Blotato pricing in 2026: the three plans, the API, and eight alternatives

Blotato costs $29 a month for Starter (20 accounts), $97 for Creator (40) or $499 for Agency (100). Paid plans include the API; the 7-day trial does not. Annual billing saves about 17%. Here are the account, credit and contact limits, plus eight alternatives, with prices checked on September 14, 2026.

Blotato pricing: the three plans

Monthly subscriptions, from the pricing page, with account caps confirmed in the billing documentation:

Annual billing saves roughly 17%. The pricing page also advertises 5,000 extra AI credits and five Claude Skills as a current promotion, not a permanent entitlement. The 7-day trial includes a limited generation allowance but excludes the API.

Three limits matter: connected accounts, generation credits and active contacts. An active contact is someone you send a manual DM, automated DM or comment reply to during the month. Incoming messages alone do not count. Each person counts once per connected social account. At the contact cap, sends to new contacts fail until the allowance resets or you upgrade; a viral Reel does not automatically move you to a higher plan.

What the AI credits actually buy

Blotato is not only a scheduler. Its product offering combines AI images, carousels and video with publishing and engagement. Generation consumes AI credits; contact allowances separately constrain messaging and comment replies. Publishing limits and account caps still apply even when an operation does not consume generation credits.

My read on the pricing: the generation tools matter most when producing content is your bottleneck. When you already have finished media, compare the publishing and engagement allowance instead. A weekly video count alone is not enough to estimate credit use without specifying the generation settings.

Blotato API: base URL, endpoints and rate limits

The REST API lives at https://backend.blotato.com/v2 and authenticates with a blotato-api-key header. The API quickstart confirms access on every paid plan. These are the main documented operations, with paths relative to /v2:

These limits come from the API reference for agents. One discrepancy matters: it lists 30 requests a minute for POST /media, while the publishing reference lists 10. Do not assume the larger quota; handle rate-limit responses and confirm the effective limit before sizing a workload.

The publishing reference lists nine social targets: twitter, instagram, linkedin, facebook, tiktok, pinterest, threads, bluesky and youtube. It also accepts webhook, which forwards data to your endpoint rather than adding a tenth social network. An accepted submission is not proof of publication: check its status before reporting success.

Messaging and comments cover Instagram and Facebook, not all publishing targets. The DM automation model follows a defined sequence: an optional Instagram follow gate, an email gate, the message and a webhook. It is not an arbitrary branching workflow. Platform permissions and messaging windows still apply.

The MCP server, and what it changes for agents

Blotato runs a hosted MCP server at https://mcp.blotato.com/mcp, with OAuth or an API key depending on the client. Its tools cover publishing, generation, comments, messages and automations. Engagement remains limited to the supported platforms and permissions.

MCP is a practical way to expose those operations to an agent, but it is not unique to Blotato or PlugKit. Compare the actions, authentication and hosting model, not just whether a vendor says it has MCP. The wider overview is in social media MCP servers compared.

Blotato alternatives: eight tools, priced the same day

Prices in USD, checked on September 14, 2026. Blotato is the reference row; the other eight tools are alternatives. Monthly subscriptions, annual commitments and one-time licences are labelled separately. The use-case column is an editorial interpretation, not a performance ranking.

A profile is not the same unit as a social account. Upload-Post defines a profile as one person or client with one account per platform. Ayrshare likewise groups social accounts inside a profile. Five profiles must not be compared as though they were five connected accounts in total.

MCP availability is documented separately from pricing: Ayrshare's action server, Postiz MCP, Upload-Post MCP, Zernio MCP, Mixpost MCP and Bundle.social MCP. Mixpost's instance-based server and Bundle.social's local server are not vendor-hosted services, but neither product is REST-only. Ayrshare's action server is distinct from its documentation-search MCP.

The billing shapes also differ. Zernio charges $6 each for accounts 3 to 10, $3 for 11 to 100, then $1 beyond 100. Bundle.social sells plans with post allowances, not a universal pay-per-post rate. Mixpost's licence excludes hosting. Upload-Post's annual Basic price is not a month-to-month offer. X usage and other add-ons can sit outside the headline price.

Blotato is worth considering when you need generation and distribution together, but that combination is not exclusive: Postiz also documents a video-generation API. The available formats, models, quotas and workflow differ. For reach, Upload-Post lists 22 destinations, including developer publishing platforms, while Blotato's native publishing list does not include Reddit, Mastodon or Google Business Profile.

Where PlugKit sits

The PlugKit billing page lists Creator at $29/month for 5 accounts and Pro at $97/month for 30. On Pro, accounts 31 to 100 add $3 each and those above 100 add $1.50 each. The common API does not mean every network supports every operation: the messaging guide identifies supported inbox channels, while the Threads guide documents Threads publishing.

X has additional operation-based charges. PlugKit lists $0.005 for a post read, $0.010 for several other reads, $0.015 for a standard post and $0.20 for a post containing a URL. Bundle.social lists the same two posting rates. Compare the relevant operation, not just the lowest rate. Upload-Post instead advertises an optional $19/month X link-posting add-on with up to 50 link posts, including alongside annual plans.

PlugKit's hosted MCP endpoint is https://api.plugkit.co/mcp. Its publishing, inbox, comment-to-DM, analytics and webhook workflows should be evaluated for your specific channels, rather than presented as capabilities every competitor lacks. For the mechanics, read how to give an AI agent social media access, the social media API guide and the Zernio alternative page.

$29 a month for 5 connected accounts, cancel anytime.

FAQ

How much does Blotato cost per month?

Starter is $29 for 20 accounts, Creator $97 for 40, and Agency $499 for 100. Compare the account caps, AI credits and active contacts together. Annual billing saves about 17%; the advertised extra credits and Claude Skills are promotional bonuses, subject to the current offer.

Does Blotato have a free plan?

Its pricing page offers a 7-day trial rather than a permanent free plan, and the trial excludes API access. Two alternatives do have a permanent free plan with the API included: Upload-Post at 10 uploads a month across 2 profiles, and Bundle.social at 20 posts a month across 3 accounts. Check channel support and separate usage charges before treating either as cost-free for your workload.

Is the Blotato API included in the price?

Yes, on paid plans. The billing documentation warns that generating an API key during the trial ends the trial and activates a paid Starter subscription, with a confirmation step. The API uses https://backend.blotato.com/v2 and a blotato-api-key header. Post creation is documented at 30 requests a minute.

Can Claude or another AI agent post through Blotato?

Yes, through its hosted MCP server or REST API. OAuth or API-key authentication depends on the client. Several alternatives also provide action MCP servers, including Ayrshare and Upload-Post. A server that only searches documentation is a different capability from one that publishes to connected accounts.

What is the cheapest Blotato alternative with an API?

At zero cost, Upload-Post's free plan (10 uploads a month, 2 profiles) and Bundle.social's (20 posts a month, 3 accounts) both include API access, and Zernio charges no account fee for the first two accounts. For paid access, Upload-Post Basic is $24/month or $16/month billed annually, Postiz Standard and PlugKit are $29/month, and Post Bridge with REST is $34/month. There is no single cheapest option independent of billing term, profiles, channels and usage charges.

AB

Antoine BlancoFounder of PlugKit. Runs his own Instagram, YouTube and X accounts through the API and MCP server described here.