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Planable is the best client-facing social media tool we've ever used and we've used a lot.
It’s no secret that social media favors visual content. Because of that, Instagram remains a critical medium for marketers. Instagram allows you to share engaging photos of your business and connect with costumes while pursuing new audiences. Whatever your business...
Aug 13, 2025
Planoly offers a sleek way to manage content, but for many users, the cost can start to outweigh the convenience. From disappearing social media posts and broken scheduling features to billing issues and unresponsive customer support, more users are finding themselves frustrated and searching for reliable Planoly alternatives.
Marketers today use multiple social media platforms, post consistently, and manage brand approvals, reports, content calendars, and even Slack channels. Planoly started off as an instagram-first platform but hasn’t kept up with today’s multi-platform demands or even basic reliability. If you’re tired of being left in the dark when something goes wrong, it’s probably time to switch.
I’ve analyzed the best Planoly competitors for 2025, including tools that support more platforms, offer better collaboration, let you schedule social media posts, and scale with your strategy. Here’s the breakdown:
Planoly, like lots of other similar social media management apps, was built out of the need to save time. The founder, Brandy Pham, created Planoly out of her desire for better organization and efficiency in managing her Instagram strategy.
If you’re a solo creator or a small brand focused mainly on Instagram and TikTok, Planoly can still be a helpful choice. It now supports 9 platforms and offers drag-and-drop visual content planning, auto-posting, AI caption writing, and curated stock imagery. But once your content workflow gets more complex and you’re managing multiple social media accounts, cross-channel campaigns, and client approvals, you’ll outgrow it.
Across Trustpilot, G2, and Google Play reviews, many report recurring issues like:
If your social media strategy involves multiple social networks, keep reading to discover the Planoly alternatives that will significantly improve your social media management processes.
Planoly has expanded, but despite the updates, certain structural gaps remain. And they matter for social media managers and marketers running multi-brand, multi-channel strategies.
While Planoly is a great tool for managing content on a several platforms, it does have its limitations, especially for brands with a broader social media efforts and multi-locations. If you’re exploring Planoly competitors, here are some alternatives of Planoly any marketer will love.
Planable’s social media calendar with all its main features
If collaboration and content approval are part of your workflow, Planable is one of the few tools that make both frictionless. Many consider it the best social media management tool out there, especially for marketing agencies and growing teams.
This collaboration platform for social media teams lets you create, plan, review, approve, and publish content without roadblocks or bottlenecks. What drives even more users to the platform includes Planable’s qualitative visuals, user-friendly interface, and affordable basic plan of $33 per month.
You can add comments, share notes, and exchange feedback within your team or with clients. Upon approval, all the posts can be automatically scheduled to be published through the easy-to-use interface.
Collaborate on a post in Planable
All the collaboration features are aimed at both individuals and agencies. No more guessing how your social media posts will look when they go live. The previews are 100% accurate. And if something’s wrong, you can immediately provide feedback in context or, if everything’s right, review and approve the content in one click.
Planable also offers something that other social media management tools lack, and that is support for collaboration on any type of content, from social media posts to rich-text content like newsletters and blogs.
It also allows you to plan and manage complete social media campaigns from one centralized dashboard.
Campaign panel in Planable
Planable has its own AI text generation instrument (Planable AI) embedded in the post creator. Use it whenever you want to skip the “blank page” blocker, humanize your text, or switch up the tone of voice and style of writing.
Generate captions with Planable AI
The social media calendar in Planable is highly visual, with an easy drag-and-drop editor, its own video and image media library, and Giphy integration.
Content calendar view in Planable
Planable also offers a social media analytics feature that brings your social media data into a simple and intuitive interface. You can easily view your account’s performance over time, spot top content, and generate reports. However, note that it doesn’t include social listening or brand mentions.
Social media analytics dashboard
Last but not least, with Planable’s new engagement features, your team can manage comments and direct messages, react, organize threads by status or sentiment, and even use AI to draft replies without ever leaving the platform. Comments from Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn feed into a unified inbox, where you can filter by what matters most: open, reply later, or done.
