12 Best Free Social Media Schedulers in 2026 (We Tested All of Them)

Every list of "best free social media schedulers" has the same problem: it is written by one of the tools on the list.

Buffer says Buffer is best. Hootsuite says Hootsuite is best. Metricool says Metricool is best. You end up reading four self-promotional articles and are no closer to a decision.

We tested all of them. We signed up for every major free social media scheduling tool in 2026, connected real accounts across Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, LinkedIn, and TikTok, scheduled real content, and documented what it actually feels like to use each tool daily.

One disclosure upfront: Planify (the tool I built) is on this list. I've placed it first because I genuinely believe it offers the best free plan — but I've tried to be honest about its limitations, and you should judge the rest of this list by how fairly I treat the competition.

Here are the 12 best free social media schedulers in 2026, ranked by overall value for users who need a genuinely useful free plan.

Quick Comparison Table

1. Planify — Best Free Social Media Scheduler Overall

Planify is built with creators and small teams in mind, and its free plan reflects that. Unlike tools that gate core features behind a paywall immediately, Planify's free tier is designed to be genuinely useful for running a real social media presence.

Platforms supported on free: Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, Threads

What We Liked

A free plan that does not feel like a trial. Most tools offer a "free plan" that caps you so aggressively you are forced to upgrade within a week. Planify's free tier supports unlimited post scheduling across its supported platforms. You can connect your Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Threads accounts and schedule as much content as you like — no credit card required.

AI content generation included. The built-in AI generates platform-specific content — it knows Twitter character limits, Instagram caption best practices, and Threads formatting without you having to switch between tools. In our testing, the AI output was usable with minor edits about 70% of the time, which is better than most standalone AI writing tools we have tried. Importantly, AI is included in the free plan, not a paid add-on.

Thread scheduling with live preview. Composing a Twitter thread in Planify shows you exactly how each tweet will appear, including per-tweet character counts and the thread flow. You can reorder tweets and preview the full thread before scheduling. For anyone who regularly posts threads, this alone justifies trying Planify. See our guide to bulk-scheduling tweets for the full workflow.

Cross-posting made practical. You can create one piece of content and schedule it across multiple platforms simultaneously, with platform-specific adjustments (character limits, formatting) applied automatically. This is the core time-saving workflow that social media schedulers should deliver — and Planify does it without hiding it behind a paid tier.

No watermarks, ever. Your posts look like you wrote and published them manually. No "Scheduled by Planify" footer.

What Could Be Better

Platform coverage is narrower than some competitors. LinkedIn, TikTok, and Pinterest are not yet supported on the free plan. If those are core platforms for your strategy, you will need to supplement with another tool.

No dedicated mobile app (yet). Planify runs as a responsive web app on mobile — functional but not as smooth as a native app.

Pricing

• Free: Unlimited scheduling, AI content generation, Twitter/Instagram/Facebook/Threads support
• Paid: See Planify pricing for current tiers with expanded platform access and team features

Best For

Individual creators, marketers, and small business owners whose primary platforms are Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, or Threads. Especially strong for anyone who writes threads, needs AI writing assistance, or wants a truly useful free plan before committing to paid software.

2. Buffer — Best for Simple Multi-Platform Scheduling

Buffer is the oldest major social media scheduler still standing (founded 2010), and it has earned that longevity with an interface that is genuinely pleasant to use. It is not the most powerful tool on this list, but it is the easiest.

For a detailed breakdown, see our full Buffer review.

Platforms on free: Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, Mastodon, YouTube Shorts, Threads, Bluesky (up to 3 channels)

What We Liked

Cleanest interface in the category. Scheduling a post in Buffer takes about 15 seconds. There is no learning curve. You set up a posting queue, add posts, and Buffer publishes them. That simplicity is genuinely valuable when you are managing social media alongside everything else you do.

Browser extension. Buffer's Chrome extension lets you schedule content from any web page without opening a dashboard. See an article you want to share? One click, add your commentary, schedule it, done.

Broad platform support even on free. The free tier covers 3 channels across a wide selection of platforms — 10+ options including TikTok and LinkedIn that some competitors lock behind paid tiers.

