Considering using Later.com to manage your social media posting but aren’t sure whether it’s the right tool for you? Wondering which alternatives might be better?
While Later.com is a popular social media management tool, it may not meet everyone’s needs — especially those looking to consolidate their tech stack or pivot to platforms beyond Instagram.
So, here are 7 Later.com alternatives to explore.
What Is Later.com?
Later.com, better known as Later, is a social media management platform that helps users visually plan and schedule their social media posts.
Users can drag and drop their content on a calendar to see how their profiles look over time, making it easier to maintain a consistent aesthetic and message across platforms. For example, a fashion brand might use Later to plan a week's worth of posts to ensure colors, styles, and themes are balanced and visually engaging.
In its early days, Later’s focus was primarily on Instagram. Since then, it has evolved to support content scheduling for Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest, allowing those with multi-channel social media presences to streamline their processes.
What are Later’s key features?
On top of content planning and scheduling, Later’s key features include:
- Content creation tools for editing media and finding relevant user-generated content.
- A media library to keep all your content organized.
- An AI-powered Instagram caption writer — say goodbye to writer’s block!
- Recommendations on the best time to post on various platforms, meaning you’ll never have to guess when your followers are online again.
- Hashtag suggestions for Instagram, helping you boost post visibility and engagement.
Why Do Companies Choose Later?
There are plenty of reasons why content creators, brands, and agencies continue to gravitate towards Later. The platform stands out for its:
- User-friendly interface: You don’t have to be a tech whiz to use Later. Its intuitive design means anyone can navigate the platform and schedule content with ease.
- Strong focus on visual content: You’re reading a blog right now, but let’s be honest: in this day and age, visual content is king. With Later, you can effortlessly plan and visualize your entire social media strategy, ensuring your content looks as good as they perform.
- Affordability: The platform offers a variety of pricing plans, and its premium features are also competitively priced.
Why Later Isn’t for Everyone
Primarily focused on Instagram
Many of Later’s features (e.g., analytics, AI-powered content creation, posting time recommendations) are available only for Instagram. So, if Instagram is the social media platform you’re prioritizing, Later is perfect.
However, for those with a more well-rounded channel approach — whether it’s mainstays like Facebook or Pinterest or more niche platforms like Tumblr or Mastodon — Later’s features can be a little limited.
Limited analytics
One common complaint about Later is its lack of comprehensive analytics. For example analytics for Instagram are only available for business and creator profiles — so if you have a personal account, you’re out of luck.
Additionally, users with a starter plan can only access three months of data. If you’re looking for full analytics (up to one year of data), you’ll need to upgrade to pricier plans.
Lack of integrations
Unlike other social media schedulers, Later offers limited third-party integrations. This can be a significant roadblock for those aiming to seamlessly link their social media management with their CRM platform, email marketing service, or even automation tools like Zapier — a staple in many social media marketers’ arsenals.
Without these integrations, tasks like syncing your social media posts with broader marketing campaigns can get cumbersome, especially for those with larger teams and complex processes.
7 Top Later Alternatives for Social Media Management
What are the top Later alternatives for social media management? Here are our favorites.
#1. Postpone
What is Postpone?
Postpone (disclaimer - this is my tool) is the world’s first social media scheduler built specifically for image and video content creators. What sets Postpone apart from the other Later alternatives on this list is its support for popular platforms like Instagram and less mainstream sites such as Reddit, X (formerly Twitter), Bluesky, Mastodon, and Tumblr.
But there’s way more to Postpone than just post scheduling. From our content library to image editing capabilities, we’re here to help you attract more followers and grow your brand — all while saving significant time and effort.
Postpone vs. Later: What’s the difference?
- Type: Social media scheduler
- Best for: Individual content creators, brands, agencies
- Supported platforms: Instagram, Facebook, X, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Bluesky, Tumblr, Mastodon
- Top features:some text
- Social calendar: Use Postpone to easily plan and schedule all your social media posts in advance.
- Content library: Organize all your social media assets — images, videos, gifs, and more — before publishing. Even better, you can upload your content in bulk by importing them directly from apps like Google Drive, Google Photos, Dropbox, Instagram, Flickr, and Imgur.
- Built-in image editor: Rather than pay for another third-party tool for image editing, Postpone offers built-in enhance, crop, rotate, flip, mirror, blur, and filter capabilities to make your content posting-ready.
