Instagram isn’t only one of the most widely used social media platforms worldwide; due to its strong visual component, it also has a distinct culture apart from other social media platforms. You can plan posts and stories for your Instagram profiles using Instagram scheduling apps; a full-service platform won’t necessarily provide the greatest value or experience if you’re not interested in cross-posting your material to all the other social networks.
These applications have to give up a lot of money and make concessions to properly support everything from Pinterest to Facebook. An app specifically designed for Instagram scheduling is what you need if Instagram is your life.
Best Instagram Scheduling Apps
1. Buffer
One of the best Instagram scheduling apps available is Buffer, which also offers a substantial free plan, which is why it’s on our list. You may plan up to ten posts, reels, or stories per channel and link up to three Instagram Business accounts without having to pay anything. That will be enough if you manage a few accounts that publish sporadically, but it may not be sufficient if you’re attempting to plan a lot of lengthy multi-part stories.
Additionally, Buffer employs an easy-to-use buffer, saving you from having to schedule each post separately. Rather, if you add it to your queue, it will be sent out at the following prearranged time frame (though you may adjust it as needed). It’s one less thing to worry about if your social media feed isn’t always filled with live blog articles or new product announcements.
The best part is that Buffer doesn’t force you to switch to a premium plan or give you the impression that you’re utilizing a rudimentary version of the program. You will be prompted to know that the free plan does not support the Analytics or Engagement areas, but other than that, you are free to use the app to schedule all of your Instagram activity without experiencing any issues.
Features:
- @mentions.
- API.
- Alerts/Notifications.
- Automated Publishing.
- Automated Scheduling.
- Calendar Management.
- Campaign Management.
- Collaboration Tools.
- Content Library.
- Content Management.
- Data Import/Export.
- Data Visualization.
- Multi-Account Management.
- Multi-Channel Campaigns.
- Performance Metrics.
- Post Scheduling and many more.
Pricing:
- Free plan available.
- Pro: $15 per month.
- Small business: $99 per month.
- Medium business: $199 per month.
- Large business: $399 per month.
2. Hootsuite
One of the most popular fully functional social media managers among users is Hootsuite. It can execute boosted post advertising campaigns, schedule posts to all the main social networks, keep an eye on your different inboxes, and even operate effectively with X, the old Twitter. You may be certain that Hootsuite has a function if a social media network permits a third-party platform to provide it. What makes it part of this Instagram scheduler list, then?
If you primarily manage Instagram accounts and really want a feature-rich social media management tool with all the statistics you could ever desire, Hootsuite is still a good option to consider.
It doesn’t restrict you to “sets” of accounts, so unlike many large social media management programs, you may have one Instagram account, one Facebook account, and one TikTok account—but not three Instagram accounts. Instead, you may link up to 10 social profiles with the $150/month Professional plan. If you’d like, you can join two Facebook accounts and eight Instagram accounts.
If Instagram isn’t your main source of income, Hootsuite is still quite expensive, so it’s definitely not worth it. However, there’s a good reason why Hootsuite is among the most widely used programs for scheduling social media posts in businesses. If you have a few large accounts, it can work for you even if you just use Instagram.
Features:
- A/B Testing.
- API.
- Access Controls/Permissions.
- Activity Dashboard.
- Activity Tracking.
- Activity/News Feed.
- Advertising Management.
- Alerts/Escalation.
- Alerts/Notifications.
- Approval Process Control.
- Assignment Management.
- Audience Targeting.
- Automated Publishing.
- Automated Scheduling.
- Behavior Tracking.
- Benchmarking.
- Brand Guidelines.
- Brand Tracking.
- Calendar Management and many more.
Pricing:
- Free plan available.
- Team: $129/month.
- Business: starting at $739/month.
- Enterprise: contact for pricing.
3. SocialPilot
For those with a strong interest in analytics and looking for top Instagram scheduling apps, SocialPilot may be a fantastic choice. Designed with social media marketing companies in mind, it is an all-in-one software for social media management.
You may use SocialPilot to schedule content for all of the major social media networks, including X, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Google Business, in addition to Instagram. Additionally, you get exclusive white-label tools for managing, working together, and sharing statistics with customers.
SocialPilot has affordable pricing if you are a social media account manager with several accounts. But if you just oversee a small number of accounts, there are less expensive choices.
Features:
- @mentions.
- Automated Publishing.
- Automated Scheduling.
- Brand Guidelines.
- Calendar Management.
- Campaign Management.
- Campaign Planning.
- Channel Management.
- Content Management.
