PublishQ
PublishQ

Meltwater vs Planly

Comparing Meltwater and Planly? This breakdown focuses on fit, pricing model, and operational tradeoffs so you can choose faster.

Overview

Meltwater

Media, social, and AI intelligence for PR, communications, and marketing teams

Best for: PR and communications teams tracking global media coverage

Pricing model: Quote-based

Platforms (7): Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, Threads

Planly

The Best Social Media Management Tool Made for You

Best for: Creators who want to schedule and automatically publish across social channels

Pricing model: Flat

Platforms (10): Facebook, Instagram, Threads, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Twitter/X, TikTok, YouTube, Mastodon, Pinterest

Feature-by-feature

FeatureMeltwaterPlanly
Social Accounts
-Unknown
Free ($0)✗
Individual ($15/mo)4
Team ($40/mo)8
Agency ($80/mo)16
Enterprise (Custom)-Unknown

Planly offers Individual, Team, and Agency subscriptions, with lower annual billing and a custom-priced Enterprise plan. The plans include fixed social-channel and user allowances, with additional users and channels charged separately.

Scheduled Posts
-Unknown
Free ($0)✗
Individual ($15/mo)100
Team ($40/mo)unlimited
Agency ($80/mo)unlimited
Enterprise (Custom)-Unknown
Team Members
-Unknown
Free ($0)✗
Individual ($15/mo)1
Team ($40/mo)4
Agency ($80/mo)8
Enterprise (Custom)-Unknown
Media Library
Free ($0)✗
Custom (Custom)✓
Free ($0)✗
Individual ($15/mo)unlimited
Team ($40/mo)unlimited
Agency ($80/mo)unlimited
Enterprise (Custom)-Unknown
API Access
Free ($0)✗
Custom (Custom)✓
Free ($0)✗
Individual ($15/mo)✓
Team ($40/mo)✓
Agency ($80/mo)✓
Enterprise (Custom)-Unknown
MCP Access
Free ($0)✗
Custom (Custom)✓
Free ($0)✗
Individual ($15/mo)✗
Team ($40/mo)✗
Agency ($80/mo)✗
Enterprise (Custom)-Unknown
CLI Access
Free ($0)✗
Custom (Custom)✗
Free ($0)✗
Individual ($15/mo)✗
Team ($40/mo)✗
Agency ($80/mo)✗
Enterprise (Custom)-Unknown
SDK Access
Free ($0)✗
Custom (Custom)✗
Free ($0)✗
Individual ($15/mo)✗
Team ($40/mo)✗
Agency ($80/mo)✗
Enterprise (Custom)-Unknown
Analytics
Free ($0)✗
Custom (Custom)✓
Free ($0)✗
Individual ($15/mo)✓
Team ($40/mo)✓
Agency ($80/mo)✓
Enterprise (Custom)-Unknown

Comparison by category

Features and focus

Meltwater: Media intelligence, social listening, media relations, AI visibility tracking, and influencer marketing. Built for PR, communications, and marketing teams at growing organizations and global brands. Key strengths: Combines media intelligence, social listening, AI visibility tracking, and media relations; Adds influencer marketing to Enterprise and Agency packages.

Planly: Social publishing, analytics, and audience engagement from one platform. Built for creators, small businesses, social media teams, and agencies managing multiple channels. Key strengths: Schedules and automatically publishes posts across supported social channels; Unified inbox for comments, messages, and mentions across platforms.

Bottom line: Choose Meltwater for PR and communications teams tracking global media coverage. Choose Planly for creators who want to schedule and automatically publish across social channels.

Pricing

Meltwater is priced by quote, with quote-based pricing.

Planly starts at $15/month, with flat pricing.

Bottom line: Compare total cost at your expected usage: account count, team size, and feature tier all affect the final number.

Support

Meltwater: Product expert demos and tailored package guidance. Channels include Product expert demo.

Planly: 24/7 customer support. Channels include Email support, Live chat and social media support, Knowledge base.

Bottom line: Evaluate support based on your team size and how critical response time is to your workflow.