Respond to comments in Planable
Questions? Negative feedback? High-fives? Sort and prioritize comments and messages with built-in sentiment analysis to fully integrate engagement into the content lifecycle. This feature comes with a $5 add-on on all plans.
Planable allows you to publish and schedule content to Facebook, Instagram (including direct publishing to Reels and Stories), LinkedIn, Twitter, Youtube, Google My Business, TikTok, Pinterest and Threads.
Here is a summary of all the benefits you’ll get if you choose Planable:
In terms of all the features it packs and overall experience, Planable is the best Planoly alternative for social media collaboration and approvals.
Hootsuite is a social media marketing tool that combines post scheduling, publishing, analytics, listening, ad management, and team collaboration. But the experience is mixed depending on what type of user you are.
The content calendar is intuitive, and features like “Best time to post” are valuable to boost audience engagement. OwlyWriter AI and automation tools help save time. The unified inbox is a pro for teams, and the platform also offers advanced and comprehensive analytics.
Plus, Hootsuite’s UI feels slightly outdated, especially Inbox 2.0.
However, if staying on top of trends is a priority, Hootsuite allows you to set up customizable streams to monitor and be notified of new market trends.
Additionally, with more advanced features like conversational AI, you can improve your social commerce too (which makes it an excellent Cloud Campaign alternative).
For individual creators or smaller teams, setup friction is real. You’ll need to connect at least two accounts to even begin. Some analytics (like engagement rate or performance tracking) are only available for LinkedIn business pages, not personal profiles. Still, Hootsuite makes social media reports easier for all major social networks.
Hootsuite supports direct posting to 9 social media platforms: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Threads, and Google Business Profile.
If you’re weighing Planoly against Hootsuite, it really comes down to the depth of your needs.
If you’re looking for a social media planning platform that provides a variety of reports to track your online performance, Hootsuite is a solid alternative to Planoly.
In case you’ve given Hootsuite a shot, explore this extensive compilation of Hootsuite alternatives to broaden your options.
Later combines visual planning with multi-platform publishing, a drag-and-drop calendar, basic AI tools, and a flexible link-in-bio tool that’s better integrated than Planoly’s. The Social Inbox is a promising addition, but still in beta.
What Later is good at is content batching, visual scheduling, and creator-first tools like the Media Kit and Campaign Manager. It’s designed for teams with a higher content volume. Reviews consistently mention ease of use, calendar view, and quick drag-rescheduling as major wins.
Later has no Facebook, LinkedIn, or TikTok analytics due to API limitations, which means creators still rely on these platforms’ native tools for insights.
Also, its LinkedIn support feels outdated. Some users say scheduling works, but analytics and engagement management are minimal. Features like “Top-performing posts” or unified, cross-platform insights are missing, which is something Planoly’s competitors offer.
If you’re looking for an Instagram-first planner with Pinterest support, Planoly still does the job well. But if you need scheduling for more social media sites, want to monetize creator work, and value visual tools and marketplace access, Later offers more, as long as you’re okay with its current limitations.
Pricing can escalate quickly: plans start low, but advanced features like analytics beyond 3 months or role-based collaboration require higher tiers (starting at $30/month billed annually).
The social media accounts supported by Later are: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, X (Twitter), and YouTube. However, it has no analytics for Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn.
If you need a simple social media scheduler with maximum social network coverage, Later is a good Planoly alternative.
Plann positions itself as an all-in-one visual scheduler, content planner, and AI-powered strategist designed to handle social media workflows for creators, agencies, and teams. It offers a 7-day free trial and includes a free forever plan with limited features.
Plann also includes a built-in link-in-bio feature, so you don’t have to stack another tool into your workflow. Its mobile companion app is handy for scheduling on the go, and the Canva integration makes it easy to customize graphics without ever leaving the platform.
