13 Best Instagram Direct Publishing and Scheduling Apps- Blow up on Instagram With Automation

Instagram is one of the leading marketing social media platforms available in the digital space.

That is why marketers and business owners were extremely delighted when Instagram updated their API in 2018 to allow direct publishing and scheduling of content by third-party apps.

Many businesses, e-commerce, influencers, entrepreneurs, and agencies use Instagram to create awareness, build social proof, generate leads for their brands, and ultimately convert them to sales.

This means that businesses and brands cannot afford to lose sight of peak engagement periods to roll out the right content. Check out this saas content writing firm for getting quality work done. I use them all the time for my blog and for my clients too.

Uploading content consistently helps you boost your reach on Instagram. However, putting out quality and engaging content appropriately is quite a challenge for many brands. This clearly shows why you need an Instagram direct publishing and scheduling app.

Instagram direct publishing and scheduling apps take your social media marketing strategy to the next level through the following ways:

• Help you stay true to your social media objectives
• Ensure better workflow efficiency
• More engagement and brand visibility
• Give you an edge over competitors

However, there is just the right one that suits your business style, goals, and budget.

Also, regardless of which tool you use, you may experience a slowdown in your device. If it’s a MacBook, you may need to delete Safari and reinstall it to clear the cache and free up RAM

Here are 9 of the best Instagram direct publishing and scheduling apps for you to consider.

Plann is a social media scheduling tool that will assist you in preparing your content in advance and posting it in the appropriate locations. You’ll be able to concentrate on other elements of your company or life, safe in the knowledge that your social media will be handled by someone else.

Plann is a terrific method to gain insights into your audience and understand what’s working well for you, in addition to being a useful scheduling tool. Additionally, it offers a modern and intuitive user interface, which makes submitting content a breeze.

2. Hopper HQ

Hopper HQ is a social media scheduler tool that offers social media planning, scheduling, editing, and analytics tools for users to save time while better planning posts and producing a consistent social media presence. Hopper HQ supports social network integrations for Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Tiktok.

Hopper HQ is suitable for brands, agencies, influencers, freelancers, and content creators to manage their social media and engage better with their followers. It is used by leading brands like Netflix, Vogue, Men’s health, Tina Turner, and more.

Hopper HQ features:

• Scheduling social media posts
• Auto-post from desktop
• Support for all post formats (images, videos, stories, reels, and carousel posts)
• Schedule first comment & hashtags
• Add location
• Best time to post
• Unlimited team members at no additional cost
• Full image cropping & editing
• Drag n’ drop grid planner
• Calendar planner
• Media bulk upload
• free stock images
• Social Media Analytics
• Automate scheduling to LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Tiktok.

Hopper HQ pricing:

• Monthly billing: $19/month. Free 14-day trial.
• Annual billing: $193.80/year. Free 14-day trial.
• Pricing includes 1 social set (1 Instagram, 1 Facebook, 1 Twitter, 1 LinkedIn, 1 Pinterest, and 1 TikTok account)
• Unlimited users at no extra cost

Try out Hopper HQ for free today!

2. Contentstudio

Content studio is one of the best social media tools for Instagram management and analytics. Along with bulk scheduling and automation ,Content studio provides you with deep insights of your Instagram and can help you to create the best strategy for your Social channels using the Instagram Influencer search with its built-in RSS Feed Reader.

You can choose #hashtag variations based on its volume and popularity in our hashtag finder. ContentStudio allows you to pin your first comment and add location to your posts.

You can also enjoy designing your posts on canva right from your workspace on ContentStudio. It also lets you edit your images and cleanup pictures before posting them to your Instagram. You can also disable the push notifications for your Instagram posts if you need to.

The best part is the Instagram Analytics which give you full insights of your audience growth, reach,Impressions and help you understand your reach on posts and IG stories.
It also shows you the best time to post on Instagram for your target audience. And not to forget, this platform has Bitly and replug integrations which you can use to add Bio Link to your Instagram Bio profile. 

3. AIGrow

AiGrow is an all-in-one Instagram growth service and scheduling tool.

The company used to be a top Instagram followers app but now it’s a lot more.

The platform is a complete service for organic Instagram growth. With this IG growth tool, you can gain a minimum of 300 followers per month and up to 1000 Instagram followers with scaled growth activities. Besides using an smm panel to grow absurdly fast, using AIGrow is a suitable alternative for people wanting to grow their Instagram brand and following organically.

