Connily creates your content. Connect your Shopify store and the AI pulls your product catalogue - titles, descriptions, prices, variants, photos. It uses that data to generate complete social posts with AI-created images and platform-optimised captions. You don't need a designer, a photographer, or a Canva subscription. Connily uses best-in-class image models (Gemini, Midjourney, Flux, DALL-E, Nano Banana) depending on the use case, and the models evolve as better options emerge. Every plan includes unlimited generations. Create as many as you want - only approved posts count.

Planoly doesn't create your content. You bring images and videos, upload them to Planoly's media library, and arrange them on the visual calendar. Planoly added an AI caption writer on the Growth plan and above, which can generate text for your posts - but it's a caption helper, not a content engine. There's no AI image generation. No product awareness. Planoly is built for creators who already have their visual content sorted and need help organising and scheduling it.

Connily wins on content creation. If you're a Shopify brand without a photographer or designer, Connily eliminates the content bottleneck entirely. Planoly's AI caption writer is a nice addition but it can't create the visual content that makes social media work.

This is what Planoly was built for. The Instagram grid preview shows exactly how your feed will look before you publish - you can drag and drop posts to rearrange them until the layout feels right. It's available on all plans, including the free tier. For creators and brands that treat their Instagram grid as a visual portfolio, this is invaluable. No other tool does grid planning quite as well as Planoly.

Planoly wins on visual grid planning. If your brand's Instagram aesthetic is a priority and you want to preview your feed before posting, Planoly's grid planner is best-in-class. This is a genuine strength that Connily doesn't offer.

Connily was built for Shopify. One-click OAuth connection. Daily syncs pulling product data, prices, variants, and photos. Product-level insights showing which products drive engagement on social. The AI doesn't just know your brand in the abstract - it knows your actual catalogue, what's new, what's selling, and what needs promotion. This product awareness flows into every post and every recommendation.

Planoly doesn't integrate with Shopify. Instead, it offers Sellit - its own mini-storefront feature. Sellit lets you create a link-in-bio landing page where followers can browse and buy products. It works with Stripe for payments and takes a 2% transaction fee on every sale. It's a simple way to sell through social, but it's a separate storefront - not a Shopify connection. Your product data doesn't flow into content creation or strategy. Planoly also recently launched Creator Store, an upgraded version of Sellit with a full storefront experience.

Very different approaches. Connily integrates deeply with your existing Shopify store and uses your product data to create content. Planoly offers its own mini-shop as an alternative to Shopify. For Shopify brands, Connily's native integration is far more useful. Planoly's Sellit might appeal to creators who don't have a Shopify store and want a simple way to sell.

Connily supports Instagram and Facebook, plus Facebook Ads integration for boosting. More platforms are coming, but that's the scope today. You can download content and post manually to other platforms, but native support is limited to Meta's ecosystem.

Planoly supports 8 platforms: Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and Threads. As an official Instagram partner, you don't need to worry about account security issues with the integration. For creators active across multiple platforms, Planoly covers significantly more ground. The content repurposing feature lets you adapt posts for different platforms from a single upload.

Planoly wins on platform breadth. If you're posting to TikTok, Pinterest, LinkedIn, or YouTube alongside Instagram, Planoly supports all of them natively. Connily's platform support will expand, but today it's Instagram and Facebook only.

Connily combines social analytics with Shopify metrics. You get post-level performance alongside product-level insights - which products drive engagement, what content moves the needle on sales. The AI agent draws conclusions and makes recommendations. You can chat with the agent about trends, projections, and strategy. It's not just dashboards - it's an analyst you can talk to.

Planoly's analytics are basic. Post performance, follower growth, engagement rates - the essentials. Reviewers consistently note the analytics feel limited compared to other scheduling tools. There's no competitive benchmarking, no e-commerce tie-in, and no AI-driven insights. If analytics are important to your workflow, you'll likely need a separate tool.

Connily wins on analytics. The combination of social and Shopify data with AI-driven conclusions gives you a clearer picture of what's driving results. Planoly's analytics cover the basics but won't help you understand how social media impacts your sales.

Connily starts at $69/month (Enhance, 10 posts). Scale is $149/month (40 posts). Automate is $299/month (100 posts). Flat pricing - no per-user fees. Every plan includes unlimited AI generations, Shopify integration, and agent chat. For context, a freelance social media manager costs $500-2,000/month. An agency runs $2,000-5,000/month.

Planoly starts at $16/month for Starter (1 social set, limited uploads). Growth is $28/month and includes AI captions. Pro is $43/month for agencies and multi-brand setups. There's a limited free plan with 30 total uploads - enough to try the interface but not viable long-term. Annual billing saves about 15%. It's one of the most affordable scheduling tools on the market.

Planoly is much cheaper for pure scheduling and planning. If you already create great content and just need to organise and schedule it, $16-43/month is hard to argue with. But if content creation is your bottleneck, Planoly doesn't solve it - and the true cost is Planoly's subscription plus whatever you spend making the content. Connily costs more but includes the content creation that Planoly leaves to you.