Small business▲+16Since September 2026: 35% → 51%, +16 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement. Read over the models both editions asked.
51%from 35% in September 2026
Cleared the floor by 5 pointsRank 1 of 37, unchanged
9 categories · RankedBuffer
239Judge labels
49First choices
31Negative labels
14 / 14Models named it
9Categories
October 2026 Edition. Every number here is derived from the raw labels under vendor table v2026-10-05.2, every buyer segment counted.
Best standing
51% in Social media for small business buyers
Rank 2 of 53 in the mid-market standingaccepted challenger
0 of 14 models made it the first choice on the direct prompt; 21% of its 48 labels there were negative.
What the models named instead of Buffer →By buyer segmentA small-business product: leader at small business, not named at enterprise.
Small business1 of 38
51%72 labels
endorsed leader
Mid-market2 of 53
24%48 labels
accepted challenger
Enterprise55 of 55
0%16 labels
criticized challenger
In social media · each standing computed within its segment · bars are 0 to 100 · the accent bar is the product's own best reading
Standing by category
Every category where a model named Buffer for a mid-market B2B company. Share is first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts; rank is within every product named in that category.
| Category | Function | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Quadrant | Since September 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social media management | Marketing | 24% | 2 of 53 | 21% | 48 | accepted challenger | ▲+5Since September 2026: 20% → 25%, +5 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
| Content marketing platforms | Marketing | 2% | 10 of 135 | 0% | 13 | accepted challenger | ▼−5Since September 2026: 5% → 0%, −5 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
| Audience and consumer insights platforms | Marketing | 2% | 13 of 155 | 0% | 4 | under 10 labels · led by SparkToro at 19% | |
| Search and social advertising platforms | Marketing | 2% | 21 of 113 | 0% | 2 | under 10 labels · led by Google Ads at 13% | =heldSince September 2026: 2% → 2%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
| Ecommerce marketing | Marketing | 0% | 15 of 115 | 0% | 9 | under 10 labels · led by HubSpot Marketing Hub at 38% | =heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
| AI marketing agents | Marketing | 0% | 37 of 157 | 0% | 5 | under 10 labels · led by HubSpot Breeze at 24% | |
| Employee advocacy platforms | Marketing | 0% | 30 of 64 | 0% | 2 | under 10 labels · led by DSMN8 at 21% | |
| Channel partner and local marketing | Partner and channel | 0% | 47 of 124 | 0% | 1 | under 10 labels · led by Channelscaler at 10% | newNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now. |
| Marketing resource management | Marketing | 0% | 43 of 110 | 0% | 1 | under 10 labels · led by Wrike for Marketing at 24% |
Movement
Since September 2026, Buffer held within the floor in all nine categories: no change cleared 11 points.
Best category · Social media · by segment
Mid-market▲+5Since September 2026: 20% → 25%, +5 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
25%from 20% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 6 pointsRank 2 of 51, unchanged
Enterprise▼−2Since September 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
0%from 2% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 9 pointsRank 12 → 53 of 53
All categories · Mid-market
| Category | September 2026 | Now | Change | Reading | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social media | 20% | 25% | ▲+5Since September 2026: 20% → 25%, +5 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 2 of 53, unchanged |
| Content marketing | 5% | 0% | ▼−5Since September 2026: 5% → 0%, −5 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 6 → 10 of 135 |
| Audience insights | 0% | 2% | newNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 2% now. | New this edition | Rank 13 of 155, unchanged |
| Paid ads | 2% | 2% | =heldSince September 2026: 2% → 2%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 18 → 21 of 113 |
| Ecommerce marketing | 0% | 0% | =heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 21 → 15 of 115 |
| AI marketing agents | 0% | 0% | newNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now. | New this edition | Rank 37 of 157, unchanged |
| Employee advocacy | 0% | 0% | newNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now. | New this edition | Rank 30 of 64, unchanged |
| Channel marketing | 0% | 0% | newNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now. | New this edition | Rank 47 of 124, unchanged |
| Marketing resource mgt | 0% | 0% | newNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now. | New this edition | Rank 43 of 110, unchanged |
Shares here are read over the models both editions asked, so they can differ by a point or two from the standing above, which counts every model in this edition.
The floor is 11 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one is noise, and both are shown. Movement is read over the twelve models both editions asked; GPT-6 Luna, Muse Glimmer 30B joined this edition and are in the standing but not yet in the comparison. How the floor is measured · The editions
By model
How each model treated Buffer across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.ShowHide
By model
How each model treated Buffer across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.
