Mastodon is a decentralized, open-source, and community-led social network that allows users to set up servers to communicate and interact with each other. The trending social network has microblogging features similar to Twitter, such as posting with a 500-character limit (called toots), images, videos, links, and mentions. However, Mastodon also has some unique advantages compared to mainstream social networks, such as the absence of ads, less complex algorithms, and strong communities within instances.
If you are a content creator, marketer, or influencer wanting to grow your audience and reach more people on Mastodon, you might want to use a scheduling tool that can help you plan, create, and publish your content in advance. Scheduling tools can save you time, increase your productivity, optimize your posting times, and measure performance.
In this article, we will compare some of the most popular and best Mastodon scheduling tools available on the web and see how they differ in terms of features, pricing, and user experience. We will also give you our recommendation for the best Mastodon scheduler that can meet your needs and goals.
Publer – The Best Mastodon Scheduling Tool
Publer is a social media management platform that lets you schedule posts to Mastodon and other platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google Business Profile, YouTube, WordPress, and Telegram.
It has a user-friendly interface that allows you to create and edit your posts using relevant formatting tools, hashtag suggestions, media integrations, and other underrated but very important features like link shorteners, UTM tracking, Spintax, and watermarks. You can also preview your posts before publishing them and see how they will look on different devices.
The tool has a Calendar View that shows you all your scheduled posts in an interactive way. You can drag and drop your posts to change their dates and times, filter them by labels, accounts, or members, and see the suggested best times to post based on your audience’s activity. You can also set up recycling & recurring posts that will be published automatically at regular intervals.
With Publer, you get a media library that stores all your photos, videos, and gifs and lets you organize them with color-coded labels. You can import media from your local storage or cloud services such as Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or Unsplash. Additionally, you can design beautiful marketing visuals with Canva or VistaCreate from within the platform, or use the capable AI Assist feature for images and text.
The analytics section tracks your social media performance and shows you key metrics for all your social channels such as impressions, reach, engagement, clicks, and followers… – or a specific view only for Mastodon-related insights. You can also generate PDFs and share visual reports with your team or clients.
The Workspaces feature helps manage multiple brands or clients without mixing their content. You can invite other members to join your workspace, assign them roles and permissions, and communicate with the inside Publer. You can also set up approval workflows to review and approve posts before they go live.
Publer offers a free plan that lets you schedule up to 30 pending scheduled posts per month for up to 3 social accounts. It includes the Publer App which is free to download for iOS or Android and the free browser extension. The paid plans start from $12 / month for unlimited posts and extra features. A 7-day or 14-day free trial is available for all paid plans.
Pros:
- Supports Mastodon and most major social media networks.
- User-friendly interface and a full-featured Calendar View.
- One-click visual reports for Analytics.
- Ai Assist & integrated design tools.
- Workspaces feature and approval workflows.
- Offers a forever-free plan and affordable paid plans.
- Publer App is free to download for iOS and Android.
- Free & feature-packed browser extension.
- Excellent Customer Support reviews
- Constant platform updates
Cons:
- Mastodon analytics are top-view only due to API limitations.
- There is a learning curve to taking full advantage of all the features of the platform.
Buffer
Buffer is another social media management platform that enables you to schedule posts to Mastodon and other platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, and Google Business Profile. It has a simple interface that lets you create and edit your posts using text formatting tools, media integrations, and link shorteners. You can also preview your posts before publishing them and see how they will look on different devices.
The queue feature in Buffer is similar to Publer’s Calendar View. The platform also provides an analytics feature to track social media performance, a browser extension for easy sharing of content, and a team feature for collaboration.
Buffer’s paid plans are based on a number of additional accounts which can vary from $6 on the most basic plan, up to $120 for 10 social channels on their premium plan.
Pros:
- Supports Mastodon and other platforms
- A simple interface and a queue feature
- Analytics insights and reports
- Browser extension and app available
- Team feature and approval workflows (Only for premium users)
Cons:
- No boost or thread scheduling for Mastodon
- Limited Mastodon analytics
- Pricing per social account can go up to $12 compared to Publer – $7
- Dedicated customer support is limited to paying clients
- Slow on new platform updates.
