Best Film Budgeting Software 2026: A Film Producer's Complete Guide

By Jens Jacob, Film Producer (After Death, The Heart of Man) and Co-founder, Saturation.io — Updated February 2026

I've budgeted dozens of film and TV productions — from $50K music videos to multi-million dollar features. The software you use to build your budget isn't a minor detail. It affects how fast you can revise when the director changes the script on week three, whether your line producer can pull cost reports from set, and whether your production accountant is working from a live document or a file that's already three versions behind.

This guide is written from that production experience — not from a payroll company's blog post, not from a scheduling tool's content marketing. From someone who has actually used these tools on real productions and built one of them because the existing options weren't keeping pace with how productions actually work.

The best film budgeting software options available in 2026 look very different from what the industry had five years ago. For three decades, the default answer was Movie Magic Budgeting. That's no longer automatically true. Cloud-native tools have caught up — and in many areas, surpassed — what desktop software can do. The question in 2026 isn't "do I use Movie Magic?" It's "which tool fits my workflow, my team, and my production?"

Here's what I cover:

• The 7 best film budgeting software tools for 2026 with honest pros and cons

• How to build a film budget step by step

• What to actually look for before choosing a tool

• Side-by-side feature and pricing comparison

• Free options that genuinely work

• What AI budgeting features actually exist (and which are marketing)

• Union productions, fringe calculations, and bond company considerations

• How integrated budgeting + banking changes the production workflow

• 12 questions every producer asks, answered directly

How to Build a Film Budget (Step by Step)

Before choosing software, it helps to understand the process. Here is how working productions build a budget from scratch:

1. Break down your script — Identify every scene, location, speaking role, and special element. Each scene generates cost implications: a night exterior requires more lighting and crew hours than a day interior; a crowd scene requires extras and extras coordination.

2. Identify your departments — Above-the-line (ATL) covers writer, director, and cast. Below-the-line (BTL) covers all crew, equipment, locations, production design, wardrobe, hair and makeup, transportation, and post-production. Every department becomes a budget section.

3. Research rates — Union minimums for SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, and DGA if applicable; day player rates vs. weekly deals. Non-union productions use negotiated rates. Rates vary significantly by market (Los Angeles vs. regional) and agreement tier (Low-Budget Agreement vs. Standard).

4. Build your line items — Populate each department with rates × days worked. A line producer working 8 weeks at a weekly rate, a camera operator working 20 shoot days at a day rate — each becomes a line item with a calculated total.

5. Add fringe — Calculate pension, health, and payroll taxes (30–45% on top of gross wages for union crew). This is where budget errors most commonly occur. Getting fringe wrong is a significant underage that can derail a production.

6. Build your topsheet — The one-page summary your investors, bond company, or studio will review. It shows total ATL, total BTL, and the overall production budget in a format anyone in the industry can read in 30 seconds.

7. Add contingency — Industry standard is 10% of the below-the-line total. Contingency is not a slush fund; it is the financial acknowledgment that productions encounter unexpected costs. Budget without contingency is a budget that will require an emergency conversation with your investors.

8. Revise constantly — Budget revision is not a sign of failure; it's the job. Pre-production generates dozens of budget revisions. The software you choose determines how fast you can turn those revisions around.

Saturation's free tier handles all of this — fringe calculations, topsheet export, and real-time revision — with no software install required.

What to Look for in Film Production Budgeting Software

Before reviewing each tool, here are the criteria that actually matter for working productions. Most reviews focus on feature lists. These are the questions that determine whether a tool survives contact with a real shoot:

• Collaboration: Can your line producer and production accountant both be in the same budget simultaneously, from different locations? Or does someone have to email a file and hope no one else is editing it?

• Fringe calculation accuracy: For union productions, fringes (pension, health, payroll taxes) can add 35–45% on top of gross wages. Does the software calculate these automatically, or do you do the math by hand?

• Revision speed: Budgets get revised constantly in pre-production. Can you restructure a department in minutes, or does it take an hour?