ShowHide| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Negative | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Grok 4.20 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| Mistral Small | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Kimi K2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 9 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 11 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
By framing
Which of the six questions produced the naming. By model says how often; this says asked what. The first-choice count on the right carries the marks of the models that produced it.
FramingLabels by classFirst choices
Direct22 labels10
Paraphrase24 labels6
Comparative44 labels16not counted in share
Budget-constrained90 labels32
Scale-constrained16 labels1
Negative43 labels8not counted in share
First choiceAlternativeMentionNegative239 labels in all, every segment counted; 49 of the 73 first choices count toward share, since the comparative and negative framings do not. The bar is one segment per label class, to scale within the framing.
What the models said for it
Verbatim evidence the judge attached to positive labels.
“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 · Social media · 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 · Social media · 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 · Social media · budget prompt · first choice
“Go with Buffer if you only have 2 or 3 social channels and want a simple, highly affordable paid scheduler” Gemini 3.5 Flash · Social media · budget prompt · first choice
And against it
Verbatim evidence attached to negative labels. A warning on a product with few labels is a warning; on a product with many, it is one voice among them.
“Reports of security concerns ... unauthorized charges post-cancellation, and frequent post failures” Grok 4.20 · Social media · negative prompt · hard negative
“Buffer's public incident history shows multiple disruptions in 2025–2026, including duplicate scheduled posts” GPT-5.4 mini · Social media · negative prompt · soft negative
“Posts occasionally fail to publish despite appearing scheduled... power users often outgrow it quickly” Qwen 3.7 Flash · Social media · negative prompt · soft negative
“Fine for solo freelancers, but be cautious if you need serious analytics or team collaboration.” DeepSeek V4 Flash · Social media · negative prompt · soft negative
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as Buffer, over the 239 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Buffer was named but was not.ShowHide
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as Buffer, over the 239 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Buffer was named but was not.
ShowHideProductSame answerTook the first choice insteadHead to head
A head-to-head page exists where both products are among a category's top eight. The other rows are the same fact without a page behind them, so they link to the product instead.
What carried it into the answer
The sites and pages cited by the answers that named Buffer. A fact about retrieval, not a lever on the model.
Citations exist only for the models that return a source list, five of the fourteen in this edition, so these counts come from 227 of the 239 answers that named Buffer and are not a share of its labels.
Domains cited
buffer.comYour site139
blog.hubspot.com93
blog.hootsuite.com62
learn.g2.com57
zapier.com47
sproutsocial.com46
g2.com44
postiv.ai43
thecmo.com43
linkedin.com38
473 of the 612 domain citations in answers naming Buffer came from somebody else's page.
Pages cited
Pages are listed as the models cited them.
Search and answers
buffer.com is not in Google's top ten for any of the category's searches. In the answers, Buffer takes 24% of first choices and Sprout Social takes 30%.ShowHide
Search and answers
buffer.com is not in Google's top ten for any of the category's searches. In the answers, Buffer takes 24% of first choices and Sprout Social takes 30%.
ShowHideIn search
Google, US estimatesPosition for “social media management platform”
–
not in the top ten
Position for “best social media management platform”
–
not in the top ten
- Searches for its name, Google
- 90,500 a month (“buffer”)
- AI search demand for its name, est.
