Editor's verdict on Buffer
Buffer suits Irish sole traders and small teams that want a straightforward way to schedule posts across a handful of social accounts without committing to a large monthly fee. The free tier is genuinely usable for businesses managing up to 3 channels. The main compliance consideration for Irish businesses is data residency: Buffer is US-hosted, so follower engagement data and any social inbox messages processed through the platform leave the EEA. You will need to sign Buffer's Data Processing Agreement and rely on Standard Contractual Clauses to cover the transfer. If EU data residency is a hard requirement, Metricool is the closest equivalent at a comparable price point, with EU-hosted infrastructure and EUR pricing.