When it comes to managing your content, editorial calendar tools are essential.
Editorial calendar tools are visual workflows that helps organize just about everything related to content. They’re most often used on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
What’s great about editorial calendars is that they’re great for tracking topics, progress on current content, deadlines, and almost everything in between.
But trying to track all of the information manually is a major pain. Take it from someone who’s writing thousands of words a day for multiple companies, keeping track of so much information can get tricky.
If you need help, check out this list of the best editorial calendars.
Table of Contents
1. Airtable: Top-Rated Editorial Calendar Tool
Source: Airtable
One of the most popular collaboration and spreadsheet tools is Airtable. It’s also an incredible free content calendar tool. There’s a paid version with more feature and customization options. But the free version should be more than enough for a basic content calendar or spreadsheet.
Airtable is also incredibly versatile, enabling you to use single-line and multi-line text. It’s also popular to use checkboxes and even attachments in your editorial calendars. Regardless of what you need, this tool is great for your content marketing team.
But let’s focus on what Airtable can do as an editorial calendar tool. One of the main features of Airtable as a content calendar is the many views you can use.
Airtable’s content calendar tools enable you to choose from a wide range of views, including grid, calendar, kanban, gallery, and form options. Each view lets you or another person with the right permissions assign tasks, make edits, and have great workflow management.
I first began using Airtable in a previous job. I hadn’t heard of it before and found it super easy to jump into. Since I found out that there was a free version of Airtable, I downloaded it right away and haven’t looked back.
You can also use this program’s content calendar tools to assign what type of content is needed, where it will get posted, and anything else you can think of.
I covered what Airtable can do as an editorial content calendar tool. Now, let’s take a look at some of Airtable’s other features that might help your business out.
One of the main reasons why Airtable is one of the best editorial calendar tools is due to its many templates. Getting ready to track a marketing campaign? You can find an Airtable template to help you out. Airtable also has templates for tracking projects, conducting research, creating product catalogs, and so much more.
When your team prepares and begins working on a content strategy, it can mean that lots of documents, images, and other files start getting created fast. Unfortunately, this can lead to lots of documents getting lost in the shuffle. Fortunately, this project management tool can help you out with its ability to store files within Airtable.
Besides it’s built-in editorial calendar, Airtable can also integrate with many popular project management tools. Slack, WordPress, Stripe, and GitHub are just a few of the tools that seamlessly integrate with Airtable.
How Much Money is Airtable?
This editorial calendar is available in a few different pricing options. If you have a tight budget or work with a small crew, the free version of Airtable is a risk-free way to start using this editorial calendar tool. Even with the free version of this tool, you get access to several free editorial calendar templates.
Airtable also offers a Plus Plan that’s $10 per month if billed annually or $12 per month if billed monthly. There’s also Airtable’s Pro Plan that offers up to 20 GB of attachments and 50,000 records per base.
2. Google Calendar
Source: Google
Another incredibly popular editorial calendar tool is Google Calendar. This popular software is free for anyone with a Gmail account. Consider that a Gmail account is free, anyone can access this powerful content calendar creator.
What’s great about Google Calendar is that it syncs with your Google account. So, you can set and receive important reminders just about anywhere, including your computers, smartphones, and tablets.
First, it’s time to learn how Google Calendar can help you with event scheduling. This content calendar program lets you create events, add guests, write event descriptions, and even set up in-app notifications for all users.
From there, this editorial calendar program also makes it easy for other users to respond, check attendance, and manage their own events.
You’ll also be glad to know that this editorial calendar tool integrates with other programs from this company, including Google Sheets and other apps. You can also use this program’s content calendar tools to make notes, delete calendars, and customize how you plan events.
How Much Does Google Calendar Cost?
Google offers free and paid versions of Google Calendar. This company’s Start plan is $6 per month, per user. There’s also a Standard plan that’s $12 per month. Lastly, Google Calendar’s Plus plan which is $18 per user per month.
3. Asana
I also wanted to make sure that Asana held a top spot in this list of the best editorial calendar tools. One of the best features of Asana is that it’s easy for groups of people to collaborate. Plus, it’s a must if you’re organizing content marketing specialists.
With Asana, everyone can have their own unique view of what’s happening. If you want peak productivity and less confusion among your content team, Asana makes a great content calendar app.
Asana is also one of the best editorial calendars for keeping everyone’s workload at an optimal level. You can use Asana to have clear graphs of how much work everyone has. I also like that Asana can integrate with many other apps and programs (over 100), including the Google line of products, Dropbox, and many others.
Asana is another editorial calendar tool available in both free and paid options. While the free version is great, companies managing large teams might need to consider one of Asana’s paid tiers.
How Much is Asana?
This editorial calendar is available under a Free, Premium, or Business plan. The Free plan, as you can imagine, is 100% free. Asana’s Premium plan costs $13.49 per month. Lastly, Asana’s Business plan costs $30.49 per user per month.
4. Trello
Source: Trello
If you and your team are visual learners and workers, check out Trello. Instead of using a drab calendar or something like that, Trello uses what’s known as a kanban layout. With Trello, you’ll use notes to track the status of projects.
