# Flaghand vs Publer for posting with AI agents

Publer is a scheduler for many networks, with a free plan, low per-account prices and, on its Business plan, an API and
an MCP server that AI apps connect to. Flaghand is a publishing desk for your own drafting agent: the agent prepares the
posts, but its credential can never approve, schedule or publish them.

Every Publer fact here comes from Publer's own [plans page](https://publer.com/plans),
[API documentation](https://publer.com/docs), [API authentication guide](https://publer.com/docs/getting-started/authentication),
[MCP help article](https://publer.com/help/en/article/how-to-set-up-and-use-publers-mcp-server-14orlq0/),
[approval help article](https://publer.com/help/en/article/how-to-approve-or-decline-posts-1r9siip/) and
[member roles article](https://publer.com/help/en/article/what-are-the-different-member-roles-and-permission-levels-ior42l/),
read on October 26, 2026. Prices and features change, so check those pages before you choose.

## The short answer

- **Choose Publer** for a free plan, many more networks, analytics, AI writing in the app, or a team and its clients
  approving posts together, at a low price per social account.
- **Choose Flaghand** if your agent writes the posts and you want a rule the server enforces: nothing goes out until you
  approve the exact post with your passkey.

## Where Publer is better

- **It has a free plan.** Free costs $0 for 1 user, 1 workspace and 3 social accounts, with 10 scheduled posts per
  account at a time and 25 saved drafts. X accounts need a paid plan. Flaghand has no free plan, and it's in early
  access: public sign-up isn't open yet.
- **Low prices that grow with you.** Publer charges by social account. Professional is $5 a month for one account and
  $12 a month for three; Business is $10 a month for one and $21 a month for three. Billed yearly, the one-account
  prices are $4 and $8 a month. Professional comes with a 7-day free trial and Business with a 14-day one.
- **Many more networks.** Publer posts to Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn profiles and company pages, Pinterest,
  YouTube, TikTok, Google Business Profile, WordPress, Telegram, Mastodon, Threads and Bluesky. Flaghand posts to X and
  LinkedIn personal profiles; its TikTok posting waits on TikTok's review.
- **More in one app.** Analytics and reports, best times to post, competitor analysis, AI writing and images, bulk
  scheduling from a CSV file, recycling, RSS automations, a link-in-bio page, a browser extension and a mobile app.
  Publer previews each post before it goes live too.
- **Approvals for teams and clients.** On its paid plans, an editor's posts can wait for an owner or admin, and a client
  can be asked to approve posts for their own accounts.

## Who can publish

Publer's API and MCP server come with the Business and Enterprise plans. An API key carries the scopes you pick when you
create it: `workspaces`, `accounts`, `posts` ("Manage user's posts") and `media`. Drafts, scheduled posts and posts
published right away all go through the same `/api/v1/posts/schedule` endpoints, and Publer lists no scope that can
draft but not publish.

AI apps such as Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor connect to Publer's MCP server at `https://mcp.publer.com`, by OAuth or with
an API key. Publer says a connected assistant can create drafts and schedule posts "based on the permissions available
to your Publer account", and its Claude article advises: "Always review the account, content, and scheduling details
before confirming important publishing actions."

Flaghand doesn't depend on whose key it is or which plan you're on. No API token scope can approve, schedule or post.
Those routes refuse every token and accept only an owner of the workspace, signed in with a passkey. Apps that connect to
Flaghand's MCP server by OAuth, such as Claude and ChatGPT, get a draft-only token: `read`, `drafts`, `media` and
`request-approval`.

## What you approve

In Publer, approval follows each member's role. An owner or admin can set an editor to "Should be approved by
Owner/Admin", and a client with "Should approve posts" approves posts by editors and admins for their accounts. The
owner's own posts need approval only when such a client is set up. The approver sees the post under Pending approval,
then clicks Approve, which schedules it, or Decline, with a note. Publer's approval articles describe posts members make;
the pages linked here don't say whether a post made through the API or MCP waits for that approval, so ask Publer before
you rely on it for an agent.

In Flaghand, the agent checks its drafts and asks you to approve them. Approving freezes each post into a snapshot: the
account, the time, the text, every media file and its alt text, and the exact request that will be sent. Flaghand hashes
it with SHA-256 and records your passkey signature over the hash. Changing the text, media, account or time needs a new
approval, and the scheduler checks the signed snapshot again right before posting. Flaghand draws X and LinkedIn posts to
match the real sites, and its check flags anything that wouldn't post exactly as previewed.

## After it posts

Flaghand reads each X post back and compares it with what you approved: normalized text, author, hidden reply mentions,
media count, available alt text, reply chain and quote. It doesn't verify link destinations or media-file bytes, and
LinkedIn posts aren't read back. Publer's API documentation, read on October 26, 2026, gives a published post its link or
a failed state, and describes no comparison like this. Publer's analytics go much further than Flaghand's after a post
is live.

## TikTok slideshows

Through Flaghand's [slideshow API](https://app.flaghand.com/docs/slideshows), an agent lays out a TikTok photo slideshow: photos, text
and styles, slide by slide. One renderer draws it for the preview you approve and for the images TikTok receives, pixel
for pixel, and the approval covers that render's hash. The free [TikTok slideshow maker](/tiktok-slideshow-maker) uses the
same renderer. TikTok is still reviewing Flaghand: [Flaghand and TikTok](/tiktok) says what you can post until it
finishes. Publer publishes TikTok videos and photo carousels today.

## Side by side

| | Publer | Flaghand |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes: 1 user, 3 social accounts (not X), 10 scheduled posts per account | No |
| Paid plans, monthly billing | Professional $5 a month for one social account, $12 for three; Business $10 for one, $21 for three; Enterprise by quote | Early access; public sign-up isn't open yet |
| Trial | Professional 7 days; Business 14 days | No public sign-up yet |
| Networks | Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok, Google Business Profile, WordPress, Telegram, Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky | X and LinkedIn personal profiles; TikTok in TikTok's review |
| Agent access | API and MCP (OAuth or API key), Business and Enterprise plans | API, MCP (OAuth or API token), agent skill, webhooks |
| Can the agent's credential publish? | Yes, with the `posts` scope; no scope is draft-only | No, on any plan |
| Approval | Role-based: an owner, admin or client approves members' posts (paid plans) | Your passkey signature over the exact post |
| Check after posting | Published, with a link, or failed | X: text, mentions, media count, alt text, thread and quote. LinkedIn: none |

Publer's prices above are for monthly billing; each additional team member adds to them, and every tenth social account
is free. Flaghand's access status above was checked on October 26, 2026.

## Bringing your drafts

If you can save the posts you want to keep as CSV or JSON, Flaghand's
[migration recipe](https://app.flaghand.com/docs/agents#migrate-from-another-scheduler) describes its generic import format, and
`flaghand import FILE --dry-run` shows what it would create (the CLI isn't on npm yet). The import creates drafts, with
old times as proposed times: it doesn't approve or schedule them, and it doesn't cancel anything in Publer. This is a
file-based recipe, not a one-click Publer migration.

## Try Flaghand

The [agent documentation](https://app.flaghand.com/docs/agents) covers the API and the MCP server.
[How to let an AI agent post on social media safely](/docs/guides/let-an-ai-agent-post-safely) has nine checks to run on
any tool, this one included. [Get access to Flaghand](/schedule).

[All guides](/docs/guides.md)