How does the social media tax calculator work?

Enter how many social channels you run. The calculator reads the plan each tool would actually put you on at that count, from a table of prices taken from each vendor’s own pricing page, converts it to AED, and lines it up against Ignis’s flat AED 49 a month. DM contacts are also asked for, and change none of the numbers: see why below.

Why does the DM contacts input not change the price?

Because none of the six tools compared here charge by DM or conversation volume, and neither does Ignis. Every one of them prices by seat, by connected channel, or by brand. Running more conversations does not add a line to any of these bills, including Ignis’s.

Is a scheduling tool ever cheaper than Ignis?

Yes, at a small number of channels. Buffer and Metricool both publish a free tier (3 channels on Buffer, 1 brand on Metricool). Past a handful of channels, both cross above AED 49 and the gap only grows, because their price keeps climbing with every channel added and Ignis’s does not.

What counts as a social channel in this calculator?

One connected account on one platform. An Instagram account, a Facebook Page and a TikTok account for the same brand count as three channels, which matches how every tool compared here, including Ignis, actually counts a connection.

Free tool

What you are really paying for your social channels.

Move the slider to the number of channels you run and the calculator reads what 6 other scheduling tools would charge for that, each on the plan their own pricing page says you would need, against Ignis’s flat AED 49 a month. Every figure is linked to the page it came from, read on 2 October 2026.

Your usage

Social channels8 channels

Every account you post from or reply on, across every platform. Instagram, a Facebook Page and a TikTok account count as three.

DM contacts a month250 contacts

People who message you across Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp in a typical month. See why this does not change any number here, below.

What 8 channels costs a month

Sprout SocialStandardAED 915/month
AgorapulseStandardAED 364/month
HootsuiteStandardAED 364/month
MetricoolStarter (10 brands)AED 165/month
BufferEssentialsAED 147/month
LaterStarter (1 social set, 8 profiles)AED 69/month
IgnisGrowth, flatAED 49/month

At 8 channels, Sprout Social (Standard) comes to AED 915 a month. Ignis is AED 49 a month regardless, which is +AED 10,392 a year against that one tool alone.

At 8 channels, every tool above already costs more than Ignis a month. That stops being true below a handful of channels for Buffer and Metricool, both of which publish a free tier; see the table below.

250 DM contacts a month changes none of the numbers above. Not one of these six tools, and not Ignis, charges differently for how many conversations you run. The bill only moves when you add a channel, a seat or a brand, depending on which tool it is.

What 8 social channels costs a month on six scheduling tools, against Ignis, read on 2 October 2026.
Tool	Plan at 8 channels	A month	A year	Versus Ignis, a year
Ignis	Growth, flat, every channel	AED 49	AED 588	·
Buffer	Essentials	AED 147	AED 1,764	+AED 1,176 a year versus Ignis
Later	Starter (1 social set, 8 profiles)	AED 69	AED 828	+AED 240 a year versus Ignis
Sprout Social	Standard	AED 915	AED 10,980	+AED 10,392 a year versus Ignis
Agorapulse	Standard	AED 364	AED 4,368	+AED 3,780 a year versus Ignis
Metricool	Starter (10 brands)	AED 165	AED 1,980	+AED 1,392 a year versus Ignis
Hootsuite	Standard	AED 364	AED 4,368	+AED 3,780 a year versus Ignis

Prices converted from each vendor’s own published USD to AED at AED 3.676 to the dollar (1 AED is about USD 0.272, the long-standing peg), read 2 October 2026. Full sources, the plan each figure uses and every assumption behind it are below the fold.