Their pro-managed services also includes a professional Instagram account manager to assist with growth strategy and execution.Your account manager is in charge of overseeing the day-to-day growth initiatives in order to increase your following. After you’ve created your account, you’ll use the built-in AI growth engine to select targets.

These goals can be based on a variety of hashtags, areas, competitors, and business categories. After that, one of AiGrow’s account managers will call you to go over your aims and objectives. Once this is done, they’ll start creating daily growth activities to assist you in building your Instagram followers.

4. Combin Scheduler

This is a free and all-encompassing Instagram marketing tool to help you plan and automate your social media content. Its interface has been described as simple, easy to use, effective, and comfortable.

With Combin Scheduler, you can schedule and auto-publish images and stories after visualizing your Instagram grid layout. You can also plan, review and edit images, add location tags and use Instagram hashtags from previous templates.

The templates are diverse and allow you to visually design your Instagram grid to suit your brand style and goals.

Combin Scheduler allows bulk image scheduling and uploading. This saves you the stress of posting now & then and helps free up more time for you to do other things.

Another good thing about this is that your content will be automatically uploaded at the scheduled time without sending you a separate notification to complete the process manually.

The image editor allows you to edit images to the correct size as you would normally do on the Instagram app. You can then visualize how new content will appear on your page with the app calendar.

The location tags and hashtag tools are specifically important for targeting Instagram accounts within your desired area and getting more local engagements.

To get the most of this platform, you have to make sure the app is enabled at all times in the background for it to function properly.

5. Sprout Social

Welcome to the big league. This is an all-in-one social media marketing platform especially for agencies, enterprises, and medium to large businesses. It offers extensive features from scheduling to direct publishing, automation, listening, collaboration and analytics.

Sprout Social offers advanced functionality for all major social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google+.

Some cool features that separate it from the rest of the pack include:

• Discovery tab: this helps you with customized searches and interaction.
• Geo filter: helps streamline your search to specific locations.
• Task tab: this lets you manage responses and assign tasks to team members.

Although the features are top-notch and the benefits numerous, Sprout Social comes at a relatively steep cost. The price is however justified by its advanced tools such as in-depth analysis and Viral post. These tools help in the analysis of contents and engagements and also in determining the best time to post.

Its analytics tool is rated as one of the best Instagram helper tools. You can also track the success of your marketing campaigns and stay up to date through its conversation management feature.

Sprout Social offers a digital library where you can store files, media, and content for future use. The platform also lets you label your audience based on their position in the marketing funnel and target them with just the right content.

It offers a free 30-day trial period that allows you to use the basic features and access the interface and versatile functions it has in store. The paid plans include Standard for $99, Professional for $149, and Advanced for $249.

6. TailWind

One of the main features that make Tailwind stand out among other Instagram direct publishing and scheduling apps is the SmartBIO. This is a link in the bio tool that allows you access to a free branded landing page which provides shoppable Instagram feeds and automated updating of links.

With Tailwind, planning, scheduling, and directly publishing of Instagram can’t get any better.

The smart features present on the platform let you target peak engagement periods for uploading your post. This makes a lot of sense if you seek to drive as much traffic as possible to your page, generate leads and make sales.

Tailwind also comes with a Hashtag finder. This suggests popular and trendy hashtags for you to use in driving traffic and engagement to specific content.

Nothing supersedes quality and targeted content, and with Tailwind, you can try out great ideas for Instagram marketing.

With Tailwind, you can access essential analytic tools such as profile metrics, trend reporting, and virality and engagement benchmarks. It also comes with a listening feature that lets you know when your brand is mentioned; so you can respond appropriately.

Tailwind is relatively cost-effective and ideal if you are just starting out at using Instagram to market your brand or product.

Business owners, marketers, non-profit outfits, and bloggers who are also using Pinterest can consider using it. Tailwind similarly has fantastic features for Pinterest that are worth trying out.

You can start using Tailwind with a free trial that doesn’t come with a time limit and allows up to 30 scheduled posts.

However, with as low as an annually billed $9 per month, you can subscribe to a paid package that encompasses all the features and benefits the platform has to offer.

7. Social Pilot

It doesn’t matter whether you are an entrepreneur, run a small or a large enterprise, Social Pilot allows you to reach your target audience.

SocialPilot is a cost-effective means for directly publishing and scheduling content on Instagram. It allows auto-publishing on up to 5 different platforms and comes with sleek tools and features that are easy to use and of immense benefit to your social media marketing.

