A Buffer API alternative for posting UGC at scale

Different starting points

Buffer's developer site offers an API key from your Buffer publish settings and pitches it for automation tools, AI agents and your own integrations. The key belongs to your Buffer account, so the API works with the channels you connected there. Check Buffer's site for current plans and API terms.

UGC API starts from the other side. There's no calendar app. Your product or script is the interface. Accounts are connected by your users or creators through connect links, mapped to your own IDs with external_id.

When the difference matters

What you get with UGC API

• Connect links your users open from your app, with redirect_url back to you. See white-label account connect.
• One POST /v1/posts that fans out to TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
• Campaigns that spread posts across accounts on a per-account cadence.
• post.published and post.failed webhooks with the public URL per account.
• Pricing of $10 per 1,000 posts, no seats, no per-channel fees.

What you give up

• A visual calendar. You build your own UI, or use the dashboard for keys and usage.
• Networks outside TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
• The extra features of a full scheduling app. Check Buffer's site for what it includes today.

Webhooks instead of polling

When posts publish on a schedule, your product needs to know when each one goes live or fails. UGC API sends post.published with the public URL and post.failed with a reason code, per account. Each request carries an X-UGCAPI-Signature header, an HMAC-SHA256 of the raw body with your webhook secret, so you can trust it. You can still call GET /v1/posts/:id any time to read the same results.

A simple migration path

1. Keep Buffer for the brand team's hand-made posts if they like it.
2. Move automated and multi-account UGC posting to UGC API.
3. Start with the quickstart, then wire a webhook to log results.

Example: a publish button in your SaaS

Here is the whole server side of a publish button. Your user already connected TikTok and Instagram through a connect link, and you stored their account IDs.

await fetch("https://ugcapi.dev/v1/posts", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Authorization": "Bearer " + process.env.UGCAPI_KEY,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    accounts: user.accountIds,
    format: "video",
    media: [render.url],
    caption: draft.caption,
    external_id: draft.id,
  }),
});

Results come back on your webhook with the public URL for each account. You store them on the draft and show them to the user. There is no Buffer-style profile to create per user and no calendar to sync.

How to choose

• Pick Buffer if you need platforms beyond TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, or features we don't offer.
• Pick UGC API if your content is short video and slideshows, you post across many accounts, and you want to pay per post with no plan.
• Test both with real content. Our 50 free posts are enough to run a small campaign across a few accounts.