Pricing comparison

Meltwater

Quote-based pricing

Custom: Custom

  • - Media Library
  • - API Access
  • - MCP Access

Planly

Flat pricing

Individual: $15/month

  • - Social Accounts: 4
  • - Drafts
  • - Team Members: 1

Team: $40/month

  • - Social Accounts: 8
  • - Drafts
  • - Team Members: 4

Agency: $80/month

  • - Social Accounts: 16
  • - Drafts
  • - Team Members: 8

Enterprise: Custom

    Who each is best for

    Meltwater

    • PR and communications teams tracking global media coverage
    • Marketing teams connecting social conversations with media and AI visibility signals
    • Global brands coordinating work across markets and stakeholders
    • Agencies managing multiple brands, clients, and campaigns

    Planly

    • Creators who want to schedule and automatically publish across social channels
    • Small teams coordinating social publishing and engagement
    • Agencies managing several clients and channel accounts
    • Businesses that want analytics and community interactions in one workspace

    The third option: PublishQPublishQ

    If neither tool fits how you work, PublishQ is a third option focused on publishing speed, flat pricing, and CLI/MCP/API access on the free plan.

    CategoryMeltwaterPlanlyPublishQ
    Pricing modelQuote-basedFlatFlat pricing
    Platform support7 (Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, Threads)10 (Facebook, Instagram, Threads, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Twitter/X, TikTok, YouTube, Mastodon, Pinterest)8 (Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, Threads, Bluesky)
    CLI/MCP/API accessFrom Custom (Custom)From Individual ($15/mo)Included on free plan
    Best forPR and communications teams tracking global media coverageCreators who want to schedule and automatically publish across social channelsSolo creators posting across multiple platforms who want flat pricing

    Compare both against PublishQ

    Neither tool is the only option. See how Meltwater and Planly each stack up against PublishQ before you commit.

    PublishQ vs MeltwaterPublishQ vs Planly
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    Alexandro - Founder
    PublishQ

    me 👋

    Hi, I'm Alexandro 👋

    I left my Software Engineer role at Amazon to build tools that solve real problems, the kind big companies ignore because they read spreadsheets instead of using their own products.

    I was spending over an hour daily just scheduling 2 shorts across 3 platforms: logging in, reformatting, uploading one by one. That felt broken. So I built PublishQPublishQ . Now I create 4 shorts in 3 minutes and schedule them to 4 platforms in under 30 seconds.

    PublishQ is bootstrapped. No investors, no vanity metrics. I build what actually helps you, because I use it every day myself.

    Thank you,

    Alexandro

    tear off your free start
    see you inside ✨Start for Free →see you inside ✨Start for Free →see you inside ✨Start for Free →

    Solo-creator pricing, enterprise-grade power

    Upgrade or cancel anytime. No bloated pricing.

    Free

    Best for trying it out

    $0/month

    • 3 social accounts

    • 15 posts per month

    • 15 drafts

    • 1 workspace

    • Not included: Media Library

    • MCP, CLI, SDK, API

    • Not included: Analytics

    No credit card required

    Solo

    Best for creators starting out

    $14/month

    • 5 social accounts

    • ∞ posts per month

    • ∞ drafts

    • 1 workspace

    • 10GB media library

    • MCP, CLI, SDK, API

    • Analytics

    $0 due today • Cancel anytime

    Starter

    Best for a single brand

    $29/month

    • 15 social accounts

    • ∞ posts per month

    • ∞ drafts

    • 3 workspaces

    • 100GB media library

    • MCP, CLI, SDK, API

    • Analytics

    $0 due today • Cancel anytime

    Most Popular

    Professional

    Best for creators and small teams

    $49/month

    • 30 social accounts

    • ∞ posts per month

    • ∞ drafts

    • 5 workspaces

    • 250GB media library

    • MCP, CLI, SDK, API

    • Analytics

    $0 due today • Cancel anytime

    Business

    Best for agencies and brands at scale

    $99/month

    • 100 social accounts

    • ∞ posts per month

    • ∞ drafts

    • ∞ workspaces

    • ∞ media library

    • MCP, CLI, SDK, API

    • Analytics

    $0 due today • Cancel anytime

    VAT is not included. Final price is calculated at checkout. 14-day refund policy on all paid plans.

