Optimate vs Planable
Planable is built around getting content approved: posts are previewed exactly as they will appear, commented on in place, and moved through an approval chain. Priced per workspace.
We make this comparison as a competitor, so read it with that in mind. Everything below is checked against Planable’s own published pricing, and the sections where Planable is the better choice are real ones — not throat-clearing.
Who each one is for
Choose Planable if…
Agencies and teams where sign-off is the bottleneck — clients who want to see the real thing before it goes out, and a record of who approved what. Its approval workflow is more capable than ours.
Choose Optimate if…
Teams where producing the content is the constraint rather than approving it, or who don't want analytics and an inbox sold as separate add-ons.
Pricing side by side
Each product is shown in the currency it actually bills in. We deliberately don’t convert these into one currency — the rate moves, and a converted figure would misrepresent what Planable charges.
Optimate
- Free
- £0
- 3 social profiles, 5 AI generations
- Pro
- £29
- per month, 5 social profiles, 1 brand
- Studio
- £59
- per month, 15 profiles, up to 3 clients
- Agency
- £135
- per month, 50 profiles, unlimited clients
- Enterprise
- Contact us
- beyond 50 profiles
Planable
- Basic
- $33
- per workspace / month, 4 pages, 60 posts — unlimited users; 2 months free annually
- Pro
- $49
- per workspace / month, 10 pages, 150 posts — adds required approvals and API
- Enterprise
- Contact
- 50 pages/workspace, unlimited posts, SSO
- Add-ons
- +$7.50–14
- per workspace / month — analytics and social inbox are charged separately
Checked against Planable’s published pricing on 25 August 2026. Verify on Planable’s pricing page
Feature by feature
Approval workflow
- Optimate
- Client approval with history
- Planable
- Optional, required and multi-level approval chains
Exact post preview
- Optimate
- Composer preview
- Planable
- Renders as the live post, commented on in place
Analytics
- Optimate
- Included on every paid tier
- Planable
- Paid add-on, $12–14 per workspace / month
Social inbox
- Optimate
- In development, not yet released
- Planable
- Paid add-on, $7.50–9 per workspace / month
Post volume
- Optimate
- No monthly post cap
- Planable
- 60/month on Basic, 150 on Pro
Cost for 3 clients
- Optimate
- £59/mo (Studio, 3 clients, 15 profiles)
- Planable
- $147/mo (3 workspaces on Pro), before add-ons
Seats
- Optimate
- Not metered
- Planable
- Unlimited users on every tier
AI content generation
- Optimate
- Brand-kit-driven captions and images
- Planable
- Post generate and rewrite
Where Planable is the better choice
These are real limitations of Optimate, not softened ones. If any of them is a dealbreaker for you, Planable is the right answer.
The best approval flow in this comparison
Optional, required and multi-level chains, with the post rendered exactly as it will appear and comments left directly on it. Optimate has client approval with history, which is a simpler thing. If sign-off is what slows you down, Planable is the better tool and we'd say so.
Clients see the real thing
Planable's preview is the post, not an approximation, which removes an entire category of argument about how something will look. That is genuinely hard to replicate and we haven't.
Unlimited users on every tier
Even Basic takes unlimited collaborators, so bringing a client's whole marketing team in to comment costs nothing. Optimate doesn't meter seats either, but Planable makes it a headline promise at $33/month.
Where Optimate is the better choice
Analytics aren't an upsell
Planable charges $12–14 per workspace per month for analytics and another $7.50–9 for the inbox. Across several clients those add-ons compound quietly. Optimate includes analytics on every paid tier.
Per-workspace pricing multiplies
Three clients on Planable Pro is $147/month before add-ons, because each client is a workspace. Optimate Studio covers three clients at £59/month. The more clients you carry, the wider that gets.
No monthly post cap
Basic allows 60 posts a month and Pro 150, per workspace. Optimate doesn't cap posts, which matters if a client runs daily across several platforms.
Related guides
Wider comparisons that include Planable, if you’re still drawing up a shortlist.
Common questions
Is Optimate a good Planable alternative?
For producing content and reporting on it, yes, and usually for less once you have more than one client. For approvals specifically, no — Planable's multi-level workflow and exact-preview commenting are better than ours, and if that's why you use it you'd be downgrading.
Which is cheaper for an agency?
Optimate, at almost any client count. Planable prices per workspace, so three clients on Pro is $147/month before the analytics and inbox add-ons; Optimate Studio is £59/month for three clients and Agency £135/month for unlimited.
Does Planable include analytics?
Not in the plan price — it's an add-on at $12–14 per workspace per month, and the social inbox is another $7.50–9. Worth adding to the comparison before deciding, since both are included or in progress on Optimate's paid tiers.
Try it against your own accounts
The free plan covers 3 social profiles and 5 AI generations, with no card required — enough to judge the content quality against whatever you use today.
Start free