The best social media tools for agencies
Agency work has one requirement that changes everything: somebody who is not you has to approve the post before it goes out. Tools built around a single person publishing their own content do not handle that, however good they are at everything else.
Worth knowing: Ranked on client approval workflow first, then multi-workspace support, then per-client reporting. Channel count and price come second — they are not what breaks an agency setup.
The list
- 1
Planable
Built for exactly this. A client sees the post rendered as it will appear and comments on it in place; multi-level approvals above the Basic plan. $33 a month per workspace, and the workspace model matches how agencies actually bill.
- 2
Sprout Social
The enterprise answer. Approvals, per-client reporting, a shared inbox and listening, priced per seat from $79. Expensive, and the one nobody gets fired for choosing.
- 3
SocialBee
Up to 30 workspaces on the agency tiers with real per-client separation, and the content categories suit running many similar accounts at once.
- 4
Hootsuite
Unlimited social accounts from the Professional tier. Dated next to Planable for approvals, but it covers the whole surface and integrates with most things.
- 5
Metricool
The reporting agencies actually send to clients, including the Looker Studio connector and white-label options on the custom plan.
What is not on this list, and why
Eurekuh is deliberately not on this list. There is no approval step, no reviewer role and no per-client workspace — for agency work that is disqualifying, and ranking ourselves here would make the other entries worth less.
Questions
What matters most in an agency scheduler?+
The approval loop. Everything else — channel counts, analytics, price — can be worked around. A client who cannot see and sign off a post before it publishes will eventually cost you the account.
Is there a cheap option for a small agency?+
Planable's Basic at $33 a month per workspace is the lowest entry with a real approval workflow. Below that you are into tools that were not built for client work, and you will end up approving posts over email.
Other lists
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