Established reliability. With 15+ years of operation, Buffer's publishing infrastructure is rock-solid. Scheduled posts go out consistently. For client work especially, reliability matters more than feature count.

What Could Be Better

The free cap is frustrating in practice. Three channels with 10 scheduled posts each sounds manageable until you are running an active presence. If you post daily on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, you will hit the 10-post limit in less than two weeks and face an upgrade decision.

Thread support is basic. Thread scheduling on Buffer works, but the editing experience is inferior to Planify and Typefully. There is no drag-and-drop reordering, and the preview is limited.

AI is a paid add-on. Buffer's AI assistant (Buffer AI) is not included in the free plan — it is an add-on on paid plans. Given that competitors include AI on free tiers, this is a meaningful gap.

Pricing

• Free: 3 channels, 10 posts per channel per month
• Essentials: $6/month per channel
• Team: $12/month per channel

Best For

Users who manage 2-3 platforms and prioritize a simple, reliable experience over feature depth. Good for someone who tweets casually and also posts on Instagram and LinkedIn but does not need AI, threads, or heavy analytics.

3. Metricool — Best Free Plan for Analytics Depth

Metricool quietly has one of the most generous free plans in the entire social media scheduling category. If you need real analytics alongside scheduling — not just post counts — Metricool is worth serious consideration.

Platforms on free: Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube, Twitch, and your own website/blog

What We Liked

The free plan includes analytics. Most tools treat analytics as a paid feature. Metricool's free tier gives you engagement data, follower growth, reach, and performance comparisons across platforms — all accessible without paying. For a small business tracking whether social media is actually working, this is significant.

Genuinely broad platform support for free. Where Buffer gives you 3 channels, Metricool lets you connect one account per platform across 7+ platforms on the free plan. For a solopreneur managing their own brand across multiple channels, this is more practical than Buffer's limit.

Best time to post suggestions. Metricool analyzes your specific account's historical engagement data and suggests optimal posting times. This is a paid feature at most competitors.

Competitor analysis (free). You can analyze competitors' performance on Twitter and Facebook even on the free plan. This kind of competitive intelligence usually costs significantly more elsewhere.

What Could Be Better

50 posts per month cap. Posting daily across 5 platforms would eat through 150 posts per month. The 50-post free limit means you will need to be selective, or upgrade.

No AI on the free plan. Metricool has AI content generation on paid plans. The free tier is purely scheduling + analytics, no AI assist.

The interface takes getting used to. Metricool crams a lot of features into one dashboard. New users typically spend 30-45 minutes getting oriented before things click.

Pricing

• Free: 50 posts/month, 1 account per platform, basic analytics
• Starter: From ~$22/month for 1 brand
• Advanced: From ~$45/month for more brands and features

Best For

Creators and small businesses who want scheduling combined with real analytics and are willing to stay within a 50-post monthly cap. Also good for anyone running social media on a wide range of platforms who needs more than 3 channels without paying.

4. Publer — Best Free Plan for Visual Content

Publer is a social media scheduler with a particularly strong visual planning interface. If you manage visual-heavy content (carousels, graphics, videos) and want to see your content calendar visually before publishing, Publer is worth testing.

Platforms on free: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, TikTok, LinkedIn (up to 3 accounts)

What We Liked

Visual calendar is genuinely useful. Publer's calendar view shows your scheduled posts as visual thumbnails, not just text titles. When you are planning a week of Instagram content, seeing the visual grid makes gaps obvious in a way that text calendars don't.

Link recycling. Publer can automatically reshare your best-performing posts after a set period. For evergreen content — your top-performing tweet from six months ago, your highest-reach Instagram post — auto-recycling extends content life without manual effort.

Watermark-free on all plans. Posts go out clean regardless of whether you are on the free plan.

Canva integration. You can design graphics in Canva and import them directly into Publer's scheduling flow without downloading and re-uploading files.

What Could Be Better

25 posts per month is tight. Like Metricool, Publer's free cap forces you to be selective. Active social media managers will hit the limit quickly.

AI is limited on free. Publer has AI writing features, but the free plan gives you a small credit pool before AI access is cut off.

Three accounts only. The 3-account cap means you cannot run a full multi-platform presence for free.