What’s also cool about this editorial calendar tool is being able to switch your projects between either a calendar or Kanban view. It’s a new way for most companies to organize content. But, because of that, it might be the best content calendar for your business.
The main feature that this editorial calendar offers is the ability for multiple channels and people to all communicate and work effectively.
Each content calendar made with Trello features the ability to assign tasks, create timelines, measure productivity, and much more.
It’s also easier to keep things organized with Trello. That’s because this editorial calendar tool makes it easy to manage, share, and track tasks. Each task can feature due dates, message histories, attachments, and much more.
What’s also cool about Trello is how intuitive it is. You won’t have to worry about complicated to-do lists or ugly content calendars with Trello.
How Much Does Trello Cost?
Trello is one of many editorial calendar tools with a few different pricing levels. Besides the free plan, Trello also offers Standard, Premium, and Enterprise plans.
Standard plan: $6 per month
Premium plan: $12.50 per month
Enterprise plan: $17.50 per month
5. Buffer
Source: Buffer
We’ve spent a lot of time looking over editorial calendar tools to help plan out the production of content. But what happens after you or one of your writers hit that ‘Publish’ button? If you need help with promoting your company’s content, check out Buffer.
Buffer is a type of online editorial calendar that helps your business promote its content. It integrates with all of the popular social media apps. By using Buffer, you can schedule and promote your company’s content.
Powerful Social Media Management
If you haven’t been using social media to its fullest, Buffer just might be a game-changer for your business. You might see that Buffer is a social media management tool for small businesses, which is true. But, Buffer provides more than enough social media scheduling and content tools for larger companies.
Let’s take a closer look at the fast and thorough process Buffer users to analyze your company’s social media content and reach. You’ll soon learn what your audience wants and doesn’t want regarding social media content.
Buffer also functions as a social media content calendar. You can schedule posts easily with Buffer. By using this content tool, you can spend your time focusing on other aspects of your business.
Do you find it impossible to manage your company’s popular social media accounts? Fear not, Buffer has you covered. This content marketing platform lets you respond to social media comments faster than ever by using Buffer’s hotkeys and labels.
Besides being a powerful social media calendar, Buffer also has built-in trackers that analyze the engagement and reach of your company’s social media posts and pages.
Buffer has tools and features that any company wanting better results from social media will love. Whether you own an agency managing multiple clients or are a business owner trying to launch a new company, Buffer might be the right tool for you.
How Much Money is Buffer?
This editorial calendar tool is available in three plans: Free, Essentials, or Team. Buffer’s Free plan costs nothing. The essentials plan provides you with advanced analytics and tools to help with publishing and engagement. With Buffer’s Team plan, you get all features in the Essentials plan plus the ability to add unlimited team members.
6. Loomly
While we’re on the subject of social media management, it’s also a good idea to learn more about Loomly. Whether you lead a social media marketing team or you’re a one-person marketer, Loomly has many helpful features.
If you, as I, get stuck on coming up with new ideas from time to time, you’ll love the post ideas that Loomly provides. With this cool feature, you’ll never run out of ideas for social media posts.
Another potential perk of Loomly is that it’s great for people who don’t like trying to manage a social media calendar from a spreadsheet. Instead, you and all of your social media marketers can take care of everything social media-related in Loomly.
Collaborate Towards a Better Content Strategy
Have custom designs and assets you want easy access to? Loomly makes content management easy by letting you store and access assets for use across all of your social media accounts. This tool also makes it easy for both internal and external collaborators to work together and complete tasks.
Besides being an awesome editorial calendar tool, you’ll find that it can help you measure how well you’re doing on social media. After you publish posts, Loomly keeps an eye on important metrics.
Plus, Loomly integrates with all of the most popular social media platforms. You can use this social media tool with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. If your company is in desperate need of a social media manager, or you want to make your current manager’s life easier, check out Loomly.
How Much Money Does Loomly Cost?
Loomly offers five different paid plans. Unfortunately, there is no free plan available.
7. monday.com
Monday calls itself a “Work OS” or work operating system. It promises to boost the productivity of your marketing campaigns and team members. One of the main goals of this content marketing platform is to streamline how work gets completed.
Whether your company needs social media posts, blog content, or a new video, it’s easy for everyone to work together in Monday. You can assign tasks and schedule posts and other upcoming work with Monday.
Create Content Together
As of this writing, a new feature this editorial calendar tool offers is a workdoc feature. With this feature, your teams can work on content creation within one intuitive document editor.
What makes Monday extra special involves all of the add-on programs this company offers. Content marketers will love Monday Marketer. This program is great for managing workflows by allowing people to come up with content ideas. It features creative requests and an excellent content calendar.
Monday also has a wide range of calendar and planning templates. If you want something sleek and smart, check out Monday’s visual content calendar. This dynamic editorial calendar is great for anyone wanting a better way to manage their workflows.
How Much Money is Monday?
