Comparison

SwatchBoard vs Instagram Planner

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

SwatchBoard

Features
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Collage Maker makes it simple to design clean, beautiful photo collages in seconds. • Canvas presets: Instagram, Stories, YouTube, X, and more • Layouts: 20+ balanced grids from 1×2 up to 5×5 • Freeform mode: Drag, resize, and arrange anywhere • High‑quality export: Crisp results at your chosen resolution • Photo library integration: Import and save with ease • Thoughtful design: Fast, minimal, distraction‑free Why creators like it • Platform‑perfect sizes in one tap • Clean grids that make photos stand out • Zero ads and on‑device processing Features • 20+ grid templates and freeform editing • Canvas size presets for major platforms • Edge‑to‑edge editor with safe areas • Save to Photos in high resolution Permissions • Photos: to import images and save finished collages Collage Maker focuses on speed, quality, and a clean look so your photos are the star.

About

Instagram Planner

Visually plan and arrange your social media feed before publishing. Design individual posts, create color palettes, and preview your entire profile grid. Offers AI caption suggestions and story planning.

Highlights
  • Visual feed grid planner
  • Post arrangement and reordering
  • Color palette and dominant tone analysis
  • Carousel and Story design
  • On-device AI caption suggestions
  • iCloud sync across devices
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Plan your Instagram feed before anything goes live. Swatch is a grid planner made by photographers. See the whole profile at once, arrange your posts, and design each one around the look of the feed instead of one photo at a time. No Instagram login, no subscription, no scheduling. PLAN ON THE BIG SCREEN Swatch Desktop puts your photo library beside a full-size phone in your browser, on the same grid as your iPhone, synced through your own iCloud. Drag a whole shoot in, try posts in place, build carousels and write captions on a real keyboard. In beta and included with Swatch Pro. Try it with sample photos at tryswatch.app/desktop. START WITH THE GRID • Lay posts out in Instagram's real 3:4 proportions, so what you plan is what your profile shows • Block out a feed in color before you've shot anything, with color placeholders • Flatten every photo to its dominant tone with the color map, and read the whole palette at a glance • Press, hold and drag to reorder; the grid reflows around it • Mark reels, carousels, captions and what's already posted COMPOSE THE POST • Single photos, plain carousels and borders for each photo • Photo layouts and framed sets that bake down to one clean tile • Seamless Panorama carousels: one wide photo across several slides, so it reads as one continuous image on the swipe • Preview the finished post in a real Instagram feed PLAN STORIES TOO • Design Stories on a 9:16 canvas with photos and text • Arrange them across slides and preview the sequence WRITE THE CAPTION • On supported iPhones, Apple Intelligence suggests a caption in your tone or polishes your own, entirely on your device • Copy it across when you hand the post to Instagram yourself FREE AND PRO Free plans one grid on one account with the full feed workflow: single photos, plain carousels, color placeholders, the color map, reordering, Stories, iCloud sync and export. Pro is a one-time unlock: more grids and accounts, Layouts and Borders, seamless Panorama carousels, on-device AI captions and Swatch Desktop. No subscription, ever. YOURS, AND PRIVATE Your grids live on your iPhone and sync through your own private iCloud across your Apple devices, free. There's no separate Swatch account. Swatch never posts for you: plan here, then post from Instagram when you're ready. See tryswatch.app/privacy for details about iCloud sync, desktop uploads and limited usage events.

Screenshots

SwatchBoard2 screens
Instagram Planner4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: SwatchBoard at none against Instagram Planner's 1. SwatchBoard also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 2 days) and device support (3 vs 1). On price and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Instagram Planner sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. SwatchBoard asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SwatchBoard ships an update daily, Instagram Planner every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 4 level
SwatchBoard versus Instagram Planner: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSwatchBoardInstagram Planner
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Update frequencyDaily — betterEvery 2 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size20 MB15 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperOMR APPLICATIONS LTDAlex Stewart

In-app purchases

None

SwatchBoard

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Instagram Planner

One-time1
  • Swatch Pro$9.99

Questions

Is SwatchBoard free?
SwatchBoard is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Instagram Planner free?
Instagram Planner is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do SwatchBoard or Instagram Planner have ads?
Neither SwatchBoard nor Instagram Planner shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SwatchBoard or Instagram Planner?
SwatchBoard ships an update daily, and Instagram Planner every 2 days. Most recently, SwatchBoard was updated on October 28, 2026 and Instagram Planner on October 31, 2026.

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