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Social media management · October 2026 Edition

Buffer vs Agorapulse

Zero of fourteen models named Buffer first on the direct prompt; one named Agorapulse. Both were named by all fourteen models and Buffer carries 48 labels and Agorapulse 39, so the shares are not directly comparable.

Buffer

accepted challenger

Named in nine categories this edition.

Agorapulse

accepted challenger

Named in two categories this edition.

First-choice share24%6%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.

Negative rate21%5%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.

Rank in category#2#5A position in a field of 11; printed, not drawn.

Labels4839A count; the two differ.

The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Buffer reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Sprout Social was named alongside these two in twelve of the fourteen direct answers. Sprout Social vs Buffer · Sprout Social vs Agorapulse · Buffer vs Oktopost

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the social media management page.

By framing

How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.

BufferFirst choices, of fourteen modelsAgorapulse

Direct011 against Buffer

Paraphrase022 against Buffer

Comparative20

Budget-constrained1201 against Agorapulse

Scale-constrained001 against Buffer

Negative236 against Buffer · 1 against Agorapulse

Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.

Across every category in the October 2026 Edition, Buffer and Agorapulse were named in the same answer sixty-three times, of the 239 answers naming Buffer and the 85 naming Agorapulse. In those answers Agorapulse took the first choice eight times and Buffer twenty.

Every model, every framing

The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Buffer and Agorapulse stood in it.

Model	Direct	Paraphrase	Comparative	Budget-constrained	Scale-constrained	Negative
Claude Haiku 4.5
GPT-5.4 mini
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Perplexity Sonar
Grok 4.20
Mistral Small
DeepSeek V4 Flash
Llama 4 Maverick
Qwen 3.7 Flash
Kimi K2
GLM 4.7 FlashX
MiniMax M2.5
GPT-6 Luna
Muse Glimmer 30B

Buffer

Agorapulse

first choice

named as an alternative

argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Buffer on the left and Agorapulse on the right.

The direct prompt

The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Buffer and Agorapulse stood in it.

Agorapulse first, Buffer not the choice

1 of 14 modelsBuffer was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.

GPT-5.4 miniAgorapulse alternatives: Hootsuite, Sprout Social

Neither was the first choice, one was named

6 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.

Gemini 3.5 FlashOktopost alternatives: Agorapulse, HubSpot Social

Grok 4.20Oktopost alternatives: Agorapulse, Hootsuite, Sprout Social

DeepSeek V4 FlashOktopost alternatives: Agorapulse, Sprout Social

Qwen 3.7 FlashSprout Social alternatives: Agorapulse, Oktopost

GLM 4.7 FlashXSprout Social alternatives: Agorapulse, Hootsuite, HubSpot Social, Oktopost

Muse Glimmer 30BOktopost alternatives: Agorapulse, Hootsuite, Metricool, Sprout Social

Neither was named

7 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.

Claude Haiku 4.5Sprout Social alternatives: DemandBird, Hootsuite, Metricool

Perplexity SonarSprout Social alternatives: Hootsuite, Oktopost, SocialPilot, Sprinklr Social

Mistral SmallSprout Social alternatives: Hootsuite, Oktopost

Llama 4 MaverickOktopost alternatives: SocialPilot

Kimi K2Oktopost alternatives: Hootsuite, Sprout Social

MiniMax M2.5Sprout Social alternatives: Oktopost, SocialPilot, Sprinklr Social

GPT-6 LunaOktopost alternatives: Hootsuite, Sprout Social

Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.

Small business

Buffer leads by forty-five points.

Buffer#1 of 12

Agorapulse#4 of 12

The full small business standing →

Mid-marketThe figures above

Buffer leads by eighteen points.

Buffer#2 of 11

Agorapulse#5 of 11

The full mid-market standing →

Enterprise

Level: the same share of first choices.

Buffer#9 of 9

Agorapulse#8 of 9

The full enterprise standing →

What the models said about Buffer

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.

“Reports of security concerns ... unauthorized charges post-cancellation, and frequent post failures” Grok 4.20 · negative prompt · hard negative

“Buffer's public incident history shows multiple disruptions in 2025–2026, including duplicate scheduled posts” GPT-5.4 mini · negative prompt · soft negative

“Posts occasionally fail to publish despite appearing scheduled... power users often outgrow it quickly” Qwen 3.7 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative

“For most small companies just starting out, Buffer or Metricool provide the best combination of ease-of-use, essential features, and low cost.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · budget prompt · first choice

“Best overall value: Buffer offers a robust free plan and affordable per-channel pricing ($6 per month), making it the top choice for small teams.” Muse Glimmer 30B · budget prompt · first choice

“Buffer is the best all-around choice because it offers a free plan and low-cost paid plans starting at $6 per month per channel” Perplexity Sonar · budget prompt · first choice

What the models said about Agorapulse

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Five of six in this category shown.

“Minor concerns: Occasional reports of slow or unhelpful customer support” Qwen 3.7 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative

“$79/user/month (annual) | Engagement-focused (less budget-friendly)” Grok 4.20 · budget prompt · soft negative

“platforms like Agorapulse, Sendible, or later-stage reviews of Sprout Social tend to have fewer issues” GLM 4.7 FlashX · negative prompt · first choice

“Safer alternatives: Tools like Agorapulse or Sprout Social often rank higher for support and reliability” Grok 4.20 · negative prompt · first choice

“My default recommendation: Agorapulse Professional for a mid-sized B2B team” GPT-6 Luna · paraphrase prompt · first choice

Also compared

Sprout Social vs Buffer Sprout Social vs Agorapulse Buffer vs Oktopost Buffer vs Metricool Buffer vs Hootsuite Buffer vs Zoho Social Oktopost vs Agorapulse Metricool vs Agorapulse Agorapulse vs Hootsuite Agorapulse vs Zoho Social All twenty-one head-to-head pages and the full social media standing

Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.