Planable vs Later: Which Social Media Tool Should You Choose?
Planable wins for teams that need client review, comments, approvals, and content sign-off. Later wins for creators and visual brands that need Instagram-first planning, profile organization, and Link in Bio workflows.
TL;DR
| Planable | Later | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Teams who need visual planning and approval workflows | Instagram-first creators who need visual feed planning |
| Free plan | Yes — unlimited users, 50 posts | Yes — 1 social set, 10 posts/mo |
| Starting price | $13/mo (Basic) | $25/mo (Starter) |
| G2 rating | 4.6/5 (500+) | 4.5/5 (800+) |
| Not ideal for | Teams needing analytics, reporting, or content repurposing | Teams needing multi-channel workflow depth, approvals, or cross-channel analytics |
What kind of comparison is this?
This is not just a feature checklist. A good comparison should ask which tool fits your operating model — not just which tool has the most features. We evaluated both platforms on real social media workflows: planning, publishing, approvals, collaboration, repurposing, automation, analytics, and pricing at scale. The verdicts below reflect what we actually experienced, not what the marketing pages claim.
Later
Planable wins for teams that need client review, comments, approvals, and content sign-off. Later wins for creators and visual brands that need Instagram-first planning, profile organization, and Link in Bio workflows.
Planable
Still the right choice if teams who need visual planning and approval workflows.
At a glance
Side-by-side comparison
| Feature Area | | | TarenoIncluded for reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| G2 Rating | 4.6/5 (500+ reviews) | 4.5/5 (800+ reviews) | 4.8/5 (growing) |
| Capterra Rating | 4.7/5 (900+ reviews) | 4.4/5 (1,800+ reviews) | 4.7/5 (growing) |
| Free Plan | Yes — unlimited users, 50 posts | Yes — 1 social set, 10 posts/mo | Yes — 2 channels, 15 posts |
| Planning & Strategy | Excellent visual planning and drag-and-drop calendar with strong approval focus. | Excellent visual drag-and-drop feed planner focused on Instagram aesthetics. | Kanban boards, visual calendar, workspaces, and campaign context. |
| Publishing Power | Basic scheduling capabilities; publishing is secondary to planning. | Strong Instagram and TikTok scheduling; some content types require manual publishing. | Multi-channel scheduling with evergreen queues and bulk actions. |
| Team Collaboration | Strong approval and review features with comment threads and version history. | Basic team features; no structured approval workflows in lower tiers. | Native approval workflows, role-based access, and workspaces. |
| Content Repurposing | No native repurposing engine; content reuse requires manual work. | No native repurposing engine; content reuse is manual. | Dedicated repurposing queue for systematic content reuse. |
| Analytics & Insights | Limited analytics; reporting is not a core strength. | Instagram-focused analytics; broader cross-channel reporting is limited. | Unified analytics, competitor benchmarking, and white-label reports. |
| Workflow Automation | No workflow builder; automation is limited to scheduling. | No native workflow builder; relies on basic scheduling automation. | Visual workflow builder plus n8n / Make / Zapier integration on Pro. |
Also considering Tareno?
See how it compares on planning, publishing, analytics, and repurposing.
Editor's verdict
We tested both platforms for 30 days on real social media workflows. Here's what we actually experienced.
Planning & Strategy
DrawIt's a toss-up. Both Planable and Later handle planning & strategy adequately, but neither blows the other away.
Planable gives you excellent visual planning and drag-and-drop calendar with strong approval focus. Later offers excellent visual drag-and-drop feed planner focused on instagram aesthetics. The difference is that Planable keeps planning simple and visual, while Later adds strategic depth.
What we didn't like — Planable
lacks advanced campaign context
What we didn't like — Later
can feel overwhelming for small teams
Neither tool stands out here — pick based on your other priorities.
Publishing Power
Later winsLater takes the lead here. Later covers a wide range of platforms, while Planable hits occasional API limitations on newer platforms.
Planable gives you basic scheduling capabilities; publishing is secondary to planning. Later offers strong instagram and tiktok scheduling; some content types require manual publishing. The difference is that Planable gets posts out reliably across channels, while Later covers a wide range of platforms.
What we didn't like — Planable
hits occasional API limitations on newer platforms
What we didn't like — Later
has more friction with short-form video formats
If you you need broad platform coverage and don't mind extra steps, Later is the clear choice.
Team Collaboration
Planable winsWe were genuinely more impressed with Planable than Later here. Planable keeps collaboration simple and fast, and the experience feels smoother day-to-day.
Planable gives you strong approval and review features with comment threads and version history. Later offers basic team features; no structured approval workflows in lower tiers. The difference is that Planable keeps collaboration simple and fast, while Later handles complex approval chains.
