Compare storyboard tools
Boords and M Studio both turn a script into AI storyboard frames. Boords is built for client review and sign-off. M Studio goes on to make a video clip for each shot, plus voiceover, music and sound effects.
M Studio is a Boords alternative for writer-directors whose boards must become moving shots with sound. Pick Boords if the storyboard is the deliverable: clients comment on each frame without an account, set a status and approve the version, and you time an animatic from still frames. Pick M Studio if you import a finished screenplay PDF and need moving shots, a generated voiceover, music and sound effects, and an FCPXML or EDL file for Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve.
Switching is probably not worth it if your clients review and approve boards in Boords and the job ends at an animatic made from still frames.
Prepared by the M Studio team. Last checked against Boords’s own pages. How we checked
M Studio vs Boords
Starting point
A written brief, or an imported screenplay PDF. M Studio plans the scenes, a shot list and the cast, then writes each shot's picture and video prompt.
AI pictures
Four image models: GPT Image (default), Nano Banana 2, Seedream 5.0 and Flux Klein. Each picture costs $0.01–$0.30 from the plan budget.
Video clips
A 5–15 second clip for each shot with MiniMax H3, from text or from the shot's picture. Video costs $0.05 a second from the plan budget.
Script to cut
Script, storyboard, video clips, voice, music, and sound without moving files between tools
One session
First cut in one session: storyboard, video clips, and an animatic from your script
Edit-ready
Export MP4, WebM, or MOV (1080p on Starter, 4K from Professional), or hand the cut to your editor as FCPXML or EDL
Models from these AI providers
At a glance
Boords makes still frames and times them into an MP4 animatic. M Studio also makes a 5–15 second video clip for each shot with MiniMax H3.
Boords times the frames to a sound file you upload (up to 20 MB). M Studio generates voiceover, music and sound effects and mixes them on a timeline.
Boords records client comments, statuses and approvals for each version. M Studio gives clients a read-only link and exports FCPXML and EDL for an editor.
Static board vs motion
Drag the handle to compare a static storyboard with the video clip M Studio makes from it.
Drag the handle to compare the static board with the M Studio video clip.
Script, characters, pictures, video, voice and the timeline that ties them together — every part of making a film lives in one place. Pick a tool to see it in action.
Editor — Lay your shots out on a real timeline and cut them together.
Feature by feature
The answer in each cell, with the plan it needs. A check marks the stronger side for a writer-director making a film from a script; an equals sign means neither is stronger. Each Boords cell links the page we read it on.
| What you need | M Studio | Boords |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $27/month, billed monthly; no free plan | Stronger here:Free plan (5 active storyboards, 3 active scripts, 8 one-off AI image credits); Solo $39/month, or $26/month billed yearlyRead on boords.com, Oct 15, 2026 |
| Starting point | About the same:A written brief, or an imported screenplay PDF. M Studio plans the scenes, a shot list and the cast, then writes each shot's picture and video prompt. | About the same:Write or paste the script in Boords and convert it to a storyboard. Boords Agent (beta) also imports a PDF, TXT, Markdown, HTML or CSV script.Read on boords.com, Oct 15, 2026 |
| AI pictures | About the same:Four image models: GPT Image (default), Nano Banana 2, Seedream 5.0 and Flux Klein. Each picture costs $0.01–$0.30 from the plan budget. | About the same:Nano Banana 2, GPT Image 2.5 Flare or GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst. Free and trial teams get Flare at 0.5K only. Each generated frame uses one image credit.Read on boords.com, Oct 15, 2026 |
| Video clips | Stronger here:A 5–15 second clip for each shot with MiniMax H3, from text or from the shot's picture. Video costs $0.05 a second from the plan budget. | No AI video. The animatic is the still frames, timed on a timeline and downloaded as an MP4.Read on boords.com, Oct 15, 2026 |
| Consistent characters | About the same:One reference image per character. When a shot's prompt mentions the character, that image goes to the picture and video model. | About the same:Save characters, locations and props in the Asset Library, then @mention up to four of them in a prompt.Read on boords.com, Oct 15, 2026 |
| Voice, music and sound effects | Stronger here:Voiceover in 12 languages, music and sound effects are generated in the project and mixed on a timeline (volume, trim, fade). Starter includes 50,000 voice characters and 20 sound-effect generations. | Upload a sound file (up to 20 MB) and time the frames to its waveform. Its animatic docs describe uploaded audio, not generated voice or music.Read on boords.com, Oct 15, 2026 |
| Review and collaboration | Team members comment on each shot. Clients get a read-only share link: they watch, they do not comment. Starter has 2 seats. | Stronger here:Clients comment on each frame and approve a version without an account. Real-time collaboration, version history and password-protected links on every paid plan.Read on boords.com, Oct 15, 2026 |
| Export and editor handoff | Stronger here:MP4, WebM or MOV, plus a delivery package with FCPXML and EDL for Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve or Final Cut Pro. 1080p on Starter; 4K on Professional ($99/month). | PDF, Word, Excel (XLSX), an image ZIP, an MP4 animatic and PowerPoint. Its export list has no XML or EDL.Read on boords.com, Oct 15, 2026 |
| Entry plan limits | About the same:Starter, $27/month: a $90 monthly budget for pictures and video, 5 films at once, 2 seats. No free plan. | About the same:Solo, $39/month: 1 user, 250 AI images a month, unlimited storyboards. Free plan: 5 active storyboards, 3 active scripts, 8 one-off AI images.Read on boords.com, Oct 15, 2026 (Solo) |
Same job, both tools
24 shots of 5 seconds, each with a storyboard picture and a video clip, plus a voiceover and music. Budget three takes of every clip and two of every picture. One person, one month, billed monthly.