- Conversion Tracking.
- Customizable Branding.
- Digital Asset Management.
- Engagement Tracking.
- Influencer Tracking.
- Lead Management.
- Multi-Account Management.
- Multi-Campaign.
- Performance Metrics and many more.
Pricing:
- Professional: $35 per month.
- Studio: $75 per month.
- Agency: $150 per month.
4. Later
Today, the majority of scheduling applications are limited to Instagram Business accounts. Sadly, these must be made public since they are the only accounts that a third-party technology may post to automatically and where the money is anyhow. But what happens if you decide against switching to a business account?
Perhaps you would want to plan a few postings for your loved ones to see, perhaps after a wedding or other special occasion. Alternatively, you could want to plan a whole day of stories—possibly because you’re sharing details about that wedding or another event. You’re covered for Later.
The process of posting to a personal account differs somewhat from that of business accounts. When your post is about to go live, it will notify you by push notification on your smartphone, rather than automatically.
Later makes it easy for you to just touch a button, copy your caption, and click publish since you’ve already written it. Although the approach seems a little improvised, it works and allows you to write all of your captions at once while using your computer. With stories, it’s a little tougher, but it works.
Features:
- Automated Publishing.
- Automated Scheduling.
- Calendar Management.
- Content Library.
- Content Management.
- Data Import/Export.
- Drag & Drop.
- Engagement Tracking.
- Image Library.
- Multi-Account Management.
- Multi-Channel Marketing.
- Performance Metrics.
- Post Scheduling.
- Reporting/Analytics and many more.
Pricing:
- Free plan available.
- Starter: $15/month.
- Growth: $25/month.
- Advanced: $40/month.
5. Tailwind
Tailwind began life as a Pinterest scheduling tool. Users use it to manage my Pinterest account and my clients’ accounts as well. It is extremely simple to use and has a lot of options that ease the process of scheduling photographs. They have implemented Instagram scheduling apps as well.
Tailwind provides Instagram scheduler applications for both iOS and Android smartphones. There’s also a browser version. You may use them to upload photographs, create descriptions, add hashtags, and more.
To get started, sign up for an account on their website and link to your Instagram account. When you link your account with Tailwind, it will ask you how many times you want to publish. Once you input the information, it will crunch your data and advise the times to publish for the best interaction.
Features:
- API.
- Access Controls/Permissions.
- Activity Dashboard.
- Activity Tracking.
- Automated Scheduling.
- Campaign Analytics.
- Commenting/Notes.
- Content Library.
- Content Management.
- Customizable Branding.
- Customizable Reports.
- Dashboard.
- Engagement Tracking.
- Influencer Tracking and many more.
Pricing:
- Pro: $19.99 per month.
- Advanced: $39.99 per month.
- Max: $79.99 per month.
6. HubSpot
With its comprehensive suite of social media and marketing tools, Hubspot includes an Instagram planner. You may publish straight to Instagram from your PC with this software. This covers both posting pictures and creating descriptions for them.
They even provide thorough analytics. Thus, you may utilize it to gauge the success of your articles and use the information to design more impactful content in the future. Ads and organic postings may both leverage this. Because they have a tool for monitoring Instagram ads. Scheduling to other networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, is possible with HubSpot. Pages and social profiles are included in this.
It is also much more than simply a tool for scheduling social media posts. Because it can be used to improve landing pages, push alerts, email marketing, marketing automation, and your website’s SEO, among other things. Thus, HubSpot is a good option to consider if you’re searching for a comprehensive marketing tool rather than simply an app for publishing on Instagram.
Features:
- API.
- Access Controls/Permissions.
- Account Alerts.
- Account Management.
- Activity Dashboard.
- Alerts/Escalation.
- Alerts/Notifications.
- Appointment Management.
- Automated Routing.
- Autoresponders.
- CRM.
- Calendar Management.
- Call Routing.
- Canned Responses.
- Chat/Messaging.
- Client Management.
- Collaboration Tools.
- Communication Management and many more.
Pricing:
- Free plan available.
- Starter: $45 per month.
- Professional: $450 per month.
- Enterprise: $1,200 per month.
7. Agorapulse
Agorapulse is an all-in-one social media management solution, not simply a social media scheduler. It has sophisticated capabilities that are often absent from other social media schedulers.
You receive tools to manage your inboxes and keep track of brand mentions in addition to the ability to plan posts on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Google Business. Agorapulse does not have a free plan; however, it does provide a 30-day free trial.
