Best Instagram grid planners
A grid planner shows your next posts as your profile will show them, so you can move them around until the feed looks right before anything goes out. Some are free tools for one batch; others are built for planning the feed week after week.
Who wrote this
Optimate publishes this page, so treat it as a vendor's list rather than an independent review. We've tried to earn the read by ranking on fit rather than on who's paying for the page — Optimate isn't first on every list here, and where a competitor is the better answer we say so and link you to them.
How this list is ordered
Ranked on the grid itself: how closely the preview matches your profile, how easily posts can be rearranged, whether the planned order can be scheduled, and how well it works on a phone. There are no prices on this list. Plans and what each includes change often, so check each tool's own pricing page.
Number 1: Optimate
Best for: Planning a batch of posts free, with no sign-up
To arrange a batch first, the free Instagram grid planner lays out up to 9 pictures as your profile will show them, with no sign-up to plan, then lines them up in your Planner one a day in that order. Your pictures stay in your browser until you choose to schedule them, and then become Instagram drafts in the same Planner that schedules LinkedIn, Facebook, X, YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, Threads, Google Business, Bluesky and Mastodon. It plans one batch at a time; if you want to keep rearranging the whole feed week after week, Planoly, Later and Preview are built around that.
Number 2: Planoly
Best for: Planning the whole Instagram feed by how it looks
One of the original visual Instagram planners: you drag upcoming posts around a grid that mirrors your profile, with a media library and a link-in-bio page alongside. Built for people who plan Instagram mainly by the look of the feed, week after week.
Number 3: Later
Best for: A grid planner inside a full Instagram scheduler
A drag-and-drop grid preview with a media library and a link-in-bio page bundled in, and auto-posting to Instagram from the same plan. The pick when Instagram is your main channel and you want planning and posting in one place.
Number 4: Preview
Best for: Arranging the feed on your phone
A phone app built around the grid: you lay out and rearrange upcoming posts as your profile will show them, with editing and caption tools beside it. Strong if you plan on your phone rather than at a desk.
Ready to post them? How to schedule Instagram posts
Common questions
What is an Instagram grid planner?
A tool that shows your upcoming posts as a copy of your profile grid, so you can see how they will look side by side and change the order before you post. Most also let you schedule them in that order.
Is there a free Instagram grid planner?
Yes. Optimate's free grid planner arranges up to 9 pictures with no sign-up, and your pictures stay in your browser while you plan. For what Planoly, Later and Preview include without paying, check their own sites: we haven't verified their plans.
Why does the order matter when scheduling a grid?
Instagram shows your newest post in the top-left corner, so the picture you want top-left has to go out last. A grid planner that schedules in order works this out for you.
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