Myth: The free tier is enough until you scale

Myth: The free tier is enough until you scale
Comforting, but free plans hide the one feature that decides everything: data retention.

✔ Free covers publishing fine — Buffer free, Metricool free both auto-publish
✖ Buffer free keeps zero analytics history; Later free shows ~30 days
✖ By the time you 'scale,' your baseline period is already gone — you can't prove what changed

Correction: the upgrade trigger isn't post volume, it's the moment you need month-over-month comparison. Start paying BEFORE you need the history, because you can't backfill it.

Best for: anyone treating analytics history as a someday concern.
Price: Metricool $22/mo unlocks longer retention; Buffer analytics adds $5/channel.
Pick this if you'll want last quarter's numbers next quarter.