Social Pilot comes with a bulk scheduling tool, content curation tool, and top-notch analytics. With the bulk scheduling feature, you can schedule hundreds of posts at a go. You also get to visualize all your scheduled posts on a calendar.

The content curation tool helps you generate content ideas and search for related media, files, and trending phrases for your use. This lets you keep up with popular trends and enhance your content creation strategy.

With the analytics, you can get insights into content performance and customer behavior. A unique feature of this is that you can get to know Instagram followers with the most influence and leverage this for more brand visibility and engagement.

The analytics also comes with insights about your business community or industry and a PDF report.

Social pilot offers a 14-day free trial which allows you access to the essential features on the platform. Premium plans include those for professionals and enterprises. The enterprise plan comes with a full-time account manager to assist you with any query as it arises.

8. Later

This is the visual Instagram marketing platform of choice for many business owners, bloggers, and social media marketers. With Later or Later alternatives, you can visually plan out your Instagram grid and organize your captions before going live.

Since Instagram marketing is all about good visual effects, Later allows you to do just that.

Of all other apps for directly publishing and scheduling posts on Instagram, Later provides one of the best analytics on Instagram performance.

You can use these insights to monitor your customer base and derive valuable information on the best times to publish your posts.

Another remarkable thing about Later is that it allows you to keep a library to save user-generated content for future use.

You can also use the library to import and organize media from anywhere on the web. You can use this to store up testimonials and reviews and other social proofs for your use.

Later lets you upload your location and supports posting of Instagram stories by sending push notifications for you to upload the post at the right time.

Later offers a free plan with up to 30 scheduled posts per month. The free plan allows for direct posting and scheduling of images, simple analytics, and saved captions for easy reuse.

However, for more in-depth analysis and for you to auto-publish videos, the paid plans will just be ideal for you.

With just $12.5 per month, you can subscribe to the Starter plan. This gives you access to more tools and features to optimize your Instagram content.

Other paid plans available are Growth for $20.5 and Advanced for $33, all billed annually.

9. Planoly

If you are looking for a direct publishing and scheduling app with excellent visual planning of your Instagram grid in advance, or if your business is mainly dependent on a highly visual social strategy, then Planoly is just right for you.

From photos to videos and GIFs, you can see how your feeds will appear before posting. This allows you to see how each post fits into your whole Instagram grid. With this alone, you can create a more organized platform and weed out misfit posts.

An excellent and unique tool on this platform is the splitter tool. You can use it to split images within a grid in multiples of 3. Its editor also has several templates you can choose from without necessarily creating new content from scratch.

With Planoly, you can sell effortlessly on Instagram by converting your page to a veritable store. You can tag products, create multiple bio links, single click-selling links, and customized animated stickers with its sticker maker.

Planoly also offers a wide range of analytics to help you determine the success of each content and tell you the best time of engagement to post.

Two additional and unique features that make Planoly special are Sellit and Linkit. These features are especially ideal for entrepreneurs and small businesses without a website.

Sellit enables you to sell your products with ease without having a website, while Linkit allows you to organize and plan your Instagram grid with links to CTAs.

Planoly offers a free but limited plan. To enjoy and gain access to all the features present, you have to opt-in for a paid plan. The good news is that with just $9, you can subscribe to the Solo paid plan. Other plans available are Duo for $19 and Custom for $29.

10. Buffer

Buffer is a well-known social media marketing application with a unique direct publishing and scheduling version known as Buffer Publish. Apart from Instagram, you can also use it for other social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Buffer is an easy-to-use platform that updates your posts automatically without first sending you any notification or seeking your confirmation. It has one of the best usability metrics of all other Instagram scheduling and publishing apps.

All you have to do is connect your Instagram business account, decide your preferred time and rate of publishing, schedule your content, and you can be rest assured that it will be uploaded at the right time.

Buffer offers you an effective means of visually planning your Instagram content and helps you schedule your first comment. You can also use a hashtag in your first comment.

It offers unique features like ShopGrid for online businesses. Small businesses and startups can use it to display their products and facilitate sales.

It also provides you with excellent analytics and advanced reporting to monitor campaign success and stay ahead of the competition.

You can also use Buffer for team collaboration and user management. The platform lets you stay in touch and coordinate your team during campaigns. What more could you ask for?

