Boords alternative
A Boords Alternative for the Whole Production, Not Just the Frames
Boords is a dedicated storyboarding app with animatics and script tools. Soleil Clusters is a real-time infinite canvas where the storyboard sits beside the mood board, shot list, and schedule — at one flat price.
Soleil Clusters is a Boords alternative for production teams: a free browser-based infinite canvas where storyboard grids sit beside mood boards, shot lists, and schedules, with real-time collaboration at a flat $25/month — never per seat. Boords remains stronger for animatics, script import, and client-approval workflows; Clusters wins when the storyboard is part of a larger production.
Seat bands vs. one flat rate
As of July 2026, Boords advertises a single-user “free forever” plan with no credit card, but its paid ladder starts at $39/month for one user (Solo — $26/mo on annual billing), and collaborating starts at $75/month for up to five people, stepping to $125 for ten and $250 for thirty on monthly billing. Soleil Clusters charges $25/month flat on Creator — the price doesn’t move when the crew grows — and below that sits a free Demo tier with no trial clock and no credit card, where anyone you share with can view through a link.
- Boords Solo: $39/mo for one user ($26/mo annual)
- Boords Pro, Team, and Agency: $75–$250/mo for teams of 5 to 30
- Clusters Creator: $25/mo total, regardless of team size
- Clusters Demo: free, generous card cap, collaborators view read-only
The storyboard is one card, not the whole app
In Clusters a storyboard is a grid card on an infinite canvas: split cells into panels, drop a still or a sketch into each frame, caption it, and the panels number themselves and re-order by drag. Around that card goes everything else the shoot needs, because the canvas doesn’t care what you put on it.
- Mood boards and pulled references beside the frames — with non-destructive photo adjustments and color-palette extraction
- Flip the board to a clean list view for the shot list; a Schedule card maps shots to shoot days and locations
- Docs and a built-in screenplay mode for the script; PDF export of boards and docs when it’s time to send
- Nested boards keep each scene inside the project, and auto-tagging reads dropped files and files them to the right board
Deliberately not an AI storyboard generator
Search for a Boords alternative and most of what you’ll find pitches AI frame generation. Clusters doesn’t generate frames. It’s the shared workspace for the frames your artist draws, the stills your scout shoots, and the screengrabs your director hoards — with draw and sketch tools on the canvas for when a rough gesture is all a panel needs. If machine-generated boards are the requirement, this isn’t the tool, and we’d rather say so here than after you’ve signed up.
Built for people who never make an account
Every board shares as a single public link that opens a clean, interactive read-only preview — no signup for the client, the DP, or the exec who will never install anything, and per-board control over visibility and search indexing. Inside the team, work is genuinely live: cursors and presence show who’s where, and comments pin to the exact card they’re about instead of piling up in a sidebar. On the free Demo tier collaborators view read-only; Creator turns on Edit Mode so they work on the board with you.
Where Boords genuinely earns its price
Boords is purpose-built for storyboarding, and it shows. If the storyboard itself is the deliverable — timed, versioned, and formally signed off — Boords is the stronger tool, and no canvas app should pretend otherwise.
- An animatic editor turns boards into timed video; Clusters has no animatics
- Intelligent script import connects the script to frames; Clusters’ screenplay editor doesn’t sync to panels
- Version control on storyboards; Clusters doesn’t keep frame versions
- No-signup client reviews with a structured approval flow; Clusters shares read-only links but has no approval workflow
- AI image generation with monthly credits, if that’s part of your process
Moving a storyboard from Boords to Clusters
- Export from Boords — Download your storyboard from Boords — exports, including PDF, are included on its plans, so your frames come with you.
- Drop it onto a board — Drag the files onto a Clusters board. PDFs land as cards; stills go straight into a grid card’s panels, where captions and auto-numbering pick up where Boords left off.
- Add what the storyboard was missing — Put the mood board next to the frames, flip the board to list view for the shot list, and let a Schedule card map shots to shoot days and locations.
- Send one link — Share a clean, interactive read-only preview that nobody needs an account to open — the same link always shows the current board.
Clusters vs Boords
Pricing and features checked on boords.com in July 2026; monthly-billing prices shown (annual is lower). The rows Boords wins are left standing — that’s the point of an honest table.
| Feature | Clusters | Boords |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes — generous card cap | “Free forever” — limits unpublished |
| Monthly cost for a team of five | $25 flat | $75 (Pro) |
| Price rises with headcount | No | Yes — up to $250/mo |
| Real-time co-editing | Yes — live cursors | Yes |
| Infinite canvas | Yes | No — frame sequence |
| Panels, captions, auto-numbering | Yes — grid cards | Yes |
| Animatics | No | Yes |
| Script import | No | Yes |
| Storyboard version control | No | Yes |
| Client approval workflow | No — read-only links | Yes |
| AI frame generation | No — by design | Yes — credit-metered |
| Shot lists | Yes — list view | Yes — generated from boards |
| Shoot-day schedule mapping shots to days | Yes — Schedule card | No |
Made with Clusters
Real boards published from the canvas — open one and explore it live.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free alternative to Boords?
Yes — Soleil Clusters has a free Demo tier with no credit card, no trial clock, and a generous card cap, and anyone can view your boards through a share link without creating an account. Boords advertises a “free forever” plan as well, though its limits aren’t published on its pricing page; paid plans start at $39/month for a single user (as of July 2026).
How much does Boords cost for a team compared to Soleil Clusters?
As of July 2026, Boords’ team plans run $75 to $250 per month on monthly billing, tiered by team size from five to thirty users. Soleil Clusters’ Creator plan is a flat $25 per month for the whole team — it isn’t priced by seat.
Can Soleil Clusters turn a storyboard into an animatic?
No. Clusters has no animatic editor and won’t render your boards into timed video — if the deliverable is an animatic, Boords is built for exactly that. Clusters exports boards and docs as PDFs instead.
How do you make a storyboard in Soleil Clusters?
Add a grid card, split its cells into panels, and drop a still or a sketch into each frame. Panels take captions, number themselves automatically, and re-order by drag — and the canvas has draw tools for roughing frames in place.
Does Boords charge per seat?
Not per individual seat — as of July 2026 Boords prices by band: Solo at $39/month for one user, then team plans at $75, $125, and $250 per month for up to 5, 10, and 30 users on monthly billing. Clusters skips the ladder with one flat $25/month plan.
Can clients review a storyboard without creating an account?
Yes. A Clusters board shares as one public link that opens a clean, interactive read-only preview — no signup, nothing to install — with per-board control of visibility and search indexing. There’s no formal approval workflow, though; sign-off happens in comments or wherever your production already handles it.
Is Soleil Clusters an AI storyboard generator?
No, and that’s deliberate. Clusters is the shared canvas for frames your team draws, shoots, or pulls — it doesn’t generate imagery. If AI-generated boards are what you need, Boords’ AI features or a dedicated generator is the better fit.
Can I move my Boords storyboards into Soleil Clusters?
Yes — export your work from Boords, then drag the files onto a Clusters board. Stills drop into a grid card’s panels and a PDF lands on the canvas as a card, so the frames end up beside your references, shot list, and schedule.