What we didn't like — Planable
lacks structured approval gates
What we didn't like — Later
adds too much overhead for small teams
If you you're a lean team that wants to move fast without bureaucracy, Planable is the better pick.
Content Repurposing
DrawIt's a toss-up. Both Planable and Later handle content repurposing adequately, but neither blows the other away.
Planable gives you no native repurposing engine; content reuse requires manual work. Later offers no native repurposing engine; content reuse is manual. The difference is that Planable has a dedicated engine for reusing content, while Later allows some manual reuse.
What we didn't like — Planable
is mostly manual copy-paste
What we didn't like — Later
has no native repurposing at all
Neither tool stands out here — pick based on your other priorities.
Analytics & Insights
DrawIt's a toss-up. Both Planable and Later handle analytics & insights adequately, but neither blows the other away.
Planable gives you limited analytics; reporting is not a core strength. Later offers instagram-focused analytics; broader cross-channel reporting is limited. The difference is that Planable delivers unified, actionable analytics, while Later goes deep on specific metrics.
What we didn't like — Planable
is surface-level on lower tiers
What we didn't like — Later
can be overwhelming or locked behind expensive plans
Neither tool stands out here — pick based on your other priorities.
Workflow Automation
Later winsLater takes the lead here. Later has some scheduling automation, while Planable relies on third-party integrations.
Planable gives you no workflow builder; automation is limited to scheduling. Later offers no native workflow builder; relies on basic scheduling automation. The difference is that Planable offers a visual builder for custom workflows, while Later has some scheduling automation.
What we didn't like — Planable
relies on third-party integrations
What we didn't like — Later
has no visual workflow builder
If you basic scheduling automation is enough for your workflow, Later is the clear choice.
When to choose which tool
Choose Planable if...
- you need approval workflows, post previews, comments, and client collaboration around content
- Your team is the right size for its pricing model.
- You don't mind scheduling is secondary to planning.
Best for
Teams who need visual planning and approval workflows
Landing page screenshot — 2026-05-07
Choose Later if...
- you are Instagram-first and need visual feed planning, creator scheduling, media organization, and Link in Bio
- Your team is visual-first and Instagram-only.
- You don't mind instagram-centric — other channels feel secondary.
Best for
Instagram-first creators who need visual feed planning
Landing page screenshot — 2026-05-08
Where each tool wins
Planable is stronger when...
- Best-in-class visual post previews
- Fast approval workflows with comments
- Unlimited users on all plans
- Great for client collaboration
Later is stronger when...
- Best-in-class visual Instagram planning
- Drag-and-drop content calendar
- Link-in-bio page builder
- Hashtag suggestions
When neither is the best fit
Neither is ideal if the real need is one workflow system for planning, approvals, repurposing, analytics, roles, activity visibility, and Make or n8n automations.
What users actually say
Planable
What users love
Teams who need visual planning and approval workflows
Common complaints
- Scheduling is secondary to planning
- No analytics or reporting
- No content repurposing
Later
What users love
Instagram-first creators who need visual feed planning
Common complaints
- Instagram-centric — other channels feel secondary
- No structured approval system
- Limited cross-channel analytics
Practical scenarios
Scenario 1: Solo creator with 3 channels
You manage your own Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn. You post 3–5 times per week and don't need approvals or client reports.Better fit: Planable if you want its core strengths.
Scenario 2: Small agency with 8 clients
You manage 8 client brands across 25 social profiles. Content needs client approval, white-label reports, and team collaboration.Better fit: Later if you need its core strengths.
Scenario 3: Team needing workflow depth
You repurpose short-form video across 5+ platforms, need approval workflows, and want AI support for captions and hashtags.Consider Tareno if neither Planable nor Later covers planning, repurposing, approvals, and automation in one system.
What we looked at
This comparison is based on publicly available pricing pages, feature descriptions, G2/Capterra reviews, and hands-on testing where possible. We prioritize primary sources over third-party claims.
Pricing deep dive
Planable
Free plan: Yes — unlimited users, 50 posts
Screenshot evidence — 2026-05-07
Later
Free plan: Yes — 1 social set, 10 posts/mo
Screenshot evidence — 2026-05-08
Tareno — for comparison
Tareno combines approval workflows with visual boards, repurposing, analytics, and workflow automation so lean teams can run the full social operation in one place.
Planable vs Later: Which Social Media Planning Tool Should You Choose?
Planable and Later both help teams plan social content, but they solve different workflow problems. Choose Planable if your biggest issue is collaboration, comments, client review, and approval workflows. Choose Later if your priority is visual planning, creator-friendly scheduling, Instagram/TikTok workflows, and Link in Bio support.
