A social media approval tool does one thing the scheduler alone does not: it stops a post from going out until a named person has said yes. Every scheduler on the market now lists "approvals" somewhere on its pricing page. The word covers very different things, from a checkbox that an admin can skip to a multi-level sign-off with client links, comments and an audit trail.
This comparison looks at the approval workflow itself: which plan it sits on, what a reviewer can actually do, whether a client can approve without a paid seat, and what the whole thing costs. Prices and features were checked on each vendor's own site on 28 October 2026. We build FS Poster, the WordPress option on this list, so read that entry knowing it. We did not run the SaaS tools for this piece; the pros and cons come from the vendors' pricing pages, feature pages and documentation.
Short version. Planable and Kontentino are built around approval and are the pick when client sign-off is the bottleneck. Most schedulers put approvals on a team or agency tier, so check that tier's price, not the entry price. If your site runs on WordPress and the team already publishes from it, FS Poster's Content Approval keeps the review in the WordPress admin for a flat per-site price.
Social media approval tools at a glance
| Tool | Lowest plan with approvals | Client approval | Standout approval feature |
|---|---|---|---|
FS Poster | Developer, $229/ | WordPress user with an approver role | Review inside the WordPress admin, no seats |
Planable | Basic $33/ | Members only; links view and comment | Lock content after approval |
Kontentino | Starter €49 | Approval link, no seat | Green/ |
Gain | Starter $99, all plans | Magic link, no account, no seat | Unlimited rounds, re-approval after edits |
Loomly | Starter $49 | Invited collaborators with roles | Multi-tier, batch approve a month |
SocialPilot | Standard $34; client approvals Premium $85 | Link, no login (Premium) | Approvals-On-The-Go |
Sendible | Plus $84; custom workflows Premium $169 | Client dashboard and email | Unlimited users on every plan |
ContentStudio | Advanced $49 | Magic link, no account | Several approvers, force publish |
Metricool | Advanced from $53 | External reviewers by email, no account | One, all or auto-approve rules |
Agorapulse | Professional $119/ | Shared Calendar, one step | Fails to publish if unapproved |
Hootsuite | Advanced $399/ | Not described by the vendor | Up to three approval layers |
Sprout Social | Professional $299/ | Up to 3 external approvers on Advanced $399 | Any or All rule per step |
Buffer | Team $10/ | Not described by the vendor | Needs Approval access level |
Zoho Social | Premium $40 | Approvers in the brand | Approve or reject with feedback |
Prices are per month on annual billing unless stated, as shown on the vendor sites on 28 October 2026. Several vendors show EUR or local prices by region; the currency shown is noted where it differs.
How the tools were chosen and checked
The list started with the schedulers that appear in our comparison of social media scheduling tools. We added the two products that are built around approval rather than scheduling, Planable and Kontentino, and Gain, which agencies name for client approvals. For each tool we read the vendor's pricing page and the feature or help page for approvals on 28 October 2026. We recorded the lowest plan that includes an approval workflow, whether clients can approve without a seat, and what the reviewer can do. Tools whose approval feature could not be confirmed on the vendor site are marked as such rather than guessed. Nothing was installed or trialled for this article.
1. FS Poster Content Approval: the social media approval tool inside WordPress
- Approvals from
- Developer plan, $229 per year for 15 sites, and the Lifetime plan
- Client approval
- Any WordPress user in a role you mark as approver
- Levels
- One approver step, with request changes and resubmit
- Free plan
- No, 14-day money-back guarantee
- Pricing model
- Per site, no per-user seats
FS Poster is our own plugin, so read this entry knowing that. It is also the only tool on this list that reviews social posts inside WordPress rather than in a separate SaaS dashboard. The plugin already auto-shares posts and WooCommerce products to 26 networks. Since version 8.2, Content Approval adds the review step for the posts your team writes in its composer and calendar.
The flow is short. In Settings > Approvals you pick the roles whose posts need a check, for example Editor and Author. Those users see Submit for review instead of Share now. The approver opens the post, with the content, channels and planned time on the left and the review panel on the right, and approves it, requests changes with a note or declines it. An approved post goes out at its planned time, or right away with Approve & share now.
