Side by side
| Notion | CrewDesk | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Documents, wikis and databases for any team | Film, video and photo productions |
| Writing and documents | Excellent: pages, templates, comments | Notes and files attached to each production |
| Production stages | A property in a database you build | Five built-in stages from Development to Delivered |
| Cast and equipment | Databases you design yourself | Built in, with photos, sizes and storage locations |
| Calendar | Calendar views of databases | A shared calendar of shoots and events |
| Team conversation | Comments on pages | Built-in chat, by team and by production |
| Permissions | By page and workspace | Four roles named for a production office |
| On a phone, on set | A general app that opens your pages | A phone layout with a tab bar for tasks and contacts |
| How you pay | Free tier, then per-user subscription | Buy the code, have it adapted, or have it hosted for you |
When Notion is the right choice
For development work, such as treatments, scripts, research and a company wiki, Notion is hard to beat. A solo film-maker or a small collective can also run productions in it with a few well-made databases.
Where structure starts to matter
A Notion workspace is as tidy as its most hurried user. With freelancers joining and leaving, databases drift: a new property here, a duplicated page there. On set, opening the right page among many is slow. A dedicated app has fewer places for information to hide, and roles decide what a day player can see.
The two can live together: scripts and research in Notion, productions, people and gear in the production app.
A note on fairness
This comparison was written by TECHMA, the maker of CrewDesk, from each product's public documentation. Products change: check the vendor's own site before deciding. All product names are trademarks of their owners.