    Professional

    $49 per month
    Try for free
    Accounts
    Social AccountsNumber of social accounts that can be connected
    30
    WorkspacesNumber of workspaces to organize accounts
    5
    Post Across WorkspacesSend one post to accounts from different workspaces at once, so a launch shared by two brands is still one post.
    Included
    Publishing
    Schedule PostsAbility to schedule posts for future publishing
    Included
    Cross-Platform PostingWrite once and publish to every account you select at the same time, instead of opening each app in turn.
    Included
    Customize Content per PlatformChange the text or the media for individual accounts inside the same composer — a longer version for LinkedIn, a shorter one for X — without leaving and creating a second post.
    Included
    Platform-Specific SettingsSet each network’s own publishing options in the composer: YouTube title, privacy, category, tags, playlist and made-for-kids; TikTok privacy level and comment, duet and stitch toggles; Instagram reel or story, share-to-feed and trial reels; plus the equivalents for Facebook, Threads, LinkedIn, X and Bluesky.
    Included
    Edit a Scheduled Post or DraftChange the text, the media, the accounts or the time on anything that has not gone out yet, instead of deleting it and starting again.
    Included
    Duplicate a PostReuse a post you already made — all of it, or just its text, just its media, or just its accounts — rather than rewriting it.
    Included
    Posts per month*How many posts you can schedule or publish. The allowance covers a month from your start date and then resets. Scheduled and published posts both count, and one post counts once however many accounts it goes to. Deleting a scheduled post frees its slot.Unlimited plans are subject to each network’s own daily posting limits, which we enforce to prevent spam and abuse.
    Unlimited
    DraftsPosts you can save without scheduling, held at once. Publish, schedule or delete one to free a slot.
    Unlimited
    Posts with media at a timeDrafts and scheduled posts that can carry images or video at once, on a plan with no media library. Publishing or deleting one frees a slot.
    Unlimited
    Content CalendarVisual calendar view of scheduled posts
    Included
    Post GroupingA post sent to several accounts appears once in your calendar with the platform icons on it, instead of being duplicated one row per platform.
    Included
    Per-Platform PreviewsSee exactly how post looks on each platform
    Included
    Content types
    Carousel & Multi-Image PostsPost several images as one swipeable carousel on Instagram and Threads.
    Included
    Video PostsUpload videos up to 4 GB and publish them as posts, reels or shorts. No re-encoding, no compression, no watermark.
    Included
    StoriesPublish to Instagram Stories and Facebook Stories from the same composer as everything else.
    Included
    Custom Video ThumbnailsUpload or pick a JPG or PNG thumbnail for each YouTube video, from the composer or the API. Each YouTube channel in a post takes its own.
    Included
    Media and AI
    Image OptimizationUploads are converted to the format each platform accepts, compressed, and resized to fit that platform’s limits — so a post is never rejected for the wrong file type or dimensions.
    Included
    Media LibraryUpload and organize media files (storage in GB)
    250GB
    Max File SizeThe biggest single image or video you can upload
    4GB
    Media Search, Filter and SortFind a file in your media library by its name, show only images or only videos, and sort by date, size or name.
    Included
    See Where Each File Is UsedEvery file in your library shows how many posts and accounts use it. Click the count to open those posts.
    Included
    Analytics
    Post analyticsHow each individual post performed — views, likes, comments — for every post you publish.
    Included
    Account analyticsAccount-level numbers for each connected account: followers or subscribers, total views, and how they move over time.
    Included
    Posting Activity GraphA year of your posting at a glance, one square per day, with your current and longest posting streak — so you can see the gaps instead of guessing whether you have been consistent.
    Included
    Posts You Made ElsewherePosts published straight from the network are pulled in and sit alongside the ones you scheduled here, so your calendar and your numbers cover everything that account has done, not only what went through us. Available on the platforms whose API reports an account’s own posts. The rest are on the way as their APIs allow it.
    Included
    Automation for developers and agents
    MCP AccessModel Context Protocol server access
    Included
    API AccessREST API access for automation
    Included
    CLI AccessCommand-line interface for posting
    Included
    SDK AccessOfficial TypeScript SDK on npm (@publishq/sdk)
    Included
    Everyday use
    Dark ModeThe whole app in light or dark, or following whatever your system is set to.
    Included
    Time ZonePick your time zone once. Every post time, the calendar and every chart are read in it, so a schedule means what you think it means wherever you are.
    Included
    Live UpdatesThe dashboard keeps itself current. A post going out, an upload finishing or a video rendering shows up the moment it happens, in every tab you have open, with nothing to refresh. The same goes for your AI agent: a draft it writes, a post it schedules or publishes and any change it makes through the API, CLI or MCP server appear in your browser as it happens.
    Included
    Draft RecoveryClose the composer, or the whole tab, and the post you had started is waiting for you when you come back. Nothing to save first, and no window you have to leave open.
    Included
    1. *Unlimited plans are subject to each network’s own daily posting limits, which we enforce to prevent spam and abuse.