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Planable is the best client-facing social media tool we've ever used and we've used a lot.
If you’re running a small business, you don’t need another reminder that social media matters, but a system that actually drives growth without eating up your time. After years of working on digital growth strategies for SaaS companies and small businesses, with a...
Feb 12, 2026
Most social media schedulers are built for solo marketers. But agencies and multi-location teams hit the breaking point fast: approvals get messy, accounts disconnect mid-campaign and pricing balloons the minute you add more users or locations.
When you’re managing social for several clients or locations, your job goes beyond scheduling. You’re coordinating a whole publishing workflow: drafts, reviews, stakeholder feedback & final approval to move fast.
The right social media management tool supports multi-brand workspaces, approval workflows + team collaboration. If any one of those pieces is missing, the process bottlenecks and your calendar falls apart.
I’ve worked with agencies and multi-location teams on social media ops for the past decade. So I reviewed each social media tool for scalable scheduling: content calendar performance, collaboration + approval, and reliable publishing.
Want to go beyond a functional scheduler to one that scales, especially when handling multiple brands? Here are the must-have features I evaluated.
A drag-and-drop calendar does the essential work: spotting gaps, avoiding overlap, and keeping hundreds of posts organized without opening spreadsheets.
The best social tools let you view content across multiple accounts simultaneously, use labels to differentiate campaign types or client brands, and reorganize schedules in bulk when priorities shift.
If the calendar becomes unusable when you’re planning more than 20 posts a week, it’s not built for your workflow.
Every extra step in your feedback loop (think downloading posts to share via email, chasing approvals in separate threads or losing version control across tools) adds friction.
Your content scheduler should centralize creation, review, and edits in one place. For marketing agencies and multi-location teams, external sharing (where clients or stakeholders can review and approve without logging in) is non-negotiable.
Multi-layered approval flows handle compliance, brand control, and keep you from becoming the bottleneck.
Look for schedulers that let you configure tiered approvals (creative → brand → legal, or franchise → regional → corporate) and auto-publish once the final sign-off clears.
If you find yourself manually hitting “publish” after approvals, you’re not automating, you’re just organizing chaos in a different tool.
Starting with Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn is fine. Scaling to several accounts across TikTok, Pinterest, Threads, and Google Business Profile is where tools collapse.
The scheduling software that made this list maintain reliable integrations during high-volume scheduling. They support multiple social accounts per network without constant re-authentication, and add new platform integrations as channels emerge.
Managing social media without a dedicated scheduling tool is messy and unsustainable.
While some platforms offer native schedulers, they’re no match for the flexibility and efficiency of these specialized social media scheduling tools I handpicked for you.
Best for: agencies managing dozens of client accounts
Planable is a social media management tool built for teams that need fast collaboration and bulk scheduling without workflow friction.
It handles planning, approval, and publishing across major social platforms. Beyond social media, its Universal Content feature supports written content like blogs, newsletters, and press releases.
The social content calendar offers four view modes (grid, feed, calendar, and list) so teams can switch between high-level planning and granular post details.
Also, labels and filters let you organize content by campaign, client, brand, content type, or whatever taxonomy keeps your workflow clear when you’re handling various accounts.
Planable weekly social media calendar with color-coded labels, multi-channel posts, and approved scheduled content
I like the way the page is laid out. We can see the posts as they will actually look on the platforms. Being able to set up schedules and to push to multiple channels, it really saves us time. – Victoria B., Principal Marketing Specialist.
Planable post editor showing scheduled social post option, approval status, and real-time team comments
Social media analytics dashboard in Planable with engagement graph, follower growth, impressions, and platform performance breakdown
Planable integrates with 9 social media platforms:
Pricing: Planable offers three pricing plans starting at $33/month per workspace.
Pricing scales based on workspaces and add-ons, with transparent tier structures as you add team members, clients, or manage multiple brands.
Scheduling a social media post to Facebook and LinkedIn from the Planable app
Using Planable AI when scheduling a social media post to rewrite the caption
Creating and adding labels for scheduled posts in Planable
Scheduling a post in Planable
Schedule a recurring social media post in Planable
Takeaway: Planable is a solid social media scheduler option for team approval workflows, especially for social media planning + content collaboration. It’s particularly well-suited for agencies, marketing teams with external stakeholders, or any team that wants a clean, very visual way to manage post approvals. Give it a try for free.
