Celtx alternatives for 2026

Why look beyond Celtx at all?

Celtx has clear strengths — anyone switching should know what they are giving up:

• Screenplay formatting and breakdown in one place
• Long-standing tool with a large template library
• Entry-level pricing tiers exist

Where teams hit limits

The search for an alternative almost always starts at one of these points:

• Assumes a screenplay as the starting artefact
• Commercial and corporate briefs have to be forced into a script shape first

1. TillyBoard — the Celtx alternative that starts from the brief

TillyBoard starts from a client brief, which is how most commercial and corporate work actually arrives.

A fit for commercials, brand films, corporate and social work — wherever a brief lands and has to become a plan a crew can shoot from, quickly. Free to start, no credit card.

Celtx vs TillyBoard: feature comparison

The table only records what each vendor documents on its own site — "Not stated" means we could not evidence it there, not that it is missing.

As of October 2026. Source: celtx.com · TillyBoard: tillyboard.com

Celtx pricing compared

Celtx prices are in USD and billed yearly, taken from the structured offer data on its pricing page; monthly billing costs more. Breakdown, schedule, budget and call sheets come with the Team plan or as paid add-ons to the Writer plans.

TillyBoard bills per workspace, not per person: the Studio plan covers up to 25 members, and crew and clients confirm and comment via link without an account. All TillyBoard prices exclude VAT.

As of October 2026. Prices change — the vendor's pricing page is authoritative: celtx.com/pricing

Is Celtx free? Free plan and trial

Yes — Celtx Free covers 1 project and 1 seat with the screenplay and AV editors; story and production tools are not included. New free accounts get 7 days of paid features.

TillyBoard has a free-forever plan with no credit card: one own project, 1 GB of storage, Tilly AI on the standard quota and 10 AI images a month. That is enough to plan one real job end to end, from brief to call sheet, before deciding on a paid plan.

Try TillyBoard free

Who Celtx is the better pick for

Put honestly — here Celtx is the stronger choice:

• Screenwriters who want to write and break down in the same tool
• Narrative productions that go from screenplay to breakdown, budget and stripboard
• Film schools and students, with dedicated education and student plans

Who TillyBoard is the better pick for

And here TillyBoard is the stronger choice:

• Jobs that start from a brief instead of a screenplay — commercials, brand films, social
• Visual planning: concept canvas, moodboard and an AI preview frame for every shot
• Call sheets the crew confirms via link, plus an iOS app that works offline

Other Celtx alternatives

Depending on your bottleneck, these are worth a look — each with a different centre of gravity:

• Studiovity: Script-led productions that want writing, AI breakdown and scheduling in one suite with mobile apps.
• Movie Magic Scheduling: Scripted features and series where the stripboard is the shared language.
• Movie Magic Budgeting: Productions that must deliver budgets in a studio- or broadcaster-specified format.
• Filmustage: Teams that need a fast first-pass breakdown of a long script.
• Shot Lister: Directors and ADs who work from a phone or tablet on the floor.
• Boords: Animation and commercial teams whose approval process runs on boards.

Celtx in practice: what to weigh

Not a star rating, but the points that follow from Celtx's design, pricing model and documentation and that make the difference on real jobs:

• Pricing is modular: the Writer plans cover writing, while breakdown, schedule, budget and call sheets need Team or add-ons — check the modules a job needs before comparing prices.
• Script import is broad: Final Draft, Fountain, text-based PDF and Word, according to Celtx support.
• Celtx's Premiere Pro panel brings Celtx scripts into Premiere (announced April 2025).
• Call sheets go out as PDF by email; a confirmation flow is not documented.

Switching from Celtx to TillyBoard

TillyBoard has no direct import from Celtx. The switch runs through an export and a fresh plan — ideally between two jobs, not mid-production:

1. Keep the screenplay in Celtx if it lives there; print the shot list and breakdown reports as PDF and export the catalogue as CSV.
2. Create a free TillyBoard account (no card) and a project for the next shoot.
3. Put logline, treatment and references into the concept; Tilly AI drafts the shot list from it — or transfer the shots by hand, at roughly a minute per shot.
4. Add cast and locations once, then build the shoot day by dragging shots into place; daylight and weather are shown alongside.
5. Send the call sheet from TillyBoard — the crew confirms via link without an account.