• Actuals integration: When you're in production, how do you track what you're actually spending vs. what you budgeted? Does the software help, or is that a separate spreadsheet problem?

• Output formats: What does the PDF topsheet look like? Can you export to Excel? Does the format work for your investors, bond company, or studio?

• Onboarding speed: How long until a new line producer or production accountant is functional in the tool?

The 7 Best Film Budgeting Software Tools in 2026

1. Saturation — Best Modern Production Finance Platform

Saturation is the only cloud-native film production budgeting software built specifically for how productions work today. Built by producers, for producers — because the desktop-only, single-user workflow of legacy tools was creating real problems on real shoots.

When your line producer is on location in one state and you're revising the budget remotely, you need a live document — not an emailed .mbb file that's already three versions behind by the time it arrives. When a department head swipes a card on set, that expense should hit your actuals in real time — not surface as a surprise three weeks into post when the receipts come in.

Saturation is built around that reality.

Pricing:

• Free: 1 project, 1,000 line items — enough for a short film, music video, or pilot presentation

• Pro: $25/month — unlimited projects, unlimited line items, all features

• Workspace: $65–75/month — team collaboration, department-level permissions, expense cards, cost reporting

What makes it different: Saturation integrates film budgeting directly with production banking. You build your budget, issue virtual expense cards to department heads coded to specific budget lines, and every purchase auto-reconciles against your budget in real time. The traditional workflow of collecting receipts at wrap, manually entering them into a cost report, and hoping the numbers match is eliminated entirely.

Strengths:

• True simultaneous multi-user editing — no version conflicts, no emailed files

• Automatic fringe calculations — configure union tables once, apply across all agreements

• ATL/BTL structure — industry-standard above-the-line/below-the-line format

• Free tier is genuinely useful (not a demo)

• Integrated virtual expense cards and production banking

• Fast onboarding — most users are budgeting within 30 minutes

• Works on any browser, any OS, mobile included

• Monthly feature updates — cloud means no software installs or version lag

• PDF topsheet and detailed budget export, Excel export

Limitations:

• Some completion bond companies have historically required Movie Magic format — verify your bond company's requirements (this is changing)

• Production accountants deeply embedded in Movie Magic workflows may have a learning curve

Best for: Independent features, studio productions, commercials, music videos, documentaries, TV pilots — any production that wants a modern, cloud-native financial workflow.

Start free on Saturation →

2. Movie Magic Budgeting — The Legacy Desktop Standard

Movie Magic Budgeting has been the default film budgeting tool since the early 1990s. It's desktop software, single-user per file, Windows-primary — a product designed for a world before cloud collaboration existed. The industry built its workflows around it for three decades, and those workflows don't change overnight.

Movie Magic's strengths are real: it has the most comprehensive built-in union fringe tables, deep pattern budgeting for episodic television, and universal recognition among production accountants who've been using it for 20 years. If you're joining a production that's already standardized on Movie Magic, you'll need to work within that system.

Its weaknesses are also real: no real-time collaboration, no cloud access, a Windows-first design that lags on Mac, a steep learning curve, and no integrated expense tracking. The UI has not meaningfully updated in years.

Pricing:

• Monthly subscription: $42.99/month

• Annual subscription: $279.88/year (~$23.33/month)

• Perpetual license: $489

• Academic/student: $189

Strengths:

• Comprehensive union fringe tables (SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, DGA, Teamsters)

• Deep pattern budgeting for episodic TV

• Multi-currency for international co-productions

• Widely recognized among production accountants with legacy workflows

Limitations:

• Desktop only — no cloud, no real-time collaboration

• Single user per file — collaboration means emailing .mbb files

• Windows-primary (Mac version exists but is less stable)

• Steep learning curve — weeks to master

• No expense tracking or actuals integration

• UI design unchanged for years

• No mobile access

Best for: Productions whose accounting teams have standardized on Movie Magic, episodic TV productions with existing network/studio workflows, and any production specifically required to deliver a Movie Magic file by their bond company. Producers searching for a Movie Magic Budgeting alternative will find Saturation handles the full production finance workflow at a fraction of the cost, without the desktop install.