Where every number above comes from

Buffer: buffer.com/pricing, read 2 October 2026. The page prices Essentials and Team per channel with a stepper (no cap), both billed monthly with an identical-looking "billed yearly" line beside them (card text: "$5/month" · "1 channel" · "$60 billed yearly (save 2 months)" for Essentials; "$10/month" · "$120 billed yearly (save 2 months)" for Team). Essentials is capped at 1 user; Team's only advantage at this page is unlimited users. Priced on Essentials below as the cheapest plan a solo operator can actually run.
Later: later.com/pricing, read 2 October 2026, re-verified: the page's own price card reads "$18.75 USD/month*" with "Billed yearly" beneath it for Starter ("1 social set (8 profiles total)", 1 user), and the same pattern gives Growth "$37.50 USD/month*" (2 social sets, 16 profiles, 2 users) and Scale "$82.50 USD/month*" (6 social sets, 48 profiles, 4 users). The live fetch only rendered these annual-billing prices; Later's monthly price for any of these tiers was not available to read.
Sprout Social: sproutsocial.com/pricing, read 2 October 2026. Sprout's own FAQ on the page reads "Essentials: $99 per seat/month, Standard: $249 per seat/month, Professional: $399 per seat/month, Advanced: $499 per seat/month". Priced per seat; one seat is assumed below, which errs toward Sprout's lowest honest cost, not its highest. Standard, not Professional, is Sprout's cheapest unlimited-profile plan, so that is what is shown once Essentials' 5-profile cap is passed.
Agorapulse: agorapulse.com/pricing, read 2 October 2026, re-checked against the page's own numbers: Standard is "$99" under "price monthly" (billed monthly) and "$79" under "price annual", "10 social profiles per user", and "add extra profiles for $10 [billed annually] $15 [billed monthly]/month each". Priced per seat; one seat is assumed. Extra profiles beyond the 10 included are priced at the low end of that USD 10 to 15 a month range (the annually billed rate), understating the real cost for anyone paying monthly, same as the base price itself is the monthly rate, not the cheaper annual one.
Metricool: metricool.com/pricing, read 2 October 2026. The page publishes a monthly price at every brand count, not only at 5: "Up to 5 brands for $25/month" / "Up to 10 brands for $45/month" / "Up to 15 brands for $67/month" / "Up to 25 brands for $107/month" / "Manage up to 50 brands for $210/month" (a cheaper annually billed rate is published alongside each of these; the monthly rate above is used here, the same basis every other vendor in this list is priced on). Prices per brand/workspace rather than per channel or per seat, the closest structural match to how Ignis itself prices, so "channels" below is read as Metricool's own "brands" one for one.
Hootsuite: hootsuite.com/plans, read 2 October 2026. The page's own structured data, plus its on-page FAQ ("Paid plans start at $99 for a Standard plan, $199 for a Professional plan, and range up to $399 for an Advanced plan"), publishes a channel cap and a price per tier. Standard: "Manage up to 10 social media accounts", $99. Professional: "Manage unlimited social accounts", $199. Both are quoted "per user/month, billed annually"; no month-to-month figure for either tier was present in the fetched page, the same caveat carried for Later above. One seat is assumed, same policy as Sprout and Agorapulse. Advanced ($399) is never the cheapest unlimited-account plan, so it is not used.

Why the Ignis line never moves

Every tool in the calculator charges by one of three units: a seat, a connected channel, or a brand. Add a channel on Buffer and the bill grows by USD 10 a month. Add a seat on Sprout Social or Agorapulse and it grows by the full price of another seat. Add a brand on Metricool and you move up a tier. Each of those is a reasonable way to price a tool; it just means the bill is never finished growing while the account keeps growing.

Ignis’s Growth plan is AED 49 a month for one client workspace, up to ten seats and every channel across the six platforms Ignis connects to, five of them publishable. That ceiling is high enough that most of the people running the numbers above never reach it, which is the entire reason the Ignis bar on the chart above is flat.

Questions about the numbers

How does the social media tax calculator work?: Enter how many social channels you run. The calculator reads the plan each tool would actually put you on at that count, from a table of prices taken from each vendor’s own pricing page, converts it to AED, and lines it up against Ignis’s flat AED 49 a month. DM contacts are also asked for, and change none of the numbers: see why below.
Why does the DM contacts input not change the price?: Because none of the six tools compared here charge by DM or conversation volume, and neither does Ignis. Every one of them prices by seat, by connected channel, or by brand. Running more conversations does not add a line to any of these bills, including Ignis’s.
Is a scheduling tool ever cheaper than Ignis?: Yes, at a small number of channels. Buffer and Metricool both publish a free tier (3 channels on Buffer, 1 brand on Metricool). Past a handful of channels, both cross above AED 49 and the gap only grows, because their price keeps climbing with every channel added and Ignis’s does not.
What counts as a social channel in this calculator?: One connected account on one platform. An Instagram account, a Facebook Page and a TikTok account for the same brand count as three channels, which matches how every tool compared here, including Ignis, actually counts a connection.

The plans Ignis itself offers are on pricing, and what Ignis publishes to is on features.

Sources

Each page below was read on 2 October 2026. Vendors change prices and plan limits without notice, so open the source before you rebuild a budget around one.

One flat price. Every channel you add.

Basic is free: 1 seat, 1 client workspace, 3 connected accounts, 30 posts a month. Growth is AED 49 a month for the rest, however many channels that means for you.

Start free See the plans

No card for Basic, and Basic stays free.