Comparison · checked 5 November 2026
Social media APIs compared: pricing, networks and MCP
Eight tools that let your code or your AI agent publish to social networks, compared on what decides the choice: how you pay, what it costs to start, which networks it publishes to, whether it has an MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor, whether you need your own developer apps, and where your data is hosted. Facts come from each vendor's own pricing, docs and privacy pages, linked below. We make FeedHorizon, so we list its limits too.
The short answer
- FeedHorizon: Developers and AI agents who want a per-account price, an MCP server with OAuth and hosting in the EU.
- Ayrshare: Larger teams and enterprises that need the widest feature set (analytics, comments, DMs) and an established vendor.
- Zernio (formerly Late): Products that need many networks plus inbox, comments, analytics and ads in one API.
- Upload-Post: Creators and agencies posting a lot of video to many networks for a flat monthly price.
- Outstand: Apps with many connected accounts but a predictable number of posts.
- Postiz: Teams that want an open-source scheduler they can self-host, with an API and MCP on top.
- Buffer: Teams already planning their own channels in Buffer who want to automate it.
- Blotato: Creators and AI agents that also generate the content (images, video) before posting.
Side by side
Prices in USD per month, billed monthly. “Not stated” means we found no statement on the vendor's public pages on 5 November 2026.
| Tool | Price model | Entry price | Free option | Networks | MCP server | Own dev apps needed | Hosting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FeedHorizon | Per connected account, unlimited posts, no feature tiers | $3 per account/month from account 3, down to $0.90 | First 2 accounts free, no post limit, no card | 5 | ✓Hosted (feedhorizon.com/mcp), OAuth or API key | ✓No | ✓EU (Frankfurt) |
| Ayrshare | Per profile (one profile = one set of accounts), plan tiers | Premium $149/month (1 profile); Launch $299/month (10 profiles); Business $599/month (30 profiles) | No free plan; 28-day trial on the Launch plan | 14 | Hosted, API key as a Bearer header (no OAuth) | ✓No | Not stated; DPA available |
| Zernio (formerly Late) | Per connected account, plus usage fees for some extras | $6 per account/month for accounts 3–10, $3 for 11–100, $1 from 101 | First 2 accounts free | 16 (12 social networks plus messaging) | ✓Hosted, OAuth or API key | ✓No; X API calls are billed on top at X’s rate | Not stated |
| Upload-Post | Flat plans by number of profiles (one profile = one account per network), unlimited uploads | Basic $24/month or $16/month billed yearly (5 profiles) | Free plan: 2 profiles, 10 uploads/month, no TikTok | 22 | Hosted (mcp.upload-post.com), open-source server | ✓No | ✓EU (Hetzner, Germany), some services in the US |
| Outstand | Per post, unlimited connected accounts | $19/month including 3,000 posts, then $0.007 per post ($0.005 above 10,000) | No free plan | 12 | ✓Hosted (mcp.outstand.so), OAuth or API key; posts count like API posts | Yes for X, Google Business Profile, Vimeo and Reddit | Not stated; DPA available |
| Postiz | Cloud plans by number of channels; self-hosting free (AGPL-3.0) | Standard $29/month (5 channels), Team $39 (10), Pro $49 (30), Ultimate $99 (100) | 7-day trial; free when self-hosted | ✓30+ | ✓Hosted (mcp.postiz.com), OAuth | Cloud: no. Self-hosted: yes, for every network | Cloud: not stated. Self-hosted: anywhere you choose |
| Buffer | Per channel, plan tiers | Essentials $6 per channel/month for channels 1–10, falling to $1 from channel 51 | Free plan: 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel, API and MCP included | 12 plus Start Page | Hosted, on every plan | ✓No | Not stated |
| Blotato | Flat plans by number of accounts, plus AI credits | $29/month (20 accounts), $97 (40 accounts) | 7-day trial, but API and MCP are not part of the trial | 9 | Hosted (mcp.blotato.com), OAuth in Claude and ChatGPT, API key elsewhere | ✓No | Not stated |
✓Green marks the best in a column: most networks (Networks), OAuth sign-in in every MCP client, so no key to paste (MCP server), no developer app of your own on any network (Own dev apps), hosted in the EU (Hosting). Price is compared in the next table.
