# Storiara vs Saturation: Planning Budget or Production Finance?

Source: https://storiara.com/compare/saturation
Last updated: 2026-09-14
Author: Nick Harty, Storiara

> Saturation.io is cloud production finance software: budgets from industry templates, union rate packs, fringes, phases, actuals, expense cards, receipt matching, purchase orders, and cost reports, with a free Creator plan. Storiara plans the shoot from the script and calculates a first budget from the breakdown, stripboard, and cast Day Out of Days, then produces call sheets. Saturation runs the money through wrap; Storiara has no actuals.

Saturation and Storiara both put a film budget in a browser, which is why they get compared. After that they split. Saturation's pitch is the financial side of a production from first estimate to final cost report, including the cards crew spend on and the receipts they photograph. Storiara's budget is one module in a pre-production tool, and its job is to turn a breakdown and a stripboard into a first number.

## Who each fits

Saturation fits producers and production accountants who own the money. Its plans scale from a free single-project Creator tier up to Team plans with purchase orders and approval routing, and Enterprise with SSO and an API. Commercial companies get AICP templates; features and series get studio and network templates. Once the budget is locked, the same project handles actuals, expense cards, and bills.

Storiara fits the producer, director, or student who is still working out what the shoot is. You upload the script, check the extracted scenes and elements, board the days, and let the budget pull cast days from the Day Out of Days and rates from cast, crew, equipment, props, and locations. The project also produces the call sheets.

## Where Saturation is ahead

Once the first draft is done and money starts moving, Saturation covers ground Storiara doesn't. Its budgets carry estimate, committed, actual, and rollup columns, and the Pro plan adds cost reports and estimate-to-complete tracking. Storiara has none of that, so its budget stops matching reality the day you pay the first deposit.

Spending is handled inside the same product. Saturation Pay issues virtual and physical cards to department heads, receipts get scanned and matched to transactions, and charges arrive coded to budget lines, with bank accounts connected through Plaid. On the Team plan you also get purchase order management and approval routing by role, and Saturation says its flows can route invoices, payments, and other items for approval with branching and delays.

The budgeting tools go further as well. Saturation ships versioned rate packs for IATSE, SAG-AFTRA, WGA, and DGA, fringes and markups you can stack and cap, globals, currencies, and incentive packs by jurisdiction. Storiara's union rate tables are estimates and shouldn't be quoted as current official rates. Saturation can import a Movie Magic budget if a line producer already built one, and it can give a department head access to their own section without exposing the rest of the budget.

## Where Storiara does something Saturation doesn't

Saturation starts from a template, and each line is what you or your rate pack enter. It doesn't read a script, count page eighths, or build a schedule. Storiara does those things, and its budget uses the cast Day Out of Days, so each actor's paid days come straight from the board.

Here's why that matters on a fictional 20-day feature. Your two leads work every day, but a supporting actor appears in Scenes 12, 38, and 71, which the first board puts on Days 2, 9, and 17. If the gap days are carried as holds, she's paid for 16 days (SW on Day 2 through WF on Day 17). At a $500 day rate, that's $8,000 in wages. Move Scene 71 to Day 10 and she runs SW on Day 2 to WF on Day 10: 9 paid days, $4,500. In Saturation you'd enter 16 or 9 yourself after working it out in a scheduling tool. In Storiara the board change updates the DOOD, and a sync updates the cast line.

Storiara also covers the rest of prep. Breakdown sheets print from the script panel, locations carry photos and parking maps, and the call sheets come from the same schedule, and crew can fill in availability through a no-login link that imports Google Calendar busy times.

## Building the first budget for a 20-day feature in each

In Saturation, the producer picks a feature film template, turns on the SAG-AFTRA and IATSE rate packs, and sets globals for 20 shoot days and prep and wrap weeks. As they type positions, rates fill in from the pack and can be accepted with Tab. They add fringes, set contingency, and invite the financier as a viewer who can leave comments on lines they question. When prep starts, expense cards go out to department heads, and receipts start landing on the right lines.

In Storiara, the producer uploads the screenplay, fixes a few extracted props, and boards 20 days on the stripboard. In Budget they run the setup wizard (production type, union tier, 20 shoot days, prep and post weeks, 10% contingency, optional completion bond) and let it build the top sheet from the DOOD and the rates on each record. They adjust lines where they have real quotes, hide the budget from the Assistant Director role, and export to Excel for the financier. When spending starts, Storiara has no place to record it.

## Moving between them

Saturation says it imports Excel and other tables, and Storiara exports its budget to Excel, so the Storiara budget can be the starting file for Saturation. Expect to fix the account structure, since Storiara uses its own four-digit chart (1100 Story and Rights through 6820 Payroll Service) and sections for above the line, below the line, post, and other. Going from Saturation to Storiara, nothing imports into the budget; rates go onto cast and crew records, either by hand or through the CSV and Excel import on Cast & Crew.

## Cost at a glance

For one producer, Storiara's Producer plan is $39.99 a month. Saturation's Pro plan is $40 a month billed monthly or $384 a year. Adding two people changes things: Storiara adds $19.99 each for $79.97 a month, while Saturation's Team plan includes three seats at $99 a month, or $948 a year. Saturation's free Creator plan is limited to one project and Storiara gives new accounts a 30-day free trial, which is enough to test either on a short before committing a feature to it. Saturation's Creator plan includes actualizing, and Storiara's trial includes scheduling and budgeting.

## Choosing

Pick Saturation if you need to track real spending, run cards and receipts, route approvals, and produce cost reports, or if you're a production accountant who wants modern budgeting software. Pick Storiara if you're still in prep and want the breakdown, board, cast days, first budget, and call sheets tied together. Using both is a reasonable path: plan and estimate in Storiara, then carry the budget into Saturation once financing closes. The [compare hub](https://storiara.com/compare) and [best film budgeting software](https://storiara.com/blog/best-film-budgeting-software) roundup list other options, and the [indie film budget template](https://storiara.com/templates/indie-film-budget) works with either.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is Saturation free?

Saturation's Creator plan is free with one active project, one seat, 1,000 account items, and 2GB of storage, and it includes budgeting and actualizing with templates. Paid plans add unlimited projects, cost reports, expense management, and integrations, with a 14-day trial.

### Does Saturation do scheduling or call sheets?

No. Saturation's site describes budgeting, expense management, accounts payable, approvals, and cost reporting. It doesn't list script breakdown, stripboard scheduling, a Day Out of Days, or call sheets.

### Can Storiara track spending against the budget?

No. Storiara's budget is an estimate built from the breakdown, schedule, and rates, with no actuals, purchase orders, cost reports, or variance tracking. Saturation is built for that part of the job.

### Can I move a Storiara budget into Saturation?

Storiara exports its budget to Excel, and Saturation says it imports Excel and other tables as well as Movie Magic budgets. Check the column mapping and account numbers after import, since the two use different templates.

## Sources

- [Saturation pricing](https://saturation.io/pricing)
- [Saturation homepage](https://saturation.io/)
- [Saturation budgeting](https://saturation.io/budgeting)
- [Saturation expense management](https://saturation.io/expense-management)