Best for: enterprise-level management and social inbox
Hootsuite is a market pioneer in social media management and it allows users to manage their online presence from a single dashboard.
The interface provides an in-depth breakdown of marketing activities. It enables you to respond quickly to mentions with the help of a social inbox feature.
Its social media calendar, though not the most modern-looking one, comprehensively overlooks all the posts planned across multiple platforms.
Hootsuite’s newest update, OwlyAI, helps avoid writer’s block and generate new relevant ideas for social media posts to fill in the gaps in the social media calendar.
Integrations: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Threads, TikTok, BlueSky and YouTube.
Pricing: Hootsuite has a free trial period and three paid plans starting from $199/user/month.
Drawbacks: Pricey, occasional reliability issues, complex UI, limited mobile features.
Takeaway: If you’re looking for a time-proven solution to maintain your social media posting schedule and manage your social media accounts, Hootsuite will do just fine.
Best for: social media listening
Sprout Social is an enterprise social media management platform that consolidates scheduling, listening, analytics, inbox management, and employee advocacy into one system.
Their scheduler handles bulk planning across multiple accounts with a visual calendar designed for high-volume workflows. Batch scheduling, cross-platform campaign management, and centralized publishing controls reduce the tool-switching that fragments workflows at scale.
Integrations: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Google Business Profile.
Pricing: The platform has a free 30-days trial period, and its paid plans start at $199/seat/month, with five social profiles included.
Drawbacks: Premium pricing; scheduler sometimes feels less intuitive vs visual-first tools like Planable.
Takeaway: Sprout Social is a good choice for enterprise companies that want to keep a close eye on their social media performance and have the budget to do so.
Best for: eCommerce brands with simple scheduling needs
Buffer is designed to optimize social media publishing and scheduling. The platform strongly emphasizes building an organic audience, with its key features like social inbox and comments sentiment analysis reflecting this approach.
Its integration with Shopify also makes it a solid choice for eCommerce businesses.
The post planner allows tailoring content for each social media platform, so your Instagram posts can have different captions than Facebook ones. You can schedule content automatically or choose your own custom time for posting.
Integrations: Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin, TikTok, Google Business, Pinterest, Twitter, Mastodon, and Shopify
Pricing: Buffer offers a free plan with up to 30 monthly scheduled posts per channel. To upgrade, there are two paid plans starting from $5/month per channel.
Drawback: The platform can’t automatically publish TikToks and Instagram Stories, only through reminders. The pricing is a little confusing, as users pay per channel, so if you decide to explore another social platform, you would need to pay extra.
Takeaway: Buffer is one of the simple yet effective social media management tools that ticks all of the boxes for small teams focusing on particular channels. It’s a neat platform for content curation to ensure you execute your social strategy at its best.
Best for: small projects and solopreneurs
CoSchedule is a project management tool that prioritizes efficient workflows for all marketing activities, including the brand’s social media schedule.
It offers a marketing calendar to help social media professionals streamline content curation across social channels and save time scheduling content.
CoSchedule’s marketing calendar is more of a post planner than a full-scale social media tool. Users can schedule one-time social media posts or create a social campaign consisting of several messages.
It also has analytical tools to track social media campaigns, like the Top Content report. This report gathers content that gained the most engagement on one page, making it easy for social marketers to identify the top-performing formats.
Integrations: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter, WordPress, MailChimp, and other marketing platforms.
Pricing: CoSchedule has a free version of the marketing calendar and a pro version for $19/month per user.
Drawback: The publishing tool only allows Business profiles to publish directly on Instagram. Features like collaboration and content templates are only available in the pro version.
Takeaway: CoSchedule is among those nifty and simple publishing tools that suit teams aiming to ease their processes and make them more transparent.
Best for: visual posts (TikTok, Instagram or Pinterest)
Later started as Instagram-only social media scheduling tool. In the meantime, it expanded to other networks, including Facebook, TikTok, Linkedin, Pinterest, and YouTube.
It has a visual content calendar that allows marketers to manage multiple social media accounts across different channels.
