# Later Buyer's Checklist: What to Verify Before Paying for Later Social > A buyer's checklist for Later Social: networks, Instagram rules, post caps, seats, approvals, analytics, integrations, trial and refund rules to check first. _Source: https://professionalstoolkit.com/articles/later-buyers-checklist — The Professional's Toolkit · updated October 2026_ --- **30** — Posts per profile a month on Starter ($25 a month billed monthly); Growth allows 180. - **8 networks** — supported; no X, Bluesky or Google Business Profile - **1 user** — on Starter, with no add-ons - **14 days** — trial, converts to paid automatically ## Why a checklist beats the feature tour Later Social is easy to like in a demo. The calendar is visual, the Instagram grid preview is pleasant, and the entry price looks modest. The trouble usually starts after checkout, when a buyer finds that a network they needed is missing, that the chosen plan allows a single login, or that the trial has already become a charge the refund policy will not undo. This page is the list we would want in hand before paying. Each section covers one decision area, explains the rule in a short paragraph, and ends with checks you can tick against your own setup. The order matters. Networks and Instagram profile types come first, because they can rule the tool out in five minutes. Plan size comes next, then team features, analytics, integrations and the money rules. Everything here concerns Later Social, the scheduler, not Later Influence, a separate influencer product sold by quote only. For plan-by-plan bills, see our [Later pricing](/articles/later-pricing) page. This page is about fit. ## Check the networks before anything else Later Social publishes to eight networks: Instagram, Facebook Pages, TikTok, Threads, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube and Snapchat [1]. Two of those come with narrow limits. YouTube support covers Shorts only, so long-form videos cannot be scheduled. Snapchat covers video Spotlight posts and Public Stories, with no analytics and a public profile required to connect. X is gone: support ended on August 28, 2025, and scheduled X posts stopped publishing that day. **Bluesky, Mastodon and Google Business Profile are not supported at all**, and neither are Reddit, Tumblr or WordPress. Snapchat scheduling works on desktop only, and Threads and YouTube Shorts work on desktop and iOS but not Android, which matters for teams that live on their phones. - List every profile you post to today. If Bluesky, Mastodon, Google Business Profile or X (dropped in 2025) is on it, you will need a second tool. - If YouTube matters, confirm that Shorts alone cover your plan. - If Snapchat matters, check that Spotlight video and Public Story posts are enough. - If your team schedules from phones, note that Instagram Stories and Snapchat need a desktop browser, and Threads and YouTube Shorts cannot be scheduled from the Android app (iOS works). ## Confirm your Instagram profile type and Facebook Page Later no longer connects Instagram personal profiles. You need a business or creator profile, and switching inside Instagram is free. The type matters beyond the connection itself. Stories publish automatically for business profiles, while creator profiles, and Stories with stickers, polls, music, links or tags, fall back to notification publishing, where your phone gets a reminder and you finish the post by hand. A Facebook Page is the second requirement. You can connect Instagram and publish without one, but the Social Inbox, hashtag search, location tagging, Best Time to Post, Story analytics and social listening all need the Instagram profile linked to a Page. Facebook and LinkedIn carry their own rules. Later schedules to Facebook Pages only, not to personal profiles or Groups, and connecting a Page needs the Page admin role. LinkedIn Pages need super admin rights. Instagram also caps automatic publishing at 50 posts per profile in a moving 24 hours. Few accounts hit that. None of this is unusual for a Meta partner tool. But an agency should collect admin access before a client enters the calendar, not after the first post fails. - Switch every Instagram account you manage to business or creator. - Choose business if you want Stories to publish on their own. - Link each Instagram profile to a Facebook Page you administer. - Confirm admin rights on each Facebook Page and super admin rights on each LinkedIn Page. > 💡 **Count Instagram accounts first:** A Social Set holds one profile per network, so two Instagram accounts always need two Sets. That number sets your minimum plan. ## Match your posting volume to the per-profile caps Post caps apply per profile, per month: 30 on Starter, 180 on Growth and unlimited on Scale [2]. YouTube Shorts