3. Celtx — Best for Writer-Directors

Celtx is a full pre-production suite — script, breakdown, schedule, and budget in one platform. The script-to-budget pipeline is its genuine differentiator: write your script in Celtx, tag locations, cast, and props in the breakdown, and Celtx auto-populates budget line items from that data.

The important caveat: Celtx's free plan does not include budgeting. Budgeting access starts at $30/month (Production plan). For producers who primarily need a budgeting tool, Saturation is the stronger choice and starts free. Celtx makes sense when you want the full script-to-screen workflow in a single platform.

Pricing:

• Studio: $14.99/month — scriptwriting and pre-production tools, no budgeting

• Production: $30/month — adds budgeting

• Teams: $59.95/month — team management, up to 5 users

Strengths:

• Script-to-budget pipeline is unique

• Cloud-based with real-time collaboration

• Combined script, breakdown, scheduling, and budget in one tool

• Easier learning curve than Movie Magic

Limitations:

• Budget module less powerful than dedicated budgeting tools

• Free plan does not include budgeting

• Not accepted by bond companies as a primary budget format

• Subscription only, no perpetual license

Best for: Writer-directors managing development solo, film school productions, early-stage projects where script and budget evolve together.

4. Showbiz Budgeting — Best for Commercials and Branded Content

Showbiz Budgeting is the go-to for commercial producers who bill on AICP format. It handles the specific line item structure that ad agencies expect, including overtime for commercial shoots and pattern budgeting for multi-episode branded series. If commercial and branded content is your primary work, Showbiz understands that workflow.

Pricing: ~$399 for 2 licenses (desktop)

Strengths: AICP format natively, strong overtime and commercial fringe calculations, pattern budgeting for series.

Limitations: Desktop only, niche outside commercial/episodic context, dated interface.

Best for: Commercial producers, AICP-format budgets, branded content series.

5. Hot Budget — Best for Commercial Producers on PC

Hot Budget is an Excel-based macro system that commercial producers have used for decades. AICP-formatted templates, built-in fringe calculations, very low price point. Works if you're PC-based and already comfortable in Excel.

Pricing: ~$100/year

Strengths: Very low cost, Excel-familiar, AICP commercial template support.

Limitations: PC only, single-user by definition, no cloud or mobile, Excel limitations apply (formula errors, no audit trail).

Best for: Commercial producers on PC already working in Excel, small production companies billing to ad agencies.

6. Gorilla Budgeting — Best for International and Student Productions

Gorilla offers combined budgeting and scheduling with strong international support — 14 languages, currency conversion for co-productions — at a significantly lower price point than Movie Magic. For film schools and emerging international filmmakers, it provides professional functionality without the cost or complexity of legacy desktop tools.

Pricing: $199/year or $24.99/month

Strengths: 14-language support, script-to-budget integration, significantly cheaper than Movie Magic, combined scheduling and budgeting.

Limitations: Not widely accepted by bond companies, smaller user community, desktop-first.

Best for: Film students, international productions with multi-currency needs, budget-conscious producers who need more than a free tier.

7. Google Sheets — Best for Ultra-Low Budget

Google Sheets with a film budget template is a legitimate option for productions under $50K with one person managing the numbers. Free, collaborative, and familiar. Saturation publishes free production budget templates in Google Sheets format. The limitation: all formula logic is manual, there's no fringe automation, and it doesn't scale.

Pricing: Free

Best for: Short films under $50K, first-time filmmakers learning budget structure, zero-budget projects.

Full Feature Comparison

Free Film Budgeting Software: What Actually Works

If you need free film production budgeting software, you have two legitimate choices:

Saturation Free Tier — 1 project, up to 1,000 line items. This is the same software as the paid tier — not a limited demo. You get real-time collaboration, ATL/BTL structure, configurable fringe rate tables, pre-built templates, and professional PDF/Excel export at no cost. No credit card required and it doesn't expire. When your production grows beyond one project, $25/month unlocks unlimited projects.