Pricing

• Free: 3 accounts, 25 posts/month
• Professional: $12/month for 1 user, unlimited posts

Best For

Visual content creators and Instagram-focused brands who want to see their content calendar visually. Strong for anyone who designs their own graphics and wants Canva integration built into the scheduling workflow.

5. Later — Best Free Scheduler for Instagram-First Brands

Later built its reputation on Instagram scheduling, and it remains the most polished option specifically for Instagram visual planning. Its free plan is limited, but for Instagram-focused creators, it is worth knowing about.

Platforms on free: Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn (1 profile per platform)

What We Liked

Instagram visual grid preview. Later shows you exactly how your scheduled posts will appear on your Instagram grid before you publish them. If you manage a tightly curated aesthetic — consistent color palette, alternating formats — this preview is invaluable. No other free tool does this as well.

Link in Bio (Linkin.bio). Later's free plan includes a basic Linkin.bio page — a clickable version of your Instagram feed that drives traffic to specific posts or links. For Instagram creators monetizing through content, this is a practical bonus.

Media library. Later lets you build a library of photos and videos you can pull from when composing posts. For brands with a lot of existing creative assets, not re-uploading the same files repeatedly saves time.

What Could Be Better

Only 5 posts per week on the free plan. This is the tightest free cap on this list. If you post daily, you will hit the limit in five days. The free plan is genuinely more of a trial than a usable ongoing tier.

No AI features on free. Later's AI caption suggestions are locked behind paid plans.

Not cross-platform-friendly. Later was built for Instagram first and still shows. Non-Instagram scheduling feels like an afterthought compared to the Instagram experience.

Pricing

• Free: 1 profile per platform, 5 posts/week
• Starter: $16.67/month
• Growth: $30/month

Best For

Instagram-focused creators and small brands with a curated visual aesthetic who want grid preview and Linkin.bio on a free plan. Not suitable as a primary free tool for active daily posting — the 5-post weekly cap is too restrictive.

6. Social Champ — Best Free Scheduler for Team Use

Social Champ is a smaller scheduler with an unusually generous free tier for users who need to manage multiple social accounts and want basic team collaboration without paying.

Platforms on free: Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google Business, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube, Mastodon, Bluesky (3 accounts)

What We Liked

12+ platforms supported even on the free plan. Social Champ's platform breadth on the free tier is wider than almost any competitor. If you need to schedule to Google Business Profile or Mastodon alongside Instagram and Twitter, few free tools cover this.

Bulk upload via CSV. You can upload a CSV of scheduled posts and have Social Champ schedule them all at once. This is typically a paid feature at competitors. For content managers who prepare weeks of content offline, CSV bulk upload is a significant time saver.

RSS auto-posting. Social Champ can pull from an RSS feed and automatically share new articles to your social accounts. For content curation or sharing your own blog posts automatically, this is a useful free automation.

Recycle top posts. Similar to Publer, Social Champ can automatically reshare your best-performing posts. On the free plan, this feature is available (with limits) — most tools lock recycling behind paid tiers.

What Could Be Better

Only 3 social accounts on free. The account limit is consistent with competitors but still frustrating if you manage more than one brand.

No AI on free. Social Champ's AI features are paid-only.

Less polished than Buffer or Later. The interface works but feels less refined. Navigating between features takes more clicks than it should.

Pricing

• Free: 3 social accounts, 12+ platforms, basic analytics
• Champion: $26/month for 1 user, unlimited accounts

Best For

Small teams and solo marketers who need broad platform coverage (including less common platforms like Google Business and Mastodon) and want CSV bulk upload on a free plan.

7. Zoho Social — Best Free Scheduler for Zoho Users

Zoho Social is part of the broader Zoho productivity suite. If you already use Zoho CRM, Zoho Mail, or other Zoho apps, the integration makes Zoho Social a natural choice for your social scheduling. Its free plan is available for personal use.

Platforms on free: Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google Business (1 brand)

What We Liked

Unlimited scheduled posts on the free plan. Zoho Social does not cap your post volume on the free tier — you can schedule as much content as you like for 1 brand. This is one of the most generous free-plan structures in the category for solo users.

