Later vs Meta Business Suite

Later is a social media management tool for planning content, publishing across channels, managing engagement, and analyzing performance. Its Visual Planner places media and text-only posts on a visual calendar that users can arrange with drag-and-drop. A customizable Link in Bio page can direct followers to products, videos, blogs, and brands. Later supports Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Pinterest, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Snapchat. Automatic publishing is available for Instagram business or creator profiles, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Analytics are basic, and the listed feature set does not include a social inbox or approval workflow. Later is available on web, iOS, and Android; the mobile app requires iOS 15 or newer or Android 6.0 or newer. The Starter plan costs $18.75 a month when billed yearly, with 8 profiles, 1 user, and 30 posts per profile each month. A 14-day trial is listed, while the pricing facts state there is no free plan.

Meta Business Suite is a free interface for managing business Pages and profiles across Facebook and Instagram. Businesses can publish to both networks at once and, in the mobile app, create, schedule and manage posts and stories for a Facebook Page and Instagram account. A shared inbox brings messages, notifications and alerts together, with tools to respond to messages and comments and automate responses. The app also supports real-time calls to customers and contacts. Facebook and Instagram insights help businesses see what is working with customers. Meta describes the service as built first for small businesses, with an aim to serve businesses of all sizes using Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp. It runs on the web, Android, iPhone and iPad; the Apple app requires iOS 15.1 or iPadOS 15.1 or later. Google Play says data is encrypted in transit and users can request deletion, while noting the app may share personal information and device or other IDs and may collect location and other data.