Efficiency in creative project management, especially in the booming video production industry, requires advanced organizational skills.
But no matter how perfectly organized you are, it’s next to impossible to manage a complex video production without project management software.
Now, there are a great number of project management tools on the market, making it difficult and time-consuming to choose one. That’s why I did the grunt work for you!
I have researched this topic, tried out tools with either a free plan or a free trial available, and selected 6 tools I think are best for video production management.
So, read on to learn more about them!
In this article:
Top 6 video production management tools — overview
Here’s a quick overview of those 6 project management tools before I go into more detail about each of them.
| Tool | Best for | Free plan | Free trial | Lowest price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plaky | Free video production management | ✅ | 14 days | $3.99/user/month |
| Celtx | Pre-production script organization | ✅ | 7 days | $11.24/user/month |
| Notion | Collaboration on videos | ✅ | 30 days | $10/user/month |
| JotterPad | Screenwriting | ✅ | ❌ | $3.33/month |
| monday.com | Tracking your production tasks | ✅ | 14 days | $9/user/month |
| Asana | Tracking video production goals | ✅ | 30 days | $10.99/user/month |
Note: Before the actual software reviews, there’s a quick overview of what video production software is and how to choose it. If you are already familiar with this, you can skip to our video production software list.
What is production management software (and why do you need it?)
Production management software is a tool that helps you plan, organize, and carry out all video production tasks.
This software enables you to navigate the intricate world of video production by:
- Keeping track of all the creative design requests, schedules, equipment, timetables, actors, budget, contracts, stages of production, and
- Notifying you of any changes, emergencies, setbacks, or impending deadlines, while you completely immerse yourself in the creative process of video production.
The main benefits of using video production management software include:
- High-level time management — Eliminate time wasters and ensure you’re working as efficiently as possible.
- Having a clear overview of project deadlines and progress — Make sure nothing falls through the cracks ever again.
- Centralized communication — Keep your whole team on the same page and updated at all times.
- Clear budget organization — Keep track of your expenses and ensure you’re not spending money left and right.
Criteria for choosing video production management software
It’s not easy to find the best project management software for video production. After all, it all depends on what exactly you are looking for and which workflow problems you’re trying to fix.
Still, there are some general features this kind of software needs to have to qualify as a video production management tool:
- File sharing —The ability to share scripts and videos is the foundation of any video production management software. Therefore, having this feature is an absolute must for any video production tool.
- Mobile access — Video production is a dynamic process. For example, sometimes, most of your day is spent at a shooting location, rather than behind a computer. That’s why it’s important to be able to access information while on the move, and having your PM tool on your phone makes that a lot easier.
- Collaboration options — Making videos, especially movies, is a complex endeavor that requires an entire team of people to work together, so any PM tool you use should be equipped with collaboration features.
- Free trial / free plan — If you aren’t sure which of the various project management tools would fit your video projects, you should be able to try them for free and verify they’ve got all the essentials you need to build an efficient workflow.
💡 Plaky Pro Tip
Never settle — here’s how to pick the ideal project management software for your needs:
#1 Plaky — best for free video production management
Plaky is a powerful project management tool with a focus on workflow management.
Why use Plaky?
Plaky enables teams of all sizes to organize and manage multiple simultaneous video projects with ease. Additionally, it allows you to customize every aspect of your video production schedule to create an optimal project workflow.
| Plaky’s pros | Plaky’s cons |
|---|---|
| – Rich free plan – Excellent collaboration options – User-friendly – Unlimited files | – Limited integrations |
Manage video production with Plaky
Although rich in features, Plaky is also extremely user-friendly and straightforward, so you won’t need to worry about lengthy onboarding — even the less technical employees will get the hang of Plaky in no time at all. Take me for example — when I started using Plaky years ago, I managed to master it very quickly even though it was the first time I came across any project management tool.
What makes Plaky stand out from other software, though, is its amazing FREE plan — it allows you to create as many projects and tasks as you need with an unlimited number of users. As you know, this is a rarity in the PM software market.
Once you have your Plaky account set up, you can:
- Get a clear overview of your video production tasks from start to finish,
- Create customized workflow tables for every step of the production life cycle,
- Track progress with colorful tags and status bars,
- Include detailed descriptions of tasks,
- Add files to tasks to create a centralized document-sharing hub,
- Assign deadlines or a timeline for each task, and much more.
