Planable is a lovely tool. Visual feed previews, clean post cards, and a comment thread that clients actually understand. It is rated 4.6 on G2 across more than 900 reviews (G2, 2026), and the praise is earned. If your whole world is one brand and a big room of reviewers, you may never need anything else.
So why do people search for an alternative? Usually the week changes shape. A second brand arrives. Then a third. A legal reviewer joins the chain. Suddenly the calm visual board is doing things it was not built to do, and the bill is doing things you did not sign up for.
Kontentino was built for that messier week. Multi-brand, multi-stakeholder, one place. It is rated 4.7 on G2 (G2, 2026) and trusted by 4,000+ brands. Let us walk through a real week of approvals and see where each tool shines.
How they compare, side by side
Ten dimensions, two tools, no price tags. Here is where Kontentino and Planable actually differ. The shaded rows are where Planable genuinely wins.
| Dimension | Kontentino | Planable |
| Approval workflows | Every paid planInternal approvals from Starter. Client and multi-level chains from Standard. | Multi-level on EnterpriseLower tiers offer single-step approvals only. |
| Visual previews and collaboration | Live previews, threadsIn-app preview plus internal and external comment threads on every plan. | Best-in-class feed previewsFeed-level visual collaboration is widely praised. The cleaner fit if that is your core need. |
| Reports and analytics | Add-on, per accountOne add-on for the whole account. Bundled on Pro and above. | Add-on, per workspacePriced per workspace, bundled only on Enterprise. |
| Pricing model | Flat plans, brands bundledOne price covers many profiles. No per-workspace billing as you grow. | Per-workspace billingEach brand is a separate workspace, billed independently. Add-ons priced per workspace too. |
| Users per plan | Tier-based seatsSeats scale by tier: a few on entry, more on the middle plan, custom at the top. | Unlimited on every planAdd as many reviewers as you like. A real cost win for single-brand teams. |
| Free trial | 14-day full accessNo credit card. Connect channels, invite the team, run a real approval round. | Free plan, lifetime capFree plan caps total created posts, not per month. Then a paid upgrade. |
| Calendar views | Multiple viewsCalendar, Kanban, list, and idea views with drag-and-drop on paid plans. | Tiered viewsFeed and Calendar lower down. Grid and list unlock higher up. |
| AI content help | Built-in across plansCaptions, translations, image generation, hashtags, Brand Voice. Credits scale by plan. | Caption-level AIAI rewrite and generate on paid plans. No AI image generation. |
| Content types beyond social | Social focusBuilt for social media planning, approval, and publishing. | Universal contentMarkets workflows for blogs, newsletters, and ad copy. The broader tool if most content lives off social. |
| Support | Live chat on every paid planDedicated onboarding specialist from day one. Real humans, not bots. | Tiered accessKnowledge base only on entry. Chat unlocks mid-tier. Dedicated manager on Enterprise. |
1. Monday: the approval chain
Monday morning, the week’s posts go up for review. This is where Kontentino was built to live. Internal approvals start on the entry plan. Client and external approvals, plus a dedicated reviewer role and multi-level approval chains, arrive on the middle plan. One thread per post. One status at a time: draft, in review, approved, scheduled.
Planable handles approvals beautifully too, with its three lower-tier modes: none, optional, and required. The catch is that those are single-step. The moment a second stakeholder joins, say legal after the creative director, you need a multi-level chain. On Planable that sits on the Enterprise plan, behind a sales call.
“Finally clear client approvals across multiple clients,” as a G2 reviewer put it. That clarity is the whole point of Monday.
Approvals should not require a quote. They should require a thumbs-up.
2. Tuesday: the second brand signs
A new client lands. On Planable, each brand is its own workspace, billed on its own. Brand number ten means ten workspace fees. Add the analytics and social inbox add-ons, also per workspace, and the bill compounds every single time you win work.
Kontentino bundles users and profiles into one flat plan. The middle tier covers enough profiles for most agencies to put every brand into one subscription. The price you pick is the price you pay on the day you sign your tenth brand. The breakeven against a per-workspace model usually lands around three to four brands.
This is the quiet difference that shows up in the annual budget, not the demo.
Winning a client should feel like a win, not a surcharge.
