Planoly Review
Reviewed by Carlos Gil · Founder & Editor, The Best Network
Updated 7 min readEditorially reviewed
Quick facts
- Starting price
- Starter $14/mo billed yearly ($16 monthly)
- Free plan
- No
- Best for
- Solo creators, small brands and visual-first marketers who plan Instagram and TikTok content around how the feed looks
- Platforms
- Web app; iOS and Android apps
BestStacked Score
Weighted average of 5 categories. Methodology below.
Quick answer
What is Planoly, and is it worth paying for?
Planoly is a social media planner and scheduler built around a drag-and-drop preview of your Instagram grid. One social set covers one account on each of eight networks, and every paid plan includes unlimited uploads. It's worth paying for if you're a creator or small brand that plans visually and mostly posts to Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest. Starter costs $14 a month billed yearly ($16 monthly) for one social set and one user, checked on Planoly's pricing page on October 14, 2026. Skip it if you need approvals, a shared inbox or deep reporting: Planoly documents none of the first two, and its analytics cover five networks over 7, 30 or 90 days.
- Best for
- Creators, coaches and small brands that care how their Instagram grid looks and want to schedule the same content to TikTok, Pinterest and Threads.
- Skip it if
- You manage clients or a team that needs approval workflows, a social inbox, X auto-posting or exportable reports.
- Strongest capability
- The grid planner: drag, drop and swap planned posts to preview the feed before anything publishes, on the web or the iOS and Android apps.
- Biggest limitation
- Thin team and support tooling: no documented approvals or roles beyond owner and member, a web form as the only support channel, and no refunds under the terms.
The Verdict
Planoly is a good fit for creators and small brands that plan content by how the feed will look. Every paid plan has unlimited uploads and auto-posts to Instagram (posts, Reels and single-item Stories), Facebook Pages, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Threads and LinkedIn Pages; X gets a reminder instead. The plans differ only in social sets and users, so Starter at $14 a month billed yearly covers a solo creator, and Growth ($24) adds a second set and user. What it lacks is the agency and team layer: Planoly documents no approval workflow or roles beyond owner and member, analytics are paid-only and skip YouTube and Threads, and support is a web form. Its pages also disagree on whether a free plan exists. We score Planoly 7.8/10.
Best for
Creators and small brands that plan Instagram-first content visually and want it scheduled to TikTok, Pinterest, Threads and YouTube too.
Skip if
You need approvals, a unified inbox, X auto-posting, deeper analytics or responsive support for a team or client work.
The Background
What Is Planoly?
Planoly is a social media planner from Planogram, LLC, which does business as Planoly from an Austin, Texas address. It launched in 2016 as a visual Instagram planner, and its about page claims 8 million creators. A January 2026 post says Dave Hersh and Adam Kulick, with two operator-founders, bought Planoly from a private equity firm, with Katelyn staying on as CEO. In 2026 Planoly merged its Instagram Planner and Social Content Planner into one Social Planner. You connect a social set (one account each on Instagram, Facebook, X, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, Threads and TikTok), upload media, arrange posts in a grid, list or calendar view, and schedule them to publish automatically or as reminders. Creator Store, its link-in-bio and selling tool (formerly Linkit and Sellit), is included with paid plans.
The Product
Planoly Features: What You Actually Get
Visual grid planner
The grid planner shows planned posts next to your published Instagram feed, so you can drag, swap and add placeholders until the grid looks right. List, grid and gallery views are on the web and in the iOS and Android apps. Planoly's pricing page says it invented grid planning; that is its own claim.
A boutique owner drags a product photo between two lifestyle shots so the next nine posts alternate colors before scheduling them.
Auto-posting across eight networks
Planoly auto-posts Instagram posts, Reels and Stories, Facebook Page posts, Reels and Stories, TikTok videos and photo carousels, YouTube videos and Shorts, LinkedIn Page posts, Pinterest Pins and Threads posts. X posts are reminder-only, and LinkedIn personal profiles aren't supported. On Instagram, an auto-posted carousel holds up to 10 items (20 if you post it yourself from a reminder) and an auto-posted Story is a single item of 60 seconds or less.
A fitness coach schedules one Reel to Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts and gets a reminder to post the X version herself.
AI captions, ideas and an MCP server
Paid plans include an AI idea generator and caption writer, and Planoly's Social Posting MCP lets Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini draft and schedule posts in your account. Planoly's AI terms (last updated November 2023) call AI a beta service with a fair-use cap of 1,000 API calls per account a month, and say it isn't available to free users or after a trial ends.
A creator asks Claude, connected through Planoly's MCP server, to draft captions for next week's posts and schedule them as drafts for review.
Creator Store and Instagram DM automation
Creator Store replaces Linkit and Sellit with a link-in-bio page that sells digital products, courses, 1:1 bookings, memberships and Printful merch, with a basic CRM and email and text campaigns. Planoly says it takes no cut of sales; Stripe and PayPal charge their usual fees. Comment-to-DM automations for auto-posted Instagram posts are rolling out on paid plans, while the older Creator Store DM automation is being deprecated.