What it costs at 5 to 100 accounts
FeedHorizon, Zernio and Buffer charge per connected account or channel, so they can be compared one to one. Ayrshare charges per profile (Launch: $299 for up to 10 profiles, Business: $599 for 30). Upload-Post, Postiz and Blotato sell fixed plans, and Outstand charges per post, so their cost depends on how your accounts are grouped and how much you post. Green marks the lowest price in each row.
| Connected accounts | FeedHorizon | Zernio | Buffer Essentials |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | ✓$9 | $18 | $30 |
| 10 | ✓$24 | $48 | $60 |
| 25 | ✓$69 | $93 | $120 |
| 50 | ✓$106.50 | $168 | $195 |
| 100 | ✓$181.50 | $318 | $245 |
Zernio bills X API calls on top of this at X's per-call rate. Buffer is a scheduling app; its API is meant for your own channels. FeedHorizon: pricing calculator.
Each tool in detail
FeedHorizon
Best for: Developers and AI agents who want a per-account price, an MCP server with OAuth and hosting in the EU.
Networks: X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Bluesky, Pinterest (TikTok in beta, Facebook and Threads in progress)
Strengths
- Graduated price per account: $3.00 for accounts 3–25, $1.50 for accounts 26–200, $0.90 for accounts 201+. Every feature on every account.
- Hosted MCP server with OAuth sign-in for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor, listed in the official MCP Registry.
- Every post is checked against each network’s rules before it is stored; a dry-run endpoint returns all problems at once.
- Hosted connect links: your users connect their own accounts through our approved apps.
Limits
- Fewer networks than the others today: no Facebook, Threads, YouTube or Google Business Profile yet.
- No analytics, comments or DM inbox through the API yet.
- No official SDKs yet; the OpenAPI 3.1 file can generate clients.
Zernio (formerly Late)
Best for: Products that need many networks plus inbox, comments, analytics and ads in one API.
Networks: Social: X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Reddit, Bluesky, Threads, Google Business Profile, Snapchat (closed beta); messaging: WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Slack and more
Strengths
- Broadest feature set among the API-first tools: inbox, comments, DMs, analytics and ads.
- SDKs for Node.js, Python, Go, Ruby and more.
Limits
- X API calls are billed on top, at X’s published per-call rate.
- Higher price per account than FeedHorizon at every account count (see the cost table).
Sources: Pricing · Social pricing · Platforms · MCP docs
Upload-Post
Best for: Creators and agencies posting a lot of video to many networks for a flat monthly price.
Networks: TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, X, Threads, Pinterest, Reddit, Bluesky, Google Business, Discord, Telegram, Slack, Mastodon, Nostr, Lemmy, Dev.to, Hashnode, WordPress, Whop, Listmonk
Strengths
- Most networks in this comparison and unlimited uploads on paid plans.
- Main servers and databases in Germany; DPA applies automatically.
Limits
- Profiles are sold in fixed plan sizes and add-on packs, not one by one.
- The free plan allows only 10 uploads a month and no TikTok.
- Links in X posts are removed unless you add the X Links add-on ($19/month).
Sources: Pricing & limits · Privacy policy · Platforms
Outstand
Best for: Apps with many connected accounts but a predictable number of posts.
Networks: 8 with Outstand’s apps (LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Bluesky, YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok); X, Google Business Profile, Vimeo and Reddit need your own app
Strengths
- Cheapest option when you have many accounts and moderate posting volume.
- Unlimited connected accounts and team members on every plan.
Limits
- Posting to X requires your own X developer app and its fees.
- Cost grows with every post, including posts made by AI agents through MCP.