It recently launched an additional service called Buffer Reply. This allows you to collate all your conversations into one dashboard from which you can reply to users. This eliminates the need to switch from one account to the other.

With a 14-day trial period, you can gain access to its basic features for free. The paid packages range from Pro for $15, Premium for $65, and Business for $99.

11. CoSchedule

CoSchedule is a project management platform ideal for entrepreneurs, agencies, businesses, and marketers. It offers incredible tools to take your marketing plan to the next level.

Some of its most prominent features include;

• Email marketing
• Analytics
• Marketing calendar
• Best time scheduling
• Agile project management (Best agile project management tools)

CoSchedule allows schedule and directly post bulk contents on your Instagram business account. You can also use it to find relevant content from anywhere online for your use.

It comes with an editor and several templates you can adapt for your use. This saves you a lot of time and enhances your workflow.

Your post will be uploaded when traffic and engagement are at their peak using the best time scheduling feature. This will ensure that your contents reach the desired audience and generate the right leads for your business.

CoSchedule comes with enhanced analytics that let you track your marketing strategy, maximize your reach and optimize your audience engagement. It also gives you insight into trending topics, hashtags, phrases, and keywords within your community.

It comes with a free feature-limited plan which allows you to have three users and ten social media profiles.

12. Hootsuite

This is a time-tested and well-used social media marketing platform for all major social networks, from Twitter to Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Pinterest. We’ll just focus on features that make Hootsuite one of the best Instagram direct publishing and scheduling apps in this section.

HootSuite offers both desktop and mobile apps for you to plan, schedule, and directly publish images and videos on your Instagram business account.

One of the features that makes it a delight for many business owners, entrepreneurs, and social media marketers is its ability to schedule much content and track the performance of each post.

It also offers a real-time follow-up of significant conversations on social media to guide and provide you with insights on the right content to post. It also facilitates team collaborations to help you manage your team and run a hitch-free campaign.

An exciting addition to this is that it can help you find related content for your use, making it one of the best Buffer alternatives. Using the right hashtag, keyword, or location, you can find relevant contents to share on your account.

Its analytics is robust, and you can export the report in various formats such as PowerPoint, Excel, CSV, and PDF.

HootSuite offers a restricted free plan with up to 30 scheduled posts per month. You can manage up to 3 social media accounts from the free plan.

Different paid plans are available for individuals, work teams, business, and enterprises. The paid plans start at $99 per month for Professional, $129 for Team, and $599 for Business.

13. Plannable

Planable is the ultimate tool for managing your social media campaigns. With an intuitive and easy-to use interface, you can plan large-scale campaigns and schedule Instagram posts with ease by simply dragging and dropping content into its relevant timeslot.

This is possible thanks to Planable’s social media calendar.

Planable also offers four viewing modes – list view (which shows all posts), calendar view (mentioned above), feed view, which displays posts exactly as they would appear in people’s feeds, and Grid view for planning beautiful Instagram grids.

Add to that a workspace where teams can openly collaborate and share feedback on content and a multi-level approval workflow, and you can be sure that with Planable, no piece of content will be released into the wild without going through the motions first.Along Instagram,

Planable also supports Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google My Business and LinkedIn.

14. Adobe

What is the Best Instagram Scheduling Tool in 2021?

It depends on your budget and goal. The list of Instagram scheduling app extends beyond the nine tools mentioned above.

To select a scheduling tool that fits your brand, review your budget and your Instagram goal.

Some tools only offer scheduling features, and some also provide growth services to scale your followers.

A number of these platforms also allow you to schedule your content on other social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

note, you can also use a SMM Panel service to help streamline the process.

That said, you can’t go wrong with Combin Scheduler as it is well-targeted towards Instagram. It also offers more features to grow your Instagram account.

If you’re looking for an all-in-one social media automation tool, then Sprout Social will be a better choice.

Conclusion

There you have it. Any of these tools will be a great asset for the consistent and engaging content your Instagram business account craves. However, you still need to consider your budget, features, benefits, and usability of these platforms.

If you are new to Instagram marketing and looking to build your following and audience, you can try out Kicksta. Here is all you need to know about how Kicksta works.

About the Author

Akinduyo Eniola is a creative content marketer that loves experimenting and growing online businesses with strategic marketing. He is a firm believer in content. He writes about content marketing and shares his experiments and results on his blog, Gurus Coach.

He’s also a freelance writer for hire, so if you need excellent content to grow your traffic and brand, get in touch with him here.