Getly
A social media content calendar is a table where every post has a date, a platform, a format and a status. For December, buy or build one now: Black Friday falls on 27 November, and the holiday weeks fill up faster than you think. A good template costs about as much as a coffee, works in Excel or Google Sheets, and has separate columns for TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. This guide covers what to check before you pay, what these templates cost on Getly, and how to fill one in for December.
What content calendar templates cost on Getly
We measured the catalogue on 4 November 2026. The numbers below describe the narrow part of the shelf that matters here: 9 listings in our social media, planner and marketing categories whose names contain "content calendar", "content planner" or "content plan".
| Measure (content calendar listings, measured 4 November 2026) | Value |
|---|---|
| Median price | $11 |
| Middle half of prices | $5 to $12.99 |
| Free listings | 0% |
| Licence allows commercial use | 55.6% |
| Personal use only | 22.2% |
| No licence stated | 11.1% |
For context, the whole shelf these templates sit on (3,443 listings across social media templates, planners, prompt packs, graphics and more) has a median price of $4.50. Calendars sit above that median because they are working files with formulas and several tabs, not single images.
So a fair price for a solid calendar is somewhere between $5 and $13. Paying more makes sense only when the listing clearly includes more: a year of tabs, a matching Canva post set, or a caption library.
Which format to buy
The format decides whether you will actually use the calendar every day. Pick the one that matches the tool you already open in the morning.
| Format | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Excel (.xlsx) | Working offline, formulas, filters by platform | Sharing with a team needs OneDrive or a copy in Sheets |
| Google Sheets link | Teams, phone editing, comments on each post | The listing should give a "make a copy" link, not edit access to the seller's file |
| Notion template | Board views by status, linked caption drafts | Needs a Notion account; check the duplicate link is in the files |
| Canva planner | A visual monthly grid you can print or share | No formulas, weak for tracking results |
| Printing and planning by hand | A PDF is not editable. If you want to type into it, look for fillable fields |
Many sellers ship a ZIP that holds an .xlsx file plus a PDF guide. That is fine, as long as the product page names what is inside. If the description says "template" and nothing else, ask before you pay.
Columns a useful calendar has
Open the preview images and look for these columns. A calendar without them is a pretty grid, not a plan.
- Date and time. Ideally with a time zone note, if your audience is in another country.
- Platform. A dropdown with TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and the others you use, so you can filter.
- Format. Reel, carousel, story, short, long video, live. Each takes a different amount of work.
- Topic or hook. One line that says what the post is about.
- Caption and hashtags. Or a link to a draft document.
- Status. Idea, scripted, filmed, edited, scheduled, published.
- Link to assets. The folder with the video or images.
- Results. Views, saves, comments or clicks a few days after posting. Without this column you cannot learn from December.
Separate tabs per platform are a plus. TikTok and YouTube Shorts move fast and need more posts per week; long YouTube videos need a production timeline of several days each.
TikTok, Instagram and YouTube: what changes per platform
One calendar can hold all three, but the rhythm differs. Plan the work, not only the publish date.
| Platform | Typical formats | Plan in the calendar |
|---|---|---|
| TikTok | Short vertical videos, lives | Batch filming days, a column for the trend or sound you use |
| Reels, carousels, stories | Story days separately from feed posts, a column for the cover image | |
| YouTube | Long videos, Shorts | Script, filming and editing dates before the publish date, plus the thumbnail |
If you reuse one video across platforms, give it one row with three platform columns rather than three rows. You will see at a glance where it is already live.
How to plan December with one
December is short in practice. The last week is quiet for many audiences, and the first days run straight on from Black Friday and Cyber Monday. A simple order of work:
- Mark the fixed dates first. Black Friday on 27 November, Cyber Monday on 30 November, Christmas on 25 December, New Year's Eve on 31 December, plus any dates that matter to your audience or country.
- Set the launch and sale windows. If you sell something, block the days the offer runs and the reminder posts before it ends.
- Choose three or four content themes for the month, such as gift ideas, behind the scenes, year in review and plans for January. Assign each week one main theme.
- Fill the posting slots with the number of posts you can really produce. A steady, smaller rhythm beats a plan you drop by 10 December.
- Batch the work. Put filming and writing days in the calendar too, ideally in the first week of December, so the holiday weeks are already scheduled.
- Leave buffer rows for reacting to news, comments and trends.
- Book a review day in early January to read the results column and decide what to repeat.
Licence: what you are allowed to do with the template
Every Getly listing can state one of these: personal use only, commercial use allowed, extended (commercial and client work), public domain, or custom terms. Among the content calendar listings we measured, 55.6% allow commercial use, 22.2% are personal use only and 11.1% state no licence.
- Planning your own brand or your employer's accounts is usually fine with commercial use.
- If you are a social media manager and want to hand the calendar to clients, look for an extended licence, or ask the seller.
- Reselling or sharing the template file itself is almost never allowed.
- When no licence is stated, do not assume commercial use. Send the seller a message through Getly before buying.
Checklist before you pay
- The product page lists the files: .xlsx, a Sheets copy link, a Notion link, a Canva link or a PDF.
- The previews show real columns, not only a cover mockup.
- The dates are not locked to a past year. A good calendar lets you type a start date and fills the rest.
- The licence matches how you will use it.
- The price sits near the measured range of $5 to $12.99, or the extra content justifies more.
- You know how refunds work: Getly has a 30-day refund window, and a refund request is reviewed by the Getly team.
You can pay by card or with USDT/USDC stablecoins, no account needed. Card orders deliver right after payment, crypto orders once the network confirms the payment.
Where to browse
Start with social media templates, where calendars sit next to post and story designs. Planner spreadsheets also appear under planners and trackers. If you want caption and idea prompts to fill the topic column, look at AI marketing prompt packs, and for the visuals themselves, graphics and design.
Buy the calendar this week, fill in the fixed dates tonight, and the rest of December becomes a list of rows to work through.
