Comparison · vs Frame.io
Frame.io vs chimping.io: which one is right for working filmmakers?
Frame.io is great and has a lot of bells and whistles a lot of filmmakers I know don’t ever touch. To get the rest of a filmmaker’s workflow — master delivery to clients, mid-project transfers to color and sound, folder-preserved receive links from your colorist — you’d pair Frame.io with MASV, WeTransfer, or Dropbox and pay all of them. Mountain Creative Directory bundles all of that on one subscription. Below: honest head-to-head, by a working DP who built one of them.
Short answer
Pick Frame.io ifyou’re on a multi-person editorial team, you need Camera to Cloud, you’re inside the Adobe ecosystem already, or you’re delivering for a network that mandates Frame.io. It’s a deep tool built for that customer.
Pick chimping.io if you’re a freelance DP, director, editor, or small studio sending cuts to clients AND master files to color, sound, and finishing. Review + master delivery + transient file transfers + folder-preserved inbound, all on one flat monthly bill. Clients download without signing up, folder structure stays intact end to end, and recipient downloads never count against your storage.
At a glance
Head to head
| Frame.io | Here | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting paid price | From $15 / mo (Pro) | $9 / mo flat (Solo) |
| Typical working tier | Team tier + add-on tools | $19 / mo flat (Studio) |
| Tools you need to do the full workflow | Frame.io + MASV/WeTransfer + Dropbox file requests | Just this — bundled on one bill |
| Storage on working tier | 2 TB Pro — but review proxies, masters, and recipient downloads all share this bucket | 1 TB Studio (or 2 TB Pro) — masters only · review encoding lives on a separate meter (see below) |
| Review encoding | Eats storage. Every cut you upload for review counts against the same 2 TB you need for masters. | Separate meter. Studio = 90 min/mo, Pro = 180 min/mo of new encoding · expires after 60 days · doesn't touch your master storage cap. |
| Frame-accurate comments | Yes | Yes |
| Per-asset approval | Yes | Yes |
| Client needs an account to download | Yes | No |
| Master file delivery in same tool | Limited (workflows) | Yes (deliveries) |
| One-off transient transfers (MASV alternative) | No | Yes (300 GB – 1.2 TB / mo, 7-day auto-expire) |
| Recipient downloads count against your bill | Yes (limits per tier) | No (unlimited) |
| Camera to Cloud | Yes (the moat) | No |
| Native Mac app for recipients | Frame.io app (for owners) | Free (for any recipient) |
| Free tier | Yes (2 GB, 5 collaborators) | 3-day paid trial |
| Built by | Adobe | A working DP |
Pick the right one
When each tool wins
Frame.io is the right call
- Multi-person editorial team where everyone needs an account anyway
- Camera to Cloud is part of your workflow (or you want it to be)
- You’re deep in the Adobe ecosystem and the Premiere integration matters
- You’re delivering to a network or agency that mandates Frame.io
- Production picks up the bill, so subscription cost isn’t the question — capability is
chimping.io is the right call
- Solo filmmaker or small studio paying out of pocket
- Clients are one-off brands / agencies who won’t set up an account just to approve a cut
- You also deliver master files and want it in the same tool and the same bill
- You hand off large folders to color / sound and don’t want to pay per GB
- You want one predictable monthly cost instead of stacking three or four subscriptions
What the bundle actually costs
One subscription vs the stack
The bundle is where the savings live. To get the full filmmaker workflow on Frame.io you typically stack a transfer tool (MASV or WeTransfer) and an inbound tool (Dropbox file requests) on top of the review subscription. Mountain Creative Directory ships all of it on one bill.
Solo freelancer
Frame.io
3 monthly bills
Frame.io + WeTransfer or MASV + Dropbox / Drive for receive
Here
$9 / mo
Solo plan covers all three
One subscription, not three
Working filmmaker
Frame.io
3 monthly bills + per-GB
Stacked tools — MASV bills per-GB on top of Frame.io's seat fee
Here
$19 / mo
Studio plan flat, 750 GB transfer included
Predictable. No per-GB surprises.