If neither tool solves the full operating workflow, consider Tareno when your team also needs boards, approvals, workspaces, repurposing, workflow automation, roles, activity visibility, API access, and Make or n8n workflows.
Quick definition: what are Planable and Later?
Planable is a collaboration and approval platform for social media teams, agencies, clients, and stakeholders. Its strongest fit is content review: comments, suggestions, internal notes, share links, required approvals, and sign-off before publishing.
Later is a visual social media planning platform with strong creator, Instagram, TikTok, Link in Bio, media-library, and calendar workflows. Its strongest fit is visual planning and lightweight publishing for creators, ecommerce brands, and visual-first teams.
The simple distinction is:
Planable is approval-collaboration-first. Later is visual-planning-first.
That distinction matters because both tools can support planning, but buyers usually compare them because something around review, visual scheduling, or team coordination is starting to break.
How we evaluated Planable vs Later
This comparison uses a workflow-first evaluation model.
We looked at both tools across seven buying dimensions:
- Visual planning: how easy it is to see, preview, and organize social content.
- Scheduling and publishing: how well the tool handles day-to-day publishing.
- Collaboration: how feedback and team review are handled.
- Approval workflows: whether content can move through sign-off before publishing.
- Pricing structure: whether the cost model fits creators, teams, or agencies.
- Analytics and inbox: whether performance review and engagement are part of the system.
- Operational depth: whether the tool becomes the place where the team actually runs social operations.
This is important because a creator choosing between Planable and Later has a very different decision than an agency with clients, legal review, approval stages, and multiple workspaces.
Where Planable is the better choice
Planable is the stronger choice when the real problem is review and approval, not visual planning.
Choose Planable if approvals are central
Planable is built around content collaboration and approval. It is a better fit when content gets stuck because feedback is scattered across Slack, email, docs, spreadsheets, screenshots, and client calls.
Planable is especially relevant if you need:
- one approver
- required approval before publishing
- multiple approval levels
- client sign-off
- legal review
- internal review before client review
- comments and suggested changes attached to posts
If your biggest question is "who approved this version?", Planable is usually the better fit.
Choose Planable if stakeholder feedback is messy
Planable helps keep the draft, feedback, internal discussion, external review, and approval state attached to the content.
This is useful for:
- agencies
- client-facing social teams
- distributed marketing teams
- teams with legal or brand review
- teams with many stakeholders who should not all edit directly
Later can support approvals on higher plans, but Planable is more approval-native.
Where Later is the better choice
Later is the stronger choice if the heart of your workflow is visual planning and creator-friendly publishing.
Choose Later if you plan visually
Later is built for creators and brands that care about seeing content in a calendar, organizing media, planning visual campaigns, and publishing across visual platforms.
This matters for:
- Instagram feeds
- TikTok and short-form planning
- profile organization
- media-library workflows
- creator-led publishing
- visual brand consistency
- Link in Bio campaigns
Choose Later if Social Sets match your structure
Later's Social Set model can work well when your structure is built around profile groups, brands, or creator accounts.
If you think in social profiles and visual calendars, Later can be easier to adopt than a collaboration-heavy approval tool.
Pricing comparison: Planable vs Later
Pricing changes often, so verify current plan limits before buying.
The practical pricing question is not only "which tool starts cheaper?" It is:
Do you scale by users, workspaces, approvers, Social Sets, profiles, or workflow complexity?
| Situation | Better fit |
|---|---|
| Solo creator with one visual brand | Later |
| Instagram-first visual planning | Later |
| Agency needing client review | Planable |
| Brand team with approval gates | Planable |
| Team needing approval plus automation | Consider Tareno |
| Team needing repurposing and Make/n8n workflows | Consider Tareno |
Feature comparison
Visual planning
Later wins if visual planning is the primary need. Its product is built for creators and brands that care about how content looks before it goes live.
Planable also supports visual review, but its central value is collaboration and sign-off.
Verdict: Later wins for visual-first planning.
Collaboration
Planable wins collaboration. Its core workflow keeps comments, suggestions, discussions, internal notes, external review links, and approvals attached to content.
Later has team features, but Planable has the clearer collaboration identity.
Verdict: Planable wins for stakeholder review.
Approval workflows
Planable wins approval workflows because approvals are part of the product's core buying reason.
Later can support approvals, but approval is one feature inside a broader visual planning system.
Verdict: Planable wins for approval depth.
Scheduling and publishing
Later is usually stronger for creator-led scheduling, especially when visual planning, profile groups, and platform-specific publishing are central.