Although it is primarily a project management tool, Plaky seamlessly integrates with Clockify too — the world’s most popular time tracking app — since they were both created by the same team.
I found that the most effective way to streamline the video production process is to actually combine Clockify’s time tracking with a video production template in Plaky. You can then:
- Easily delegate tasks to team members in charge of different stages of production,
- Follow each task’s progress through color-coded status fields,
- Keep all relevant information (client, budget, due date, priority, etc.) in one place,
- Get notified about each change as the card makes its way to the “Done” pile,
- Keep track of your team’s work whether you’re in the same office or working from a shooting location, and
- Log exactly how long each of the production stages lasted for easier scheduling, invoice management, and streamlining of future projects.
What’s best about Plaky is that it offers 24/7 customer support to all its users. So, if you ever have an issue, you can contact the support team and receive an answer within 1 hour on average.
There’s even phone support available, which I really appreciate since it takes me much less time to explain the problem and find a solution when talking directly with someone instead of writing back and forth.
And if you still need more features, Plaky’s affordable paid plans come with a range of other functionalities, such as Gantt charts, private boards, custom SSO, etc.
The only drawback of Plaky in my opinion is its lack of integrations — but even this is not too problematic since it can manage any workflow successfully on its own.
What’s new in Plaky?
Plaky recently became part of the CAKE.com Suite, which means you can now have only one account that grants you access to all 3 of CAKE.com’s products:
- Plaky — for clear project management,
- Clockify — for detailed time-tracking, and
- Pumble — for effective business communication.
Available for: web, iOS, and Android
| Plaky’s plan | Plaky’s pricing |
|---|---|
| Free | $0 |
| Pro | $3.99/seat/month |
| Enterprise | $8.99/seat/month |
| CAKE.com Bundle | $12.99/seat/month |
*If billed annually
#2 Celtx — best for pre-production script organization
Celtx is film production management software focused on providing you with all the tools you need to manage your video projects and simplify scriptwriting.
Why use Celtx?
Go for Celtx if you’re looking for a tool to guide you through the entire process of video production. Celtx clearly differentiates between pre-production, production, and post-production while offering useful features for each of these stages.
| Celtx pros | Celtx cons |
|---|---|
| – Elaborate movie pre-production management – Good visual representation of scripts – Clear interface | – Poor PDF exporting capabilities – Script outline is too simple |
The first thing I noticed is that Celtx really thought about how to assist its users in the different stages of video production, from story development to post-production. I thought that the pre-production process of scriptwriting is especially well thought through, with features such as:
- Production catalog,
- Cast and crew management,
- Script goals and insights, and
- Production schedule.
What I liked most about Celtx is the Beat sheet, which is used in the story development stage.
The Beat Sheet is a visual representation of your script where you can organize the narrative and brainstorm plot lines. Each beat contains a title and a description, and you can export it to Scripts and turn it into a scene.
So, if you have trouble seeing the bigger picture and understanding how your story is developing and how the scenes are connected, Beat Sheet can help you have a bird’s-eye overview of your script.
The overall look of Celtx scripts in the app itself is clear. You can easily add different sections, such as character, act, and dialogue.
There is also an outline of each script where you can jump from one scene to another. The outline could be more detailed, though, to make it simpler to navigate the text within scenes.
However, I was disappointed when I exported my script as a PDF. What was clear in Celtx, looked strange in PDF — there were random page breaks, and my script was stretched on more pages than it should. Maybe I was doing something wrong, but I just couldn’t make it work right.
What’s new in Celtx?
The newest upgrade in Celtx is the Celtx Scriptwriting and Adobe Premiere Pro integration. This enables you to bring Celtx scripts directly into Premiere Pro for editing. These 2 tools are synced, which means all changes made to the script in Celtx are visible in Premiere Pro as well.
Available for: web, macOS, Windows, and Android
| Celtx’s plan | Celtx’s pricing |
|---|---|
| Basic Scriptwriting | $0 |
| Writer | $11.24/month* |
| Writer Pro | $18.74/month* |
| Team | $44.95/month for up to 5 users* |
*If billed annually
#3 Notion — best for collaborating on videos
Notion is a project management tool with a focus on document editing and team collaboration.
Why use Notion?