A recipe creator links a $12 e-book from her bio and sends the link by DM to anyone who comments a keyword on the Reel.
Analytics on paid plans
Paid plans include analytics for Instagram, Facebook (beta), Pinterest, TikTok and LinkedIn (beta) over 7, 30 or 90 days. YouTube and Threads have no analytics, LinkedIn personal profiles aren't covered, and Instagram analytics need a Business account connected through a Facebook Page.
A small brand checks which of last month's Pins drove the most outbound clicks before planning the next batch.
Feature recap
- Drag-and-drop Instagram grid planner on web and mobile
- Auto-posting to Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Threads and LinkedIn Pages
- Unlimited uploads on every paid plan
- AI captions, idea generator and a Social Posting MCP server
- Creator Store link-in-bio shop with no Planoly sales cut
- Instagram comment-to-DM automations (rolling out)
- Analytics for five networks on paid plans
- Canva, Google Drive and Dropbox imports
The Numbers
Planoly Pricing: Every Plan Explained
Planoly prices by social sets and users, not by posts. The prices below are from Planoly's pricing page, checked October 14, 2026, in USD; annual prices are shown as a monthly figure billed once a year. Every paid plan has unlimited uploads and a 14-day trial for first-time trialists.
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Included Features | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $16/mo | $14/mo | 1 social set (one account on each of 8 networks), 1 user, unlimited uploads, grid planner, auto-posting, AI tools, analytics and Creator Store; no add-on sets or users | Solo creators with one brand |
| GrowthBest value | $28/mo | $24/mo | 2 social sets and 2 users, unlimited uploads; extra sets $10/mo and extra users $5/mo; Content Marketplace template add-on available | Creators with two brands or a helper |
| Pro | $55/mo | $47/mo | 6 social sets and 6 users, unlimited uploads; extra sets $8/mo and extra users $3/mo; the help center calls this plan Professional | Small teams and multi-brand creators |
Planoly is cheap for what most creators need: Starter's $168 a year (our arithmetic) buys unlimited uploads across eight networks, where Later's $18.75 Starter caps each profile at 30 posts a month. The pricing page says annual billing saves up to 15%; by our arithmetic the listed prices save about 12.5% on Starter and 14.5% on Pro. The terms (last modified June 11, 2025) require billing details for the trial, renew subscriptions automatically, let Planoly change prices with notice from the next cycle, and say plainly that Planoly does not provide refunds. Cancelling stops renewal and you keep access for the paid period. iOS subscriptions are billed by Apple and must be cancelled there. Whether a free plan exists depends on which page you read; see the next section.
Read before you buy
Where Planoly's own pages differ
Free plan: the pricing page FAQ says a free plan is available on the mobile app with 10 uploads a month, and the help-center FAQ lists Free as a plan. The cancellation article says there is no free plan for sale and that a lapsed account keeps one workspace, one user and 10 posts a month. We treat it as a limited free tier you reach on the app or after cancelling, not a plan you can buy.
Features by plan: the pricing page shows the same feature list on every plan, including the AI idea generator and Instagram DM automation. The help-center FAQ says AI captions, the media library, analytics, templates and collaboration are paid-only, and one help article says the Creator Store DM automation is being deprecated while its replacement is still rolling out. The pricing page doesn't mention analytics at all.
Naming and cancellation: the pricing page sells Pro plans with social sets; the help center calls the same plan Professional and the sets workspaces. The terms say cancellations take effect immediately with access through the paid cycle, while the cancellation article says cancelling takes effect at the end of the billing period. In practice both describe keeping access until the period ends.
The Tradeoffs
Planoly Pros and Cons
What we love
- Unlimited uploads on every paid plan
- Visual grid planner on web, iOS and Android
- Auto-posts to seven networks from one planner
- Low entry price: $14 a month billed yearly
- Creator Store sells products and bookings with no Planoly cut
- MCP server for scheduling from Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini
What could be better
- X posts are reminder-only; LinkedIn personal profiles unsupported
- No documented approval workflow or role permissions
- Analytics skip YouTube and Threads and stop at 90 days
- Support through a web form only; no published hours
- No refunds under the terms; trial needs billing details
- Free plan described differently across Planoly's pages
The Audience
Who Should Use Planoly?
Best for: Instagram-first creators
Creators who plan around the look of their grid get the planner Planoly is known for, unlimited uploads and auto-posting to TikTok, Pinterest and Threads from the same post.
Best for: small brands selling from their bio
A shop or coach can schedule content and sell products, bookings or memberships from Creator Store without paying Planoly a share of sales.
Skip if: you manage clients or a team
Agencies and in-house teams that need approvals, a shared inbox and client reports will find more in Hootsuite, Sprout Social or Buffer's Team plan.
