 2026.
MCP and AI agents: what each one says it does
In each vendor's own words, from the pages linked below, read on 28 October 2026. MCP support is a tie; what differs is whether an agent can be held to drafts and what the plan it needs costs.
| Tool | What an AI agent can do |
|---|---|
| Planable | An MCP Connector on every paid plan, to "connect your AI assistant to Planable to create and manage content across all your workspaces". The public API starts on Pro. |
| Buffer | Buffer MCP, set up from Settings then Integrations, to "draft posts, schedule them, and check what’s coming up right in Claude, ChatGPT, or the other tools you’re already in". Buffer says it is "included on every plan, including Free", and that what an assistant makes "lands in your Buffer queue as drafts or scheduled posts" for review. Buffer also publishes a machine-readable pricing page for AI agents. |
| Hootsuite | Wisdom, which Hootsuite says runs on "every plan", listed in its feature table as "In-app assistant and MCP connectors". |
| Hookpost | A hosted MCP server at https://hookpost.hookstep.in/api/mcp, plus a REST API, a CLI (npm install -g hookpost) and an n8n node. An agent can list channels, upload media and create drafts or scheduled posts. All of it needs Standard or Pro. |
Every one of the 10 schedulers whose MCP support we have checked ships one, so treat "has MCP" as table stakes rather than a reason to switch. Which ones, how each signs in, and the exact tools Hookpost's server exposes: social media MCP servers compared.
Plans and prices, side by side
| Tool | Charged by | Free | Entry plan | Next plan up | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Planable | per workspace, per month. Planable recommends one workspace per brand or client. | Planable has no free plan; its free trial is 50 created posts, with no time limit and no card needed, and those 50 do not reset monthly. X (Twitter) publishing is not available during a Planable trial. | Basic $33 per workspace per month: 60 posts per workspace a month, 4 social pages per workspace, unlimited users, 3 campaigns, 10 GB media. One tweet published per 24 hours. | Pro $49 per workspace per month: 150 posts per workspace a month, 10 social pages per workspace, unlimited users, 10 campaigns, 50 GB media, and the public API. Enterprise is custom-priced with unlimited posts and 50 pages per workspace. | pricing page |
| Buffer | per channel, per month. A channel is one connected account. | Buffer has a free plan with up to 3 channels and 10 scheduled posts per channel, refilling as posts publish, plus 100 ideas, one user, the AI Assistant, Insights and API access (one key, 1,000 requests per channel a month). Buffer MCP is on it too: buffer.com/mcp says "MCP access is included on every plan, including Free". | Essentials $5 per channel per month, $60 a year per channel (Buffer calls that two months free): unlimited scheduled posts per channel, one user, three API keys, hashtag manager, first-comment scheduling. Buffer gives a 14-day free trial on it. | Team $10 per channel per month, $120 a year per channel: unlimited team members, access levels, content approval workflows, five API keys. | pricing page, MCP page |
| Hootsuite | per user, per month, billed annually. | Hootsuite has no free plan, and its 14-day trial needs no credit card; a Hootsuite trial account is limited to 10-20 posts per organisation a day and cannot bulk schedule. | Standard $99 per user per month, billed annually, for up to 10 social accounts, with as many user seats as you buy. | Professional $199 per user per month for unlimited social accounts and inbox automation; Advanced $399 per user per month adds team approvals and message routing; Enterprise is custom-priced. | pricing page |
| Hookpost | per plan, per month. Flat - not per channel, per seat or per workspace. | 3 free posts for a new workspace, no card needed, then a paid plan. | Standard $19 a month (₹599 in India): 5 channels, 500 posts a month, AI drafting, REST API, CLI and the MCP server. One seat. | Pro $29 a month (₹1,999 in India): 20 channels, 2000 posts a month, 15 team members. | our pricing |
Planable, Buffer and Hootsuite figures were read off the pages linked above on 28 October 2026 and exclude tax. Prices change; follow the link before relying on one. Hookpost's figures are read from its own live pricing configuration at build time, so this table cannot drift from what checkout charges.
The same job, priced three ways: one person, ten accounts
Per workspace, per channel and per user are not comparable in the abstract, so here is one concrete case with the arithmetic shown.
| Tool | Plan | How it adds up | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Planable | Pro, one workspace | 10 social pages is exactly Pro’s per-workspace allowance, so one workspace covers it - if all ten pages belong to one brand. | $49 a month |
| Buffer | Essentials, 10 channels | 10 channels × $5 per channel a month, billed yearly ($600 a year). | $50 a month |
| Hootsuite | Standard, 1 seat | One seat at $99 a month billed annually covers up to 10 social accounts. | $99 a month |
| Hookpost | Pro | Pro includes 20 channels, so ten is inside one plan with room left over. No per-channel addition to do. | $29 a month (₹1,999 in India) |
Two honest caveats. Planable's $49 assumes all ten pages belong to one brand; a second client means a second workspace and $49 again. And the three above sell things Hookpost does not - social listening, a unified inbox, a multi-step approval chain, a full analytics suite - so for a team that needs those, the cheaper line here is not the better buy. The rupee figures are not a currency conversion of the dollar ones; they are what each tool charges in the currency it bills.