Being somewhat Instagram and TikTok-oriented, Later has joined forces with Mavrck, an influencer marketing platform. This partnership complements Later’s collab features, allowing social marketers to collaborate with creators and influencers through one social media management tool.
Later doesn’t have flashy content features but offers straightforward content creation and scheduling in just a few clicks. It has built-in content creation tools such as a media library, cropper, hashtag suggestions, and a UGC finder to source content generated by your target audience.
Pricing: Later has a free plan, and its paid plans begin at $18.75/month/user.
Drawback: Less rich feature set for non-visual platforms; limited analytics depth.
Takeaway: Later is a great tool to schedule your posts and stay on track for small teams and solo creators. If you prioritize Instagram or another platform for visual content like Pinterest or TikTok, consider giving Later a try.
Best for: complex analytics
Zoho Social is a social media management platform built for businesses that need reliable scheduling, analytics, and team collaboration.
It handles multi-account management and reporting workflows with enough depth for professional teams, but stays streamlined enough to onboard quickly.
Users like Zoho for its data-based predictions on the best time to post and other optimization and its detailed reports.
Integrations: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok, and Google Business Profile.
Pricing: Zoho Social starts at $15/month per brand for scheduling and basic analytics across 10 channels. Agency pricing available for managing multiple brands. 15-day free trial included.
Drawback: Although Zoho has collaboration features, roles, and approvals, they’re pretty simple and don’t fit more complicated workflows.
Takeaway: Zoho’s strong suit is analytical reports and many data-driven approaches to social media marketing.
Best for: brand monitoring
Agorapulse is a social media management platform that ticks all the right boxes: schedule and publish content, engage with the audience through comments and direct messages, listen to brand mentions, and report on content performance.
Its multi-platform publishing option saves a lot of time regarding content planning and helps you stay consistent across all social channels.
Besides, Agorapulse works as a project management tool where teams can collaborate, assign posts to each other, and leave comments to tweak copy or visuals.
Integrations: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google Business Profile, YouTube, and TikTok.
Pricing: Agorapulse offers a 30-day free trial to get started. After that, there are four paid plans available, beginning at $79/user/month.
Drawback: UI isn’t the most intuitive; reporting/scheduling features not as deep as some competitors.
Takeaway: Agorapulse is a nice option for those who want to give social media scheduling tools a try in general: it has all the necessary features and suits smaller teams best.
Best for: medium-sized marketing agencies
Sendible positions itself as the top social media management tool for agencies and offers a range of plans to cater to different organizations.
It supports social media scheduling, offers content recommendations, and provides reporting on campaigns and a social inbox.
Integrations: Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, WordPress, Medium, and Tumblr.
Pricing: Sendible has a 14-day free trial period and three paid plans starting from $29/user/month.
Drawbacs: Occasional scheduling glitches, and, in some cases, a steep learning curve for advanced features.
Takeaway: Sendible is a steady option with enough functionality to cover the needs of a professional social media team. It is clumsy UX-wise but compensates with a nice list of features for a reasonable price.
Best for: social listening and advanced reporting
Statusbrew is one of the most affordable social listening tools. It enables users to create polished, customizable report templates for a deep dive into social media performance.
Its social media scheduler includes tools for benchmarking your performance against competitors, AI-powered sentiment analysis, and advanced comment moderation to refine and enhance your overall social media strategy.
Integrations: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, X, YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, and Google Business Profile.
Pricing: Statusbrew provides a 14-day free trial so you can test the platform. Once the trial ends, users can choose from four paid plans starting at $69/month for one user and five social profiles.
Drawbacks: Statusbrew can feel overwhelming for first-time users due to its complex interface, and it offers limited social media scheduling customization options. Editing content already scheduled for multiple posts can be challenging, making adjustments less seamless.
Takeaway: Statusbrew is built for teams that need social listening, sentiment analysis, and advanced reporting alongside scheduling. Expect a learning curve but deep analytics capabilities.
Best for: small teams social media automation
Loomly is a versatile social media scheduling tool designed for marketers wanting efficiency and organization in their workflows.
It offers scheduling to most social media platforms, planning, engagement tracking, advanced analytics, and social media reports, making it a well-rounded social scheduler.
