Working remotely has some amazing benefits, but what you gain in the ability to dial in to meetings in your flannel PJ pants, you make up for in certain collaborative challenges.
One of the most common challenges for remote creative teams is the review and approval process. You want to be able to get clear feedback and ensure that all critical stakeholders sign off on new edits and media without wasting tons of time going back and forth in a project management loop with endless email chains.
Thankfully, the rise of remote work culture has brought along new tools that can help you eliminate inbox chaos while sharing content edits with as many or as few team members as you like. We’ve compiled our top ten remote review and approval tools that will save you from inbox hell and help your team get more done.
The 10 best remote review and approval tools for creative teams
Evercast
Evercast is a remote collaboration platform that allows you to share content, make notes, and communicate with your team in real-time. This allows you to gather your entire team in a virtual “room” where you can answer questions, gather feedback, and even re-edit your content while your team looks on.
Async or real-time?
Real-time
Best for:
Game design/production teams, film/tv production teams, marketing teams
Key features:
- Ultra-low latency HD video streaming (less than 150ms)
- Record and review function to review key session moments
- On-screen drawing for visual notations
- Time-stamped notes to keep comments organized
- Real-time video conferencing, HD project streaming, and comments/visual note-taking all under one platform
What’s missing:
- It’s not a file transferring platform, so you won’t be able to send the final pre-vis file through the platform for download.
- While team members can watch recorded sessions, it works best when everyone can gather together in real-time.
Pricing:
Our flagship product for all your real-time collaboration needs, starts at $549 per month. Special pricing packages are available for larger studios or teams.
Create together remotely, in real time
Wipster
Wipster is an aesthetically pleasing visual collaboration platform that allows team members to review, comment, and organize creative projects through every step of the feedback process. If it’s next to impossible to get your team on a Zoom meeting together, this is a great interface for gathering feedback and tracking new edit versions remotely.
Async or real-time?
Async
Best For:
Film/tv production teams, marketing teams
Key features:
- Threaded comments linked to individual frames
- Version control to track edits through different revisions
- “Stages” feature which allows everyone to see which stage of approval each project is at (ex: “needs changes” or “approved”)
- Activity notifications that can be linked to browser, email, or Slack, so you never miss an update
What’s missing:
- There is no ability to live-stream edit sessions and get real-time feedback.
- There are no creative software integrations, so all projects must be manually uploaded to the platform.
Pricing:
Free for teams of up to two people with limited storage and playback resolution. $25 per month, per seat for teams of over two people with HD video playback and 250GB of storage. Custom pricing is available for enterprise users.
Frame.io
Frame.io is a cloud-based media collaboration program focused on getting feedback and approvals on media files. It also integrates directly with Adobe products such as Premiere Pro, and After Effects, so you can seamlessly export your previs edits right from your editing platform in less time.
Async or real-time?
Real-time & async options
Best For:
Game design/production teams, film/tv production teams
Key features:
- Lightning-fast media upload speeds (less than 3 minutes for 5GB of data)
- Custom-branded presentations to present work
- It supports most common video editing software integrations and has an API that allows it to custom-fit the workflow to your needs
- Time-stamped notes and on-screen annotations
What’s missing:
- No live editing feature for real-time feedback
- It does not support video calling.
Pricing:
Free for up to 2 users, paid packages starting at $15 per user, per month. Custom pricing is available for enterprise customers.
Filestage
Filestage is a content review platform that prioritizes making client approvals fast and easy and allows teams to provide feedback on all sorts of projects, from videos to wireframes. If you’re looking for a clean interface to store and share previs files (and other media) on, this is a great option.
Async or real-time?
Async
Best For:
Game design/production teams, film/tv production teams, marketing teams
Key features:
- Unlimited file storage
- Unlimited users per project
- Hassle-free one-click approvals
- Collaboration tools like @ mentions to keep everyone in the loop
- Downloadable assets with download permission controls, so only the users who need the file have access
- No software install is needed; the platform works directly from the browser.
What’s missing:
- No real-time collaboration features
- It does not natively integrate with pro editing tools like Adobe Premiere.