The Methodology
How We Reviewed Planoly
This is an editorial review, not a documented hands-on test. We didn't use a Planoly account for this review. It's based on Planoly's pricing page, product, AI, Creator Store and about pages, its January 2026 ownership post, terms of use (June 11, 2025), AI supplementary terms (November 8, 2023) and help-center articles on plans, plan changes, cancellation, the FAQ, auto-posting and its limits, analytics, automations, the Social Planner migration, team members, the mobile app, the MCP server and Creator Store pricing, all checked on October 14, 2026. Where Planoly's pages differ, we report both statements. No engagement, reach or scheduling-reliability results are claimed.
Our editorial evaluation considers product information, official documentation, pricing, features and professional experience. It is not a claim of documented hands-on testing.
Our review methodology →What changed
- : First published. Editorial review based on Planoly's pricing, product, AI, Creator Store and about pages, its January 2026 ownership post, terms of use, AI supplementary terms and help-center articles on plans, cancellation, auto-posting, analytics, automations, team members, the mobile app and the MCP server, all checked October 14, 2026. Sub-scores are provisional pending editorial approval.
The Field
Planoly vs The Competition
Planoly competes with visual planners and broader social media management tools. Prices below were checked on each vendor's pricing page on October 14, 2026, using US pricing.
| Tool | Starting Price | Free plan | Best Feature | BS Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Planoly | Starter $14/mo billed yearly ($16 monthly) | No | Visual grid planner | 7.8/10 |
| Later | Starter $18.75/mo billed yearly ($25 monthly) | No | Visual planning plus Link in Bio and best-time data | 8.4/10 |
| Buffer | Free; Essentials $5/mo per channel billed yearly ($6 monthly) | Yes | Per-channel pricing and a real free plan | 8.6/10 |
| Metricool | Free; Starter from $20/mo billed yearly ($25 monthly) | Yes | Analytics, ads reporting and brand-based plans | 8.7/10 |
| Hootsuite | Standard $99/user/mo billed annually | No | Inbox, approvals and enterprise reporting | 8.2/10 |
Later: Later's Starter covers one social set of eight profiles but caps each profile at 30 posts a month, where Planoly's uploads are unlimited. Later offers a 14-day trial and no free plan.Read our Later review →
Buffer: Buffer's free plan covers 3 channels and 10 scheduled posts per channel, and its Team plan adds approval workflows Planoly doesn't document. It has no grid planner of Planoly's kind.Read our Buffer review →
Metricool: Metricool's free plan includes one brand and 20 posts a month, and paid plans are priced by the number of brands (Starter covers up to 5), with analytics as the core of the product rather than an add-on.Read our Metricool review →
Hootsuite: Hootsuite costs several times more per user but adds a social inbox, approvals and listening for teams. Its trial runs 14 days without a card.Read our Hootsuite review →
In The Wild
How People Actually Use Planoly
A solo creator
Starter ($14 billed yearly) covers one account on each network with unlimited uploads. Plan the grid on your phone, auto-post Reels to Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts, and post X updates from reminders.
A creator with a second brand or an assistant
Growth ($24 billed yearly) adds a second social set and user. Extra sets cost $10 a month and extra users $5, so compare that against Pro before adding a third brand.
A small social team
Pro ($47 billed yearly) gives six sets and six users, but there's no documented approval step. If drafts need sign-off before publishing, test the workflow in the trial or look at Buffer's Team plan or Hootsuite.
The Ecosystem
Planoly Integrations
Planoly connects to the social networks it publishes to, imports media from storage and design tools, and exposes an MCP server for AI assistants.
- →Instagram, Facebook Pages, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Threads and LinkedIn Pages (auto-post)
- →X (reminders only)
- →Canva, Google Drive, Dropbox and Dupe stock media
- →Social Posting MCP for Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini
- →Creator Store: Stripe, PayPal, Shopify, Zoom, Google Meet and Printful
Planoly doesn't document a public API, Zapier app or webhooks; the MCP server is its route for automation. Instagram tagging, collaborators, music and Instagram analytics require connecting Instagram through a Facebook Page.
Common Questions
Planoly FAQ
The Final Word
Should You Use Planoly?
Planoly is one of the cheapest ways to plan and auto-post visual content to several networks, and its grid planner and unlimited uploads suit creators who think in terms of the feed. It's a weaker fit for teams: there's no documented approval flow, analytics are basic, X is reminder-only and support runs through a web form. Since the terms rule out refunds, use the 14-day trial to confirm your networks and post types publish the way you expect. We score Planoly 7.8/10.
Yes, if
You're a creator or small brand that plans Instagram-first content visually and wants unlimited uploads at a low price.
No, if
You need approvals, a shared inbox, X auto-posting, detailed reports or fast human support.
About the reviewer
Carlos Gil
Founder & Editor, The Best Network
Carlos Gil is the bestselling author of The End of Marketing, a LinkedIn Top Voice, and founder of The Best Network. He brings 15+ years in marketing to practical reviews of AI, SaaS, email marketing, creator, and ecommerce software.
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