Loomly simplifies the user journey with features like the Calendar Wizard, which guides users through connecting social media accounts, setting up preferences, and initiating scheduling workflows for multiple social accounts.
Built with collaboration in mind, the social media scheduling tool has team-based functionalities such as post approvals, commenting, and role assignments.
However, some advanced features, like custom workflows and roles, are limited to higher-priced plans, which might not suit smaller teams with tight budgets.
Integrations: Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Pinterest, Facebook, Google Business Profile, TikTok, Threads, YouTube and Snapchat.
Pricing: Loomly provides a 15-day free trial. Two paid plans are available, but pricing requires contacting sales for a custom quote (they are not being publicly listed). Plan details and costs are determined based on team size and feature requirements.
Drawbacks: The platform lacks social listening capabilities and integrations with tools like Google Analytics. The learning curve for new users may also pose challenges, especially for those unfamiliar with its user interface.
Takeaway: Loomly handles scheduling, approvals, and content inspiration for small teams, but advanced workflow features are locked behind higher-tier plans and sales conversations.
Best for: social inbox management
HubSpot provides a dedicated social media management platform and includes all the features you need to schedule content at just the right time for maximum engagement.
Its AI uses social media performance data to provide ideal posting time suggestions, content, and campaign ideas for maximum results.
Plus, HubSpot includes a particularly social inbox management tool where you can set up keyword monitoring streams to monitor and respond to comments across social.
Linking the social media management tools with HubSpot’s CRM also reveals extra details about your contacts and how they previously interacted with your company.
Pricing: The social media management platform is included in HubSpot’s Marketing Hub Professional Package, which costs $944/month that includes three core seats. Additional seats start at $54/month.
Drawbacks: You cannot use the social media management tool as a standalone product, it only comes bundled with other marketing automation tools. Smaller teams might find it overwhelming if they don’t need the full marketing suite or the in-depth integration across all marketing efforts.
Look for tools that handle your current pain points without breaking when you grow. Answer these questions before committing to a platform:
Some tools become unusable once you exceed 20-30 scheduled posts. Test whether the interface slows down, whether you can still view multiple accounts simultaneously, and if drag-and-drop scheduling holds up under volume.
Single-level approvals work for small teams. At scale, you need configurable chains (creative → brand → legal, or franchisee → regional → corporate) with auto-publishing once final approval clears, not manual intervention after the workflow completes.
Starting with three social profiles is different from managing ten accounts across emerging platforms. Look for tools with stable API connections that don’t require constant re-authentication and add new platform support as channels evolve.
Some schedulers look affordable until you add a fourth user or tenth location. Understand how pricing increases with users, workspaces, channels, and features before you’re locked into a workflow that becomes prohibitively expensive to maintain.
The scheduler that fits your team removes bottlenecks from your actual workflow, not just the ones described in marketing demos. Test social media scheduling platforms like Planable with your real content volume, approval chains, and team structure.
Pro tip: Most platforms offer free trials specifically so you can stress-test them before committing. If a platform struggles with your current operations, it won’t hold up when you scale.
Native schedulers (Facebook Business Suite, LinkedIn’s post planner) work if you’re managing one brand on one platform. They break down when you’re coordinating across multiple channels, running approval workflows, or managing content for multiple clients or locations. Third-party tools like Planable centralize scheduling, approvals, and collaboration in one place, so you’re not logging into five different platforms to publish a single campaign.
Project management tools track tasks; schedulers execute publishing workflows. If you’re copying content from Asana into native platform schedulers, chasing approvals via email, and manually tracking what posted where, you’re adding friction. A dedicated scheduler like Planable handles content creation, approval chains, bulk scheduling, and auto-publishing in one system. Your project tool tracks the campaign, your scheduler handles execution.
The best social media scheduling tool depends on your workflow priorities: Planable (collaboration & approvals), Sprout Social (enterprise analytics & listening), Buffer (simplicity & ease of use), Hootsuite (multi-channel management at scale), Later (visual planning for Instagram & TikTok), CoSchedule (content marketing integration), and Zoho Social (affordable multi-account management).
Content marketer with a background in journalism; digital nomad, and tech geek. In love with blogs, storytelling, strategies, and old-school Instagram. If it can be written, I probably wrote it.
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