# Film Budgeting Software Compared: Movie Magic, Showbiz, and More

Source: https://storiara.com/blog/film-budgeting-software-compared
Last updated: 2026-09-14
Author: Charles Hirschhorn, Storiara

> Movie Magic Budgeting and Showbiz Budgeting are desktop programs built for detailed feature and TV budgets with fringes, globals, and actuals. Hot Budget is an Excel workbook aimed at commercials and music videos. Saturation is a web platform that adds cost reports, POs, and expense cards. StudioBinder's plans don't include a budget module. Storiara builds a first budget from a script's breakdown and schedule, without actuals tracking.

## The short version

All prices below were checked on each company's own site on September 14, 2026. They change, so confirm before you buy.

| Product | Pricing | Platform | Built for | Actuals and cost reports |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Movie Magic Budgeting | $42.99/month, or $299.88/year | Windows or macOS download; cloud sync | Feature and TV budgets | Connects to EP's SmartAccounting for actuals |
| Showbiz Budgeting 10 | From $399 for 2 computer installs; Showbiz Cloud subscription extra | Mac OS 12 or later, Windows 7 or later | Features, TV, commercials, live events | Yes, in the program |
| Hot Budget | Not listed on its site; licenses sold through the Hot Bricks store | Excel workbook (Mac recommended) | Commercials, music videos, post, animation | Actual and running budget views |
| Saturation | Free Creator; Pro $384/year or $40/month; Team $948/year or $99/month | Web app, plus an iOS receipt app | Production finance, from budget to expenses | Yes, on Pro and Team |
| StudioBinder | Free plan; paid plans from $29/month | Web app | Pre-production (breakdowns, schedules, call sheets) | No budget module in its plans |
| Storiara | Beginner free; Producer $39.99/month plus $19.99 per extra collaborator; Studio custom | Web app | Script-to-schedule planning, with a budget built from that data | No |

## Movie Magic Budgeting

Movie Magic Budgeting comes from Entertainment Partners. If your accountant, financier, or guarantor works in it, sending a native file saves everyone from re-entering your budget.

What it does well, according to EP's product page: customizable rule sets for fringes, cutoffs, and globals that update the whole budget, custom reports, comparisons of complex cost scenarios, amortization and pattern budgets for series, and a connection to EP's SmartAccounting to track actuals. Subscribers download a Windows or macOS version after purchase, and EP describes online and offline access with cloud sync. It also imports legacy Movie Magic Budgeting 7 files.

Pricing on EP's store: $42.99 per month on a monthly plan ($515.88 over a year), or $299.88 per year on an annual plan, the same per seat for multiple seats. Academic pricing is $125.88 per year.

For a small production, the catch is time. It's a professional tool with a learning curve, and it doesn't read a script or a schedule, so someone still types every line.

## Showbiz Budgeting 10

Showbiz Budgeting, sold through the Cast & Crew store, covers much of the same ground as Movie Magic and adds a few things its product page emphasizes: 100+ customizable templates including AICP and studio formats, five editable overtime tiers per detail line, currency links for foreign shoots, phases for splitting a budget across jurisdictions for incentives, purchase orders tallied against costs, and actualization that imports payroll from Media Services, CAPS, or Showbiz Timecards along with checks, EFTs, invoices, petty cash, and POs. It imports Movie Magic budgets, which makes switching easier.

Pricing is by computer installs: $399 for 2 installs, $548 for 3, $688 for 4, and so on, with a 5-day free trial and academic pricing on request. Showbiz Cloud, which adds real-time collaboration and permissions, is a separate monthly or annual subscription bought inside the program and requires the desktop version. It runs on Mac OS 12 or later and Windows 7 or later.

Who it suits: producers and accountants who want budgeting and cost tracking in one desktop program, especially across features and commercials. As with Movie Magic, every line is still entered by hand or imported from another budget.

## Hot Budget

Hot Budget, from Hot Bricks in Burbank, is an Excel workbook rather than a standalone app. Its templates are built around commercial and music video work, including AICP-format commercial templates, plus post-production and animation. Its feature list includes viewing the original, running, and actual budgets side by side, an overtime calculator, currency conversion, and a travel budget section.

Things to know before you buy. Pricing isn't published on hotbudget.com; licenses are bought through the Hot Bricks online store. The license covers use on one computer by one person, and each workbook has a programmed expiration date. The current version, 3.0.10, expires January 1, 2027, after which you can't create new budgets or change bid sections, though basic actualization still works. Hot Budget recommends Excel for Mac 16.55 on macOS, and its download page notes that not all features are available in Windows.

Who it suits: commercial and music video producers who live in AICP bids and already work in Excel. See [how to budget a commercial shoot](https://storiara.com/blog/how-to-budget-a-commercial-shoot) for the bid form it's built around.

## Saturation

Saturation is a web app that positions itself as a financial system for productions rather than only a budgeting tool. Its site describes budgets with line items, rates, fringes, and actuals; a project library of rates, fringes, globals, currencies, units, tags, and incentives; templates for features, TV, commercials, and more; imports from Movie Magic, Excel, and other tables; and an iOS app for receipts.

Plans, from its pricing page:

| Plan | Price | Seats | Budget-related features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Creator | Free | 1 seat, 1 active project | Budgeting and actualizing, templates |
| Pro | $40/month, or $384/year billed annually | 1 | Cost reports and EFC tracking, Saturation Pay expense management, QuickBooks and Slack integrations |
| Team | $99/month, or $948/year billed annually | 3 included; extra seats $35/month or $336/year | Purchase order management, role-based approval routing |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | SSO, API |

Who it suits: productions that want the budget, the weekly [cost report](https://storiara.com/glossary/cost-report), purchase orders, and crew expense cards in one online system. It doesn't break down a script or build a schedule, so the budget still starts from numbers you bring.