- Statuses in review, changes requested and declined, colour-coded in the calendar and the list
- Comments and an activity timeline on every post under review, so feedback never moves to chat
- Request changes sends the post back with a note; the author edits and resubmits with one click; decline is final and keeps the history
- Workflow notifications for submitted, approved, changes requested and declined, in the app or on Telegram, created in one click
- Any role can be an approver, admins always can; approvers need Share access to the channels they review
- Posts scheduled through AI assistants (MCP) follow the same rules
Best for: WordPress publishers, WooCommerce stores and agencies that already share from WordPress and want the review step in the same admin, without a seat for every reviewer.
Main drawback: it only covers posts written in the FS Poster composer and calendar, and it lives inside WordPress, so a team that writes everything in a SaaS scheduler will not use it. Setup details are in the documentation.
2. Planable: built around the approval round
- Approvals from
- Basic, $33 per workspace per month annual ($39 monthly), for Optional approval; Required approval needs Pro, $49 ($59)
- Client approval
- Clients join the workspace as members with approver rights; public links allow viewing and commenting only
- Levels
- None, Optional, Required; Multi-level on Enterprise
- Free plan
- First 50 posts free, no time limit, no card
Planable is the tool most agencies name first when approval is the problem, because the product is the approval round. Posts are previewed exactly as they will publish, reviewers comment in context, and the workflow type decides how strict the gate is. "Optional" lets posts publish with or without approval. "Required" means no post can be scheduled or published without the green light from at least one approver. "Multi-level" runs several parties in sequence, for example team, client and legal.
Two settings make it practical: schedule posts automatically after approval, and lock content after approval so the text, media and timing cannot change between the yes and the publish. Comments can be marked internal so the client never sees them. Pricing is per workspace, not per user, so a large review circle does not raise the bill.
- Four workflow types: None and Optional on every plan, Required from Pro, Multi-level on Enterprise
- Lock content after approval and schedule automatically after approval
- Internal comments hidden from clients, tagging in comments, a notifications inbox and one-click approvals
- Bulk approve and bulk request for approval on Pro and Enterprise
- Clients and occasional approvers can view and comment without an account; approving needs a member seat
Best for: agencies and in-house teams where client sign-off on every post is the bottleneck and reviewers come and go.
Main drawback: Required approval starts at the Pro tier, multi-level sign-off is Enterprise only, and a public link cannot approve, so every client who actually approves needs to be a workspace member.
3. Kontentino: client approvals from the first plan
- Approvals from
- Starter, €49 per month annual (€69 monthly); prices shown in EUR by region
- Client approval
- Approval link, no seat for the client; the Client/Approver role starts on Standard, €109
- Levels
- Internal review first, then the client
- Free plan
- No, 14-day trial, no card
Kontentino is the other scheduler whose home page is about approvals. The mechanics are simple on purpose: send for approval, and the reviewer marks the post green for good to go or red for rework, with a note. A pending approvals dashboard and a simplified approvals view show what is waiting, and reviewers can approve and comment from the mobile app.
Client work is where it stands out. According to the vendor, you share an approval link and the client sees the posts waiting for them, comments in context and approves or requests changes on the spot. There is no seat and no cap on the number of client reviewers. Internal comments stay separate from client comments.
- Internal approval workflow and client or external approval on every plan, per the pricing page
- Approve or rework with a note, pending approvals dashboard, mobile approve and comment
- Client/Approver role, client communication section, pinned comments and sending multiple posts for approval from Standard
- A multi-level flow where internal review happens before anything reaches the client
- Tailored approvals for global and local teams through the Global Content Manager add-on
Best for: agencies with many client reviewers who should never need a login or a seat.
Main drawback: the vendor site disagrees with itself on which plan includes client approvals: the pricing page says Starter, the vendor blog says Standard at €109. Prices show in EUR by region, and notifications for approval requests were marked "coming soon" when we checked.