That said, Plann starts to fall short once you look beneath the surface. When testing the AI caption generator with a B2B SaaS example, I realized the tool couldn’t find the industry based on which I had created the account in the first place. The “Global Trends” and “Industry Inspiration” tabs also failed to deliver any real data or insight. Instead, they offered a curated feed of stock photos from Pexels, with no evidence of social listening or platform relevance.
There were also a few UX issues. Even before connecting any social accounts, Plann told me my posts were “scheduled”, which felt misleading.
On the analytics and approval workflow front, there’s no obvious dashboard for post-performance or audience data, unless you upgrade to the highest-tier Grow plan at $62.5/month. Even then, it’s unclear whether Plann can pull in performance from previously published content outside its ecosystem.
Plann lets you schedule content to Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube Shorts, and Threads.
Here’s a no-fluff summary of the real differences that stood out in this internal test:
Plann might look more advanced at first glance, but if your priorities are speed and IG-first strategy, Planoly still holds up better in real-world workflows.
Tailwind is one of those tools that started as a Pinterest-first scheduler and has gradually bolted on extras like AI content generation and email marketing. But despite calling itself a “marketing team in a box”, it still feels very much like a Pinterest-Instagram specialist, not a full-scale social media manager.
You can’t publish to LinkedIn, TikTok, Threads, or YouTube Shorts, which makes it feel immediately outdated for anyone managing more than lifestyle or creator channels. And the Ghostwriter AI feels like an older GPT-3 engine with a clunky UX.
There are bright spots, though. Users love SmartSchedule, the Post Ideas calendar is helpful for beginners, and Ghostwriter Labs does offer fun niche generators (like Pinterest descriptions and video hooks). But users complain about hidden renewal fees, complex downgrading, and aggressive upsells just to unlock basic analytics or schedule more than 5 posts.
The social media platforms supported by Tailwind are Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook.
Here’s how Tailwind and Planoly differ:
One of the most well-known social media management platforms out there, Buffer, was included in Capterra’s social media management software shortlists several times. It supports almost all social media accounts except YouTube and has great planning and scheduling options.
It’s also a good option for social media reporting and analytics, boosting engagement, and collaboration. Buffer comes with features like team roles, draft comments, approval workflows, and a Trello-style idea board.
It also comes with Start Page, its version of a link-in-bio tool, and an integrated AI assistant to help generate captions (though this assistant is fairly basic compared to more advanced tools).
While Buffer’s UX is functional, the interface may feel slightly outdated. Some users mention it lacks the modern design polish and intuitive flow found in newer tools like Planable or Later.
One awesome thing about Buffer is the template gallery, which comes with great copywriting frameworks to help you ideate social media content ideas.
If you manage multiple social media accounts or want to use Buffer as a team, the price may go too high after the trial. Users complain that Buffer doesn’t offer advanced media libraries or grid previews, which makes it less suitable for visual-first workflows.
Buffer supports Bluesky, Facebook, Google Business Profile, Instagram, LinkedIn, Mastodon, Pinterest, Threads, TikTok, X (Twitter), and YouTube.
Here’s a brief summary of all the benefits you’ll get if you decide to choose Buffer:
If your business outgrows several channels and you want to expand your social media presence, Buffer is a good social media management option. However, consider the pricing, as it may be too high if you add more than 10 channels ($100/month).
While Coschedule is not exactly designed for social media marketing, it may be used for it. CoSchedule is more of a full-fledged marketing operations platform with added scheduling features. If you’re looking for an Instagram-first planner like Planoly, this probably isn’t it.
You can create posts manually, via prompts, or linked to larger projects. With tools like Project types, Asset Organizer, and Work Organizer, CoSchedule functions like a hybrid between Asana and a content calendar.
Content reuse via ReQueue lets you resurface evergreen content on repeat. Plus, you can use their AI Assistant to generate post drafts from prompts, although in practice, the AI quality is not top-tier. Still, they’re good for ideation. CoSchedule has plenty of integrations, including WordPress, Trello, Mailchimp, Google Docs, Google Drive, and others.