sit outside those caps and are unlimited on every paid plan. A post counts the moment it is scheduled, not when it goes live. Drafts count too until they are scheduled, and Stories count toward the Instagram total, while deleting a scheduled post or draft from the same month gives the slot back. **Starter's 30 is roughly one item a day per network**, which sounds generous until Stories enter the picture. A brand running one feed post and two separately scheduled Stories a day on Instagram would need about 90 slots a month on that profile alone, by our arithmetic, since each Story board counts as one post. That is Growth territory. Format limits deserve a look while you count. Carousels scheduled through Later stop at 10 items with a single caption, although the Instagram app allows 20. TikTok captions are cut to 150 characters when posting from Android. Uploaded media does not count toward the cap. Only scheduled or posted items do. The counter resets on the first of the month, whatever your renewal date. - Count last month's posts per profile, Stories included. - More than 30 on any single profile points to Growth; more than 180 points to Scale. - If you rely on long carousels, plan for the 10-item ceiling. - Clear out stale drafts, since they hold slots. ## Count seats and Social Sets, not just people A Social Set holds one profile per network, so two Instagram accounts always need two Sets. Starter includes one Set and one user and cannot buy more of either, because add-ons are sold on Growth and Scale only. Growth includes two Sets and two users; Scale includes six Sets and four users. On the two upper plans, an extra user costs $5 a month billed monthly ($3.75 billed yearly) and an extra Set costs $15 a month billed monthly ($11.25 billed yearly). Add-ons are bought on desktop only, never through the iOS app, and removing one brings no refund for unused time. A three-person team with two brands is a common shape. Growth covers both brands and two of the three people, so one extra seat brings the bill to $55 a month billed monthly, by our arithmetic. A third brand adds a Set and lifts it to $70. Only the account owner can add or remove users, create Access Groups, see billing and change plans. Growth and Scale allow unlimited Access Groups, each with its own media library, which lets agencies keep client material apart; Free and Starter get one. - Count the brands or clients with an Instagram account. That is your minimum number of Sets. - Count everyone who needs a login. Two or more rules out Starter. - If you expect to hire within the year, start on Growth. - Decide whether clients must be walled off into separate Access Groups. ## Decide whether you need approvals and an inbox Approvals, team collaboration and the Social Inbox start at Growth; Free and Starter can only preview the inbox. Two details change how useful approvals are. First, **approval does not block publishing**: a scheduled post goes live at its time whether or not anyone signed off, unless it was saved as a draft. Second, external reviewers need no Later account, but they can only leave feedback comments, not approve, and their review links expire after 7 days and carry no password; formal approval needs a team member with the Reviewer role. Approvals do not cover Instagram Stories, there are no email alerts for feedback comments, and the in-app notification center for approvals needs Scale. The inbox is a beta feature that runs on desktop only. It gathers Instagram and Facebook DMs plus Instagram, Facebook and TikTok comments into one queue. Instagram DMs can be answered only within 7 days of arrival, TikTok DMs are not supported, and the account owner cannot restrict which members see the inbox. For a small brand answering comments, that is plenty. For a support team, it is thin. The missing per-member control is a real gap. - If a client must sign off before anything goes live, keep posts as drafts until approved. - Check that 7-day review links suit your client turnaround. - If you need TikTok DMs, or replies to Instagram messages older than a week, look elsewhere. - If some staff should not read customer messages, note that inbox access cannot be limited per member. > ⚠ **The trial bills you automatically:** The 14-day trial needs a card and converts to a paid plan unless cancelled before it ends. Plans are non-refundable except case by case. ## Map analytics depth and listening to your reporting Analytics history grows with the plan. For Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, Starter keeps up to 3 months, Growth up to 1 year and Scale up to 2 years. Pinterest stays at 3 months on every plan and only tracks Pins scheduled through Later. There are no built-in analytics for LinkedIn Pages, YouTube Shorts or