Buffer is $15/mo (Essentials). Pasture is a self-hosted alternative at $0.99/mo. Here's when each makes sense.
| Pasture | Buffer | |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting | Self-hosted, your infra | Managed SaaS (cloud only) |
| Data location | Your server, your disk | Buffer's cloud |
| Free tier | 3 accounts, 10 posts/mo | Paid only |
| Pro pricing | $0.99/mo | $15/mo (Essentials) |
| Dependencies | None (single binary + SQLite) | N/A (managed) |
| Setup time | ~30 seconds | Account signup |
| Dashboard | Built-in at /ui | Cloud dashboard |
| License | BSL 1.1 | Proprietary SaaS |
Pasture is a single Go binary with embedded SQLite. Install it with one command, and you are running in under a minute. Your data stays on your server.
curl -fsSL https://stockyard.dev/pasture/install.sh | sh
The pricing math between Pasture and Buffer changes depending on team size. Buffer at $15/mo (Essentials) is reasonable for a solo user. At ten seats, the difference compounds. Pasture is a flat $0.99/mo regardless of seats — the binary does not count how many people use it. For growing teams, this makes Pasture progressively cheaper while Buffer gets progressively more expensive.
The operational difference is significant. Buffer requires you to trust their infrastructure, their security practices, and their business continuity. Pasture requires you to run a process and keep the data directory backed up. If your server dies, restore the binary and the SQLite file to a new server. The entire recovery procedure fits in a single paragraph because there is nothing else involved.
Switching from Buffer to Pasture is straightforward for most teams. Export your data from Buffer (most services offer CSV or JSON export), then POST each record to Pasture's API. A migration script that reads the export and writes to /api/ endpoints typically takes less than 50 lines of code. The reverse migration is equally simple — Pasture's SQLite database is a standard file you can query with any SQLite client.
Single binary. Free to start. $0.99/mo for Pro.