3. Wednesday: the visual review
Here is where Planable earns its fans. Its feed-level previews are best-in-class. If your team’s daily ritual is sitting around a visual board, dragging posts, and reacting to how the grid looks as a whole, Planable’s experience is hard to beat. Honestly, this one is theirs.
Kontentino gives you a clear preview as you create, with separate internal and external comment threads on every plan. It is clean and it is fast. It is built around the post and its approval status rather than the feed mosaic.
So if post-by-post visual collaboration is the feature your team would not give up, that is a fair reason to stay put. Credit where it is due.
Pretty boards are great. We just care more about the thumbs-up underneath them.
4. Thursday: something breaks
Thursday, a channel disconnects an hour before a post is due. You need a human, fast. Kontentino gives you a dedicated onboarding specialist from day one and live chat with real people on every paid plan. No bots. No premium-support tier to climb to first.
Planable’s entry tier ships with self-serve knowledge base only. Chat support unlocks mid-tier. Priority support, personalized onboarding, and a dedicated account manager are Enterprise-only. Good support, gated by plan.
Reviewers single out that support again and again. On a Thursday like this, knowing a real person will reply in about ninety seconds is the difference between a calm fix and a scramble.
The worst time to discover your plan does not include chat is the moment you need chat.
5. Friday: the report and the renewal math
Friday is for proving the work. Kontentino’s analytics add-on is priced per account, so it covers your whole roster, not each brand separately. Planable’s analytics add-on is per workspace, which means it scales the same way the workspace fees do.
Before any annual renewal, run the math twice. Once at your current brand count, once at your forecast for next year, with every per-workspace add-on included. Then check which approval mode you actually need and whether your support tier matches how your week really goes.
If any of those answers makes you wince, that is your signal to test an alternative before you sign.
Renewals are easier to love when the bill grows slower than the client list.
The honest take
Pick Kontentino if:
• You run several brands or clients and want them in one flat plan.
• You need multi-level client approvals without an Enterprise sales call.
• You are tired of upgrading to unlock collaboration, analytics, and support.
• You want predictable pricing as the team grows.
• You care about GDPR and EU-based infrastructure.
Stick with Planable if:
• You manage one brand with a large pool of reviewers, where unlimited users on every plan is a genuine cost win.
• Visual feed previews and post-by-post visual collaboration are the features your team would not give up. This is where Planable is genuinely best-in-class.
• You run universal content beyond social, like blogs, newsletters, and ad copy, inside one tool.
That second list is not a disclaimer. For a single-brand team that loves a visual board, Planable is a smart choice, and we will say so on a demo.
Frequently asked questions
Does Planable have multi-level client approval workflows?
Only on its Enterprise plan. Planable’s lower tiers offer single-step approvals (none, optional, required). Multi-level chains that route a post through team, legal, and external stakeholders sit on Enterprise. Kontentino includes multi-level client approvals from its middle plan, no sales call needed.
Which is better for agencies, Kontentino or Planable?
Kontentino, once you pass a few brands. Planable’s per-workspace pricing means each new brand is a separate billing line, so ten brands become ten workspace fees. Kontentino keeps every brand on one flat plan with multi-level approvals included. The breakeven is usually around three to four brands. For a single brand with many reviewers, Planable can be the cheaper fit.
Is Planable cheaper than Kontentino?
For one brand with a big team, often yes. Planable bundles unlimited users into every plan, so a single-brand team can come out ahead. Past three or four brands, the per-workspace math tips toward Kontentino, whose analytics add-on is priced per account rather than per workspace.
Is Kontentino GDPR compliant?
Yes, by design. Kontentino is built and hosted in the EU, in Slovakia, with GDPR baked in. Procurement teams in DACH and Benelux usually flag this first. Planable is also EU-headquartered and GDPR-compliant, so both tools clear that bar.
How hard is it to migrate from Planable to Kontentino?
Straightforward, usually under a day. Your social accounts live on the networks, not inside either tool, so switching means reconnecting profiles, importing your team, and setting up approval workflows. If you have a content backlog to preserve, the Kontentino team can plan an overlap window so nothing slips through the cracks.
See your own week, side by side
Run one real approval round before you decide. Start a free 14-day trial with no credit card, connect your channels, and invite your reviewers. Want the full breakdown first? The Kontentino vs Planable comparison page lays out every dimension in one place. Import your calendar, run a round, and watch the chasing-for-approvals part of your week get quieter.