Google Sheets with a production template — Saturation publishes free film budget templates in Google Sheets format. Collaborative and flexible, but all formula logic is manual. Works for productions under $50K with a single person managing numbers.

Download free film budget templates → Saturation's template library includes formats for features, commercials, music videos, and short films — all pre-loaded with standard line items and fringe rate tables.

Film schools often require Movie Magic for coursework (academic license: $189). For working productions, Saturation's free tier is the strongest free option available.

AI Budgeting Features in 2026: What's Real

Every tool now claims "AI features." Here's what actually exists versus marketing language:

Real AI features in current tools:

• Script breakdown assistance (Celtx, Gorilla) — AI tags locations, cast, and props from script text. Saves time but requires human review to catch errors.

• Line item suggestions (Saturation) — When you type a department or role, the system suggests standard line items based on production type. Intelligent autocomplete, not generative AI, but genuinely useful.

• Variance alerts (Saturation Workspace) — Flags when actuals from expense cards deviate from budget lines by a set threshold. Automated monitoring, not AI in the strict sense, but the most practically useful feature in the category.

What's mostly marketing:

• "AI cost prediction" — no tool reliably predicts production costs. Productions are too variable (weather, talent availability, location changes) for current models.

• "AI script-to-budget generation" — partial reality. Script-to-budget tools auto-populate from tagged breakdowns, but human tagging is still required. Full auto-generation from raw script text is not reliable in 2026.

The most meaningful application in production finance right now is automated actuals reconciliation — matching expense card transactions to budget line items without manual entry. Saturation does this by integrating the card system directly with the budget, which eliminates the reconciliation step entirely rather than using AI to automate a problem that shouldn't exist in the first place.

The Integrated Financial Workflow: Budgeting + Banking

This is the piece that changes production finance — and no other budgeting software review covers it because no other tool does it.

Traditional workflow:

1. Build budget in desktop software

2. Production starts — department heads collect receipts

3. Accounting team manually enters receipts into cost report

4. Production accountant reconciles receipts against budget weekly

5. Line producer reviews cost report, identifies overages — 5–10 days after the money was spent

Saturation's workflow:

1. Build budget in Saturation

2. Issue virtual expense cards to department heads, pre-coded to specific budget lines

3. Department head makes a purchase — transaction auto-posts to the budget line in real time

4. Line producer sees actuals vs. budget with zero lag

5. No receipt collection at wrap — everything is already in the system

On a $500K production, manual receipt reconciliation can consume 2–3 weeks of a production coordinator's post time. Integrated expense tracking eliminates most of that work while giving the producer real-time financial visibility throughout the shoot — not a delayed summary at the end.

Union Productions and Fringe Calculations

For SAG-AFTRA performers, IATSE crew, Teamsters, or DGA directors, fringe calculations are where budget errors cost you the most. Fringe rates cover pension, health, and welfare (P&H) contributions, payroll taxes (FICA, SUI, FUI), and in some cases residuals. On a union feature, fringe can add 30–45% on top of gross wages — getting it wrong is a significant underage in your budget.

Current union rate tables are published annually by the guilds — SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, and DGA — and should be verified against the current Basic Agreement before finalizing any union budget.

Saturation lets you build and configure custom fringe rate tables for any union agreement. You set your SAG-AFTRA P&H rates, IATSE local rates, DGA minimums, and Teamster contributions once — and the budget calculates them automatically across every line item. For most productions working under any agreement from Modified Low-Budget through Standard SAG-AFTRA, this covers everything you need.

Movie Magic ships with pre-loaded union fringe tables that update with the agreements. For production accountants who prefer pre-loaded tables over manual configuration, this is a convenience advantage.

On bond company submissions: Some completion bond companies (Film Finances, DeWitt Stern, Front Row) have historically required budget documents in Movie Magic format. If your production requires a completion bond, confirm your specific bond company's format requirements before choosing your budgeting tool. Requirements vary by company and are evolving as cloud-native tools become standard. For productions that don't require a bond — which includes most independent features — this is not a relevant consideration.