CRM integration (on paid plans). For businesses that want to tie social media activity to customer records — knowing which leads came from a Twitter thread or Facebook post — Zoho Social's CRM integration is unique among schedulers.

Smart Q / Optimal timing. Zoho Social's SmartQ feature analyzes when your audience is active and recommends optimal posting times based on your account's data.

Brand monitoring. Even on the free plan, Zoho Social lets you monitor mentions of your brand keywords and handle them in a unified inbox.

What Could Be Better

Only 1 brand on the free plan. The unlimited-posts-per-brand free tier is great, but if you manage more than one brand or client, you will need to upgrade immediately.

Zoho-ecosystem best. Zoho Social is most valuable if you are already in the Zoho ecosystem. As a standalone scheduler, the interface and UX feel more utilitarian than Buffer or Later.

Limited platform support. No TikTok, Pinterest, or YouTube on any plan at the time of review — narrower than competitors at similar price points.

Pricing

• Free (Personal): 1 brand, unlimited posts
• Standard: $10/month per user
• Professional: $30/month per user

Best For

Solo users managing a single brand who are already in the Zoho ecosystem, or anyone who wants truly unlimited scheduling for one account without paying.

8. Postiz — Best Free Option for Technical Users

Postiz is an open-source social media scheduler that you can self-host for free. If you are comfortable running your own server (or a cheap VPS), Postiz gives you a fully featured scheduler with no subscription fees and no data sharing with a third-party SaaS.

Platforms on free (self-hosted): Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads, Pinterest, Dribbble, Reddit

What We Liked

Genuinely free, forever. Self-hosted Postiz costs you server fees (typically $5-10/month on a VPS like Digital Ocean or Hetzner) and nothing else. No per-user pricing, no feature gating, no post limits.

Broadest platform list on this list. Postiz supports 12+ platforms including Reddit and Dribbble — niche platforms that most tools ignore entirely.

Open source means full control. You own your data. You can inspect the code, modify it, add features, and integrate it with your existing infrastructure. For developers building workflows around social media automation, this is the only tool that gives you this level of control.

AI integration. Postiz integrates with OpenAI (you supply your own API key) for content generation. Using your own key means no usage caps imposed by the tool itself.

What Could Be Better

Self-hosting is not beginner-friendly. If terms like "Docker," "VPS," or "SSH" are unfamiliar, Postiz's free self-hosted option is not for you. There is a managed cloud version, but it costs money.

Less polished than commercial tools. As an open-source project, Postiz's UI is functional but not as refined as Buffer or Later. Expect occasional rough edges.

Community support, not professional support. When something breaks, you are on GitHub issues and Discord, not a support ticket system.

Pricing

• Self-hosted: Free (pay for your own server)
• Cloud: Paid plans from ~$29/month

Best For

Developers, technical founders, and privacy-conscious users who want full control over their social media scheduling infrastructure and are comfortable managing their own server.

9. TweetDeck (X Pro Dashboard) — Best Free Scheduler for Twitter Power Users

TweetDeck — now integrated into X (Twitter) as the X Pro dashboard — is the native Twitter scheduling and monitoring tool. It is completely free for any X account holder, and for Twitter-first users who do not need cross-platform scheduling, it covers the basics well.

Platforms: Twitter/X only

What We Liked

100% free with any X account. No payment required. No post limits. No account caps. If you only post on Twitter/X, TweetDeck costs you nothing to use indefinitely.

Multi-column monitoring. TweetDeck's column layout lets you simultaneously monitor your home timeline, mentions, DMs, hashtags, and lists in one dashboard. For community managers and active Twitter users, this monitoring capability has no free equivalent elsewhere.

Native API access. TweetDeck uses X's native infrastructure, which means no API rate limit concerns, no third-party auth tokens, and no risk of your account being flagged for "suspicious" third-party access.

Tweet scheduling is reliable. Basic scheduled tweets (single tweets, polls) publish consistently. No surprises.

What Could Be Better

No thread scheduling. You cannot schedule a thread of multiple connected tweets in TweetDeck. For thread-heavy creators, this is a dealbreaker. Use Planify or Typefully for thread scheduling.