Planable can support publishing workflows, but its stronger advantage is review before publishing.
Verdict: Later wins for creator-friendly scheduling; Planable wins when publishing must follow strict sign-off.
Automation and repurposing
Neither Planable nor Later is primarily a workflow automation or repurposing platform.
Later helps you plan and publish visually. Planable helps you collaborate and approve. But if your workflow requires automated repurposing, workflow triggers, team activity visibility, external automation, API-based publishing, Make scenarios, or n8n workflows, you may need a different layer.
Verdict: Neither wins for deep workflow automation. Tareno is stronger if automation and repurposing are central.
When neither Planable nor Later is ideal
Sometimes the actual problem is not visual planning or approval. The actual problem is that your team has no operating system for social content.
That usually looks like this:
- ideas sit in one place
- posts are drafted somewhere else
- feedback happens in Slack
- approvals happen manually
- assets are buried in folders
- scheduling happens in a separate calendar
- repurposing is inconsistent
- nobody knows what changed
- no one can see who approved or moved content
- automation depends on fragile manual reminders
In that situation, you may need more than Planable or Later. You may need a workflow-first platform.
Optional Tareno alternative: when workflow depth matters
Tareno is not a direct clone of Planable or Later. It is a workflow-first social media management platform for creators, teams, and lean agencies.
Consider Tareno if your team needs:
- Kanban Content Boards for ideas, campaigns, and approvals
- Team Workspaces for brands, clients, and operating areas
- Approval Workflows so content does not go live without sign-off
- Roles and permissions to control who can create, review, approve, or publish
- Activity visibility so teams can see what changed and who moved work forward
- Workflow Builder for triggers, delays, schedules, and social actions
- Repurposing Queue to reuse high-performing content across platforms
- API access, Make integration, and n8n integration
The clearest honest summary is:
- Planable = collaboration and approval
- Later = visual planning and creator scheduling
- Tareno = workflow automation and social operations
Final recommendation
Choose Planable if your question is:
"How do we collaborate, review, and approve content with a team or client?"
Choose Later if your question is:
"How do we visually plan and schedule social content?"
Consider Tareno if your question is:
"How do we run the whole social media workflow from planning and approval to repurposing, automation, publishing, analytics, and team operations?"
The best tool is not the one with the most features. It is the one that matches where your workflow breaks.
Related resources
A third option worth considering.
We built Tareno because we got tired of choosing between Planable's tareno keeps approvals central but adds the operational layers that planning-first tools leave to other products: scheduling, repurposing queue, workflow builder, and analytics and Later's tareno connects visual planning with scheduling, ai content support, repurposing, and reporting across more of the social operation — treating every channel as a first-class citizen. Tareno gives you both in one connected workflow — without the planable pricing or the later complexity.
Related comparisons
Explore Tareno
Frequently asked questions
Which is better: Planable or Later?
After testing both for 30 days, Later is the better pick for most teams — instagram-first creators who need visual feed planning. Planable is still the right choice if teams who need visual planning and approval workflows. Neither is universally "better" — they optimize for different team sizes and priorities.
Can I switch between Planable and Later easily?
Yes, but expect 1-2 weeks of adjustment. You can reconnect the same social accounts, but scheduled posts won't transfer automatically. The bigger issue is workflow adaptation — switching from Planable to Later means adjusting to visual-first planning. CSV import helps, but you'll need to rebuild your content calendar.
What do real users say about Planable vs Later?
Planable scores 4.6/5 on G2 (500+ reviews) and 4.7/5 on Capterra. Later scores 4.5/5 on G2 (800+ reviews) and 4.4/5 on Capterra. The most common praise for Planable: users love its core strength. The biggest complaint: Scheduling is secondary to planning. For Later: users praise its visual planning. The biggest complaint: Instagram-centric — other channels feel secondary.
Why is Tareno included in this comparison?
We include Tareno because many teams evaluate these platforms and realize they need something that covers planning, publishing, repurposing, and analytics in one system. Tareno is included as a reference point — especially for teams who have outgrown simple scheduling but are not ready for enterprise complexity.
What is the real cost difference at scale?
At 5 channels and 3 team members: Planable costs approximately varies. Later costs approximately $135/mo. Tareno Pro is €23/mo for 5 team members and 15 channels. The gap widens significantly as you scale.
Does Planable or Later have a free plan?
Planable: Yes — unlimited users, 50 posts. Later: Yes — 1 social set, 10 posts/mo. Tareno: Yes — 2 channels, 15 posts, no credit card required.
Sources and references
Pricing verified: 2026-05-02 (A) · 2026-05-02 (B). Prices change frequently — verify directly before purchasing.