Start with how approvals work. If people at each location or client need to sign off posts without creating an account, look for link-based approvals first. Agency tools handle client sign-off well, local marketing platforms cover listings and reviews per location, and calendar-led suites suit a single central team.
Head office writes the post, the locations need to say yes, and nobody wants another login. That's the job Sked Social now leads with, and it's the job to test when you look elsewhere. This list is for franchise and multi-location marketers, agencies and small marketing teams, with nine options in no particular order.
Nine social planners, listed A to Z
Alphabetical, so in no particular order. Every line is drawn from the vendor's own description of its product.
CoSchedule
Best for: Marketing teams who plan everything on one calendar; the vendor builds planning, publishing, replying and measuring around its marketing calendar.
Oktopost
Best for: B2B marketing teams focused on LinkedIn, with the vendor pitching a social engagement suite to drive more pipeline and revenue from it.
Pallyy
Best for: Agencies running social for several clients, which the vendor says it's built for, with every client planned in one place.
Planable
Best for: Teams who plan, approve and schedule together; the vendor says it replaces spreadsheets, emails and calls, with analytics and a social inbox included.
SOCi
Best for: Multi-location brands managing local search, social, reviews and listings together; the vendor now pitches an agentic AI workforce for multi-location visibility.
SocialBee
Best for: Small teams wanting AI-powered scheduling and analytics in one tool; the vendor pitches all-in-one social media management and names a free trial.
Statusbrew
Best for: Teams moving from another tool who want scheduling and analytics with migration support; the vendor claims it matches the features of larger suites.
Synup
Best for: Local marketing across listings, review replies and social posts, with an API; the vendor offers an AI agent that audits listings and drafts replies.
Vista Social
Best for: Social teams wanting scheduling, engagement and reporting in one product, which the vendor says offers more depth and reach.
The approval flow Sked Social is built around
Sked Social now leads with multi-location social media. Head office plans the posts, each location signs off from a link with no login, and one report shows how often each location posts. If that's why you bought it, that's the flow to recreate, and it's harder to find than a good scheduler.
Three things to compare in any alternative. First, how it handles approvals for people who won't create an account. Second, how it keeps brands or locations apart, so one franchisee never sees another's posts by mistake. Third, what reporting head office gets back, and whether it shows which locations are posting and which have gone quiet. A tool can be excellent at scheduling and still fall down on all three.
Several tools below are built for agencies and client approvals. That's a close cousin of the multi-location job, but it isn't the same. A client approving their own posts is one relationship. Head office approving forty sets of local posts, each with its own manager, opening hours and local offers, is a different shape of work, and the tool has to make saying yes quick for people who don't do social for a living.
Grouped by approval style
Collaboration-first
Planable is built around teams planning and approving together rather than over spreadsheets, emails and calls. Vista Social sits close by, with scheduling, engagement and reporting in one product. Both suit a central team that wants reviewers in the loop.
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Agency and client tools
Pallyy is built for agencies planning every client in one place. Statusbrew and SocialBee are broader management tools with scheduling and analytics at the core; check how each handles client sign-off before you move a client roster across.
Multi-location and local
SOCi and Synup come at the job from local marketing: listings, reviews and local search, with social as one part of the picture. They're nearest to the head office use case, though they bring a lot more besides, so make sure you want the extra pieces.
B2B and calendar-led
Oktopost is LinkedIn-first for B2B marketing teams, and CoSchedule hangs everything off a marketing calendar. Both suit one central team more than a network of locations.
Side by side: how each handles social
| Tool | Approach | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| CoSchedule | Calendar-led management | Planning social around one marketing calendar |
| Oktopost | B2B social platform | LinkedIn-led B2B social for marketing teams |
| Pallyy | Scheduler for agencies | Planning several clients' social in one place |
| Planable | Collaboration-first planner | Side-by-side planning and approvals |
| SOCi | Multi-location marketing | Local search, reviews and social across many sites |
| SocialBee | Category scheduler | AI help with scheduling and analytics |
| Statusbrew | Management suite | Scheduling and analytics with migration help |
| Synup | Local listings and social | Listings, review replies and local posts |
| Vista Social | AI social management | Scheduling, engagement and reporting together |
My advice for head office teams
Run a real approval round before you sign anything. Pick two locations or clients, send them a week of posts through the tool, and watch what they have to do to say yes. If anyone has to create an account, reset a password or ring you for help, the flow won't survive a busy month.
Then ask to see the report head office would get. You want to know at a glance which locations are posting, which are behind and which posts went out unapproved. If the tool can't show that, you'll end up chasing people by email, which is the thing you were trying to get away from. For more options, see my lists of Loomly alternatives and social media scheduling tools.
Do you make social media planning or approval software? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place on this list.
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Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between multi-location and agency social tools?
Agency tools are built for a few clients who approve their own posts. Multi-location tools are built for one brand with many branches, where head office plans and each location signs off and reports back.
Can people approve social posts without a login?
Some tools offer approval by link, so a location manager or client can sign off without an account. Test it with a real reviewer before you commit, on a phone as well as a laptop.
Do I need a local marketing platform for social media?
Only if you also manage listings, reviews and local search for many locations. If social is the only job, a planner with good approvals is simpler.
How do I keep franchise locations' posts separate?
Look for separate workspaces, brands or locations inside one account, with permissions that stop one location seeing or editing another's posts.
What reporting should head office ask for?
Ask for a view of how often each location posts, which posts are waiting for approval and how each location's posts perform, all in one report rather than one per location.
Is a calendar-led tool good for multi-location brands?
It can be for planning, because everyone sees the same calendar. Check how it handles approvals and per-location reporting, since calendar tools are usually built for one central team.