Pricing:
It starts at $99 per month for up to 15 active projects and basic features.
ShotGrid
ShotGrid is an end-to-end production management and content review platform designed specifically for video and game production teams.
Similar to Wipster and Frame.io, you can share your video files and receive text and visual feedback on your edits. One feature that’s really handy is the ability to see previous notes and versions during a new content review, so everyone gets the full context of what’s been added or changed.
Async or real-time?
Async
Best for:
Game design/production teams, film/tv production teams
Key features:
- Version and note history tracking
- Shot comparison features
- Mobile platform to review projects on the go
- File transfer through the platform
What’s missing:
- No live collaboration features for in-edit feedback
Pricing:
It starts at $40 per account per month.
LookAt
LookAt is a collaboration platform for remote teams that includes a unique VR production feature that could be a huge asset for anyone producing VR content. Like the platforms we’ve mentioned before, it includes visual annotation tools and text notes so everyone can give clear, actionable feedback.
Async or real-time?
Real-time & async features
Best for:
Game design/production teams, film/tv production teams, marketing teams
Key features:
- On-image, real-time annotations, so everyone stays in sync
- Version management and comparison
- VR/360-degree production platform for collaborating on VR projects
- Seamless integration with a number of creative software platforms, including Adobe products
What’s missing:
- No video chat feature in-app to collaborate face-to-face with team members
- No file transfer system
Pricing:
It starts at $12 a month for up to 5 reviewers and 3 projects, $299 a month for unlimited reviewers, and up to 15 team members. Enterprise pricing packages are available.
Vidhub
Vidhub is a video collaboration platform that prioritizes timecoded, chat-based feedback for video review. This is great for teams that mostly communicate through text-based notes but may fall short if you prefer visual annotations.
Async or real-time?
Real-time & async features
Best for:
Film/tv/video production teams, marketing/advertising teams
Key features:
- Direct imports from either your hard drive or from cloud-based storage like Vimeo or Dropbox
- Automatically pause and timestamp your feedback just by typing a comment
- Real-time collaboration with team members via text chat
- Automatic feedback request reminders
- Easily control access to different files, so only relevant reviewers see your content
What’s missing:
- No video conferencing feature
- No on-screen annotations
- No professional software integrations
Pricing:
It starts at $19 per month for a single user, with team accounts starting at $39 per month.
QuickReviewer
This cloud-based creative team collaboration app that’s geared towards marketing teams or video production houses that are working on more than one episode or project at a time, thanks to its controlled file access and multiple project organization features.
Async or real-time?
Async
Best for:
Marketing/advertising teams
Key features:
- Timestamped, color-coded, and searchable comments
- On-screen annotation tools
- Simple Approve/Reject buttons for stakeholders
- File download options
- Controlled file access
- Professional software integrations
What’s missing:
- No face-to-face video chat feature
- Low storage limits in the lower pricing tiers
Pricing:
The basic version is free; professional versions start at $10 per month.
Screenlight
Screenlight is a video review platform that tries to make the process of gathering and implementing asset feedback a more organized, straightforward process.
Async or real-time?
Async
Best for:
Film/tv/video production teams
Key features:
- Superfast file upload speeds
- Easily toggle different collaborator permissions (view only, view and comment, etc.)
- Time-stamped notes to keep comments organized
- Easily review content on a web browser, tablet, or mobile device.
What’s missing:
- Not specifically designed for game team workflows or different file type review
- No video chatting feature
Pricing:
Free for a basic single-user version, $9 per user, per month for the professional version.
ReviewStudio
ReviewStudio is another online proofing platform that makes content reviews quick and painless. You can also assign tasks to certain commenters and collaborators so you can get straight to the editing after you’ve received feedback.
Async or real-time?
Real-time & async features
Best for:
Marketing/advertising teams
Key features:
- Threaded comments
- On-screen drawing for visual annotations
- A wide variety of file types supported
- Assign tasks directly to commenters right from the review thread
What’s missing:
- No video chat feature
- Low storage capacities
Pricing:
It starts at $15 per month for a single user; team accounts start at $56 per month for up to 7 users.