Which one fits
Planable fits
An agency or a multi-brand team whose real problem is approval. The workspace is the unit: one per client, with its own calendar, approvers and campaigns, and unlimited users inside it at no extra cost. If five people have to sign off before anything publishes, paying per workspace is the right shape. It gets expensive the other way round - one brand with a handful of accounts still pays for a whole workspace.
Buffer fits
One person or a small team with a few accounts, who wants to add and drop a channel without renegotiating a plan. Per channel means a client leaving costs you nothing next month. It stops being cheap at scale: ten channels on Team is $100 a month, and the same ten on a flat-price tool is one line.
Hootsuite fits
An organisation that is buying listening, an inbox and employee advocacy as well as publishing, and whose seats are the thing it is counting. Its Standard plan starts at $99 a user a month billed annually and caps social accounts at ten; unlimited accounts start at Professional, $199 a user a month. For a one-person account that is the most expensive way on this page to schedule a post.
Hookpost fits
Someone who wants a flat monthly price and an AI agent that can actually write into the calendar. Standard is $19 a month (₹599 in India) for 5 channels and 500 posts; Pro is $29 a month (₹1,999 in India) for 20 channels, 2000 posts and 15 team members, billed in US dollars by card, or in India in rupees with UPI Autopay, cards or NetBanking. It is one price per plan - not per channel, per seat or per workspace. What it does not have: no social listening, no inbox, no approval workflow and no analytics suite. If you need those, the three above are what they are for.
One-to-one comparisons with each: Hookpost vs Buffer, Hookpost vs Hootsuite. The whole set: alternatives and compare. If you are starting from the category rather than a vendor: what a social media scheduler does.
Questions
- Planable vs Buffer vs Hootsuite: which has MCP?
- All three schedule posts and all three now ship an MCP connector, so "which one has MCP" is no longer the question - Planable lists an MCP Connector on every paid plan, Buffer ships Buffer MCP including on its free plan, and Hootsuite lists MCP connectors under Wisdom on every plan. What still separates them is the unit they charge for: Planable charges per workspace (from $33 a month), Buffer per channel (from $5 a channel a month), and Hootsuite per user (from $99 a user a month, billed annually). Pick by how your work is shaped - one brand with many accounts, a few accounts across many clients, or a team of seats - not by the AI feature list. Figures read off each vendor's own pricing page on 28 October 2026.
- Which is cheapest?
- It depends entirely on the shape of your accounts, because the three charge for different things. For one person posting to ten accounts: Planable Pro is $49 a month for one workspace of ten pages, Buffer Essentials is 10 × $5 = $50 a month billed yearly, and Hootsuite Standard is $99 a month for one seat with up to ten accounts. Hookpost Pro covers 20 channels for $29 a month (₹1,999 in India). All competitor figures were read on 28 October 2026; follow the source links on this page before relying on them.
- Planable, Buffer or Hootsuite: which has a free plan?
- Buffer is the only one of the three with an ongoing free plan: up to 3 channels and 10 scheduled posts per channel, refilling as posts publish. Planable has a free trial of 50 created posts with no time limit, which does not reset. Hootsuite has no free plan, only a 14-day trial in which posting is limited to 10-20 posts per organisation a day and bulk scheduling is off.
- Does any of them bill in rupees or take UPI?
- Hootsuite shows rupee prices to visitors in India - ₹1,999 per user per month, billed annually, for up to 10 accounts (Standard), before tax, read on 11 October 2026, from India (the dollar figures on this page were read from outside India on 28 October 2026; Hootsuite localises by IP, so the two are different reads of the same page rather than a contradiction). Planable states prices in US dollars, taken by card through Stripe, with bank or wire transfer on Enterprise. Buffer prices in US dollars. None of the three names UPI as a payment method on its own pricing page. Hookpost is billed in US dollars by card, or in India in rupees with UPI Autopay, cards or NetBanking.
- Can an AI agent publish on its own, or only draft?
- Each vendor describes its own connector differently, and the honest answer is to read theirs: Planable says its MCP Connector lets an assistant "create and manage content across all your workspaces"; Buffer’s MCP page describes drafting, scheduling from a prompt and checking the queue, with review and publishing in Buffer. Hookpost’s MCP server can create a post as a draft or scheduled - the agent chooses - so an agent can be kept to drafts while you review on the calendar.
- How many networks does each support?
- Planable lists nine on its site: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Threads and Google Business Profile. Buffer lists twelve, adding Bluesky, Mastodon and Substack. Hootsuite prices by the number of social accounts rather than naming a list on its plans page, so no count is quoted for it here. Hookpost publishes to 18, including Discord, Slack, Telegram, WordPress, Hashnode and Dev.to.
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