Sources: Pricing · MCP · Configurations
Postiz
Best for: Teams that want an open-source scheduler they can self-host, with an API and MCP on top.
Strengths
- Open source (AGPL-3.0) and self-hostable, so data can stay on your own servers.
- Many channels, including Reddit, Mastodon, Discord, Telegram and blogging platforms.
Limits
- Built as a scheduling app first; cloud plans cap the number of channels (5 to 100).
- Self-hosting means registering and maintaining a developer app on every network yourself.
Buffer
Best for: Teams already planning their own channels in Buffer who want to automate it.
Networks: Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, Google Business Profile, Mastodon, YouTube Shorts, Threads, Bluesky, Substack Notes
Strengths
- Well-known scheduling app with a free plan that includes the API and MCP.
- Covers Threads, Mastodon, Google Business Profile and Substack Notes.
Limits
- Made for managing your own channels, not for embedding in your product for your users.
- Instagram personal accounts and Facebook groups only via notification publishing, finished by hand in the Buffer app.
Sources: Pricing and features · Supported channels
Blotato
Best for: Creators and AI agents that also generate the content (images, video) before posting.
Networks: X, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Threads, Bluesky, YouTube
Strengths
- AI content creation (images, video) and publishing in one tool.
- 20 accounts in the entry plan.
Limits
- No free plan; creating an API key ends the trial and starts billing.
- Comments and DMs only for Instagram and Facebook.
Questions
Which social media API is the cheapest?
It depends on what you count. Per connected account, FeedHorizon is the cheapest of the per-account APIs here: 10 accounts cost $24 a month, against $48 at Zernio, $60 at Buffer Essentials and $299 at Ayrshare (Launch plan, 10 profiles). If you post rarely to many accounts, Outstand ($19 a month for 3,000 posts, unlimited accounts) can be cheaper. For a few profiles with a lot of video, Upload-Post starts at $24 a month with unlimited uploads.
Which social media APIs have an MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor?
All eight tools in this comparison offer a hosted MCP server as of November 2026. FeedHorizon, Zernio, Outstand and Postiz support OAuth sign-in, so you add one URL and log in. Blotato uses OAuth in Claude and ChatGPT and an API key elsewhere, and Ayrshare’s server needs an API key in a header. FeedHorizon is also listed in the official MCP Registry as com.feedhorizon/mcp.
Which social media API is hosted in the EU?
FeedHorizon runs in Frankfurt, and Upload-Post runs its main servers in Germany (Hetzner), with some US services. Postiz can be self-hosted anywhere. Ayrshare, Zernio, Outstand, Buffer and Blotato do not state a hosting region on their public pages; Ayrshare and Outstand offer a DPA.
Do I need my own developer apps for X, Instagram or LinkedIn?
Not with FeedHorizon, Ayrshare, Zernio, Upload-Post, Buffer or Blotato: they run approved apps and your users connect through OAuth. Outstand needs your own app for X, Google Business Profile, Vimeo and Reddit, and a self-hosted Postiz needs your own app for every network.
What is a good Ayrshare alternative?
For a lower price per account with a free start, FeedHorizon (from $3 per account, first 2 free) or Zernio (from $6 per account, first 2 free). For many networks at a flat price, Upload-Post. For many accounts with few posts, Outstand. For self-hosting, Postiz.
When is FeedHorizon not the right choice?
When you need Facebook, Threads, YouTube, Reddit or Google Business Profile today, or analytics, comments and DMs through the API. Zernio, Ayrshare and Upload-Post cover those now.
How we compared
Every fact comes from the vendor's own pricing page, documentation or privacy policy (linked under each tool) and was cross-checked against at least one independent comparison on 5 November 2026. Network counts are the vendors' own. Prices change: if something here is out of date, tell us at support and we fix it.
Try FeedHorizon with 2 free accounts
REST API and MCP server, EU hosted, no card needed. Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in a minute.