Postonus vs Postiz
Hosted for you, or run it yourself. Postiz gives you both options. Postonus only gives you one, well.
Postiz is AGPL-3.0 open source with roughly 34.6k GitHub stars, and self-hosting it is genuinely free. It also ships an official MCP server and an official CLI, so this is not a page about developer-surface exclusivity — Postiz already has both. The actual comparison is about who runs the infrastructure and what you get for not doing that yourself.
Hosted from day one, no server to run.
Side by side
Postonus vs Postiz. Where each one is stronger.
| Capability | Postonus | Postiz |
|---|---|---|
| Price shape | $0 free workspace, then $12–$99/mo, fully hosted | Self-host free (AGPL-3.0), or hosted Standard $29/mo, 5 channels, 7-day trial |
| Hosting model | Hosted only — we run and maintain it | Self-hosted (you run it) or their hosted cloud |
| Social accounts | 10 (Hobby) to unlimited (Business) | 5 channels on hosted Standard |
| Platforms supported | 16, documented and maintained on one hosted account | ~19 providers per their docs (marketing claims 30+, not substantiated) |
| Bulk scheduling | CSV import of local files, 50 posts/batch | Not documented |
| Evergreen recycling | Tag pool + rule with a reuse cooldown, from Pro up | Not documented |
| Developer surfaces | MCP server, CLI, and API on every paid plan | Official MCP server (11 tools), official npm CLI, and a public API (beta, paid plans, 100 req/hr) |
| Free tier | Free workspace: hold drafts, no live publishing, hosted | No perpetual free cloud tier — 7-day trial; self-hosting is free if you run it |
Capabilities
What you get with vs Postiz.
- Nothing to run
- You never touch a server, a database, or an update. That is also the honest trade — Postiz gives you the option to own your infrastructure and we do not.
- A free workspace with no expiry, hosted
- Hold drafts and plan content with no card and no clock. Postiz’s hosted trial runs 7 days before you need to pay or self-host instead.
- One account, 16 platforms
- Reddit, Discord, Telegram, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Tumblr, and Google Business Profile are all live here, on top of the usual list.
- Recycle rules with a reuse cooldown
- Tag posts, attach a rule, set a cooldown so nothing reappears too soon. Included from Pro up, with no separate module to enable.
The real trade-off
This is the one comparison on this site where we will not pretend to have an edge on developer surfaces. Postiz ships an official MCP server with 11 tools and an official CLI on npm — the same category of access Postonus offers, built by the same kind of team, and arguably tested against a much larger self-hosting community. If you came here looking for a reason MCP or CLI access should tip the decision, it will not.
What actually differs is who runs the thing. Postiz is AGPL-3.0 open source, roughly 34.6k GitHub stars, and self-hosting is genuinely free — you clone it, you run it, you own every byte. Postonus is hosted-only. There is no self-host path, and there will not be one added to win this comparison artificially.
Self-hosted vs hosted, honestly
Self-hosting gets you full control and zero recurring cost beyond your own server. It also gets you responsible for uptime, updates, backups, and whatever breaks at 2am. Postiz's hosted cloud option exists too, priced at $29/mo for 5 channels with a 7-day trial and no perpetual free cloud tier.
Postonus only does the hosted side, but does it as the whole product: a free workspace with no expiry for planning content, then $12–$99/mo tiers that scale account count without asking you to manage infrastructure at any point. See the MCP and CLI pages for what our hosted developer surfaces actually cover.
Pricing at a glance
Postiz's real price is whatever your own server costs, if you go the self-hosted route — its hosted plan is the only figure with a dollar sign attached.
| Postonus Hobby | Postiz self-hosted | Postiz Standard (hosted) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $12/mo ($115/yr) | Free (your infrastructure) | $29/mo |
| Accounts / channels | 10 | Not tiered — your instance | 5 |
| Free trial | Free workspace, no expiry | Not applicable | 7 days |
| Who runs it | Postonus | You | Postiz |
If your actual cost floor is "whatever a small VPS costs," self-hosted Postiz is cheaper than any paid Postonus tier, full stop. What it is not is zero effort — you are the one patching the server and watching for outages.
On the platform count
Postiz's own documentation lists around 19 providers — more than Postonus's 16. Their marketing sometimes says "30+," which their docs do not back up, so that number should not be repeated as fact. Where Postonus differs is account model rather than raw count: all 16 platforms are live on one hosted account with nothing to configure, while several entries on Postiz's longer list (Farcaster, Mastodon, Dev.to, Hashnode) are more specialized integrations aimed at the self-hosted, developer-heavy audience that already runs Postiz.
When Postiz is the better choice
If you want to self-host and own your data and infrastructure completely, Postiz is a mature, actively developed option with real community size behind it — recommend it without hesitation for that use case. It is also the more sensible pick if a CLI and MCP access both matter to you and you are fine running the server yourself instead of paying for hosting.
What Postonus does not do
- No self-hosting. There is no path to run Postonus on your own infrastructure.
- No open-source codebase. Postiz's AGPL-3.0 license and public repository are not something Postonus offers.
- No live publishing on the free workspace. Drafts and content planning are free indefinitely; scheduling or publishing needs a paid plan.
Found this useful? Pass it on.
Questions
Frequently asked questions Everything the first evaluation usually needs.
- Does Postiz have an MCP server and a CLI too?
Yes, both official and first-party — an MCP server with 11 tools and a CLI published on npm. Neither MCP access nor CLI access is a reason to pick one product over the other; both ship them.
- When is Postiz the better choice?
When you want to own your data and infrastructure outright. Postiz is AGPL-3.0 open source with a large, active community (around 34.6k GitHub stars at time of writing), and self-hosting it costs nothing but your own server time. If that trade — ops work for full control — is one you want to make, Postiz is a genuinely good answer and we would recommend it over pretending Postonus does the same thing.
- Is Postiz’s “30+ platforms” claim accurate?
Their own documentation lists around 19 providers, including some less common ones like Farcaster, Mastodon, Dev.to, and Hashnode. The “30+” figure appears in their marketing but is not substantiated by the docs, so treat it as a marketing number rather than a documented capability.
- Does Postiz have a free plan?
Not a perpetual free cloud tier — their hosted option runs a 7-day trial. Self-hosting is the free path if you are willing to run the AGPL-3.0 code yourself.
- What does hosted Postonus give me that self-hosting Postiz does not?
We run the infrastructure: uptime, updates, backups, and scaling are not your problem. Self-hosting Postiz means you take that on yourself in exchange for owning the deployment outright — a real trade, not a downside we are pretending doesn’t exist.
- Which has more platforms?
Postiz’s docs list about 19 providers, more than Postonus’s 16. What differs is the account model: Postonus’s 16 are all live on one hosted account with no setup, while some of Postiz’s list are more niche integrations documented for the self-hosted build.
Keep reading
- MCP serverConnect Claude, Cursor, or ChatGPT to your social media calendar over MCP. Five tools to read your queue, check posting windows, and stage scheduled posts.Read
- vs MetricoolCompare Postonus and Metricool on pricing, platforms, and developer access — and where Metricool’s analytics-led product genuinely beats Postonus.Read