Social media management pricing
Managed social media has always been priced like a retainer: $500 to $5,000 a month for a dozen posts and a monthly call. Autobots prices it like software — $99 a month per channel, a post every day, caption and image included, nothing for you to approve.
One post every day, on one channel.
Start an AutobotTwo posts a day for businesses that live on the feed.
Start an AutobotMaximum presence — for launches, seasons and high-volume brands.
Start an AutobotPer channel, billed monthly, cancel any time. Two channels is $198 a month, three is $297. Prices in USD.
What social media management actually costs
The reason pricing feels impossible to compare is that the options are not the same product. A scheduling tool sells you distribution. A freelancer sells you hours. An agency sells you strategy. Only one line in this table sells you the thing most small businesses actually lack, which is a post going out today.
| Option | Monthly cost | Posts a month | What you still do | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Autobotsthat’s us | $99 | ~30 | Nothing after setup | Caption, image and publishing included. Per channel. Cancel anytime. |
| Do it yourself | $0 + your time | However many you manage | Everything | Free until you price your own hours. The usual failure mode is three good weeks, then silence. |
| A scheduling tool | $15–$99 | However many you write | Write and design every post | Buffer, Hootsuite and friends solve the publishing, not the making. You still need the content. |
| A freelancer | $300–$1,200 | 8–20 | Brief, review, chase | Upwork's published range is $14–$35/hour. Quality varies, and they take vacation. |
| An agency | $500–$5,000 | 12–30 | Approve calendars, attend calls | Strategy and campaigns as well as posting. Usually a minimum term. |
Agency and freelance figures are the ones publicly quoted in 2026 — WebFX puts managed social at $500–$5,000 a month, Marketing House Media lists $1,200 for three platforms, and Upwork publishes freelance rates of $14–$35 an hour. We are not guessing at competitor pricing to flatter our own.
Why a done-for-you package can cost $99 when an agency costs $2,000
Almost everything an agency charges for is human time that repeats every month: someone builds a content calendar, someone writes the copy, someone makes the graphic, someone schedules it, and someone reports on it. That work is genuinely valuable when you need a campaign. It is enormously expensive when all you needed was to not go quiet for three weeks.
An Autobot removes the repeating part. You brief it once — what the business is, who it serves, how it should sound, which styles and language to use — and from then on the planning, the writing, the image and the publishing all happen without a person in the loop. That is why the price can be a software price rather than a staffing price, and why it does not rise when you want more posts rather than fewer.
The honest trade is this: you are not buying strategy, campaign management or community replies. You are buying presence — a business that looks alive on the channel where its customers check. If you need a campaign team, an agency earns its fee and you should hire one. If you have been meaning to post consistently for two years and have not, that is precisely the problem this solves.
Should you outsource social media management?
Outsourcing makes sense when the bottleneck is consistency rather than ideas. The question worth asking is not “can I do this myself” — you almost certainly can — but “have I, every week, for the last six months?” Social platforms reward accounts that show up predictably, and a feed that runs hot for a fortnight and then dies does less for you than a modest post every day.
The usual outsourcing options each carry a hidden cost. A freelancer needs briefing and chasing, and takes vacation. An agency needs approvals, calls and usually a minimum term. An in-house hire costs more than $2,000 a month before you have written a job description. A done-for-you agent has a different hidden cost: it will not have opinions about your Q4 campaign. Pick the failure mode you can live with.
What you get for $99 a month
- A post every day on one channel — around 30 a month, published automatically at a local time you choose.
- A caption written for your business, from a one-time brief covering what you do, who you serve and how you sound — not a generic template with your name dropped in.
- An image generated to match every caption, in an image style you pick from eight presets. You never have to send a photo.
- Twelve languages, if your audience is not English-speaking.
- Guardrails so posts stay inside what you actually sell, and a dashboard where you can change the brief at any time.
- Facebook, Instagram, X or LinkedIn — one Autobot per channel, added or removed whenever you like.
There is no setup fee and no annual commitment. The one thing we ask for is a short call to connect your channel, because the platforms require an owner to authorise posting access — that takes about ten minutes and happens once.
Pricing questions
How much does social media management cost?
In 2026 an agency typically charges $500–$5,000 a month, a freelancer $300–$1,200, and a scheduling tool $15–$99 before you have written a single post. Autobots is $99 a month per channel with the caption, the image and the publishing all included, which is why it sits below every managed option in the table above.
What is included in a $99 package?
One channel, posted once a day, seven days a week — roughly 30 posts a month. Every post is a caption written in your brand voice plus an image generated to match it, published automatically at your chosen local time. There is no separate setup fee, design fee or platform fee.
Is it cheaper to outsource social media management or hire in-house?
A part-time in-house social media coordinator in the US costs well over $2,000 a month once you include payroll taxes, and they still need briefing. Outsourcing makes sense the moment posting is a consistency problem rather than a strategy problem — which is the case for most small businesses. That is the specific job Autobots does at $99.
Do I pay per post or per month?
Per month, per channel. The price does not move with how many posts land, so a busy month costs the same as a quiet one. If you want more than one post a day, the 14 and 21 posts-per-week tiers are $169 and $229.
How many channels do I need to pay for?
One Autobot runs one channel, so you pay per channel you want covered. Most businesses start with a single channel — usually Instagram or Facebook — and add a second once they can see the posts landing. Two channels is $198 a month.
Is there a contract or minimum term?
No. It is a rolling monthly subscription you can cancel at any time from your dashboard. Agencies normally ask for a three or six month minimum; that is one of the real costs people forget to compare.
Can I see the quality before I pay?
Yes, and you should. The free demo generates three real sample posts for your actual business in about thirty seconds, with no signup and no card. If the posts are not good enough, you have lost half a minute.
See the posts before you spend anything
Three real sample posts for your business, generated in about thirty seconds. No signup, no card, no call.