How to choose a scheduler: four questions instead of comparing tables

Short answer. Comparing tools "in general" is pointless: across four platforms the checks produced four different dividing lines, and there is no common better-to-worse scale. What there is instead is four questions to ask yourself that cut away the irrelevant in five minutes.

*Checked 28 July 2026. Every claim links to vendor and platform pages.*

Question 1. What kind of account do you have?

This is the strongest dividing line we found.

A personal Instagram profile: SocialBee supports it — "you can share content to either your personal Instagram profile or Business account". source

Planable — no: "You can manage Instagram Professional Accounts (Business Pages and Creator Accounts)". source

Buffer: a personal account will get only a notification before publishing. source

Onlypult: business account only, connected "via Facebook Page". source

What this means. If you are not ready to switch to a professional account, half the tools drop out at once — and none of their capabilities will change that.

Question 2. What exactly are you publishing?

The publishing mode depends not only on the tool but on the type of content.

SocialBee, TikTok: a single video publishes directly; several videos and images go through reminders only. source

Later, LinkedIn: text and images go both to a profile and to a page, but video only to company pages. source

Buffer, YouTube: the page is devoted entirely to Shorts; support for long video is not stated. source

SocialBee, YouTube: "Videos — any length, any ratio, up to 5GB". source

Question 3. How many accounts and people do you have?

The price is assigned to different things — and that changes the answer more than the figure itself does.

Buffer charges per channel. source
Hootsuite — per user. source
Metricool — per brand. source
Planable — per workspace, and does not limit users. source
Onlypult — a flat fee per plan: Start 5 accounts and 2 users, Agency 25/10. source

More on this — why plans cannot be compared by price.

Question 4. Is there a platform on your list that few tools support?

The platform lists diverge widely:

Onlypult — 12 platforms, including VKontakte and Odnoklassniki. source
Publer — nine, including Mastodon. source
Hootsuite, SocialBee, SocialPilot — eight international ones each. source

One rare platform on the list settles the choice faster than any comparison of capabilities.

What you do not need to check

Do not look for a tool that gets around platform limits. A trending TikTok sound, mentions from a personal LinkedIn profile, PNG on Instagram — no one will do this. See what no tool will do.

Do not choose by the number of platforms supported. "Supports Instagram" means different things at different tools: at one it is automatic publishing from a business account, at another a reminder on your phone.

Steps in order

Determine the account type — it cuts out half.
Check your main content format.
Count your own units: accounts, people, brands.
Check the rare platforms on your list.

Two or three tools will be left. Those are the ones worth comparing in detail.