- Integrations: Postpone integrates with Zapier, meaning you can use logic and filters to create complex automations. For example, automatically schedule social media posts when specific events occur, such as after you submit a blog post or add a row to Google Sheets.
- AI capabilities: Later’s AI content generation is limited to Instagram captions. Postpone’s AI assistant, on the other hand, is far more versatile. It can generate everything from Reddit threads to posts for X, complete with emojis and hashtags.
- Post analytics: See how your content performs across platforms, and use it to make data-driven decisions on what to post next.
NEXT STEPS: Read the complete comparison of Pospone and Later.com
#2. Buffer
What is Buffer?
With over 150,000 monthly active users, Buffer touts a nearly identical value proposition to Later’s: simplify the way individuals and teams plan, schedule, analyze, and publish content across different platforms. Buffer’s tools help you build a library of content ideas, grow your following, streamline your workload, and collaborate with your team (if you have one).
Buffer vs. Later: What’s the difference?
- Type: Social media scheduler
- Best for: Small to medium-sized businesses, agencies
- Supported platforms: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Mastodon, Pinterest, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube
- Top features:some text
- Social calendar: Plan and publish on different social media channels from an easy-to-use dashboard.
- Integrations: Buffer integrates with third-party apps like Dropbox, Google Drive, and Canva, meaning you don’t need to waste time moving from content creation to content management to social media scheduling.
- AI assistant: Buffer’s AI assistant offers four capabilities: brainstorm ideas, repurpose posts for different platforms, generate writing suggestions, and create social media post suggestions from long-form content.
- Collaboration tools: Although Later supports multiple social media accounts, it doesn’t match Buffer’s team collaboration capabilities, which include role assignments and feedback on social media posts within the platform.
#3. Hootsuite
Source: The CMO
What is Hootsuite?
Hootsuite is one of the biggest (and oldest!) players in the social media management space. Whether you need help scheduling posts or managing social media paid content, the platform has got you covered.
So, here’s the million-dollar question: what’s better, Later or Hootsuite? Overall, Hootsuite boasts more powerful and robust features compared to Later. On the flip side, it can be a challenging tool to master, especially for solo content creators or small teams that may not require extensive social media campaign tracking tools or complex social media analytics capabilities.
Hootsuite vs. Later: What’s the difference?
- Type: All-in-one social media management platform
- Best for: Medium-to-large businesses, agencies
- Supported platforms: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Threads (beta)
- Top features:some text
- Social calendar: Easily plan and publish across various social media channels from one dashboard.
- AI content creator: Use it to generate content ideas, create social media captions, and repurpose content for different platforms in seconds.
- Collaboration features: Since Hootsuite is designed for larger organizations, it, unsurprisingly, excels in its team collaboration tools — multiple users can easily manage posts, respond to social interactions, and share insights within a unified dashboard.
- Integrations: Unlike Later, Hootsuite offers many integrations with third-party platforms and tools, including CRM systems, content creation tools like Canva, and analytics services. (It’s a one-stop-shop, after all.)
#4. Planable
Source: Crazy Egg
What is Planable?
Launched in 2016, Planable is the new(er) kid on the block. What makes it unique is that it covers all content, not just social media. Think blogs, newsletters, emails — Planable brings it all together into a collaborative, birds-eye-view dashboard.
The result? Fewer communication errors, quicker approval processes, and greater overall productivity by keeping everyone on the same page. Meanwhile, your target audience enjoys more cohesive storytelling that makes them go, “Aha, I know this content creator/brand” when they see your content.
Planable vs. Later: What’s the difference?
- Type: All-in-one content management platform
- Best for: Medium-to-large businesses, agencies
- Supported platforms: Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest
- Top features:
- Content calendar: Organize and schedule all your upcoming content in a visual calendar.
- Media storage: Not only can you upload all your assets in a handy content library, but Planable will even notify you about how many times you’ve used each individual image or video in your marketing efforts.
- Collaboration features: Planable’s team collaboration features are highly rated. Whether it’s real-time feedback, version control, or direct approvals within the platform, Planable simplifies social media management for marketing agencies and bigger teams where multiple stakeholders need to review content.
