Influence vs Maeve Social in 2026: human-reviewed AI publishing or approval-first client collaboration

Influence is built for an operator who wants AI to prepare content without silently taking over the release decision. A Single Post or Campaign can use saved Brand Guidelines, notes, and selected media, then create a separate text and media version for each connected account. The calendar holds drafts and scheduled work, and Upcoming gives the user a place to change or cancel a future campaign before delivery. The public directory includes major social networks alongside community, messaging, and publishing destinations such as Discord, Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp, WordPress, Ghost, and Discourse. Format and settings support still depend on the provider.

The final review is the defining feature. Publish now opens a review of the account, copy, media, settings, time, and time zone. Scheduling follows the same pattern, and a meaningful change requires a new review. Activity marks confirmed delivery as Published and uncertain delivery as Needs review. Influence IQ can draft and revise from brand context, but ChatGPT, Claude, Codex, and other assistant connections still require an explicit user approval before publishing or scheduling. This offers a useful control for a founder or social manager who needs an AI copilot without an unattended posting agent.

The plans are unusually specific about volume rather than team structure. Starter is €170 yearly for 50 posts monthly and 1,500 IQ credits; Growth raises that to 150 posts and 3,750 credits; Pro has unlimited posts and 7,500 credits. All include unlimited connections across 20-plus platforms and a seven-day trial. There is an HTTP API, SDK, CLI, and MCP integration, but the reviewed material does not establish Maeve-style client review links, role structure, approval routing, or named collaborator allowances. Influence is a controlled publishing system, not a substitute for a detailed agency approval desk.

Maeve Social is for the agency where the delay is not writing a caption but getting it signed off. It combines a social calendar, composer, grid planner, analytics reports, inbox, and publishing to nine platforms, but its approval design is the real reason to use it. A client can open a browser link without creating an account and approve, comment, or request changes. That small practical detail can replace the recurring email chase that makes a polished social calendar late and difficult to audit.

Approval rules can route a post by channel, platform, post type, author, label, pillar, format, or campaign. Stages may require any reviewer, all reviewers, or a specified order, and the product documents version differences, manager override, reminders, closing times, and failed-post recovery. Standard is the meaningful plan for that job at $99 monthly or $950 yearly: it adds internal and client approvals, shareable calendar links, all-channel aggregate analytics, and 1,500 AI credits. Basic is a $25 monthly or $240 yearly planner with 800 credits, but does not include the client or internal approval layer.

Maeve also lists comments and DMs, branded reports, advanced best-time-to-post insights, a REST API, CLI, and MCP access. Premium costs $199 monthly or $1,900 yearly and includes 3,000 monthly AI credits. The three-day trial is short, and the public plan comparison does not make every account and workspace cap easy to compare, so a serious agency should build one real campaign and send a real client review link during the trial. Its reviewed profile does not position it as a broad market-listening suite. Choose it for production governance, not merely because it has a calendar.