Production-Type Guide

Independent Feature Film ($100K–$10M+)

Use Saturation. Cloud collaboration, configurable union fringe tables, integrated expense tracking, and real-time cost reporting make it the right tool for independent features at any budget level. If your specific bond company requires a Movie Magic file for formal submission, confirm that requirement directly — many modern independent productions handle this without Movie Magic for day-to-day budgeting.

Commercial / Music Video ($10K–$5M)

Saturation or Showbiz/Hot Budget depending on billing format. If you bill clients on AICP format, Showbiz or Hot Budget handle that natively. If you're not locked into AICP, Saturation's real-time collaboration is particularly valuable for commercial work where clients request revisions at any hour and department heads are spending across multiple shoot days.

Network Episodic Television

Movie Magic or Showbiz Budgeting if your network or studio has standardized on those tools and requires them for delivery. New productions starting fresh should evaluate Saturation — the pattern budgeting gap is real, but the collaboration and actuals advantages are significant over the course of a season.

Documentary

Saturation. Documentary budgets evolve constantly as the story changes. Saturation's flexible structure, real-time collaboration, and free tier handle most documentary projects from development through delivery.

Music Video

Saturation. Music video producers need fast revision cycles (often revising while the director is still pitching), client-facing PDF exports, and expense tracking for wrap. Saturation handles all three better than any other tool in the category.

Short Film / Student Film

Saturation free tier or Google Sheets. Don't spend money on budgeting software for a $20K short. Learn budget structure with free tools and upgrade when the productions justify it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best film budgeting software in 2026?
The best film budgeting software in 2026 is Saturation for most productions — offering cloud-native collaboration, automatic fringe calculations, integrated expense tracking, and a free tier that removes the barrier to entry. Movie Magic remains the tool of choice for production accountants with established desktop workflows and for productions whose specific bond companies require it for formal submission.

Is Saturation good for large productions?
Yes. Saturation handles productions at any budget level. The cloud-native workflow — real-time collaboration, integrated expense cards, automatic actuals reconciliation — is particularly valuable on large productions where budget management complexity increases and the cost of tracking errors goes up. The production size that benefits most from Saturation's integrated financial stack is not a small indie — it's a multi-department production where 10+ department heads are spending simultaneously against a budget that needs to stay live.

What is the industry standard film budgeting software?
The industry is in transition. Movie Magic Budgeting has been the established standard since the 1990s and remains the tool that many production accountants know. Saturation represents the modern production finance standard — cloud-native, integrated, built for how productions actually work in 2026. New productions choosing a tool today are increasingly choosing Saturation. Productions embedded in legacy accounting workflows often continue with Movie Magic.

Is film budgeting software worth it for a small production?
If your budget is over $100K or more than one person is managing finances, yes. The time saved on fringe calculations and cost tracking alone justifies the cost. Saturation's free tier means there's zero barrier to entry for small productions.

What's the best free film budgeting software?
Saturation's free tier — one full production budget, up to 1,000 line items, real-time collaboration, configurable fringe tables, and professional PDF/Excel export at no cost. No credit card required, no trial expiration.

Can I use Google Sheets for film budgeting?
Yes, for productions under $50K with one person managing the budget. Above that threshold, the absence of fringe automation, no audit trail, and no professional cost report format create real problems. Start with a production budget template to give yourself the right line item structure.

What film budgeting software do bond companies accept?
Some completion bond companies (Film Finances, DeWitt Stern, Front Row) have historically required Movie Magic format for formal budget submissions. Requirements vary by bond company and are evolving. If your production requires a bond, confirm your specific bond company's format requirements before choosing your software.

How much does Movie Magic Budgeting cost?
Movie Magic Budgeting costs $42.99/month (monthly), $279.88/year (~$23.33/month), or $489 for a perpetual license. Academic licensing is $189. There is no free trial.