The whole service looks a little bit outdated in terms of design and is not that user-friendly. Analytics are confusing and sometimes unreliable. Even after connecting a profile, analytics may not load or show any data. There’s no clarity on the best time to post, audience insights, or competitive benchmarks. Pricing isn’t always disclosed and climbs fast.
You can publish to Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Threads, Mastodon, Google My Business, Bluesky, and X.
RecurPost is a social media scheduling app built around automation, evergreen content reuse, and client collaboration. Compared to Planoly’s Instagram-first, commerce-friendly setup, RecurPost is more utility-driven.
The content library system is RecurPost’s standout. You can organize content into categories, set schedules to repost it automatically, and even pause or resume seasonal libraries with a single click to eliminate a lot of manual work.
You get auto-suggestions for posting times, an AI content writer, image suggestions, and even a chat-based analytics assistant. From a design and UI standpoint, RecurPost is clean but not aesthetic.
There’s a 14-day free trial (no credit card required), and plans start at $9/month. Agencies can scale up to 100+ profiles with dedicated workspaces and AI tools.
RecurPost supports the following social media accounts: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Pinterest, Google Business, YouTube, TikTok, Threads, and Bluesky.
RecurPost and Planoly are built for very different social media workflows:
SocialBee is a social media management platform tailored for users who want structured, repeatable posting routines without relying on manual scheduling. It combines automation, content categorization, and AI-generated strategy in a single dashboard.
Key features include post libraries, category-based scheduling, built-in AI suggestions, and approval workflows. It’s best suited for small teams or solo marketers managing multiple social media platforms who want both evergreen automation and strategic diversification.
Analytics and reporting capabilities are basic and category-based, offering visibility into top-performing categories and post types. The platform includes a Content Approval tab, where clients can review posts grouped by category.
The AI Copilot helps build your strategy by asking platform-specific questions, suggesting post types per network, and generating a proposed posting plan by category. It also aids in content creation.
While some users report a learning curve and dated user interface, overall feedback praises the functionality.
SocialBee supports publishing to Facebook, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Google Business Profile, TikTok, YouTube, Threads, and Bluesky. It allows network-specific post customization and handles native limitations through preset warnings and guides.
If your workflow depends on batching, reusing, and automating varied content types across channels, SocialBee offers more structure and flexibility than Planoly.
Still weighing your options or wondering how other social media tools stack up? Below are the most common questions about Planoly competitors from better platforms to free plans and what makes each option stand out.
Planable is a better Planoly alternative if you’re looking for social media scheduling options, approval workflows and friendly interface. If you care about advanced analytics and post boosting, Hootsuite is great, but pricey. If you’re doing ecommerce or email alongside social, Tailwind is a unique niche tool, especially for Pinterest-centric workflows.
Planoly offers a free plan per user, including analytics for Instagram and up to 10 monthly uploads.
Planable, on the other hand, has a free plan that includes 50 total posts, no time limit, and unlimited experiences. If you’re sold on its benefits, you can switch to a more advanced plan for as little as $33 per month/workspace.
Planoly is worth it for solo creators focused on Instagram, Pinterest, or TikTok. However, it lacks features like cross-platform analytics, deep collaboration. For growing teams or agencies handling multiple social media platforms, Planable is a better fit.
When exploring Planoly competitors, take the time to weigh the strengths and limitations of each social media management tool. Consider how well they align with your workflow, team size, and long-term goals and choose the one that truly supports your social media strategy across platforms.
If collaboration, scheduling, and ease of use are top priorities, Planable is a great place to start. You can try it completely free with your first 50 posts, no time limit, no pressure. See how it fits your needs before committing.
Content strategist at Paralect and mentor. The author of Copy & Coffee content marketing playbook for founders. Over the last 5 years, Alena has helped 10+ startups find their voice with her content.
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