Note: Competitor free-plan details below were checked against each vendor’s own pricing page on 29 August 2026. Plans change often, so verify before committing.
Most schedulers have a free plan. For cross-posting specifically, the number that matters is not the post limit, it is how many platforms the free tier lets you connect at all. Several of the better-known free plans quietly exclude the networks you would most want to cross-post to.
Here are six with a real free plan, and what each one gives you.
At a glance
| Tool | Free plan | Platform catch |
|---|---|---|
| BulkPublish | 3 channels (1 per platform), 3 posts/day | None, all 15 platforms available |
| Buffer | 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel | None stated |
| Publer | 3 social accounts, 10 scheduled posts each | X cannot be connected on free |
| Zoho Social | 1 brand, 6 channels, 1 team member | Fixed set of 6 channels |
| Metricool | 1 brand, 20 posts/month | Excludes LinkedIn and X |
| Mixpost Lite | Unlimited, self-hosted | Facebook Pages, Mastodon and X only |
Post limits in that table are in each vendor’s own units, and they differ. BulkPublish counts a post once regardless of how many channels it goes to, which for cross-posting is the unit that matters: three a day means three pieces of content, not three channel-publishes. Buffer counts per channel and Publer per account, so their allowances stretch further across a small set and less far as you add networks.
1. BulkPublish
- Channels: Free: 3 (1 per platform). Pro: 30 (2 per platform). Business: 75 (5 per platform).
- Posts: Free: 3/day. Pro: 30/day. Business: unlimited. One post, any number of channels.
- Storage: Free: 100 MB. Pro: 2 GB. Business: 10 GB.
- Platforms on free: all 15, none withheld
The free plan lets you pick any three platforms and connect one account on each, which is exactly the shape cross-posting needs. Per-platform customisation is included rather than held back for paid tiers, so the free plan does the actual job rather than demonstrating it.
The constraint is volume: three posts a day, and 100 MB of media storage, which is not much if you post video.
If three channels is one short, extra channel slots are $2.99 a month each and can be bought on the free plan, so a fourth network costs $2.99 rather than an upgrade. The three-posts-a-day ceiling still applies, so that buys reach, not volume.
2. Buffer
- Free: 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel, refillable
- Paid from: $5/channel/month billed annually
- API on free: 1 key, 3,000 requests/month
Buffer’s free tier is the most generous on scheduled-post count, because the 10-post limit is per channel and refills as posts publish. The composer is fast and the free plan does not exclude networks.
The thing to model before committing is the pricing shape: Buffer charges per channel, so the cost grows with exactly the thing cross-posting adds. Three channels is cheap; twelve is not.
3. Publer
- Free: 3 social accounts, 10 scheduled posts per account, 25 saved drafts
- Paid from: $5/account/month, or $4 billed yearly
- Catch: X cannot be connected on the free plan
Publer’s free tier is close to Buffer’s, with a useful drafts allowance on top. Two limits are worth knowing before you rely on it: X is excluded entirely, and published posts are only kept in your history for 24 hours.
If X is part of your cross-posting set, Publer’s free plan cannot do the job regardless of the other numbers.
4. Zoho Social
- Free: 1 brand, 6 channels, 1 team member
- Channels included: X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn Company Page, LinkedIn Profile, Google Business Profile
- Trial: 15 days of the paid tier, then it falls back to free permanently
Six channels is the highest free channel count here, and unusually it includes X and both LinkedIn surfaces. The catch is that the six are a fixed set: if you want TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest or Threads, they are not in it.
Good if your cross-posting is Meta plus LinkedIn plus X. Not useful if short-form video is part of the mix.
5. Metricool
- Free: 1 brand, 20 scheduled posts per month, 30 days of analytics
- Paid from: €16/month (about $20) for 5 brands
- Catch: the free plan excludes LinkedIn and X
Metricool leads on analytics rather than publishing, and the free tier reflects that: 5 competitor profiles and 30 days of history, against only 20 scheduled posts a month.
Twenty posts a month is under one a day before you multiply by platforms, so as a cross-posting tool the free plan is a trial rather than a home.
6. Mixpost Lite
- Free: yes, open source, unlimited accounts and posts
- Paid: Pro $299 one-time, Enterprise $1,199 one-time
- Catch: you host it, and Lite publishes to Facebook Pages, Mastodon and X only
Mixpost is the only genuinely unlimited option here, because you run it on your own server and there is no vendor metering anything. Pro and Enterprise are one-time payments rather than subscriptions.
The trade is real work: a server, updates and backups are yours. And Lite’s three platforms make it a narrow cross-posting tool until you buy Pro.
How to choose
Work in this order, because the last two questions are the ones that eliminate options fastest:
- List the platforms you actually cross-post to.
- Remove any tool whose free tier excludes one of them. That alone rules out Publer if you use X, Metricool if you use LinkedIn or X, and Mixpost Lite unless your set is Facebook, Mastodon and X.
- Multiply your posting frequency by your platform count, then check it against the cap in that tool’s own units. One post to four platforms counts as 1 or 4 depending on the tool, and that is a fourfold difference.
- Check what the paid plan you would grow into costs, especially whether it is priced per channel.
The short version
For cross-posting, the free plans that impose no platform exclusions are BulkPublish and Buffer. Zoho Social gives you the most channels but a fixed six. Publer is solid unless you need X. Metricool’s 20 posts a month is a trial. Mixpost Lite is unlimited if you are willing to run a server and stay within its three networks.