Mastodon Scheduler
Mastodon Scheduler is a web app that allows you to schedule posts to Mastodon only. It has a basic interface that lets you only schedule text-based toots.
The platform lacks any analytics or performance-tracking features. It also does not have any collaboration, team features, browser extensions, or integrations.
Mastodon Scheduler is free to use, but it requires a somewhat technical setup process. You need to create an app on your Mastodon server and generate an access token to use the service. This might be confusing or inconvenient for some users.
Pros:
- Free to use
- Has a basic and easy interface
Cons:
- Only text-based toot scheduling
- Does not have any analytics or performance-tracking features
- Does not have any collaboration or team features
- Does not have any browser extensions or integrations
- Requires creating an app and generating an access token
Social Champ
Similar to Buffer but with a different pricing structure, Social Champ supports Mastodon among other platforms. It has a simple interface that lets you create and edit your posts using text formatting tools, media integrations, and link shorteners. You can also preview your posts before publishing them and see how they will look on different devices.
The analytics feature tracks your social media performance and shows you key metrics such as impressions, reach, engagement, clicks, followers, and more.
The platform also has a mobile app, however, it is only available to paying clients. Its UI and capabilities are admittedly outdated.
The team feature helps you collaborate with your colleagues or clients on your social media strategy. You can invite other members to join your team and assign them roles and permissions. You can also set up approval workflows to review and approve posts before they go live.
Social Champ’s paid plans start from $26 per month and its free plan does not include Twitter accounts.
Pros:
- Supports Mastodon and other platforms
- Has an analytics feature and reports
- Team features and approval workflows for paid plans
Cons:
- Interface can feel outdated and non-intuitive
- The free plan does not include Twitter accounts
- Paid plans start at a steep price point.
- The mobile app is outdated and only available to paying users.
Planly
Planly is a social media scheduler and analytics tool that supports Mastodon and other platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, and Google Business Profile. Planly has a smart interface that lets you create and edit your posts using AI-powered text and image generation, media integrations, and link shorteners.
It has a calendar view that shows you all your scheduled posts in an interactive way. You can drag and drop your posts to change their dates and times, filter them by labels, accounts, or members, and see the suggested best times to post based on your audience’s activity.
The platform has an analytics feature that tracks your social media performance and shows you key metrics. You can also generate and share visual reports with your team or clients.
Planly does not have a free plan, but you can have a $1 trial week for the Pro plan.
Pros:
- Similar features to major industry players like Publer
- Simple and intuitive UI
Cons:
- No free plan – the most basic plan starts from $15
- Limited analytics features in the basic plans
- Lacks a mobile app or browser extension
- Limited AI credits
Seenly
Seenly is a basic scheduling tool for LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter & Mastodon, providing a simple interface and a free plan. However, the scheduler lacks analytics and collaboration features and requires a technical setup process to connect your Mastodon account. The UI is outdated and it is not suitable for teams or collaborators.
Pros:
- It has a free plan and a $30 paid plan with unlimited accounts.
- Features an AI content helper.
Cons:
- Limited supported social channels.
- The platform is basic and outdated
- Limited analytics or performance tracking features.
- Does not have any collaboration or team features.
- No browser extension, app, or integrations.
- Requires a technical setup for Mastodon.
Our Recommendation for the Best Mastodon Scheduling Tools on the Web
Based on our gathered information and reviews, we recommend Publer as the best Mastodon scheduling tool for content creators, marketers, and influencers. Publer has the most features, the most user-friendly interface, the most affordable pricing, and the best customer support among the tools we reviewed.
Publer supports Mastodon and many other platforms, so you can manage all your social media accounts from one place. It has an analytics feature and visual reports that can help you measure and improve your social media performance. A media library and design tools that can help you create stunning visuals for your Mastodon posts. Workspaces feature and approval workflows can help you collaborate with your team or clients on your social media strategy.
If you want to try Publer for yourself, you can sign up here and start scheduling your Mastodon posts today.
Alkeo Taga
