Movie Magic Budgeting alternatives (2026)

The strongest Movie Magic Budgeting alternatives in 2026 are Showbiz Budgeting and Hot Budget for feature and commercial budgets, Gorilla Budgeting for a lower-cost desktop package, Celtx and Yamdu for cloud script-to-budget workflows, and Orson by siasola for Quebec productions that need ARRQ and AQTIS rate cards built in. Movie Magic stays the desktop budgeting standard.

What Movie Magic Budgeting is, and why productions look for alternatives

Movie Magic Budgeting, made by Entertainment Partners, is the long-standing industry standard for building a production budget line by line. The current version runs as an installed desktop application for Windows and macOS, with cloud-synced libraries and central online storage so a budget can be shared, and it covers globals, fringes, groups, rate libraries, and the reporting a production accountant relies on. It is licensed on a subscription rather than a one-time purchase.

Productions look for an alternative for three reasons. The first is deployment: the core application installs on a machine, so a modern remote team wants a shared live link instead of passing budget files around. The second is fit: some producers want a package tuned to commercials and bids, or one that pulls a budget straight from a script breakdown. The third, for anyone shooting in Canada, is compliance: Movie Magic uses global rate libraries, but it has no concept of ARRQ or AQTIS rate cards, no concept of Quebec Law 25 duties over crew financial data, and no concept of Bill 96 language rules.

That last gap is the one with the most money attached, and it is the one this list keeps coming back to.

The alternatives

1. Showbiz Budgeting

Showbiz Budgeting, from Media Services (part of Cast and Crew), is the closest like-for-like to Movie Magic and the desktop package many producers reach for when they want a second standard. It ships with more than 100 customizable templates for AICP, studio, and independent formats, actualization to track costs against the budget as production runs, and dynamic currency links for international shoots. It runs on macOS.

Best for: feature and commercial producers who want a full desktop budgeting package with deep actualization. Canadian gap: its templates and rate handling are built for the US and international market, with no ARRQ or AQTIS rate cards, no Law 25 handling for crew financial data, and no Bill 96 bilingual output.

2. Hot Budget

Hot Budget runs as an Excel plug-in, so it is a desktop tool tied to the machine Excel sits on. It is built around commercial bidding, producing clean, client-ready top sheets and bid layouts that agencies expect, and it imports custom charts of accounts. Pricing is subscription based and not published openly.

Best for: commercial and short-form producers who work in Excel and bid to agencies. Canadian gap: it is a commercial bidding tool first, with no union rate cards for Canadian agreements and no privacy or language compliance layer.

3. Gorilla Budgeting

Gorilla Budgeting, from Jungle Software, is a lower-cost desktop package that covers traditional budgeting: globals, fringes, sub-groups, tax credits, deferments, fourth-level detail, and expense tracking. An optional ratebook add-on covers thousands of union labour rates, and it pairs with Gorilla Scheduling. The vendor notes it is not a cloud program, so budgets are shared by sending files.

Best for: independent producers who want an affordable desktop budgeting and scheduling pair. Canadian gap: the ratebook is a broad North American library rather than Quebec-specific ARRQ and AQTIS rate cards, and there is no Law 25 or Bill 96 layer.

4. Celtx

Celtx is the cloud all-in-one for writer-director-producers. It runs in the browser and pulls a budget straight from the script breakdown, so locations, cast, and crew feed budget lines, with reports for forecast against actual. Budgeting sits on a paid plan rather than the free tier.

Best for: small teams running prep without a dedicated production accountant who want script-to-budget in one place. Canadian gap: its budgeting module has limited fringe and union support and is not aimed at union productions, so Canadian union rules and Quebec compliance sit outside it.

5. Yamdu

Yamdu is a cloud production management platform that includes budgeting through its Dynamic Globals, linking the schedule to the budget, plus time cards for tracking work time against reusable labour-agreement templates. It can export production elements to Showbiz Budgeting to prepopulate budget lines. Pricing is quote-based.

Best for: larger or episodic productions that want budgeting inside a broader cloud planning system. Canadian gap: European in origin, with no built-in Canadian union rate cards, Law 25 privacy handling, or Bill 96 output.

6. Orson by siasola

Orson closes a different gap. It is a browser-based platform built from the ground up for Quebec film and TV, and its budgeting is union-first: you draft a budget with ARRQ and AQTIS rate cards and overtime brackets, view a top-sheet and margin, project costs against baselines, and reconcile at wrap. Because budgeting sits in the same platform as crew onboarding and scheduling, invoices captured with OCR, timesheets, and a punch clock feed the same numbers, and Quebec Law 25 protects the encrypted crew financial data behind them. The same union rules that shape the budget are checked against the schedule, which is the angle the sibling Movie Magic Scheduling alternatives guide covers.

Best for: Canadian production companies, especially in Quebec, that want a budget built on the union agreements they actually work under, connected to crew, timesheets, and compliance. Honest limits: Orson is not a general Hollywood or AICP budgeting package with multi-currency co-production tooling today, it does not auto-build budget lines from a script breakdown yet, and it is newer, with a smaller user base than the desktop incumbents, and in early access with a free pilot for Quebec productions.

Comparison at a glance

Pricing changes often, so confirm current rates on each vendor's own site before budgeting. Movie Magic, Showbiz, Hot Budget, and Gorilla are desktop tools; Celtx, Yamdu, and Orson run in a browser.

How to choose a Movie Magic Budgeting alternative

1. Decide what you are actually replacing. If it is the budgeting package itself, Showbiz, Hot Budget, and Gorilla are direct desktop swaps. If it is the whole prep workflow, Celtx and Yamdu fold budgeting into planning.
2. Choose desktop or cloud. Desktop (Movie Magic, Showbiz, Hot Budget, Gorilla) means installing software and sharing files; cloud (Celtx, Yamdu, Orson) means a shared live link and remote collaboration.
3. Match the format you budget. Feature and studio work leans to Movie Magic and Showbiz, commercials and bids lean to Hot Budget, and script-to-budget indie work leans to Celtx.
4. List your union and jurisdiction obligations. Which agreements set your rates, which privacy law applies, and whether Bill 96's 25-employee threshold applies. This decides whether a US-first budgeter leaves a gap you fill by hand.
5. Count the spreadsheet hours. Whatever the budgeting tool does not model, someone reconciles by hand at wrap. That cost belongs in the comparison.

The Canadian compliance gap Movie Magic Budgeting does not close

Movie Magic Budgeting is very good at what it does, and its rate libraries and reporting are the reason it stays the standard. What it does not do is know that a Quebec crew runs under ARRQ and AQTIS agreements, that a late meal triggers a penalty that belongs in the budget per crew member, or that crew financial data such as SIN and bank details sits under Quebec Law 25. A budgeting package built for the US market leaves those to a person.

Those rules carry real weight. Quebec Law 25 penalties can reach C$10 million or 2% of worldwide turnover, and Bill 96 applies to businesses with 25 or more employees, so an English-only budget and payroll workflow becomes an exposure. A tool that does not model them leaves the checking to a coordinator, usually at wrap, usually under pressure.

For a wider view, our production management software comparison and the sibling Movie Magic Scheduling alternatives guide cover the same tools from the scheduling and crew side. And if closing the Quebec compliance gap in your budget is the part you are trying to solve, that is what Orson was built for: reach out through our contact page and we will scope it around the agreements you work under.