Its complex features make it more expensive for small enterprises to utilize. Nonetheless, when compared to other options with comparable capabilities, the pricing is still fair for what you receive.
Features:
- @mentions.
- Access Controls/Permissions.
- Activity Dashboard.
- Activity Tracking.
- Advertising Management.
- Alerts/Notifications.
- Approval Process Control.
- Automated Publishing.
- Automated Scheduling.
- Benchmarking.
- Brand Tracking.
- Calendar Management.
- Campaign Analytics.
- Campaign Management.
- Campaign Scheduling.
- Charting.
- Click Tracking.
- Collaboration Tools and many more.
Pricing:
- Free trial available.
- Standard: $49 per month.
- Professional: $79 per month.
- Advanced: $119 per month.
8. PromoRepublic
Use PromoRepublic if you’re seeking one of the top Instagram scheduling apps that can assist with picture creation as well. They have 100,000 templates and photos in their collection. You may add your text, logo, and other elements to any of these Instagram-optimized photos. You may add different overlays, such as icons, banners, stickers, frames, and more, using their graphics editor.
To edit stock photographs, they also provide direct access to them. Using their photo editing program, you can design the photographs and then schedule them for Instagram using the PromoRepublic dashboard. Additionally, you may plan and post the photos you make here straight to social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and so on.
Features:
- @mentions.
- Activity Dashboard.
- Alerts/Notifications.
- Artwork Management.
- Automated Publishing.
- Automated Scheduling.
- Brand Guidelines.
- Brand Tracking.
- Calendar Management.
- Campaign Analytics.
- Campaign Management.
- Campaign Scheduling.
- Click Tracking.
- Collaboration Tools and many more.
Pricing:
- Free plan available.
- Small Business: $49/month.
- Agency: $79/month.
- Multi-Location: custom pricing.
9. SocialBee
For those searching for an Instagram scheduling tool, SocialBee is ideal. SocialBee offers a wide range of tools that enable users to plan, organize, publish, and monitor their posts. The good news is that SocialBee is compatible with all of the main social media networks, including Instagram.
SocialBee is a comprehensive solution that meets the many demands of users; it is not only a scheduling tool. With the help of the AI post generator and the Canva, Unsplash, and Giphy integrations, you can quickly and easily write captivating descriptions and upload images.
For a comprehensive posting plan, you can also use SocialBee to create a content schedule and classify your material. Once your material is scheduled to go live automatically at a certain time, you may review the effectiveness of your accounts and posts, as well as respond to mentions, messages, and comments.
Features:
- API.
- Activity Dashboard.
- Alerts/Notifications.
- Approval Process Control.
- Automated Publishing.
- Brand Tracking.
- Calendar Management.
- Campaign Management.
- Collaboration Tools.
- Commenting/Notes.
- Content Management.
- Customer Engagement.
- Customizable Reports.
- Data Import/Export.
- Data Visualization.
- Engagement Tracking.
- Filtering.
- Image Library and many more.
Pricing:
- Free trial available.
- Bootstrap: $19/month.
- Accelerate: $39/month.
- Pro: $79/month.
Is It Possible To Plan Posts On Instagram?
Even without Instagram scheduling apps, it is possible to schedule Instagram posts, although the process varies according to the kind of account you have (you may modify this in the Instagram settings).
- It is not possible to plan ahead and automatically share content to individual Instagram accounts. But other applications, like Later, offer a workaround, where they give you a push notification with your post ready to go, so you can submit it to Instagram yourself with a few taps.
- You may plan grid posts, stories, reels (which last anywhere from five to ninety seconds), and carousels with up to 10 photographs with a commercial Instagram account. The Instagram app even allows you to schedule certain posts, although third-party programs provide you more flexibility.
- You cannot plan stories on a creator’s Instagram account, but you may schedule grid posts, carousels with up to ten pictures, and reels.
Depending on the kind of account you have, auto-posting disables several functions. One cannot, for instance, add a link to a story that posts automatically. To circumvent this, you may manually add the link when you get a message from some third-party programs when your story is ready to go public.
FAQ
Q: Can I use Instagram scheduling apps for free?
A: Many of the options here come with a free version. You can use them.
Q: Which features cannot be scheduled on Instagram?
A: Instagram creator accounts are unable to plan stories for automated publication on Instagram. They must be scheduled as a notice instead. You cannot make a post on Instagram that has both a picture and a video since carousel posts do not enable mixed media.
Q: Is using Instagram Scheduler safe?
A: You won’t be banned from Instagram as long as the scheduler or program you use adheres to its policies.