Snapchat; LinkedIn analytics cover personal profiles only. Instagram analytics need a business or creator profile, and audience data needs at least 100 followers. Meta has also removed impressions, profile views and website clicks from what Later can show. Scale adds Custom Analytics, Meta ads analytics and competitor benchmarking for up to 20 competitors on Instagram. ### Listening is a Scale feature with uneven network coverage Social listening sits on Scale, and its networks differ by feature. Brand Mentions covers Instagram and TikTok, sentiment and Brand Health cover Instagram, TikTok and Facebook Pages, and competitor benchmarking covers Instagram alone, on desktop. Custom keyword tracking is not part of it: Later's keyword Topics belong to the legacy Enterprise plan only, and on current paid plans Instagram's limit of 30 unique keywords per rolling 7 days per profile applies to hashtag search. It is not a monitoring desk. Buyers who need wide brand tracking across news sites or forums should price a dedicated listening tool instead of moving up a tier. - Write down how far back your monthly report looks. Over 3 months means Growth; over 1 year means Scale. - If LinkedIn Page or YouTube numbers go into client reports, plan another source for them. - Treat listening as Instagram-first: TikTok reaches only Brand Mentions, sentiment and Brand Health, and Facebook Pages only sentiment and Brand Health. - Check follower counts on small accounts; below 100, audience data stays empty. ## Integrations and AI credits: the short list **Later Social has no public API, no Zapier connection and no webhooks**, and HubSpot and ClickUp are not supported either. If your workflow pushes posts in from a CMS or pulls results into a dashboard, that alone may decide it. Media comes in from your device, from Dropbox, or from Canva, which works on every plan, including Free, and sends one item at a time from inside Canva. Google Drive can no longer be connected, so Drive files have to be downloaded and uploaded again. Link in Bio pages can feed Google Analytics and send collected emails to Mailchimp. The AI side is narrow. It covers a Caption Writer and an Ideas tool drawing on one shared pool of credits: one credit buys one caption or three ideas, and a regenerated caption returns three fresh versions for one credit. Starter gets 5 credits a month, Growth 50 and Scale 100, and the pool resets on the first of the month. Growth and Scale can add 100 credits for $5 a month billed monthly, as a recurring add-on only. Five credits is a sampler. - If you need an API, Zapier or webhooks, stop here and compare other tools. - Confirm your design files live in Canva or Dropbox, not only in Google Drive. - Estimate captions per month; anything beyond a handful means Growth or a credit add-on. > 💡 **Keep posts as drafts until approved:** Approval does not hold a scheduled post. If sign-off matters, leave posts in drafts until the reviewer approves them. ## Read the trial, billing and refund rules before the card Every plan has a 14-day trial, one per account, and checkout asks for card details and a billing interval up front. **The trial converts to a paid plan automatically** unless you cancel before it ends [3]. Pick yearly billing at checkout and the first charge is the full year. Extra Sets and users added during the trial are free until it ends, then charged with the plan. Changing plans mid-trial does not extend it. A trial started on desktop must be cancelled on desktop, and one started in the iOS app is cancelled through Apple. Plans renew automatically and are non-refundable, with exceptions decided case by case that may carry early termination fees [4]. Upgrades are immediate and prorated. Downgrades wait for the next cycle, a yearly-to-monthly switch waits for the end of the year, and dropping to Free counts as a cancellation. iOS purchases are billed and refunded by Apple, cover only Starter, Growth and Scale, and allow no add-ons. Payment is by major credit card in US dollars, tax extra. No PayPal. Public complaints about the vendor center on exactly these rules: charges after the trial and refused refunds. - Put a reminder two days before the trial ends. - Start on monthly billing and move to yearly once the plan has settled. - Buy on desktop if you want add-ons later. - Check with your bank, since the company is Canadian and some banks block foreign charges. ## Weigh security, privacy and support Every account can turn on two-factor sign-in by email code or an authenticator app, limited to one authenticator app per user, and five failed password attempts lock the account. The vendor points to a trust center for security details, but that page could not be read when we checked, so **we could not confirm a security