Notion and Instagram

Planoly alternatives for people who plan in Notion

Planoly is a good visual planner, but it plans in its own app. If your content calendar already lives in Notion, you end up keeping two calendars and copying every post across. The alternatives worth looking at read your Notion database instead. Ninecast is one of them: a live Instagram grid inside your Notion page, publishing each row on its date to every platform you connect, with Airtable supported too. Here is how it compares with Clem, NotionScheduler, PlanMyGrid and a plain gallery view, including where they suit you better.

Why people who plan in Notion leave Planoly

Planoly does what it promises: a drag-and-drop grid, scheduling and a tidy app. The trouble is where the plan lives. Ideas, captions, approvals and dates are already in a Notion database, and Planoly cannot read it, so every post is rebuilt in Planoly by hand, and every change has to be made twice.

The best Planoly alternative for a Notion planner is the one that reads Notion, so there is only one calendar.

Ninecast

  • Reads your own Notion database, or an Airtable base, and asks once which column is the date, the caption and the images. No template required.
  • A live grid in tall 3:4 tiles, the shape Instagram’s profile grid uses now, embedded in the same Notion page as your calendar and updating within about a second of any change.
  • Drag to rearrange. Drop one post onto another and they swap dates, and the new dates are written back into Notion.
  • Posts for you to every platform you connect, from the same rows, with each post’s link written back into the row, and for Instagram its likes, comments, saves and reach too.
  • Free to start. The grid preview is free for good, with no card.

Who it suits: anyone whose calendar lives in Notion or Airtable and whose feed is judged as a grid, including social media managers running a planner per client.

Clem

The closest to us: a Notion content planner with a grid preview you can reorder, posting to Instagram and TikTok. Its site lists those two platforms only and no Airtable, and its seven-day trial asks for a card (checked 21 October 2026). A good fit if Instagram and TikTok are all you post to.

NotionScheduler

Publishes from your existing Notion database to a long list of networks, with a free plan capped by posts per month. It shows your plan as a calendar rather than a feed, so for the grid you are back to a Notion gallery view.

PlanMyGrid

A dedicated grid planner with a free tier, aimed at agencies and their clients, that publishes to Instagram on its paid plans. Its site does not mention Notion or Airtable (checked 21 October 2026), so like Planoly it is a second place to keep your plan.

A Notion gallery view

Free and already there. It gives a rough sense of a month, but there is no column setting, the tiles are not Instagram’s shape, and nothing gets posted. The steps, and exactly where it falls short, are in how to preview your Instagram grid in Notion.

The short version

If you do not plan in Notion, Planoly is a fine choice. If your plan lives in Notion or Airtable and you want one calendar that previews as a feed, posts to every platform you connect and brings the post links and Instagram results back, that is what we built. If you post only to Instagram and TikTok, Clem is close. If you need a network we do not post to yet and do not mind a calendar instead of a grid, check NotionScheduler.

The wider field, including Later and Buffer, is compared in Instagram schedulers that work with Notion, and the setup is in scheduling Instagram posts from Notion.

Questions that follow

What is the best alternative to Planoly if I plan in Notion?

Ninecast. It reads the Notion database you already plan in, shows a live Instagram grid in tall 3:4 tiles inside the same Notion page, lets you drag posts to swap their dates, and publishes each row on its date to every platform you connect. It reads Airtable too, and the grid preview is free with no card.

Does Planoly work with Notion?

We could not find any Notion connection from Planoly (checked 21 October 2026). Planoly plans in its own app, so if your calendar lives in Notion you keep two calendars and copy each post across.

Is there a free Planoly alternative for Notion?

Yes. Ninecast's grid preview is free for good with no card, and the free plan includes 2 posts so you can see publishing work. NotionScheduler has a free plan with a monthly post cap. A Notion gallery view is free too, though it is only a rough preview.

Which Planoly alternative shows the new 3:4 Instagram grid?

Instagram's profile grid now uses tall 3:4 tiles instead of squares. Ninecast's grid uses the same 3:4 shape, so the crop you see in Notion is the crop on your profile.

Can I move from Planoly without losing my plan?

Your plan moves into Notion (or Airtable), where it probably started. Put one row per post with its date, caption and images, connect Ninecast, and the grid fills from those rows.

How much does it cost?

The grid preview is free, forever. Publishing is on Creator, $15 a month or $12 a month billed yearly, for 3 planners — and the free plan includes 2 posts so you can see it work first.

Try it on your own calendar

30 days free. No card, no password, no account. The guide walks through setup in ten minutes.

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