Does film budgeting software work on Mac?
Saturation, Celtx, Gorilla, and Google Sheets all work natively on Mac — any browser, any OS. Movie Magic has a Mac version but it's less stable than the Windows version; most production accountants using Movie Magic are on Windows. Hot Budget and Showbiz are Windows-only.

What is the best film budgeting software for independent filmmakers?
Saturation. The free tier, cloud-native collaboration, configurable fringe tables, and integrated expense tracking are purpose-built for independent productions where a single producer or line producer is managing budget, actuals, and reporting simultaneously.

How do I calculate fringe on a film budget?
Fringe includes payroll taxes (FICA, SUI, FUI), pension and health contributions for union crew, and in some cases residuals. Rates vary by union agreement and state. In Saturation, you build custom fringe tables that calculate fringe as a percentage of gross wages per line item — set up once, applied automatically across the budget. In Movie Magic, fringe rates are pre-loaded and calculated automatically from built-in tables.

What is the 2.5 rule for movies?
The 2.5 rule is an industry guideline: a film must earn approximately 2.5× its production budget at the domestic box office to break even theatrically. This accounts for the exhibitor split (theaters typically keep 50% of gross receipts) plus prints and advertising (P&A) costs, which for a wide release often equal or exceed the production budget. A $20M film needs roughly $50M domestic gross just to cover theatrical distribution costs — before foreign sales, streaming, and ancillary revenue. It's a rough heuristic. Smaller films with limited P&A spend, direct-to-streaming releases, or strong foreign markets don't follow it precisely.

Is there AI film budgeting software?
Several tools include AI-assisted features — primarily script breakdown tagging (Celtx, Gorilla) and intelligent line item suggestions (Saturation). Full AI-generated budgets from raw scripts are not reliably available in 2026. The most practical AI application in production finance is automated expense reconciliation — Saturation addresses this through direct card-to-budget integration, which eliminates the reconciliation step entirely rather than using AI to automate a broken manual process.

Can you use ChatGPT to create a film budget?
ChatGPT can generate a rough film budget outline or estimate line items from a script description. What it cannot do: calculate union fringe rates accurately, produce a production-standard topsheet, integrate with expense tracking, or handle the revision cycles that real productions require. It's a starting point for a first-time filmmaker who needs to understand budget structure — not a tool for a working production. Purpose-built software like Saturation handles the accuracy and compliance requirements that AI language models can't.

Film Budget Templates and Free Resources

Looking for a starting point before choosing software? Saturation publishes free film budget templates in Google Sheets and PDF format, covering features, commercials, music videos, and short films. Each template includes standard ATL/BTL line item structure. Access free film budget templates →

The Verdict: Choose Your Tool by Workflow, Not by Budget Size

The wrong question is "which tool is right for my budget level?" The right question is "which tool fits my production's workflow?"

• Use Saturation if you need cloud collaboration, real-time actuals tracking, integrated expense management, or a free tier to get started. This covers independent features, studio productions choosing a modern workflow, commercials, music videos, documentaries, and any production where the financial team needs to work from a live document rather than an emailed file.

• Use Movie Magic if your production accountant has standardized on it, your specific bond company requires it for formal submission, or your studio/network workflow mandates it.

• Use Celtx if you're a writer-director who wants script, breakdown, and budget in a single platform from first draft through pre-production.

• Use Showbiz or Hot Budget if you're a commercial producer who needs AICP format and your team is already on one of those tools.

• Use Google Sheets for your first short film while you're learning budget structure — then move to Saturation when the production justifies real software.

Production finance is moving to the cloud. The generation of productions choosing their tools today is not choosing desktop software built for a single-user Windows workflow from thirty years ago. They're choosing platforms built for how film production actually works — collaborative, mobile, integrated, real-time. Producers searching for a Movie Magic Budgeting alternative will find Saturation handles the full production finance workflow at a fraction of the cost, without the desktop install.

Start budgeting on Saturation → Free, no credit card required