Buffer Alternative – What is Different about Agorapulse?
We’ve been evaluating social media management tools for years. Let us help you in your search.
You’re on our page because you’re curious about Agorapulse – cool! Why don’t we start with an “Agorapulse v. Buffer” comparison of our features and pricing. Then we’ll share experiences of customers who moved from Buffer to Agorapulse.
Here we go!
1. Agorapulse is truly an all-in-one solution.
Our solution includes publishing, replying, listening, reporting, and CRM capabilities (plus much more) in every plan we offer.
Unlike Buffer, we don’t require a completely separate subscription in order to reply to the comments you’ve received on the posts you’ve published. You’ll have your Inbox, your Fans and Followers, and your Reports all in one place for one affordable price.
Dorien Morin-van Dam
Agorapulse has helped me scale my business! As my client base continues to grow, Agorapulse enables me to keep four eyes on their social media 24/7! Monitoring my clients’ social media channels is a huge part of what I do on a daily basis thus having one dashboard has simplified this incredibly important task, freeing up time to go out and get more business.
2. We gather your Facebook and Instagram ad comments.
Agorapulse has our Inbox so that you’ll never miss a comment on your Facebook or Instagram posts — whether they’re organic or paid. You don’t need to get an additional product like Buffer Reply to capture these important conversation starters!
Our connection to both Facebook’s Marketing API and Graph API means that comments are in sync 100% of the time.
If you know what an API is, let me get geekier with you. What makes our sync system unique is a combination of simultaneous calls to both the Marketing API (aka the Ads API) AND the Graph API.
Adam Harkness
With inbox messages and social mentions in one place, our Community Managers get to focus on building relationships with influencers while our Content Managers get to focus on what they do best: creating great content.
Buffer users usually rely on native Facebook to manage comments on their sponsored posts. Not only is that an extra step, but with the way Facebook delivers comments, you have to sift through each and every ad to see if any new comments have been posted. This tedious work often leaves negative comments out in the open — which can ruin your reputation!
Or they have to buy Buffer Reply at an additional cost.
Again, we serve you ALL of your ad comments directly in your Social Inbox. Simply filter by ad comments, and BAM! they’re ALL there without crazy clickthroughs or fear that you might have missed something.
To find out how an agency like NewFire Media likes dark post commenting with Agorapulse, read this post.
3. We offer scheduling options that will blow you away.
Buffer was originally built for publishing only, but we like to think we do it better. All personal feelings aside, we offer tons more scheduling options!
4. Speaking of your publishing queue, it's unlimited. So bulk it up.
We don’t like limits. So we let you enjoy a custom queue with unlimited publishing on all our plans.
Your unlimited queue frees you up to focus on what matters the most — real engagement. Your unlimited Agorapulse Reports (see a trend here with “unlimited”?) give you personalized data to tweak your queue for maximum results. Learn more about your queue here.
With all this freedom, why not use our bulk upload features to schedule or queue a mountain of link or image posts all at once with a simple CSV file?
5. You can grab reports from Agorapulse whenever you want (regardless what plan you're on).
If you are a good social media manager, you have data to prove your worth on social.
That’s why we include reporting for all of our customers.
Our unlimited, downloadable reports for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn come with every subscription. Our reports are available on the Web and as customizable PowerPoint slides. In addition, you can download your Content Reports via CSV so that you can view your breakdown of engagement on each post.
Now you can post and respond, then with a click, see and present the results of these efforts all in one place.
Gautam Khorana
At theSitecook we needed a robust solution to manage social media handles for many customers and I am glad I chose Agorapulse! The reporting, publishing and team management features are very user friendly. Agorapulse's service standards are one of the best in the industry.
6. With Agorapulse CRM functionality, you can avoid tool overload without needing to add Buffer Reply to your subscription.
Often the biggest hassle of social media management is juggling a closet full of apps that work with your social channels. This gets even more frustrating if you’re paying for 2 tools from 1 company.
We don’t offer a separate “Agorapulse Reply” because it’s already offered in all our plans. Giving you the ability to send out messages without being able to reply to others or know who they are isn’t how we do social.
Our inbox allows you to manage and assign comments, replies, and direct messages.
With our moderation rules, you can:
- Auto-assign comments to the appropriate team member
- Auto-tag or bookmark comments associated with a campaign
- Auto-hide or delete comments that may ruin your reputation
Check out how our customers use moderation rules.
Our customer relationship management (CRM) tool gives you data out-of-the-box so you can immediately better engage your audience or support your clients.
With Agorapulse, you can say goodbye to the added clutter and expense of additional CRM tools like Buffer Reply.
7. Agorapulse is more affordable for large teams and agencies who value ROI.
You have enough on your minds as social media managers. Figuring out the real cost of your social media management tool shouldn’t be a task for you to consider. It should just be obvious.
We did a calculation for a client who:
- Manages 25 social media accounts
- Requires inbox features
- Has 5 team members who need access to the tool
- Requires team workflow features
- Needs downloadable social media reports
Here is how Agorapulse and Buffer meet the needs of this client:
Tool
Annual Price
Agorapulse
$2,448
Buffer Publish Business + Buffer Reply Pro
$5,592
8. We love our customer service almost as much as our customers.
You might be catching the drift that we want to make managing social an easy, seamless job for you.
From our own experience using a gazillion online tools, we know that the best way to master a tool is to have someone at the ready to get you started and answer questions with straightforward, transparent advice.
Alexander Elling
I am alone in my role as the Communication Manager with over 20,000 followers on both Facebook and Instagram. Agorapulse has become a vital platform for me to keep track of every conversation I have with our customers and for publishing material on both social media accounts. Thanks to Agorapulse no one is forgotten and I can easily keep both Facebook and Instagram alive and active.
Let’s Review
We gave you a lot of things to think about, no? Here is a rundown of what I’ve mentioned so far, in addition to a couple other goodies like customizing content for each social network and YouTube integration.
Feature
Agorapulse
Buffer
Social Inbox with all plans
Yes
No
Facebook and Instagram ad comments capturing
Yes
No (must purchase Buffer Reply as an add on)
Pause and shuffle queue options
Yes
Yes
Ability to customize content for each social network
Yes
No
Downloadable reports with all plans
Yes
No
Powerful scheduling options
Yes
No
Built-in CRM to build better relationships
Yes
No
Affordable pricing for teams
Yes
No
YouTube integration
Yes
No
Ready to give Agorapulse a go?
Signing up for a two-week free trial is just a click (or tap) away.