Like someone mentioned, you really gotta watch out for those hidden paywalls because they are such a buzzkill! I am a total data nerd when it comes to social tech and spent way too many hours testing every platform to find the best specs for a zero dollar budget. I think you should check out Simplified Free Forever Social Media Plan because it is honestly a game changer for the AI side of things. It has a built-in AI writer that uses GPT technology right inside the scheduling dashboard. You literally type a prompt about your sourdough and it spits out three options. It is fantastic because you get to connect one profile per social network for free. It totally solves the 2am copy-paste nightmare! Another super solid option is Planable Free Plan First 50 Posts. I love it because the visual calendar is so clean and it shows you exactly how your Instagram grid will look before you hit post. They added an AI magic wand tool recently that rewrites captions to make them punchier. It is super slick for a free tier. A few quick specs to keep in mind:

• Simplified gives you AI design and writing tools in one spot which is amazing for efficiency.
• Planable is better if you care about the visual aesthetic of your bakery grid.
• Both allow direct publishing so you dont have to deal with those annoying phone notifications. I love using these because they actually save hours of manual data entry! You should definitely give Simplified a shot first since the AI is so tightly integrated into the workflow. It makes the whole process feel way less like a chore.

Late to the party but I’ve been through this nightmare with my cousins cafe. I’m super cautious about giving third-party apps access to my business accounts... too many horror stories of people losing their pages to hackers.

• Metricool Free Plan Social Media Scheduler is what I finally settled on. It is the most stable free option I’ve tried. It handles one brand for free across most platforms. You still have to do the GPT part separately in a browser, but the scheduling side is rock solid and wont ghost you.
• Make.com Core Free Plan Automation Service is the alternative if you want to get fancy. I used this to link a spreadsheet to my twitter. You basically tell it when I add a row, post it. It takes a second to learn but it keeps your data safer than those sketchy all-in-one apps. Stick to known names tbh... those random AI Scheduler apps on the store are usually just data scrapers.

Been using this for years, no complaints

honestly you're mostly dreaming. I have been in this space for years. Unfortunately, a truly free tool that does both AI gen and auto-scheduling just doesnt exist for long. It costs too much. Running GPT APIs and social platform connections is expensive, so these companies always hit you with a paywall. Its a total letdown when you just want to focus on your bakery, but thats the current state of things. Most tools like Buffer Free Plan 3 Social Accounts allow for limited scheduling. They usually restrict the AI credits or the number of posts you can queue at once. I had issues with Publer Free Plan Social Media Management too... it looked promising but the best automation stuff is locked away behind a sub. Even Canva Free Version Graphic Design has some AI tools now. They wont help with the actual hands-off scheduling you want tho. The only legit way to stay at zero cost is a two-step process. Use the OpenAI ChatGPT Free Web Version to batch out 30 captions at once on a Sunday. Then, manually drop them into Meta Business Suite Free Social Tool for your Instagram. Use the native Twitter scheduler for the rest. It is not as good as I hoped because you still have to copy-paste. Still, it beats paying $30 a month when you need that money for flour and sugar. TL;DR: Fully automated AI scheduling is never free. Use ChatGPT for writing and Meta Business Suite for free scheduling.

To add to the point above: I actually disagree that you are just dreaming! You can totally pull this off for free if you use the right combo. I have been in this game a long time and love helping small businesses find these loopholes!

• Try Vista Social Free Plan. It is honestly fantastic and their free tier is way more generous than Buffer or the others.
• Pair it with Microsoft Copilot Web Version for the captions. Since it uses GPT-4, the quality is amazing compared to the standard free ChatGPT web version.
• Another sleeper hit is Pallyy Free Plan Social Media Scheduler. The interface is so clean and it is super reliable for scheduling those bakery pics. It takes like 20 minutes to set up and then youre golden. You got this!