Boords vs mstudio.ai: Which Tool Do AI Filmmakers Actually Need?

There's a common pattern in AI filmmaking workflows right now. Someone discovers Boords, thinks it's exactly what they need, and then six months later they're back on Google looking for something else. Not because Boords is bad — it's a well-built tool — but because storyboarding and video production are two different problems.

This post breaks down what each tool actually does, where one ends and the other begins, and why the real question probably isn't "which one should I pick" but "do I need both."

What Boords is

Boords was started in 2015 by James, co-founder of Animade, a London animation studio. His team was building storyboards in Photoshop and Google Slides, tracking versions via "FinalFinal_v3_USE_THIS.pdf" email chains. He built Boords to fix that. Eleven years and two million storyboards later, the company is still independent.

It's a pre-production tool. The core workflow: create storyboard frames (manually drawn, uploaded, or AI-generated), add scripts/notes inline, share a link with clients, iterate with version control. The AI storyboard generator lets you prompt-to-frame without leaving the interface.

What Boords does well:

• Consistent frame layouts across a project — no rebuilding templates each time
• Notes and feedback attached to specific frames, not buried in email
• Version locking so you know which board got approved
• PDF export for clients who insist on PDFs
• Real-time collaboration for studios with multiple people on the same board

The testimonials on their site are from animation studios, ad agencies, and video production companies. These are professionals who need to present pre-production work to clients before a single frame of video is shot or rendered.

Where Boords stops

When you lock the storyboard and export, Boords is done.

What comes next — generating actual video — is entirely your problem. You take your reference frames, open Runway or Kling or Pika, prompt each shot individually, download 15-second MP4s, drag them into After Effects or Premiere, manually sync audio, and export. If a shot doesn't work, you go back to the generator, tweak, re-download, re-import.

That gap — between "approved storyboard" and "finished AI film" — is where most indie AI filmmakers spend the majority of their time. And it's what Boords was never designed to close.

To be fair, that's intentional. James built Boords to make pre-production better. He didn't build a video editor. The problem is that the workflow has changed: when you're using AI generators instead of cameras and traditional VFX, the line between pre-production and production gets blurry fast.

What mstudio.ai is

mstudio.ai is an AI filmmaking platform — specifically, the production layer that sits above AI video generators. The mental model is: if Boords is where you plan the film, mstudio is where you make it.

The core problem it solves is the 15-second clip ceiling. Runway, Kling, Pika, Sora, Luma — they're all great at generating short clips, but none of them let you build a full scene, let alone a full film. You end up downloading clips and manually stitching them in After Effects. That's fine if you're making a 30-second ad. It breaks down completely if you're trying to produce a 10-minute short or anything longer.

mstudio gives you a timeline interface where you can:

• Arrange shots from multiple AI generators in sequence
• Pick a different AI model per shot — Kling for camera movement, Runway for photorealism, whatever fits the scene
• Add background music and sound effects without leaving the platform
• Export a full-length video, not just individual clips

The practical upshot: a filmmaker using Runway today generates clips one at a time, downloads each one, and assembles them manually. A filmmaker using mstudio does all of that inside one interface and exports the final cut directly.

Feature comparison

They don't compete on a single feature. The overlap is essentially zero. One ends when the other begins.

Who actually needs which tool

Use Boords if: you're running a studio or agency where clients need to approve pre-production before anything gets made. You need version-locked boards, client-facing links, and inline feedback. Animation studios, ad agencies, and branded video teams are the primary users. Boords is also useful for anyone who needs a proper reference document for a production team — "this is what we're making."

Use mstudio.ai if: you're actually making AI video content. If you've used Runway, Kling, or Pika and hit the wall of downloading clips and manually assembling them — mstudio is what comes next. It's built for video editors transitioning to AI workflows, indie filmmakers building AI productions, and content creators who want to go past the 60-second mark without drowning in After Effects.

Use both if: you're doing serious AI filmmaking for clients. The workflow looks like: storyboard in Boords, get client approval, export reference frames, generate each shot in mstudio, arrange on the timeline, add audio, deliver the final cut. That's a real end-to-end workflow.

The pre-production to production pipeline

If you're evaluating AI filmmaking tools in 2026, the question is less "Boords OR mstudio" and more "where in the pipeline do I need help?"

Most indie filmmakers working with AI generators have already solved pre-production — they sketch scenes, write shot lists, and plan the film in whatever way works for them. The bottleneck isn't storyboarding. The bottleneck is production: generating consistent shots, managing multiple AI model outputs, and assembling a coherent final video without spending days in a traditional NLE.

That's the problem mstudio was built for. It's an AI-native production platform — what an NLE is for traditional video, but rebuilt for a workflow where the "camera" is Runway and the "lighting crew" is Kling.

Boords, on the other hand, is for the stage before any of that — the planning and client approval stage. It's genuinely good at what it does, and if you have clients who need structured sign-off before production starts, there's no direct equivalent.

Pricing comparison

Boords starts around $14/month for solo users, with agency plans scaling higher. It's primarily subscription-based, priced around the studio and agency use case.

mstudio.ai has a free tier for getting started, with paid plans based on usage. If you're actively generating AI video content, the value proposition is straightforward: time saved on manual clip assembly versus subscription cost. Check the mstudio.ai pricing page for current tiers.

The comparison is a bit of an apples-to-oranges situation anyway — one is a storyboard application, one is a video production platform. Pricing benchmarks against different things.

The honest take

Boords is the right tool for studios that need structured pre-production with client approval workflows. Eleven years of product development shows — the version control, frame management, and collaboration features are solid.

mstudio.ai is the right tool if you're actually making AI films and tired of the manual stitching loop. The production workflow for AI-generated video is genuinely broken without something like this: generators cap at 15 seconds, After Effects isn't designed for this workflow, and nobody wants to manage 40 separate MP4 files.

If you came to this post looking for a Boords replacement — you probably aren't looking for one. You're probably looking for something that picks up where Boords leaves off. That's mstudio.