10 solo creator inboxes by accounts per plan (2026)

For a solo creator, our pick is BetterSocials Creator: it puts comments and DMs from 4 accounts in one inbox, with AI replies, for $29 a month or $24 billed yearly. SocialBee Bootstrap connects 5 profiles for the same $29 a month, as of October 2026, and suits a creator who mostly posts. Buffer is cheaper per account at $5 a channel on annual billing, as of October 2026, and its inbox covers comments only.

Why a solo creator should count accounts before price

BetterSocials, SocialBee, Buffer and Metricool each count your accounts in a different unit, so two $29 plans can connect different numbers of them. We wrote this list for one reader: a creator working alone, with one login and four to six accounts to answer.

A social inbox is one screen where the comments and DMs from your connected accounts arrive, so you answer them without opening each app. A connected account is one profile, page or channel on one network.

The unit decides your bill. BetterSocials sets its plans by account count and InstantDM charges per account, SocialBee sets plans by profile count, Sendible by workspace, Buffer charges per channel and Metricool per brand. Agorapulse, Hootsuite and Sprout Social charge per user or seat, which tells you what one person pays but not how many accounts that seat connects.

How we counted the cheapest plan

We priced BetterSocials and the nine other tools here against one job: four social accounts, one person, one login. For each tool we wrote down its own unit, the cheapest plan that includes an inbox, the price and whether that price is billed monthly or yearly.

Where a vendor lists both billing periods, you get both. The cost table holds the tools we could price at four accounts, and every tool keeps its price in its own section.

BetterSocials Creator: four accounts with comments and DMs

BetterSocials is best for a solo creator who gets customers from comments and DMs and wants AI replies in their own voice. Creator connects 4 social accounts for $29 a month, or $24 a month billed yearly, with one login and 1,000 AI credits a month. Pro connects 6 accounts for $49 a month, or $39 billed yearly.

The inbox holds Instagram, Facebook and TikTok comments and DMs, plus YouTube, Threads and LinkedIn Company Page comments. AI replies have separate Comments and DMs settings, each set to Off, Draft for me or Reply in my voice. Each AI reply or draft uses 1 credit, and when the credits run out the AI pauses.

A keyword in an Instagram or Facebook comment sends that person a DM with your link. On TikTok, YouTube, Threads and LinkedIn Company Pages the keyword posts a public reply with the link instead. Contacts and keywords are unlimited, and nothing is billed per contact.

Several Instagram accounts connect separately, and each one counts toward the plan's number. The 7-day free trial needs a card and connects the plan's own count: 4 on Creator, 6 on Pro and 12 on Team. BetterSocials has no free plan.

Metricool's free plan: one brand, no bill

Metricool is best for a solo creator with one brand who wants to pay nothing. The free plan connects 1 brand with one profile for each social network, as of October 2026, and you can plan content, publish it and manage messages from your networks on it.

Metricool counts brands, and each brand holds one profile per network. Its free tier also reads YouTube comments. Paid plans are priced per brand.

Keyword comment-to-DM sits in BetterSocials Creator and InstantDM. If one brand on a handful of networks is all you run, Metricool's free plan covers it.

SocialBee Bootstrap: five profiles for $29

SocialBee is best for a solo creator who mostly posts and wants five profiles in one workspace. Bootstrap connects up to 5 social profiles, 1 user and 1 workspace for $29 a month billed monthly, or $290 a year billed annually, as of October 2026. That's one more account than BetterSocials Creator at the same $29 monthly price.

SocialBee's pricing page labels Bootstrap the plan for freelancers and solopreneurs. It counts every profile, page or channel once, so 2 Instagram profiles, 1 Facebook page and 2 X profiles make 5 accounts.

Bootstrap posts to networks including Facebook, Instagram, Threads, LinkedIn, X, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube and Bluesky. It comes with a 14-day free trial. Accelerate raises you to 10 profiles for $49 a month billed monthly, or $490 a year.