4. Gain: approval rounds without seats for clients
- Approvals from
- Starter, $99 per month annual ($119 monthly); approvals on every plan
- Client approval
- Magic link from the email, no password, no account; clients never cost a seat
- Levels
- As many rounds and people as you need
- Free plan
- No, 14-day trial, no card, unused time refunded
Gain treats scheduling as the thing that happens after approval. The workflow can have as many rounds and people as you need, designer, account manager, legal, client, and content advances automatically or pauses for a final internal look. Approvers open a secure link from their email and decide with one click: approve or request changes.
Two details matter for compliance-minded teams. Reviewers can annotate directly on images and PDFs, and publishing is gated on the workflow itself. Content edited after sign-off can be sent back for re-approval, and every comment, change request and sign-off is time-stamped in the activity history.
- Unlimited reviewers, approvals, posts, channels and workflows on every plan
- Magic login for approvers, no account needed, on any device
- Annotations on images and PDFs, automatic reminders, complete time-stamped history
- Approval lock: edits after sign-off go back for re-approval
- White-label approval experience from the Agency plan, $199 per month annual
Best for: agencies whose clients sign off formally and who need a clean audit trail of who approved what.
Main drawback: the $99 entry price is the highest on this list for a small team, and scheduling and analytics are secondary to the approval product.
5. Loomly: multi-tier approvals on the first plan
- Approvals from
- Starter, $49 per month annual ($65 monthly)
- Client approval
- Clients are invited as collaborators with roles; comments can be toggled from private to public for them
- Levels
- Multi-tier workflows; custom roles and workflows on Beyond, $249
- Free plan
- No, free trial, no card
Loomly includes approval workflows and roles on its first plan, which is rarer than it sounds. The vendor describes multi-tier approval workflows that bring each teammate and client in at the right time, with batch approval of a whole month of posts. Comments default to private for internal discussion and are toggled to public when the client should see them.
Review notifications go out for one post or a full calendar, and they can land in Slack or Microsoft Teams. Post history and asset versions are tracked, and approvals work from the mobile app.
- Approval workflows and roles on Starter; custom roles and workflows on Beyond
- Multi-tier approvals with batch approval of many posts at once
- Private comments for the team, toggled public for clients
- Review notifications per post or per calendar, plus Slack and Microsoft Teams integrations
- Post history and asset versions, mobile approvals
Best for: brand and content teams with several internal stakeholders who want approvals without an agency-priced plan.
Main drawback: custom roles and workflows jump from $49 to $249 per month, and the vendor does not say whether a client can approve without a Loomly account.
6. SocialPilot: client approval without a login
- Approvals from
- Standard, $34 per month annual ($40 monthly); client approval workflows from Premium, $85 ($100)
- Client approval
- Clients review, approve or send back from a link, without login credentials, on Premium and up
- Levels
- Content and manager approval workflows; the vendor does not state the number of levels
- Free plan
- No, 14-day trial, no card
SocialPilot is the budget pick for agencies, and approvals are split across its tiers. Standard brings content approval workflows and a manager approval workflow for the team. Premium adds client approval workflows and client management with unlimited client seats. The feature the vendor leads with is Approvals-On-The-Go. You share a link to the client's calendar and they review posts, leave feedback, approve or send content back for edits from a phone or a PC, without repeated logins.
Comments on posts are available on every plan, and roles are Admin, Manager or Content Scheduler. White label of the whole experience sits on Ultimate at $170 per month.
- Content approval and manager approval workflows from Standard
- Approvals-On-The-Go: clients approve from a link without login credentials, from Premium
- Unlimited client seats and client management on Premium and above
- Comments on posts on every plan; roles Admin, Manager and Content Scheduler
- White-label on Ultimate, $170 per month annual
Best for: agencies that want client approvals and bulk scheduling for the lowest price on this list.
Main drawback: client approvals need Premium at $85, the entry plan has none, and the vendor does not define how many approval levels you get or how content and manager workflows differ.
7. Sendible: assign posts for approval, flat user pricing
- Approvals from
- Plus, $84 per month annual ($99 monthly); custom approval workflows from Premium, $169 ($199)
- Client approval
- The client gets a dashboard notification and an email, then approves or rejects with comments
- Levels
- Assign per post; custom approval workflows on Premium
- Free plan
- No, 14-day trial, no card
Sendible charges per workspace and profile, with unlimited users on every plan, which makes reviewers cheap. From the Plus plan you can assign posts for approval: open the post, click Send For Approval, pick the client or colleague who should approve it, and add a comment. They get a notification on their dashboard and an email, and you hear back when they approve or reject it with comments.