- 35,151 a month
- Organic visits to its site
- about 966,256 a month
- Searches its site ranks for
- 60,487 · 4,206 in the top three
- Sites linking to it
- 96,450
- Paid Google search
- No ads found in the estimate; that does not mean it runs none
In answers
This editionShare of first choices
24%
rank 2 of 53 in social media
Segment leader
30%
Sprout Social
- First choices
- 49 across its categories
- Named in
- 239 answers
- Its own site cited
- in 227 of the answers that named it
Search figures are US estimates from DataForSEO, read September 28, 2026; AI search demand is its modeled, directional estimate, not a count of queries to any assistant. The answers are this edition's. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
What it publishes
ShowHide
What it publishes
ShowHideAddresses on buffer.com
3,661
subdomains included
Content
2,501
counted in the table below
Documentation
198
Product · Integration
0 · 25
| Kind | Pages | Last 90 days | 2025-10 to 2026-09 | Latest | Categories named |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blog | 2,314 | 98 | 2026-09-29 | ||
| Report or ebook | 79 | 19 | 2026-09-29 | ||
| Case study | 37 | 16 | 2026-09-24 | ||
| Comparison | 24 | 13 | 2026-09-29 | ||
| Podcast or video | 17 | 3 | 2026-09-29 | ||
| Conference or event | 13 | 1 | 2026-09-29 | ||
| Glossary or explainer | 7 | 1 | 2026-09-29 | ||
| News or press | 6 | 0 | 2026-03-10 | ||
| Template or tool | 3 | 2 | 2026-09-29 | ||
| Webinar or virtual event | 1 | undated |
Most recent
- 2026-09-29All posts - Buffer Blog blog
- 2026-09-29Creator - Buffer Blog Posts blog
- 2026-09-29Flow - Buffer Blog Posts blog
- 2026-09-29Social Media Marketing - Buffer Blog Posts blog
- 2026-09-29Tools - Buffer Blog Posts blog
- 2026-09-2913+ Free Social Media Calendar Templates to Help You Plan Your Content blog
How it is countedHide how it is counted
Every page buffer.com exposes, subdomains included. Kind is read from the address and title. The last 90 days, the latest date and the twelve months count pages by when they were published, from the site's feeds, a date in the address, or the page's own publication date, read from up to a hundred of its most recently changed pages; a page that says only when it last changed is counted in its kind but not in when, so the recent counts are a floor, and a kind none of whose pages gives a publication date reads undated. An event counts as online when its address or title says so (webinar, on demand, virtual or online summit); a conference, summit, trade show, expo or roadshow that does not say so is counted as a conference or event, which on a vendor's site is mostly in person. Read September 29, 2026.
Names read as Buffer
What the judge wrote, as written, with how often. The vendor table decides that these count as Buffer; a claim can dispute any of them.
Buffer (Free Plan) 2Google Analytics 4 + Buffer 1
Follow Buffer
An email the morning each edition publishes: where this product moved, where it held, and by how much against the noise floor. One address, confirmed by a click; a stop link in every email.
Already following? Everything you follow, with a stop for each.
The company
Buffer.ShowHide
The company
Buffer.
ShowHideOn record
Wikidata- Website
- buffer.com
Fetched September 14, 2026. These describe the company, not the product's standing, and a claimed page can dispute any of them. · Wikidata
In its own words
Stated by the vendor, not checked- Positioning
- social media management platform
- For
- individuals, creators, and small businesses
- Price stated
- Try our forever free plan or upgrade for more. buffer.com
- Starting price
- 5 buffer.com/pricing
- Free plan or trial
- forever free plan buffer.com
- Customers named
- Alexandrea BowmanSapphire SocialKevin IndigDanny HieberJosh Allan DykstraAudio in the TreesJeff SimmonsDustin Kuhns
- Not stated on the pages read
- Integrations, certifications, hosting
What Buffer's own pages state, read September 28, 2026: buffer.com, buffer.com/pricing, buffer.com/resources/case-studies, buffer.com/partners. A claimed page can correct any of them.
Is this your product?
Claim this page
Claiming is free and changes nothing in the data. A claimed page shows a verified contact who is told when each edition publishes and when Buffer's standing changes by more than the noise floor; the right to propose corrections to the vendor table, meaning names the judge wrote that should or should not read as Buffer, applied by version and listed in the change log; and a one-line description supplied by the vendor and marked as such.
What a new claim receivesHide what a new claim receives
A new claim receives the current edition's vendor brief for Buffer by email, built from the raw record of the edition. It shows:
- where Buffer is named, by buyer and by framing, and which cells hold its first choices;
- the claims the models make when they name it, ranked, with the strongest and the weakest quoted;
- its vocabulary against the segment leader's, and the pages the models cited;
- who was chosen in the answers that did not name Buffer, and every reason the record gives;
- a battlecard for each top rival: the head-to-head split, why they win, and the reservation quoted against them;
- one page of published figures cleared to show a buyer.
Badges
Wins only: a badge exists where Buffer is ranked in a category's top three this edition. Three sizes, one file each, light and dark; the code is under each.ShowHide
Badges
Wins only: a badge exists where Buffer is ranked in a category's top three this edition. Three sizes, one file each, light and dark; the code is under each.
ShowHideBuffer is among the products AI models recommend first in Social media management this edition. Each badge says so in the buyer's words, names the edition, and links to the standing. The next edition issues a new badge; this one stays true as a record of October 2026.
Wide · 320 × 104 Website, beside other badges
Square · 240 × 240 LinkedIn, slides
Compact · 200 × 56 Email signature, footer
Badges read on light and dark pages. Alt text carries the claim, the category, the edition and the index, so it stays a citation where the image does not load.