certification**. There is no single sign-on on current plans; the SSO line on the pricing page only means one login across Later products. Personal data is stored in the USA, with standard contractual clauses for EU transfers and a named EU representative, and deleting the account removes the remaining data within 90 days. One clause deserves a careful read. The privacy notice, updated August 31, 2026, lets Later use customer content, including uploaded text, images and video, to train its own AI models, while third-party AI systems may not train on personal information. Agencies should read it twice. On paid plans, support runs through email and chatbot-opened tickets plus a help center open around the clock, with no phone line; the Free plan gets the help center and chatbot. Replies typically take 1 to 2 business days, and priority support is reserved for Scale. - Turn on two-factor sign-in for every user on day one. - If your security review requires a certification report, ask sales for it in writing before buying. - Check client contracts against the AI training clause. - If you need same-day answers, budget for Scale or accept the wait. ## Pick it if, skip it if Put the checks together and a clear profile appears. Later fits brands whose work is mostly Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest and Facebook, who plan visually, and who count their spend in brands rather than seats. It fits less well where automation, wide listening or LinkedIn and YouTube reporting carry the weight. If several boxes above came out against it, our [Later alternatives](/articles/later-alternatives) page compares the tools that cover those gaps. - **Pick it if** you run one to a few brands on Instagram-led networks, post less than 180 times per profile a month, want a visual grid planner and Link in Bio in one place, and can live without an API. - **Skip it if** you need X (support ended in 2025), Bluesky or Google Business Profile, rely on Zapier or an API, report on LinkedIn Pages or YouTube, need approvals that actually hold a post, or cannot accept a non-refundable plan after an automatic trial charge. ## FAQ **Which networks does Later support?** Instagram, Facebook Pages, TikTok, Threads, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube (Shorts only) and Snapchat (Spotlight and Public Story). X support ended on August 28, 2025, and Bluesky, Mastodon and Google Business Profile are not supported. **Can I use Later with a personal Instagram profile?** No. Later connects only Instagram business or creator profiles, and features such as the Social Inbox and hashtag search also need a linked Facebook Page. **Can I add users on the Starter plan?** No. Starter includes one user and one Social Set, and add-ons are sold on Growth and Scale only. An extra user costs $5 a month billed monthly on those plans. **Do approvals in Later stop a post from publishing?** No. A scheduled post goes live at its time whether or not it was approved, unless it was saved as a draft. Approvals start at Growth. **Does Later have an API or Zapier integration?** No. Later has no public API, no Zapier connection and no webhooks. Canva and Dropbox connect to the media library; Google Drive no longer does. **Can I get a refund after the Later trial?** The 14-day trial needs a card and converts to a paid plan automatically unless you cancel before it ends; after that, plans are non-refundable, with case-by-case exceptions that may carry early termination fees. iOS purchases follow Apple's refund policy. ## The bottom line Later Social rewards buyers who check the rules before they pay. Confirm your networks and Instagram profile types, count Instagram accounts to find your Social Set number, count logins to see whether Starter is even possible, and decide whether approvals, the inbox and longer analytics history justify Growth. Then treat the trial as a purchase with a deadline, because it bills automatically and refunds are the exception. If those checks pass, the tool is a tidy, visual planner at a fair price. If they fail, no upgrade fixes them. ## Sources [1] Later Help: Supported Social Platforms Post Types — https://help.later.com/hc/en-us/articles/360060842914-Supported-Social-Platforms-Post-Types (2026-10) [2] Later Pricing Plans for Brands, Agencies & Social Media Managers — https://later.com/pricing (2026-10) [3] Later Help: FAQ About Trials — https://help.later.com/hc/en-us/articles/360060127733-FAQ-About-Trials (2026-10) [4] Later Help: Later's Refund Policy — https://help.later.com/hc/en-us/articles/360042991873-Later-s-Refund-Policy (2026-10) [5] Later Help Center — https://help.later.com/hc/en-us/articles/360059362253-Choose-a-Later-Social-Plan [6] G2, Later Social reviews — https://www.g2.com/products/later-social/reviews