A per-user setting can force every post from that user through approval before it publishes, and approval tasks are managed in a Tasks view. Custom approval workflows and custom permission groups arrive on Premium.
- Send For Approval with a comment, from the compose box
- Per-user rule: all of this user's posts need approval before publishing
- Client Connect and client dashboards on every plan, unlimited users everywhere
- Custom approval workflows and permission groups from Premium
- Approval tasks tracked in the Tasks view, with dashboard and email notifications
Best for: agencies that run client workspaces and want reviewers to be free users rather than paid seats.
Main drawback: approvals start at Plus ($84), not on the Core plan, and the vendor does not describe approving without a Sendible login.
8. ContentStudio: several approvers, magic links, force publish
- Approvals from
- Advanced, $49 per month annual ($69 monthly)
- Client approval
- Magic link, no ContentStudio account needed
- Levels
- One or several approvers per post, with sign-off required from all of them
- Free plan
- No, 7-day trial, no card
ContentStudio puts a complete approval workflow on its $49 Advanced plan. You assign one approver or several to any post and require sign-off from all of them before it publishes. Approvers open a secure magic link, see the post as it will appear on each network, and approve or reject with a comment, without creating an account. Once they say yes, the post schedules itself for the time you set.
The vendor also covers the awkward case: force publish when a reviewer goes quiet. Live in-app and email alerts tell the team when a post needs a decision, and an activity tracker logs changes.
- One or several approvers per post, sign-off from all of them required
- Magic link approval with a network-accurate preview, no account
- Force publish when a reviewer does not respond
- In-app and email alerts, activity tracker, tags and tasks per post
- Agency Unlimited at $99 per month adds unlimited workspaces and users
Best for: small agencies and teams that want client approvals and a scheduler under $50 a month.
Main drawback: the Standard plan is single-user with no approvals, and the seven-day trial is the shortest on this list.
9. Metricool: approval rules on the Advanced plan
- Approvals from
- Advanced, from $53 per month annual ($67 monthly)
- Client approval
- External reviewers by email, no Metricool account; they decide from a reviewer portal
- Levels
- One step, with a rule: one approval is enough, everyone must approve, or auto-approve if nobody rejects
- Free plan
- Yes, 1 brand and 20 posts per month, without approvals
Metricool is known for analytics, and its approval system is tidy. You send a post to teammates or clients for review, assign internal collaborators or external reviewers by email, and set how many approvals are required. The criteria are one approval is enough, everyone must approve, or auto-approve if no one rejects. A rejection always stops the post. Statuses show as pending, approved or rejected in the calendar and the task list.
Roles enforce the gate: users with the Content Creator role must send everything through approval, and reviewers usually get the Client role with view permissions and the right to approve or reject. Editing a post after sending it for review means sending it again.
- Internal or external reviewers per post, external ones by email with no account
- Three approval criteria per request, and a rejection always blocks publishing
- Content Creator role that cannot publish without approval
- Bulk send and bulk approve from the planning list
- Statuses pending, approved and rejected in the calendar and task list
Best for: analytics-first teams that want a simple approval rule and reviewers who never log in.
Main drawback: approvals skip the free and Starter plans, and the workflow is single-step, so there is no internal-then-client sequence.
10. Agorapulse: single-step approvals, multi-step on Custom
- Approvals from
- Professional, $119 per user per month annual ($149 monthly)
- Client approval
- External users added through a Shared Calendar; only one step may include them
- Levels
- Single-step on Professional and Advanced; multi-step on the Custom plan only
- Free plan
- No, 30-day trial, no card
Agorapulse adds simple approval workflows and internal comments on its Professional plan. Owners, co-owners and managers create the workflows; when composing, you pick the users who must approve, or a saved workflow on the Custom plan. Notes can be internal, visible only to the team, or external, visible to reviewers too. Posts inside a workflow become read-only until the decision is made.