Notion is the right choice for you if you need a tool that will enable you to collaborate on videos with ease and share your work with various stakeholders.
| Notion pros | Notion cons |
|---|---|
| – Rich content format selection – Guest access even on the free plan – Templates for video creation processes | – No folders – Task management could be more user-friendly |
Notion’s pages are robust, but still user-friendly. What impressed me is that I could add various block formats to my pages, including:
- Images and videos,
- Text,
- Table of contents, and
- Maps.
All these blocks can be rearranged by dragging and dropping them to a different place on the page, which is really useful if your writing and creation process is somewhat chaotic (like mine).
There are also various templates, such as YouTube Video Script, Ultimate Script Writing, and Shotlist for Video Creators, that you can use to save some time.
Notion makes collaboration in video production easier by letting you add videos to Notion pages.
Your teammates can watch the videos you added without leaving Notion, and they can even add comments to them, which makes collaboration and the review process more efficient.
Plus, since you can add different formats to the same page, you can have a video and the script being spoken in the video on the same page, making the review process quicker and simpler.
Moreover, Notion offers guest access, allowing you to share your videos and scripts with outside collaborators and stakeholders. This is a great way to show your progress or your project plans to them without having to give them access to the entire video production process.
The biggest downside, though, is the lack of proper organization by folders.
I like to group all my documents according to the topic (or a project), so it took me a while to get used to the idea of not being able to create folders, just pages and subpages. It would be nice if I could create a folder where I could add different versions of the same video script, for example.
What’s new in Notion?
Notion recently rolled out Notion Mail — a mail inbox in Notion that integrates with Gmail. You can use it to automatically label and sort emails, as well as write emails with the help of AI.
Available for: web, Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.
| Notion’s plans | Notion’s pricing |
|---|---|
| Free | $0 |
| Plus | $10/user/month* |
| Business | $15/user/month* |
| Enterprise | POA |
*If billed annually
#4 JotterPad — best for screenwriting
JotterPad is a writing tool that uses Markdown and Fountain languages to help you create elaborate screenplays, books, mindmaps, and more.
Why use JotterPad?
If your video production workflow consists mainly of screenwriting, JotterPad is worth giving a chance.
| JotterPad’s pros | JotterPad’s cons |
|---|---|
| – Wide range of templates – User-friendly interface – Scripts in Markdown, Fountain, and LaTex | – Limited free plan – Not the best option for collaboration |
I like the overall organization of documents in JotterPad — it’s clear and straightforward. Each document has an outline to help you navigate long screenplays, as well as a word and character count at the bottom of the page.
I also appreciate how easy it is to add different parts of text, such as scene headings and characters. I especially liked how JotterPad offers a variety of transitions (e.g., cut to, fade in, jump cut to, etc.). It really quickens the writing process since you can just click on transitions and choose from a rich menu of options.
Another positive is that you can transform JotterPad’s Markdown, Fountain, and LaTex texts into Word, PDF, and Final Draft documents.
JotterPad offers an array of templates that are great for film production, such as:
- Television taped drama template,
- BBC film screenplay template, and
- Broadway manuscript template.
These templates are great starting points for new screenplay writers since they provide a structure you can follow and even explain what should be included in which part of the script.
However, JotterPad’s free plan is quite limited without any add-ons needed for high-level script editing, so if you’re looking to make this your only screenwriting tool — you’ll probably need to upgrade to the Pro plan.
Moreover, JotterPad doesn’t offer the collaboration options I was hoping for and which other tools like Plaky or Notion have. You can sync JotterPad with Google Drive and export your scripts as Docx and collaborate that way. But, obviously, this is far from ideal.
What’s new in JotterPad?
At the end of 2024, JotterPad introduced Cloud Printing API to improve the writing and publishing processes. Users can now convert scripts into PDFs, DOCX, or EPUB files.
Available for: web, iOS, and Android
| JotterPad’s plans | JotterPad’s pricing |
|---|---|
| Free | $0 |
| Pro | $3.33/month* |
*If billed annually
#5 monday.com — best for tracking production tasks
monday.com is a popular project management tool that has a long list of basic project management features, making it adaptable to all industries.
Why use monday.com?
If your team needs a tool that supports various project management styles and offers an abundance of features, monday.com is a good choice for you.
| monday.com pros | monday.com cons |
|---|---|
| – My Work section for all your tasks – Rich task management options – Video production management template | – Limited free plan – Not suited for screenwriting |
monday.com offers a wide range of scheduling and organizational features that will help you manage the video production workflow, including a dashboard, an organization chart, and a weekly work schedule template.