No AI. TweetDeck has no AI content generation of any kind.

Twitter only. If you post to Instagram, LinkedIn, or any other platform, TweetDeck does not help at all. You will need a second tool for everything else.

Requires X Premium for some features. The full TweetDeck Pro experience now requires X Premium subscription in some markets.

Pricing

• Free: Basic scheduling with an X account
• X Premium: $8/month for full X Pro dashboard access

Best For

Twitter-first users who post primarily on X and want a zero-cost scheduling option with powerful monitoring features. Not useful for anyone who needs to schedule to other platforms.

10. Meta Business Suite — Best Free Scheduler for Facebook and Instagram

Meta Business Suite is Facebook and Instagram's native scheduling tool, built directly into the Meta platform. If your social media strategy centers on Meta's platforms, it is free and more capable than most people realize.

Platforms: Facebook and Instagram only

What We Liked

Completely free for all Meta accounts. Meta Business Suite is included with every Facebook Page and Instagram Business or Creator account. There is no premium tier — everything is free.

Deep platform integration. Because Meta built this tool, it has capabilities that third-party schedulers cannot replicate: scheduling Instagram Reels, Facebook Stories, Facebook Groups posts, and Facebook Events — all without any API limitations.

Native analytics. Meta Business Suite includes Meta's full analytics dashboard — reach, engagement, follower demographics, video views — at no cost. The data depth here exceeds what paid third-party tools provide for Meta platforms specifically.

Ad integration. If you run Facebook or Instagram ads alongside your organic social media, Meta Business Suite ties your organic scheduling and paid campaigns into one interface. No third-party tool replicates this.

Inbox management. A unified inbox for Facebook and Instagram DMs, comments, and Messenger conversations — included free.

What Could Be Better

Meta platforms only. If you post to Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, or Threads, Meta Business Suite is useless for those platforms.

The interface has a learning curve. Meta Business Suite has evolved from several older Facebook tools (Creator Studio, Business Manager) and the UI shows this patchwork history. New users often feel disoriented.

Not designed for scheduling efficiency. Composing and scheduling a week of content in Meta Business Suite is slower than in tools designed specifically for bulk scheduling workflows.

Pricing

• Free: All features included with a Facebook Page

Best For

Brands and creators whose strategy centers on Facebook and Instagram who want native scheduling, deep analytics, and ad integration at no cost. Best used in combination with a cross-platform scheduler like Planify for other platforms.

11. Adobe Express — Best Free Scheduler with Built-In Design

Adobe Express (formerly Adobe Spark) is a design tool with social media scheduling built in. If your bottleneck is creating content rather than scheduling it, Adobe Express's combination of design and scheduling in one tool may be worth considering.

Platforms on free: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn

What We Liked

Design + scheduling in one place. Most schedulers assume you have your creative assets ready. Adobe Express lets you design graphics, create short videos, and remove backgrounds before scheduling — without switching tools. For solo creators who also do their own design, this integration eliminates a step in the workflow.

Premium templates on free. Adobe Express's free plan includes a large library of templates across formats. You can design professional-looking posts without design experience.

Adobe fonts and stock photos on free. Free access to a selection of Adobe fonts and stock photos is a meaningful bonus over competitors' free plans.

Brand Kit basics. Even on the free plan, you can save your brand colors and fonts to apply consistently across designs.

What Could Be Better

The scheduling feature is not the main focus. Adobe Express is primarily a design tool that added scheduling. The scheduling interface is functional but less capable than dedicated schedulers. There is no bulk scheduling, no AI content generation, no analytics, and limited platform-specific preview.

Post limits on free. Scheduling is limited on the free plan — you will hit caps faster than with a dedicated scheduler.

No analytics. Adobe Express does not provide social media analytics. You will need to check each platform natively.

Pricing

• Free: Limited scheduling with design tools
• Express Premium: $9.99/month includes unlimited scheduling and advanced features

Best For

Solo creators and small businesses who spend as much time designing content as they do scheduling it. Best used by people who are already in the Adobe ecosystem or who want to consolidate design and scheduling into fewer tools.