If any approver has not approved by the scheduled time, the post fails to publish rather than going out unreviewed. Bulk approvals from the calendar list arrive on Advanced at $149 per user.
- Simple approval workflows and internal comments from Professional
- Internal and external notes on the same post
- External reviewers through a Shared Calendar, in one step of the workflow
- Unapproved posts fail to publish at the scheduled time instead of going out
- Bulk approve from Advanced; multi-step workflows on Custom
Best for: mid-size teams already on Agorapulse for its inbox and ROI reporting, who need one approver per post.
Main drawback: per-user pricing makes every approver a $119 seat, and multi-step workflows are locked to the Custom plan.
Four more schedulers with approval workflows
These four also include approvals, but on tiers that make them a poor fit for most teams buying for the approval feature alone. The facts are from their pricing pages and help centres.
- Hootsuite: approvals start on Advanced at $399 per user per month billed annually. Super admins set up to three layers of approval, approvers get a push or email, and a post that is not approved by its send time moves to an Expired queue.
- Sprout Social: message approval workflows on Professional at $299 per seat per month billed annually, with multiple steps and an Any or All rule per step. External approvers without a Sprout account, up to three, need Advanced at $399.
- Buffer: the Team plan at $10 per channel per month annual ($12 monthly) splits users into Full Access and Needs Approval. Drafts go to an Approvals tab, and a rejection emails the creator. Single level, no client link.
- Zoho Social: content approvals and workflow on Premium at $40 per month annual ($65 monthly). Any role can send a post for approval, approvers approve or reject with feedback, and users without publishing rights cannot publish without it.
How to choose a social media approval tool
Four questions settle most decisions. Answer them before you compare feature lists.
- Who approves, and do they have a seat? If the approver is a client or an executive who will not log in weekly, pick a tool where reviewers approve from a link or do not count as a paid user. Per-seat tools make every occasional reviewer expensive.
- One level or two? In-house teams usually need one approver. Agencies need an internal check and then the client. A tool with only a single approval step forces the second one back into email.
- Where does feedback live? Comments on the post, with a timeline of who changed what, are the whole point. If feedback goes to a separate chat, the tool has not solved the problem.
- Where is the content? If your posts start life in WordPress, a plugin that reviews the social post next to the WordPress post removes a copy-paste step and a second login. If content lives in the scheduler, pick the scheduler with the best review panel.
For the process side, roles, statuses, deadlines and a template, see our social media approval process guide. For WordPress teams that also need approval on the posts themselves, our roundup of WordPress approval workflow plugins covers the editorial side.
Frequently asked questions
What is a social media approval tool?
A scheduler or plugin that holds a social post in a review status until an approver accepts it. Good ones add comments on the post, a timeline of decisions, statuses in the calendar and notifications for approvers and authors.
Which social media approval tool is best for agencies?
Planable and Kontentino are built for client sign-off, with approval from a shared view and no seat for the client. Sendible and SocialPilot bundle approvals with client workspaces at agency prices. Check the comparison table for the plan each one needs.
Do free social media schedulers include approval workflows?
Rarely. Approvals almost always sit on a team or agency tier. Check the lowest plan with approvals in the table above rather than the entry price.
Can clients approve posts without an account?
On some tools, yes: Planable and Kontentino let clients review from a shared link or a client view. Most schedulers require the client to be a user on the workspace, which may cost a seat.
Is there a social media approval tool for WordPress?
Yes. FS Poster's Content Approval adds submit, approve, request changes and decline to social posts written inside WordPress, with comments and a timeline, on the Developer and Lifetime plans.
Conclusion
Pick the tool by the approval round you actually run. If clients sign off every post, a tool built around approval, such as Planable or Kontentino, earns its price. If one manager approves an in-house team, the team tier of the scheduler you already like is usually enough, as long as feedback stays on the post. And if WordPress is where the content lives, FS Poster keeps the review there too, without a second tool, a second login or a seat for every reviewer.
Write once. Post to 26 networks.
- 26 social networks
- Schedule & auto-repost
- Runs inside wp-admin
