Social media decision
PostDecks
A small technical team or capable developer can build a useful self-hosted replacement (preview, PNG/PDF export, anonymous approval links) in a few weeks; the vendor's paid features (white-label domain, multi-seat billing, polish) are the main things you'd forgo or reimplement.
Visit website↗Built by Dave Ships, who ships 4 products in this index
$5.33/mo
$64/yr
Read off the official pricing page.
$100one-off60 h to build
$25/mo4 h/mo upkeep
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 7 seats.
Open-source builds that already do this
Every project below is open source and already does this job today. Fork one, self-host it, or take the parts you need - the build prompt further down assumes an empty file, and this is the shortcut past that. Licences differ; check the one on each card before you ship. All PostDecks alternatives, with the arithmetic →
What a replacement has to do
- Compose one caption + images, render previews for each target platform, export PNG/PDF or create a shareable approval link, receive client approval/comments.
What it still won’t have
- Production polish and UI/UX refinements (smooth editing, accessibility, animations)
- Branded, white-label subdomain and multi-seat workspace billing/seat management
- Ad-supported free tier and integrated analytics provided by vendor
- Ongoing cross-platform updates and exact platform spec maintenance
What remains hard
- Product polish and ongoing maintenance
First-year cost
Keep paying
Paying is—cheaper in year one.
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 7 seats.
Money you would actually spend
Time you would spend
—
What you would spend
What we assumed
The verdict above measures whether you could build it. This one is only about money.
Runnable build prompt
Build a self-hosted PostDecks-lite single-tenant web app using Next.js (React) for the frontend, Node.js + Express for a minimal backend, PostgreSQL for saved presets and link metadata, and Puppeteer or PDFKit for PDF generation. Core features in scope: (1) client-side renderer that applies per-platform aspect ratios, truncation rules and gallery layouts for X, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Threads, Bluesky, Pinterest, TikTok; (2) image upload and client-side cropping/resizing into per-platform variants; (3) export per-platform PNGs and a combined PDF proof sheet with optional logo/brand colors; (4) anonymous shareable approval links that let recipients approve or comment without accounts; (5) saved client presets and a simple team workspace with up to 5 seats. Out of scope: automated posting to social APIs, analytics dashboards, advertising/monetization. Include input validation, error handling, server-side rate limiting, transactional DB operations for approvals, unit and integration tests for rendering and link workflows, and deployment scripts (Docker + one-click VPS).
How we checked
How the score was reached
- Partly verdict base52
- An open-source build was found+5
- 4 cited sources+3
- Price verified on pricing page+3
- Evidence score63
The base comes from the verdict. Everything under it is a check that either happened or did not, and each one is a fact frozen in this record rather than a judgement made at render time - so the same evidence always produces the same number.
How scoring works →Cited sources · 4
Every page the run actually retrieved.
- official productPostDecks: preview social posts and get client sign-off
- official pricingPostDecks Pricing: Free, Pro and Agency Plans
- open sourcegitroomhq/postiz-app
- open sourceslymnoyann/hey-1
Integrity checks
What held up, and what did not.
