Planoly Review, Pricing & Alternatives (2026)

Planoly was founded in 2016 in Austin, Texas, by Brandy Pham, Andy Hoang, Kenny Teng and Thai Huynh, after Pham struggled to plan Instagram posts for her jewelry brand. It became one of the first approved Instagram planners and grew to millions of users. Traject, a marketing software group, bought it in December 2020, and in January 2026 Planoly announced new owners, entrepreneurs Dave Hersh and Adam Kulick with two other operators. Planoly says it is trusted by more than 8 million creators. Its users are influencers, small business owners, ecommerce sellers, coaches and boutique agencies who care about how their feed looks as much as when posts go out.

The core of Planoly is a visual planner. You upload photos and videos, drag them around an Instagram grid preview to see how the feed will look, and schedule them to auto-post or send a reminder. The calendar shows weekly trends, holidays, notes and placeholders, and post previews match each network. Planoly connects to Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, X, LinkedIn, Threads and Pinterest within one workspace, called a social set. Other tools include a media library, photo and video editing, stock images through Dupe, hashtag and keyword suggestions, Instagram product and location tagging, an auto-posted first comment, Best Time to Post, analytics and shareable reports.

Planoly's AI Caption Writer drafts three caption options from a short brief that describes the post and target audience. You pick a voice such as professional, witty, casual, bold or a custom style, then shorten, lengthen or rephrase a caption before applying separate editable copies to each channel. It requires a paid plan or trial and runs on web and mobile. An idea generator and Keywords and Captions tool suggest post ideas and search terms. Planoly also offers a Social Posting MCP on paid plans for connecting AI assistants, and its Instagram DM automations, which reply to comments and story replies, are moving from the Creator Store into the planner.

Planoly's free plan, available in the mobile app, allows 10 posts a month. Starter costs $14 a month billed yearly or $16 monthly for one workspace and one user. Growth costs $24 a month yearly or $28 monthly for two workspaces and two users, with extra workspaces at $10 and users at $5 a month. Professional, listed as Pro on the pricing page, costs $47 a month yearly or $55 monthly for six workspaces and six users. Every paid plan includes unlimited posts, the AI Caption Writer, analytics, a free link in bio and the Creator Store for selling digital products and merch. A 14-day trial is available.

Planoly's strengths are its visual grid planner, simple scheduling for creators, AI captions, a link in bio store with product sales and low entry prices. Its weaknesses are a free plan limited to 10 posts, fewer agency features such as white label reports and client approvals, and lighter analytics than business tools. Later offers similar visual planning with stronger analytics and a free plan. Buffer is simple and multi-network. SocialPilot and Hootsuite suit agencies managing many accounts. Metricool pairs scheduling with detailed analytics. Choose Planoly if you are a creator or small brand who plans visually and wants to sell from your link in bio.