Social media decision
PostHell
A capable developer can build a useful subset (generate, schedule, and publish tailored posts) in about a week, but reproducing the full product (15-network coverage, image generation, replies inbox, analytics polish, and managed agent integrations) is larger operational work best left to the vendor.
Visit website↗$12/mo
$144/yr
Read off the official pricing page.
$100one-off36 h to build
$40/mo3 h/mo upkeep
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 5 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 PostHell alternatives, with the arithmetic →
What a replacement has to do
- User gives one-sentence/week → AI generates network-tailored drafts → drafts queued in Review → user approves → system publishes scheduled posts
What it still won’t have
- Image generation and branded design cards
- Full multi-network unlimited posting and high-volume quotas
- AI-drafted replies inbox with cross-network comment aggregation
- Advanced growth analytics and best-time calculations
- Managed MCP/agent integrations and commercial support
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 5 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 minimal self-hosted replacement with Next.js (React) frontend, Node/Express API, Postgres DB, Redis for job queue, and a worker using OpenAI-compatible LLM API for text generation. Implement: OAuth connectors for X and Instagram (store refresh tokens), an endpoint to accept a one-line weekly note, LLM-driven draft generation and per-network tailoring, scheduling worker that posts via network APIs with automatic retries and failure states, a mobile-friendly Review UI to edit/approve drafts, and basic analytics ingestion (followers, impressions) and display. Out of scope: image generation, support for all 15 networks, multi-tenant billing, and native mobile apps. Include error handling, retries, logging, and unit tests for API and worker logic.
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
- 3/3 assessment runs agreed+4
- Evidence score67
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 productposthell homepage pricing and product
- official docsposthell features
- open sourcebrightbeanxyz/brightbean-studio
- open sourcegitroomhq/postiz-app
Integrity checks
What held up, and what did not.