However, it is primarily project management software, so if you are looking for a more creative approach to video management that includes screenwriting, storyboarding, or call sheets, monday.com may not be the ideal solution.
What’s nice about it is that monday.com offers many pre-made, editable templates you can simply import and use. One of them is a neat video production management template that will transform monday.com into a film production management tool. Within this template, you can:
- Manage all your video requests,
- Have an overview of the entire production in a dashboard,
- Track costs and revenue in the numbers column, and more.
What I liked most about monday.com is the My Work section, which includes all your tasks divided into those due today, tomorrow, next week, or later. This gives you an overview of the tasks in the near future, making it nearly impossible to miss an urgent deadline.
Plus, if you’re working on more than one production at the same time, this section is useful since it encompasses tasks from all the boards in one place. This is a godsend for someone like me, who can get too focused on one task and miss an upcoming deadline on the other.
However, the biggest issue I had with monday.com is that the free plan is very limiting. You are only allowed a maximum of 2 users and 3 boards. This is enough if you’re working in the video production industry as a freelancer or a contractor, meaning you can work largely independently. But, the free plan is virtually unusable for teams.
What’s new in monday.com?
monday.com introduced several upgrades in March and April 2025, enabling the users to:
- Build forms with AI assistance,
- Have a full view of their API usage and limits,
- Track all emails and activities in one widget, and more.
Available for: web, macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android
| monday.com’s plans | monday.com’s pricing |
|---|---|
| Free | $0 |
| Basic | $9/user/month* |
| Standard | $12/user/month* |
| Pro | $19/user/month* |
| Enterprise | POA |
*If billed annually
#6 Asana — best for tracking video production goals
Asana is a robust project management tool with a variety of customization options. Similar to monday.com, Asana is not constrained by a specialized set of features — instead, it adapts to nearly all industries with relative ease.
Why use Asana?
Asana is a sound choice for those who need a powerful tool capable of elaborate video production management.
| Asana’s pros | Asana’s cons |
|---|---|
| – File-sharing within tasks – Goal-tracking – Easy communication | – Abundance of features can be distracting – Steep pricing plans |
Asana offers extensive collaboration and scheduling features, such as:
- Tasks and subtasks delegation,
- Easy communication through messages, task comments, and @mentions,
- File-sharing within each task,
- Gantt chart and calendar views for an optimal organization of shooting schedules, and more.
The calendar view is especially useful since it provides you with a clear overview of all your video production tasks, enabling you to notice possible bottlenecks, overlaps in project timelines, and other problems with the schedule.
And when you do spot a problem, it’s easy to make changes — you simply drag and drop tasks from one place in the calendar to another.
What I appreciated most about Asana compared to other project management software is the ability to track goals. You can track all your video production goals, and even divide them into 3 categories:
- Personal,
- Team, and
- Company goals.
This makes progress tracking much more organized and transparent since it helps you see how each finished task contributes to your overall goal.
But, Asana’s extensive list of features might not suit everyone. Film production teams can easily find themselves lost among a multitude of options they don’t need — and keep paying for a costly premium plan because of a few necessary features.
What’s new in Asana?
In the winter of 2025, Asana released several new features, including:
- Strategy map,
- Customizable text widgets, and
- Automated status updates.
Available for: web, macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android
| Asana’s plans | Asana’s pricing |
|---|---|
| Personal | $0 |
| Starter | $10.99/user/month* |
| Advanced | $24.99/user/month* |
| Enterprise | POA |
| Enterprise+ | POA |
*If billed annually
Find the ideal video production PM software
After testing these 6 video production project management apps, I am confident that every video team can find what they are looking for in one of these.
But, if you want a user-friendly and customizable tool that will be able to carry the entire video production organization, Plaky is the right choice for you!
With Plaky, you can:
- Coordinate work by assigning tasks to team members and keeping track of their progress,
- Collaborate with your team through comments and @mentions in tasks, and
- Control the flow of information with private boards and board permissions.
So, don’t hesitate to try it out. You have a free plan and a free trial at your disposal, so all you have to invest is a bit of your time.
And I promise you the prize is worth the effort — you’ll find software that can easily take care of all the technical aspects of your video production process.