Monday’s editorial calendar tool is available in Individual, Basic, Standard, Pro, and Enterprise plans. The Individual plan is totally free. Here’s a breakdown of the other plans and their monthly costs:
Basic: $8 per user per month
Standard: $10 per user per month
Pro: $16 per user per month
Enterprise: Contact Monday for a quote
8. StoryChief
If you need help managing content creation, check out StoryChief. StoryChief offers an editorial calendar tool that makes it easy to organize content ideas for both web and social media content. This program is best for large marketing teams, but its many features can also benefit smaller companies.
Whether it’s one-on-one or large group chats, this editorial calendar lets employees easily collaborate with each other. StoryChief’s content calendars feature real-time updates, ensuring everyone stays in the loop. Plus, StoryChief offers content management features to make storing images and videos a breeze.
Besides organizing digital marketing content, you can also use StoryChief to write new content. StoryChief’s in-app content editor helps you ensure that your writing is ready for Google and other search engines.
After the content creation process is complete, StoryChief’s editorial calendar tool also helps with sharing your content. StoryChief integrates with many programs, including Facebook, Slack, and WordPress. These integrations help immensely with automated publishing. You simply let StoryChief know where you want to share content and this program takes care of everything else.
How Much Money Does StoryChief Cost?
StoryChief is one of the pricier editorial tools. However, it’s also one that’s made for larger teams like big companies and corporations.
Team: $140 per month, billed quarterly.
Team Plus: $210 per month, billed quarterly.
Agency: $400 per month, billed quarterly.
Enterprise: Contact StoryChief for pricing.
9. KanbanFlow
Another way to tackle content management among different team members is by using KanbanFlow. This editorial calendar tool gets its name from kanban boards, which help with managing work by visualizing tasks. If you need a better way to visualize content management, KanbanFlow might be the right solution for you or your business.
KanbanFlow is great for content marketing teams that need a way to easily track tasks while getting a bird’s eye view of a company’s projects. You can also add sub-tasks and task limits to keep everyone working with more clarity and less bottlenecks in your company’s content pipeline.
Besides an offering an incredibly clear calendar view, KanbanFlow also integrates with Google Docs, OneDrive, and Dropbox. These integrations further help the content management process, allowing users to quickly attach documents within KanbanFlow tasks.
Another cool feature of this editorial calendar tool is its time-tracking tool. Whether someone is creating a blog post or pitching ideas, this time tracker keeps everyone working efficiently.
How Much Does KanbanFlow Cost? (Lowest Cost Content Calendar)
Whether you use KanbanFlow as an editorial or social media calendar, you won’t spend a lot of money on this product. KanbanFlow is available in either a Free or Premium option. The Premium Plan costs only $5 per user per month.
10. Evernote
Evernote is a great editorial calendar for any person with a lot of things to do. This solution lets you and your employees work from anywhere. That’s because this tool’s notes automatically sync to someone’s devices.
This editorial calendar tool helps you keep track of all content planning tasks. It also lets you link notes to a date or event, ensuring you’re always in the know. For instance, social media managers can add notes for employees about posting ideas or instructions.
I’m a habitual note taker and occasionally absent-minded, not a good combination. Fortunately, Evernote has an incredibly powerful search feature that helps you find previously created notes. This solution works with all major platforms, including PC, Mac, Android, and iOS.
Whether you need assistance with meetings, content planning, or a better way to manage social media, Evernote can help.
How Much Money is Evernote?
There are four plans available with this editorial calendar tool: Free ($0), Personal ($8.99 per month), Professional ($10.99 per month), and Enterprise ($14.99 per month).
11. Loomly
With new platforms each year and ever-changing guidelines, social publishing can be quite hectic. But, with Loomly, social content scheduling couldn’t be easier.
Since Loomly is one of the best social media calendars, it integrates with all of the popular social destinations, including:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn
YouTube
WhatsApp
TikTok
Slack
and many others
Loomly makes managing complex workflows much easier than normal. This platforms lets you manage both organic and paid social media content. With this feature, you spend less time bouncing from one social media platform to another.
This social media content calendar can also help you out when inspiration isn’t striking. With Loomly, you can check out trending topics, breaking news, and popular accounts to get a wealth of ideas for your upcoming social posts.
Another one of Loomly’s premium features is social media post scheduling. With this feature, you can create social media content. Then, automate the monotony of manually posting content by letting Loomly take over. These automation features can save your content team a ton of time.
How Much is Loomly?
This social media calendar is available in the follow plans and prices:
Base – $35 per month
Standard – $79 per month
Advanced – $172 per month
Premium – $359 per month
Enterprise – Contact Loomly for pricing
I hope you enjoyed this look at some of the best editorial calendar tools. If you want help taking your company’s content strategy to the next level, visit contentmarketinglife.com. Here, you’ll find a wealth of information from someone who’s been creating digital content since 2012.
Alex Eagleton is a copywriter and digital marketer passionate about helping companies connect with customers. Throughout the past decade, he’s worked with companies including Referral Rock, Connecteam, and Ramsey Solutions. He’s a versatile writer who understands how to align with companies, truly matching their voices and tones.
When he’s not writing, he enjoys spending time with his dogs, reading, and playing guitar.
You can reach him by emailing alex@contentmarketinglife.com.