- Platform integrations and media storage: Like other Later alternatives designed for larger organizations, Planable integrates seamlessly with major cloud storage services like Dropbox and Google Drive, making it easier than ever to access and share content.
#5. Sprout Social
What is Sprout Social?
Sprout Social is often described as the Swiss Army knife of social media management, thanks to its wide-reaching capabilities that extend beyond standard posting and monitoring.
From deep analytics tools to sophisticated audience engagement features, Sprout Social covers all bases, ensuring no aspect of social media management is left unaddressed. It’s a platform designed for businesses that take social media seriously — and have a budget to reflect that.
Sprout Social vs. Later: What’s the difference?
- Type: All-in-one social media management platform
- Best for: Medium-to-large businesses, agencies
- Supported platforms: Facebook, Instagram, X (previously Twitter), LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube
- Top features:some text
- Social calendar: Plan and schedule your social media posts — then manage feedback or approval from external stakeholders directly in your dashboard.
- Comprehensive analytics: Sprout Social’s analytics dive deep, offering users everything they need to know about how to grow their social media presence. Though Later also has social media analytics features, they’re more high-level, focusing more on visual content performance and simpler metrics that are easy to understand.
- Advanced engagement tools: Sprout Social includes sophisticated tools for audience engagement, including social listening capabilities and CRM integrations.
#6. Agorapulse
Source: Software Advice
What is Agorapulse?
Agorapulse is a social media management tool that’s often compared to Hootsuite and Sprout Social. While it has scheduling features similar to Later’s, its collaboration, social listening, and reporting features make it perfect for larger organizations with complex social media needs.
From your Agorapulse dashboard, social media marketers can easily monitor brand mentions, schedule posts, respond to social media interactions, and analyze post performance. The platform prides itself on its user-friendliness, price transparency, and fast customer support.
Agorapulse vs. Later: What’s the difference?
- Type: Social media scheduler
- Best for: Medium-to-large businesses, agencies
- Supported platforms: Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok
- Top features:some text
- Social ROI feature: The biggest difference between Agorapulse and other Later alternatives on this list is its ROI feature. With it, you can stop relying on vanity metrics like likes or comments to determine how well your organic social media marketing efforts are doing — instead, directly track sales, traffic, and leads generated from your posts.
- Social listening capabilities: Another one of Agorapulse’s standout features is its advanced social listening tool. You can use it to monitor specific keywords, track industry trends, and keep a close eye on your competitors’ activities — not just on social media but also on news websites and blogs.
- Content scheduling and automation: Both Agorapulse and Later offer scheduling features; however, Agorapulse’s is a lot more robust. For example, you can tag your products in your scheduled Instagram posts, Reels, and carousels directly on your social media management platform. Similarly, it has a bulk publishing feature where users can schedule up to 200 posts with a single .csv file upload.
#7. Plann
What is Plann?
If you find Later’s interface too complex, you’ll love Plann. Like Later, Plann is a visual-first, drag-and-drop social media scheduler. It markets itself as an easier-to-use Later alternative with an intuitive interface and done-for-you content templates, so you can easily actualize your social media strategy within the platform.
That said, Plann also has the same drawbacks as Later. Because it was designed primarily for Instagram, its support for other platforms can feel less comprehensive compared to the other Later alternatives we’ve mentioned.
Plann vs. Later: What’s the difference?
- Type: Social media scheduler
- Best for: Individual content creators
- Supported platforms: Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok, LinkedIn
- Top features:some text
- Social calendar: Effortlessly organize, plan, and schedule all your upcoming social media posts in one drag-and-drop calendar.
- Content planning templates. Plann offers pre-defined content templates tailored to different niches, allowing you to get a head start on the content creation process. (While Later also has planning tools, they require plenty of user input.)
- AI content generator: Work past writer’s block with this tool, which can create social media caption ideas and captions in seconds — complete with hashtags and CTA recommendations.
- Integrations: Plann integrates with some of the most popular content creation tools: Canva, Unsplash, Pixabay, and more. In other words, save time by importing assets straight to your social calendar.
Conclusion
Later has its strengths, but it may not fulfill the needs of all content creators, agencies, or brands. Whether you need more robust social media analytics, enhanced team collaboration features, or better support for multiple platforms, these seven alternatives are worth checking out.
Ready to try one of these alternatives to Later.com for yourself? Sign up for Postpone’s free plan today!