The difference between Planoly and Later isn’t massive. Both are great for scheduling posts and analyzing performance. But both also have all sorts of bells & whistles that make them good for different needs.
Channels, features, content types supported.
True auto-posting? Visual planning & more.
Reply and manage user engagement across channels.
How useful are the insights and reporting?
Collaboration with internal and external stakeholders.
Different plan tiers, and are added users or channels extra?
Planoly is best for solopreneurs and part-time entrepreneurs using Instagram to drive their side-hustle. I see Later being perfect for startups and small teams of 1-3 mates who need to manage Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn on top of Instagram. Sked Social is best for scale and advanced users: businesses managing multiple accounts with a large pool of collaborators and stakeholders; or agencies managing clients' social accounts.
Sked was built in 2014 by a team of Australian social media consultants.
Practicing what they preach, they built Sked around their social media expertise and turned it into a real beast. Packed with features to the brim, you'll have access to more nuanced scheduling & posting settings—especially when it comes to Instagram—allowing you to execute your social media strategy just the way you want to. No compromises, fully on auto-pilot.
If you go with Sked, you'll enjoy post queues, cross-channel posting, and the best inbox management on the market… all the while keeping up with latest Instagram features like auto-posting stories, adding link stickers, and product tags.
Sked holds the middle ground when it comes to entry price. But with its advanced plans supporting unlimited users, it becomes the most affordable social media management tool on the market for medium to large sized teams and agencies.
In 2016, Brandy was having a hard time balancing being a mom and managing her jewelry brand.
To scratch her itch, she created Planoly — Instagram & Pinterest social media manager. It's beginner friendly and affordable, with surprisingly powerful Instagram features for the price. It has all the essentials, like a visual grid planner, post queue, and product tagging; but it lacks inbox management, in-depth analytics, and team workflow.
Although Planoly can't support the needs of a company, it's the perfect tool for part-time entrepreneurs.
Founded in 2014, Later grew from a simple Instagram scheduling tool to a proper social media management platform.
It supports auto-posting on all essential social media platforms except Youtube and Google Business. It has comment management, but, like Planoly, lacks inbox management. If your social accounts get lots of DMs, expect conversations to slip through the cracks. Collaboration features are also lacking. But Later is a true gem when it comes to analytics. They're robust, in-depth, and insightful; and way better than those of more expensive tools on the market. (Ehm, Hootsuite.)
Later was made for small businesses that need to find exactly which content works best for them ASAP.
For true auto-scheduling, Planoly only supports Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram accounts.
It also gives you the option to share the posts on Facebook or Twitter when publishing on Instagram, but you can't schedule standalone posts on those two platforms. Later does have native support for Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. And Sked also lets you auto-publish to all your socials, including Google Business.
Sked Social, because it supports auto-scheduling on every major social channel and lets you schedule Instagram Threads through phone notifications.
Later and Planoly have the same approach to scheduling.
They show you images and videos on the left, and a calendar on the right. To schedule a post, you have to drag & drop the media onto the calendar.
Planoly "technically" lets you schedule across multiple platforms. But you're just resharing the Instagram post on Facebook and Twitter, so you can't customize the text specifically for those two platforms.
Sked's interface doesn't get overwhelming even if you're managing multiple accounts.
You can dedicate one color to each account and quickly see upcoming posts that way. Or you can use the filter to toggle accounts and holidays on/off.
Sked was also engineered for speed.
You can also set Post Queues—times you want posts to go out—for every account.
Simply create the posts that you want to publish —single image, carousel, story, reel, or video — and push to the queue.
Even though both Later and Planoly position themselves as Instagram-first, they have limited capabilities for auto-posting stories. You can auto-post single image or video stories but tough luck if you want a series of stories published, or if you want to put a link sticker onto one.
This is where Sked shines.
Sked is the only tool on the market that actually runs on phones. There's a wall of smart phones somewhere in Sked's office, which log into your account and, quite literally, press buttons to schedule your Instagram stories. (Don't worry, the software does all of this. No nosy humans.)
That's how Sked can go around API limitations and offer the latest Instagram features at full functionality right as they come out.
Sked Social, because it handles scale, and advanced Instagram auto-publishing.
Planoly allows you to respond to Instagram comments but you can't see which post it belongs to. You’re also limited to the latest 15 or 30 Instagram comments depending on your plan.
Later does show you the post and the user who commented… But it also only works for Instagram and TikTok.