Documentary / episodic
Frame.io
3 monthly bills + heavy per-GB
Big-delivery cadence means real MASV / WeTransfer spend on top
Here
$35 / mo
Pro plan flat, 1.2 TB transfer included
One subscription, flat cost.
We’re not quoting Frame.io’s tier prices here — they move regularly. Check their site for the current number. The point isn’t the headline storage price; it’s the bundle. chimping.io replaces the stack on one flat monthly bill.
Questions people ask
Frequently asked
- Is Frame.io better than chimping.io?
- Frame.io is great and has a lot of bells and whistles a lot of filmmakers I know don't ever touch. For multi-person editorial teams, Camera to Cloud, or shops already living inside Adobe's stack, Frame.io is the deeper tool. For the working filmmaker who mostly needs client review + master delivery + the occasional color/sound round-trip without paying for three separate services, chimping.io does it on one flat subscription.
- How much cheaper is chimping.io than Frame.io?
- The savings aren't really about the headline storage number — they're about the bundle. To match what chimping.io ships on one subscription (review + master delivery + transient file transfers + folder-preserved receive links), you'd typically stack Frame.io plus a MASV- or WeTransfer-style service plus a Dropbox-style inbound tool. Three monthly bills instead of one. chimping.io's Studio plan ($19) covers all of it.
- Does chimping.io have frame-accurate comments?
- Yes. Same core review experience — timecoded comments, per-asset approval, threaded replies. The interaction model is the same. The difference is what surrounds the review tool: master file delivery in the same subscription, recipient downloads that don't require an account, and folder-preserved transfers in both directions for color and sound round-trips.
- Can clients download from my Frame.io review page?
- Yes, but they need a Frame.io account, which most one-off clients won't set up. With chimping.io, recipients open the share link in any browser and download — no account required.
- Does Frame.io have a free tier?
- Frame.io Free supports 2 GB of storage and 5 collaborators. Useful for trying it out, not enough for working projects. chimping.io has a 3-day trial on the paid tiers (Solo $9, Studio $19, Pro $35), no free tier — by design, since the cost difference vs Frame.io's paid plans is already where the value lives.
- What about Camera to Cloud?
- Frame.io's Camera to Cloud (C2C) is the real moat for high-end production — proxies flowing from set to editorial in near real-time. chimping.io doesn't compete here and isn't trying to. If C2C is critical to your workflow, Frame.io is the right tool.
- Can I switch from Frame.io to chimping.io?
- Yes. There's no migration tool — you re-upload your active projects, which takes a few hours per project depending on size. Clients use a new share link. Most filmmakers who switch do it project-by-project rather than all at once.
- Can clients upload files back to me with folder structure preserved?
- Frame.io's upload flow is per-asset — uploads land as individual assets in your project rather than as a folder tree on disk. That's the right shape for review-driven workflows but not for color round-trips where the colorist needs to send back /graded/Reel-01, /graded/Reel-02 as folders. chimping.io has dedicated receive links for exactly that case: recipient drops a folder in their browser, you pull it down to your Mac via the free desktop app, the folder hierarchy lands on disk exactly the way they sent it.
- Does chimping.io's 1 TB Studio really go as far as Frame.io's 2 TB Pro?
- In practice it goes further. Frame.io's 2 TB has to hold everything — review proxies, master files, AND recipient downloads count against it. chimping.io separates those: review encoding lives on its own meter (90 min/mo on Studio, 180 min/mo on Pro) and auto-expires after 60 days, recipient downloads don't count at all, and the 1 TB / 2 TB cap is just for master deliveries. So your 1 TB isn't fighting for space with the cuts you've been sending out for review — it's holding finished work, full stop. Most Studio users find it goes 2-3× as far as a same-size bucket on a tool that mixes proxies and masters.
Compare with another tool
More head-to-heads
vs MASV
Pay-per-GB transfer service.
Read →
vs WeTransfer
Consumer-grade file send.
Read →
vs Dropbox
General-purpose cloud storage.
Read →
Or see the full comparison hub.
Try it on a real project
3-day trial. One flat monthly bill, no stack to manage. Cancel any time before the trial ends to avoid the charge.
Send one review link to a real client. Send one master delivery to color. Then decide. That’s the only honest way to compare.