$27/month
Starter, billed monthly
Starter includes a $90 monthly generation budget. A storyboard picture costs $0.25 (GPT Image) and video costs $0.05 a second (MiniMax H3), so the 48 pictures and 72 five-second clips use $30 of it. Voiceover, music and sound effects do not draw on the budget. Exports are 1080p; 4K export needs Professional at $99/month.
Read on mstudio.ai, Oct 25, 2026$39/month, plus a separate video tool
Solo, billed monthly
Solo includes 250 AI images a month at one credit per frame, so the 48 pictures fit. Boords makes no video clips and generates no voiceover or music: you would add a video tool and a voice tool, then upload the audio (up to 20 MB) to time the animatic.
Read on boords.com, Oct 15, 2026 (Solo)Decision fit
Each shot gets a 5–15 second MiniMax H3 clip made from its picture, so the pitch trailer plays as video.
Voiceover in 12 languages, music and sound effects are generated and mixed on the timeline with volume, trim and fade.
The delivery package has FCPXML and EDL, so the cut opens on an editor's timeline in Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve or Final Cut Pro.
M Studio reads the PDF and writes a shot list, the cast, and a picture and video prompt for each shot.
Decision fit
Clients comment on each frame without an account, set a status from Draft to Approved, and the Activity Log records who approved which version and when.
The free plan has 5 active storyboards, 3 active scripts and 8 one-off sample AI image credits, with no card.
Real-time collaboration, version history and password-protected share links are on every paid plan.
Exports include PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, an image ZIP and an MP4 animatic.
Sources:Read on boords.com, Oct 15, 2026Read on boords.com, Oct 15, 2026Read on boords.com, Oct 15, 2026
Decision fit
Read on each vendor's own site on 15 October 2026.
A desktop drawing app for Windows and macOS with animatic editing, sound tracks and EDL, AAF or XML export. $90/month or $776/year, with a 14-day free trial.
Write or import a script, get a storyboard with consistent characters, and turn the shots into video with monthly credits. Essential is $19/month with a 7-day free trial.
Script to storyboard, video from LTX-2.5 and partner models, and MP4, XML or PDF pitch-deck export. Free plan with 800 one-time credits; commercial use from Standard at $35/month.
Sources:Read on shop.toonboom.com, Oct 15, 2026Read on toonboom.com, Oct 15, 2026Read on docs.toonboom.com, Oct 15, 2026Read on katalist.ai, Oct 15, 2026Read on katalist.ai, Oct 15, 2026Read on ltx.io, Oct 15, 2026Read on ltx.io, Oct 15, 2026
Switching
Switching is probably not worth it if your clients review and approve boards in Boords and the job ends at an animatic made from still frames.
How we checked
Prepared by the M Studio team. We make M Studio, so read this as a vendor's comparison and check the linked sources. Each fact about another product links the page we read it on, with the date we read it. "Read on" means we read it on that vendor's own pricing page, docs or release notes; we did not run its product for this page. M Studio facts come from our live plans and model list. We last checked the Boords facts on .
Why M Studio
Script, storyboard, video clips, voice, sound, and export, with no handoffs between single-purpose tools.
Script, storyboard, video, voice, and sound in a single workflow — no tool switching.
Export the finished film in 4K on Professional and up (1080p on Starter).
Write, direct, and narrate films end to end — scripts, dialogue, and voiceover in your language.
You own what you make — use it commercially, on YouTube or for clients.
How it works
M Studio builds a film shot by shot, and you direct every shot — this is the whole path, start to finish.
Start from a one-line brief, or import a screenplay PDF and build straight from the pages you already wrote.
Scenes, action and dialogue laid out shot by shot — editable line by line before anything renders.
Add each character once with a reference image so the same face carries across every shot in the film.
Your script breaks into shots on a canvas. Reorder, reframe and re-prompt any shot until the board reads right.
Turn approved storyboard pictures into video clips one shot at a time, then layer voiceover, music and sound effects.
Take the finished cut out as an MP4, MOV or WebM, up to 4K on Professional and up, ready for the edit or the pitch.
There is no length cap in the editor. Because films are made shot by shot, how long a film can run comes down to how many video clips your plan includes — not a limit in the tool.
FAQ
Common questions about workflow, AI generation, audio integration, and export capability.
It depends on the job. Boords has a free plan, and Solo costs $39/month ($26/month billed yearly). M Studio has no free plan, and Starter costs $27/month. For a 24-shot pitch trailer with three takes of every clip, M Studio Starter covers the pictures, the clips, the voiceover and the music with $30 of its $90 budget. Boords Solo covers the 48 pictures, but it makes no video clips, so you would pay for a video tool as well.
No. Boords generates still frames and times them into an MP4 animatic with the audio you upload. M Studio makes a video clip for each shot.
No. There is no Boords project importer. Export your frames as an image ZIP, unzip it, and upload the pictures as shot pictures or character references, or import the screenplay PDF and let M Studio plan the shots again.
No. In M Studio, team members comment on each shot, and clients watch through a read-only link. In Boords, clients comment on each frame and approve a version without an account.
Yes, for a cut. M Studio's delivery package has FCPXML and EDL. Boords exports PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, an image ZIP and an MP4 animatic, and its export list has no XML or EDL.
Related pages
Feature
Turn a script into a consistent storyboard in M Studio.
Open pageGuide
Storyboard apps compared for creative teams.
Open pageGuide
Storyboard tools compared on AI frames, script import, animatics, and price.
Open pageCompare
Related storyboard-software comparison page.
Open pageTry it on your own script
Go from script and shots to storyboard pictures, video clips, and sound without moving between tools.
$1 today for 24 hoursThen from $27/mo unless you cancelReminder email ~6h before it ends