12. SocialBee — Best AI Features (Trial Only)

SocialBee does not have a permanent free plan — it offers a 14-day free trial. We are including it because it has some of the most advanced AI content generation of any tool in this comparison, and the trial is genuinely long enough to evaluate whether it fits your workflow before committing.

Platforms on trial: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, Google Business, YouTube

What We Liked

Content categorization is unique. SocialBee organizes your scheduled content into categories (Educational, Promotional, Entertaining, etc.) and automatically balances how often each category appears in your feed. If you want to maintain a consistent 3:1:1 (educational:promotional:engaging) content mix without manually tracking ratios, SocialBee handles this automatically.

AI content generation is genuinely impressive. SocialBee's AI can generate a week of content from a URL, a topic, or a description of your brand voice. The output quality in our testing was among the best in this comparison — less generic, more on-brand than most AI schedulers we tested.

Content recycling at scale. SocialBee is the strongest tool on this list for evergreen content recycling. You can set posts to repeat on custom schedules, exclude seasonal content from certain time windows, and manage a large library of reusable content.

What Could Be Better

No permanent free plan. After 14 days, you pay. If you are looking for a free tool to use long-term, SocialBee is not it.

Pricing is mid-tier. Starting at $29/month, SocialBee is not cheap for what you get compared to Planify (free) or Buffer ($6/month per channel).

Complexity has a cost. SocialBee's category system and content library management are powerful but require upfront setup time. Expect a few hours to configure everything before the value becomes obvious.

Pricing

• Free trial: 14 days, full access
• Bootstrap: $29/month
• Accelerate: $49/month

Best For

Content marketers who need structured content categorization and advanced AI generation and are willing to pay after the trial. Also useful as a 14-day evaluation window to access best-in-class AI before deciding whether to pay.

How to Choose the Right Free Social Media Scheduler

With 12 tools compared, here is a decision framework based on what actually matters for most users:

You post primarily on Twitter/X and Threads → Planify. The free tier is built for exactly this use case. Thread scheduling, AI writing, and Communities support are included.

You manage 2-3 platforms and want simplicity → Buffer. The cleanest interface in the category, even if the post cap is tight.

You need analytics alongside scheduling → Metricool. The only free tier with real analytics depth built in.

You care about the Instagram visual grid → Later. No competitor offers the same Instagram grid preview on a free plan.

You only post on Facebook and Instagram → Meta Business Suite. Native, unlimited, and free.

You are technical and want full control → Postiz. Open-source self-hosted means no per-seat fees and no data sharing.

You want to try the most advanced AI → SocialBee trial. Fourteen days of the best AI content generation on this list, then decide.

What to Look for in a Free Social Media Scheduler

Before you sign up for anything, these are the five questions worth asking about any free plan:

1. What is the actual post limit? "Unlimited" is not the same as "unlimited per account" — read the fine print. Some tools count cross-posts across platforms as multiple posts.

2. Is there a watermark? Any tool that adds "Scheduled by [Tool]" to your posts is using your audience as free advertising. All 12 tools in this list are watermark-free.

3. What happens when you hit the free limit? Some tools block all new scheduling until you upgrade. Others let you continue but stop future posts from publishing. Know the failure mode before you rely on the tool for important content.

4. Is the free plan a trial or ongoing? "Free forever" and "14-day free trial" are very different things. SocialBee is the only tool on this list that is trial-only; all others have ongoing free tiers (except as noted).

5. Do you own your data? Check whether the tool's terms of service give them rights to use your content for training AI models or marketing. Most major tools do not, but it is worth verifying.

Bottom Line

The best free social media scheduler in 2026 depends entirely on which platforms you use and what you need from the free plan.

For most users — especially anyone on Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, or Threads — Planify's free plan offers the strongest combination of unlimited scheduling, AI content generation, and platform-specific features without a credit card.

For analytics-focused users, Metricool's free tier is the hidden gem of this comparison. For pure Instagram planning, Later's visual grid preview is unmatched. And for technical users who want zero subscription fees forever, Postiz's self-hosted option is genuinely compelling.

Try the free plan of whichever tool fits your platform mix. Every tool on this list has a real free tier (or a long enough trial) that you can evaluate it properly before committing to anything.