Marketing Calendar Software Compared

For marketing calendar software, Wecrely ranks first on our scorecard with 99 out of 100, ahead of Airtable at 98. The criterion that decides it is entry price: $9.99/month billed monthly on Pro (scored on the monthly price), against Free: the pricing page lists no paid plan.

Planning calendar or publishing calendar

Marketing calendar software splits into two jobs, and picking the wrong one is the usual regret. A planning calendar holds ideas, owners and due dates for campaigns, blog posts and newsletters. A publishing calendar goes further and pushes posts out to social networks on schedule. The tools in this ranking sit at different points on that line.

Start with the question of who touches the calendar. A solo creator needs a place to hold ideas and dates. A small team needs shared access and approvals, so a manager can sign off before anything goes out. An agency needs separate client workspaces. Each step usually moves you to a higher plan, so the entry price is rarely the price you pay.

Read the score with that in mind. The scorecard weights price, limits, export, API, cost for a team of three and the platforms a tool lists. It does not judge how pleasant a planner is to use, and it cannot see how a calendar handles a blog or email schedule. Treat it as a way to shortlist, then try the free plan or trial. The content calendar category lists every tool in the catalogue, including those not profiled below.

How we picked

Calendar tools get expensive when more people join, so the criteria weight cost per user for a small team and the social platforms a vendor lists, on top of the criteria every category shares: real cost, limits, getting your data out, lock-in and API. See how we score for the formulas.

The ranking

The order is computed from verified vendor data and carries a check date per tool. Tools with too little data are listed without a score. Note that prices mix units: one tool lists a yearly price and others a monthly price.

The tools

Wecrely

Wecrely is a card-based planning canvas for content creators: ideas, scripts and posts live on cards, with a calendar view and templates. It is the first-ranked tool here largely because it is cheap and has a free plan, so it suits a solo creator or a very small team that wants a light planner.

The paid plan is Pro at $9.99 per month. It lists 5 platforms: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X (Twitter), YouTube.

• Free plan: Yes; trial: No free trial.
• Templates: Yes; AI assist: Yes.

Airtable

Airtable is a general no-code database, not a marketing tool, and it scores 98 out of 100 on price and plan data, not on calendar features. That makes it the most flexible option here: teams build their own content calendar from a template, with fields for owner, channel and status. The cost is setup time, since nothing is ready out of the box.

Our catalogue lists only the free plan for Airtable, so the cost of a team calendar with more records or seats is not in our data. Check its pricing page before you commit.

• Free plan: Yes; API: Yes.
• Templates: Yes; team access: Yes.

Planoly

Planoly lists 8 platforms: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Threads. It combines a calendar, auto posting, an Instagram grid preview, AI idea generation and a link-in-bio page. It fits a brand or creator whose calendar is mostly visual posts.

Plans are flat and scale with team size: Starter is $14 per month for 1 user, Growth is $24 per month for 2 users and Pro is $47 per month for 6 users.

• Free plan: Yes; trial: 14-day free trial.
• Auto publish: Yes; bulk scheduling: Yes.

Planable

Planable is built around collaboration: feed and calendar views, step-by-step approvals and client workspaces. It is the fit for an agency or a team where content needs sign-off before posting. The Basic plan is $33 per month with unlimited users, which makes it a good value for a team that would otherwise pay per seat.

• Approvals: Yes; client workspaces: Yes.
• Platforms: 9 listed; free plan: Yes.
• API: Yes.

CoSchedule

CoSchedule is social media management software built around a marketing calendar, with approvals (Yes), roles and permissions (Yes) and client workspaces (Yes). It suits a marketing manager who wants one calendar for campaigns and social posts.

The free plan is small: 15 scheduled posts total, 1 social account. The Starter plan costs $39 per month ($29 per month, billed annually) with 3 social accounts and 1 user; Professional adds a second user at $59 per month.

• Trial: 14-day free trial; approvals: Yes.
• Recurring posts: Yes; templates: Yes.

ContentStudio

ContentStudio pairs a content calendar with AI content creation, a social inbox and agency approvals. It lists 11 platforms, level with CoSchedule at the top of this group, and it has a statement on export: Reports can be scheduled, exported or emailed.

Read its price carefully. The entry plan is listed at $228 per year, a yearly figure; billed annually that is $19 per month, billed annually. The Standard plan covers 5 social accounts and 1 user.

• Trial: 7-day free trial; free plan: No.
• Client workspaces: Yes; white-label reports: Yes.

Loomly

Loomly is a social media calendar and publishing tool with approval workflows and reports. It has the highest entry price of the tools profiled here at $65 per month ($49 per month, billed annually), which pulls its score down, but the plan includes 3 users and 12 social accounts.

Loomly suits an agency that values approvals and report exports and has the budget. It is hard to recommend to a solo user.

• Free plan: No; trial: No free trial.
• Approvals: Yes; export: Reports, plus content in list, calendar and post views.

Who should not pick it

• Teams that need approvals before posting should not pick Wecrely: its listed features are templates, analytics and AI assist, with no approvals shown, while Planable lists approvals as Yes.
• Marketers who want a ready-made calendar should not pick Airtable: it is a general database, and its catalogue entry lists only a free plan (Yes) with no verified paid price.
• Solo users on a tight budget should not pick Loomly: the entry plan is $65 per month and there is no free plan (No).
• Anyone who wants a free plan that can run a real calendar should check CoSchedule first: the free plan lists 15 scheduled posts total, 1 social account.
• Teams that compare prices by month should not read ContentStudio at face value: its entry price is a yearly figure, $228 per year.

What we did not test

We did not open any of these calendars or plan a campaign in them. The data comes from vendor pricing and feature pages and is scored by code, so it tells you what a vendor publishes and what it costs, not how pleasant a calendar is to use, how reliably posts go out, how well approvals work in practice or how helpful support is. Use a free plan or trial with a real month of content before you move your team. For the full list of what we leave out, see what we leave out. If you also need scheduling across networks, read our guide to social media management tools.