## StudioBinder

StudioBinder is included here because people search for it alongside budgeting tools. Its site lists call sheets, screenwriting, AV scripts, shot lists, storyboards, mood boards, script breakdowns, shooting schedules, stripboards, contacts, task boards, a production calendar, and reports. A budgeting module isn't in the feature list of any of its current plans. The plan data its pricing page loaded when we checked shows a free plan and paid plans from $29 a month (Starter) to $299 a month (Studio), with lower rates on annual billing.

If you use StudioBinder for scheduling, you'll pair it with one of the programs above for the budget.

## Storiara

Storiara starts from the script. It extracts scenes, locations, characters, props, and wardrobe from a PDF, Word, or Final Draft file; you build the schedule on a drag-and-drop stripboard, and cast day out of days is generated from it. The Budget module's setup wizard (production type, union tier, shoot days, prep and post weeks, contingency, completion bond) then calculates a budget from that data, using rates entered on cast, crew, equipment, assets, and locations, filling gaps from tier tables, and taking cast paid days from the day out of days. You get a top sheet with a fringe column, editable line items, Sync from story data that keeps manual edits, estimated incentives from the Funding module, print, and Export to Excel. It doesn't track actuals, purchase orders, cash flow, or variance, and it doesn't import or export Movie Magic files. Pricing: Beginner is free with 1 story (new accounts get a 30-day trial), Producer is $39.99 a month plus $19.99 per additional collaborator, and Studio is custom.

## What a year costs a three-person team

Say a line producer, a production accountant, and a producer all need budget access for 12 months. Using each company's published prices:

| Product | Math | 12-month cost |
|---|---|---|
| Movie Magic Budgeting, annual | 3 seats x $299.88 | $899.64 |
| Movie Magic Budgeting, monthly | 3 x 12 x $42.99 | $1,547.64 |
| Showbiz Budgeting 10 | 3 computer installs, one purchase (Cloud not included) | $548 |
| Saturation Team, annual | 3 seats included | $948 |
| Saturation Team, monthly | 12 x $99 | $1,188 |
| Storiara Producer | ($39.99 + 2 x $19.99) x 12 = $79.97 x 12 | $959.64 |
| Hot Budget | Not published | Quote required |

For a 6-month show on monthly plans, the numbers change: Movie Magic is 3 x 6 x $42.99 = $773.82, Saturation Team is 6 x $99 = $594, and Storiara Producer is 6 x $79.97 = $479.82. Showbiz stays $548 for the installs.

Price is rarely the deciding factor at this level. The bigger questions are whether your accountant or guarantor needs a specific file format, whether you need actuals and POs in the same system, and whether you want the budget built from the script and schedule or typed from scratch.

## How to choose

1. If a studio, financier, or guarantor will review the budget, ask what format they want before you pick. Movie Magic and Showbiz files are the usual answer.
2. If you need cost reports, POs, and expense tracking, look at Showbiz's actualization or Saturation's Pro and Team plans.
3. If you bid commercials and music videos on AICP forms, Hot Budget and Showbiz both have AICP templates.
4. If you're starting from a script and need a budget that reflects the schedule quickly, a tool that reads the breakdown saves the retyping, and you can export to Excel to finish detail elsewhere.

Before choosing any of them, the [film budget estimator](https://storiara.com/tools/film-budget-estimator) gives a quick range for your shoot, and the [best film budgeting software](https://storiara.com/blog/best-film-budgeting-software) ranking covers more options. For one-to-one comparisons, see [Showbiz vs Movie Magic Budgeting](https://storiara.com/compare/showbiz-vs-movie-magic-budgeting) and [Storiara vs Saturation](https://storiara.com/compare/saturation).

## Frequently asked questions

### How much does Movie Magic Budgeting cost?

On Entertainment Partners' store, Movie Magic Budgeting is $42.99 per month on a monthly subscription, or $299.88 per year on an annual subscription. There's an academic price of $125.88 per year.

### Is Showbiz Budgeting a subscription?

The desktop program is sold through the Cast & Crew store priced by number of computer installs, starting at $399 for 2 installs, with a 5-day free trial. Showbiz Cloud, for real-time collaboration, is a separate monthly or annual subscription bought inside the program.

### Can Showbiz Budgeting open Movie Magic budgets?

Its product page says you can import Movie Magic budgets, along with Point Zero and PowerBid actuals.

### Does StudioBinder do budgets?

StudioBinder's plans and feature list cover screenwriting, breakdowns, stripboards, shot lists, storyboards, call sheets, and calendars. A budgeting module isn't among the features included in its plans.

### Which film budgeting software is free?

Saturation has a free Creator plan limited to 1 seat and 1 active project, and Storiara's Beginner plan is free with 1 story. Movie Magic Budgeting and Showbiz Budgeting offer trials or academic pricing rather than free plans.

## Sources

- [Entertainment Partners: EP Store (Movie Magic Budgeting subscriptions)](https://www.ep.com/ep-store/)
- [Entertainment Partners: Movie Magic Budgeting](https://www.ep.com/movie-magic-budgeting/)
- [Cast & Crew Store: Showbiz Budgeting 10](https://store.castandcrew.com/product/showbiz-budgeting/)
- [Hot Budget: Download (versions, expiration, system requirements)](https://hotbudget.com/download/)
- [Hot Budget: License](https://hotbudget.com/license/)
- [Hot Budget: Overview](https://hotbudget.com/overview/)
- [Saturation: Pricing](https://saturation.io/pricing)
- [Saturation: Home (features and imports)](https://saturation.io/)
- [StudioBinder: Pricing](https://app.studiobinder.com/pricing/)
- [StudioBinder: Home (product features)](https://www.studiobinder.com/)