Sendible: six profiles a workspace, unlimited users

Sendible is best for a creator who works with an editor, an assistant or a client and wants them on the account without a seat fee. Sendible allocates 6 social profiles to each workspace, as of October 2026. A workspace is its own space with profiles, messages, reports and queues.

Users are unlimited, so adding a helper doesn't raise the bill. For a creator heading toward a small team, that matters more than the account count.

For more tools sold without a seat fee, see Social media tools with unlimited users in 2026, sorted by what a whole team pays.

Buffer Essentials: $5 a channel

Buffer is best for a solo creator who mostly posts and wants to pay only for the channels in use. Essentials is $5 per channel a month on annual billing, as of October 2026. Four channels come to 4 x $5 = $20 a month on annual billing.

BetterSocials Creator is $24 a month billed yearly for 4 accounts, so Buffer costs a few dollars a month less at that count. What the difference buys is the DM side of the inbox, AI replies in your voice and keyword comment-to-DM.

Buffer's inbox covers comments only, and it reads YouTube comments. Instagram and Facebook DMs stay in the phone app.

InstantDM Multi Pro: up to ten Instagram accounts

InstantDM is best for Instagram DM automation on one account. As of October 2026, its paid single-account plans connect 1 account, Multi Starter connects up to 3 and Multi Pro up to 10, all built on Meta's official API.

Multi Pro is billed $990 a year for 10 accounts, a little over eight dollars per account a month. Four accounts take you past Multi Starter, so the four-account bill is Multi Pro at $990 a year, or $82.50 a month.

The free plan needs no card, and paid plans come with a 7-day free trial.

Agorapulse: an inbox on every tier, priced per user

Agorapulse is best for a creator who wants one combined inbox on whichever tier they buy. It's $79 per user a month on annual billing, as of July 2026, and every tier includes the combined inbox.

The inbox on Agorapulse's pricing page lists comment moderation, inbox search, saved replies and AI reply suggestions. For one person the per-user price is one seat. It adds up once you bring people in.

Hootsuite Standard: $99 a user

Hootsuite is best for a creator already set up on Hootsuite. The inbox starts on Standard at $99 per user a month billed annually, as of October 2026.

On Hootsuite, YouTube is publishing and analytics only. BetterSocials puts YouTube comments in its inbox with AI replies.

Sprout Social: the inbox starts on Standard

Sprout Social is best for a creator who has grown into a team with a per-seat budget. Essentials is $99 per seat a month billed monthly and has no inbox, as of October 2026.

The consolidated inbox starts on Standard at $199 per seat a month billed annually, per Sprout Social's pricing page. Every priced plan is per seat.

Later Growth: conversations on three networks

Later is best for a creator whose conversations happen on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Conversations covers Instagram DMs and comments, Facebook DMs and comments and TikTok comments. It starts on Growth at $37.50 a month billed yearly, or $50 billed monthly, as of September 2026.

Starter, at $18.75 a month billed yearly or $25 monthly, doesn't include Conversations. Later has no YouTube or LinkedIn conversations.

Four accounts or six: what each plan costs you

BetterSocials, Metricool, SocialBee, Buffer and InstantDM each have a plan you can price at four accounts. The table shows the cheapest plan that covers four, with prices as of October 2026.

Metricool's $0 holds only if your four accounts sit on four different networks.

At six accounts the order shifts. Buffer is 6 x $5 = $30 a month on annual billing, and BetterSocials Pro is $49 a month, or $39 billed yearly, for 6 accounts. SocialBee needs Accelerate at $49 a month billed monthly, or $490 a year, and Sendible's 6 profiles fit one workspace.

The per-seat tools cost one person $79 on Agorapulse, $99 on Hootsuite and $199 on Sprout Social for an inbox, each a month on annual billing. Later's inbox starts at $37.50 billed yearly. We break down inbox scope tool by tool in What a comment and DM inbox costs on each social media scheduler in 2026.

Our verdict: pick BetterSocials if comments and DMs from four accounts should land in one inbox with AI replies. Pick Buffer for the lowest per-channel bill when you mostly post, Metricool for one brand on a free plan, and SocialBee or Sendible if five or six profiles matter most.