Publish Now vs Buffer API
Buffer closed the old REST API to new developer registrations and the new GraphQL beta only issues personal access tokens. No third-party OAuth means no way to onboard your customers. Publish Now is the unified API built for multi-tenant SaaS from day one.
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TL;DR
Buffer's consumer scheduler is great. Buffer's developer API is a dead end - the old REST API stopped accepting new dev registrations, the new GraphQL one has personal keys only with no third-party OAuth. You cannot put Buffer under a real SaaS today. Publish Now is the unified API built so your customers connect their own accounts.
curl -X POST https://publishnow.app/v1/posts \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
-d '{
"content": "Hello from Publish Now!",
"platforms": ["x", "instagram", "tiktok"],
"on_behalf_of": "end_user_account_id"
}'The reasons people search
You cannot get a Buffer API client_id today - the old REST API is closed to new third-party developer registrations.
The new GraphQL beta only issues personal access tokens, so there is no way for your end users to connect their own accounts through OAuth.
100 requests per 24 hours on free and 500 on Team is single-user scale, not a number you can ship a product on.
$5 per channel per month punishes any multi-account workload - five customers with three channels each lands you at $75/mo before you make a single post.
There is no documented path from Buffer's current API surface to a real multi-tenant build, which is exactly what you need if you are putting social posting under your own product.
Third-party OAuth for end users: No
New developer app registrations: Closed (REST) / personal-only (GraphQL)
Free tier rate limit: 100 req / 24h, 3,000 / 30d
Pricing model: $5 per channel per month
Cost at 5 channels: $25/mo
Third-party OAuth for end users: Yes
New developer app registrations: Open, self-serve
Free tier rate limit: Sized for products
Pricing model: $5/mo + credits, flat
Cost at 5 channels: $5/mo + credits
Buffer is one of the best consumer schedulers in the world for individuals and small teams running their own accounts. This page is strictly about the developer API, not the product millions of marketers love. Buffer also ships an MCP server - so do we.
Every row is sourced from public docs. No cherry-picking.
| Axis | Buffer API | Publish Now |
|---|---|---|
| Third-party OAuth for end users | No | Yes |
| The single biggest dealbreaker for builders shipping a SaaS. | ||
| New developer app registrations | Closed (REST) / personal-only (GraphQL) | Open, self-serve |
| Buffer stopped accepting new third-party client_id registrations on the old REST API. | ||
| Free tier rate limit | 100 req / 24h, 3,000 / 30d | Sized for products |
| Team tier raises to 500 / 24h, 15,000 / 30d. Still single-user scale. | ||
| Pricing model | $5 per channel per month | $5/mo + credits, flat |
| Cost at 5 channels | $25/mo | $5/mo + credits |
| Cost at 20 channels | $100/mo | $5/mo + credits |
| Buffer's per-channel meter grows linearly with every account your customers connect. | ||
| Platforms supported | 11 networks | 3 GA (X, Instagram, TikTok) |
| MCP server | Yes, personal-token scope | Yes, multi-tenant scope |
| Multi-tenant SaaS readiness | Not supported | Built for it |
| GraphQL API maturity | Public beta, personal tokens only | Production REST + MCP |
| Uptime target | Status page, no developer SLA | 99.9% target |
The shape of the product, not just the pitch.
Publish Now ships managed OAuth in the base plan. Your customers click Connect, approve the platform prompt, and you get a stable token tied to their tenant. Buffer's REST API is closed to new client_id registrations and the GraphQL beta only issues personal tokens tied to one Buffer account.
Buffer's free tier caps at 100 requests per 24 hours and Team at 500. A real SaaS burns through that with three active customers before lunch. Publish Now's limits are sized for active end-user workloads with credits that scale predictably as you grow.
Customer A's accounts, customer B's accounts, your service account - all under one tenant graph with one JSON schema, one auth model, one $5/mo subscription plus credits. Buffer's API is one person, one account, one key.
Buffer ships an MCP server. So do we. The difference is scope: Buffer's MCP is bound to a personal access token, so an agent posts as one Buffer account. Publish Now's MCP operates across your full tenant graph so an agent can act on behalf of any connected customer account.
One endpoint, same JSON shape, every platform. The same call that posts now also schedules, drafts, and reschedules. You are not bolting a cron job onto a posting endpoint - the queue state is part of the API your product UI reads.
Publish Now is $5/mo + credits regardless of how many accounts your customers connect. Buffer's $5-per-channel meter grows linearly with every account every customer adds. At 20 channels that is $100/mo on Buffer for an API you still cannot put your users on.
Run the same scale-up against both and you stop second-guessing the bill.
| Scale | Buffer API | Publish Now | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 channel | $5/mo | $5/mo + credits | Per-channel meter starts here |
| 5 channels | $25/mo | $5/mo + credits | - |
| 10 channels | $50/mo | $5/mo + credits | - |
| 20 channels | $100/mo | $5/mo + credits | Same flat price as 1 channel |
| 50 channels | $250/mo | $5/mo + credits | Per-channel pricing scales linearly. Flat does not. |
You are a solo creator or small team scheduling your own 1 to 3 personal accounts and you want one of the most polished consumer schedulers on the market.
You want a calendar UI, team approval flows, and the Buffer brand for managing your own social presence, not a developer integration under your own product.
You are scripting against your own Buffer account with a personal access token and you do not need third-party OAuth, customer onboarding, or multi-tenant billing.
You are building a SaaS where YOUR customers connect THEIR own X, Instagram, and TikTok accounts and you need a real third-party OAuth flow today.
You need production rate limits sized for an active product with many end users, not 100 requests per 24 hours.
You want multi-tenant credentialed access with one billing relationship, one auth model, and one JSON schema across every connected customer account.
Switching from Buffer API
This is a 'you tried to start with Buffer and hit a wall' migration. The post body is conceptually similar, so the writing-the-content part carries over. The auth model, the account model, and the rate-limit assumptions all need to be replaced with a real multi-tenant setup before you can ship.
Email yo@publishnow.app - if you've already hit the dev-app-registration wall, the founder will move you onto a working multi-tenant setup the same day.