If you're a one-man army and your IG has < 1000 followers, then these features are fine. You don't need anything fancy. In fact, you can likely respond to everyone right on Instagram. But if you're a business with 3+ social media accounts… Well, good luck - because Later’s inbox is not built for teams and you can’t assign someone to help you out.
With Sked, you can engage followers and support customers through all social channels in one window.
You can filter different accounts, close conversations, prioritize them, and even assign them to teammates so they can pick up the conversation where you ended.
BONUS - if someone tags your company or mentions you in their post, you’ll see it right here and you can easily use their content as UGC… how cool is that?
Sked Social. With the advanced features and team collaboration options, Sked's social inbox is one of the most powerful conversation management tools on the market right now. If you're getting lots of comments and DMs every day, picking Sked is a no-brainer.
Planoly only supports Instagram analytics — which actually feels more like an account overview.
You can see follower growth based on date… number of likes and impressions and reach… and a bit of story engagement. That's about it.
Later and Sked gives you all the metrics and charts and graphs you need to fine-tune your digital marketing strategy. They’ve got:
See the image for Later's analytics.
With Sked you can even see post engagement by the hour.
You can also track up to four of your direct competitors and compare their activity and performance with yours over time, which Later doesn't offer.
Later & Sked Social. Both have grade A+ analytics. But because of competitor tracking and granular post engagement history, Sked has a teeny-tiny advantage over Later.
You can add teammates to all three of the tools. But…
With both Later and Planoly, you can add users to your social accounts. Once they have access, they can do anything you can. No restrictions. There's no way to limit their access to certain features.
Sked was made with collaboration in mind.
Not only can you invite team members to selected channels, but you can also restrict them from accessing the social inbox or certain image libraries. Or you can promote them and give them the option to add accounts and manage user permissions.
On top of that, if you're managing clients’ accounts, you can set up external post approvals and include your clients directly in the workflow. Simply send them the calendar preview and anyone with the link can approve upcoming posts or request for changes.
Sked Social has by far the most flexible collaboration and access control options. Perfect for larger teams or social media agencies managing multiple accounts.
All three of the tools have three-tiered pricing plans and offer a discount if you buy the annual license.
Comparing Planoly, Later and Sked on pricing is a bit like comparing apples, oranges and pears due to the way they structure their packages.
Later and Planoly use "social sets" to organize their social accounts. Each set can include one instance of each supported channel - no mixing or matching! For instance, on Later, one set technically allows 6 accounts. But, if you’ve got 2 Instagram accounts? You'll need 2 sets – not great if you focus on particular channels.
Sked, on the other hand, offers separate buckets for Instagram and non-Instagram accounts. You can freely mix and match channels in the non-Instagram bucket, which is great for agencies, freelancers and people who need flexibility in what and how their socials are managed.
All three start with single-user entry plans, with both Later and Planoly imposing caps on post scheduling on this tier. Later allows you 30 posts per social profile so if you’re scheduling a post, reel and story for the same content - well, that counts as 3 posts. Planoly restricts you to 60 posts for the whole month, and on Sked, there’s no restriction - post as much as you want.
On the intermediate plans, Planoly starts to offer unlimited posting, while Later increases the limit to 150 posts per social profile. You now get 3 users on Planoly, and double (6 users) on Later. While on Sked, you get … unlimited users. That’s right - they jump from 1 straight to infinity!
The advanced plans essentially increase the number of users and accounts available, plus unlimited posting on Later - and also unlock access to priority support and training.
Sked Social - while not the cheapest amongst the three, it’s the most feature-packed and brings the most value for money.
Just like the the tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears - Planoly is too cold, Later is too hot and Sked Social is just right.
Instagram is the most complex channel to manage, and all three tools—Planoly, Later, and Sked—offer stellar IG support that's considerably better than other social media management tools. That said, the way they're made makes them more or less suitable for different audiences.
Beginner Instagram-only influencers, part-time solopreneurs
You're a solo Instagram influencer
You're just getting started with social media scheduling tools
You’re fine with not having auto-posting for some features
Teams of 3-6 users that need analytics and don’t prioritize engagement
You need detailed analytics
You aren’t managing other people’s social media profiles
You have a small team helping you manage up to 6 brands
Larger teams of 6+ users, social media marketing agencies, media brands, retailers, and eCom stores
You want to efficiently manage all your social media in one place
You want to fully automate your publishing on Instagram
You need to collab with multiple teammates or clients
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