Boords

What Boords is

Boords is a web-based preproduction tool for video agencies and brand teams. It puts the script, storyboard, animatic, client review, approval, and delivery stages in one workspace. The product is aimed at producers, creative directors, and studio teams that need to show visual work to clients before a shoot or animation production begins.

The core problem is version chaos. Many teams build boards in slides, documents, image folders, and email threads. Boords tries to replace that pattern with a single board that carries the script, frames, comments, versions, and approval status. Its homepage frames the pitch as the painful part of video production made painless, and the feature set is built around that claim.

Boords says more than one million storyboards have been shared for review and more than twelve million frame comments have been left in the product. It has been independent since 2015. That history matters because the tool is not a thin AI wrapper around a generic whiteboard. It is a workflow product with export, versioning, permissions, and client review built around agency production habits.

The homepage shows logos including Vidico, Digital Brew, Framestore, Gramm, Idea Machine, Moving Brands, Planet Nutshell, Partizan, and Polarfux. The logos do not prove fit for every team, but they show the product is aimed at production companies rather than casual individual creators.

The main use case is not solo filmmaking as a hobby. It is client work. A producer can import a script, generate or upload frames, arrange shots, add camera direction, create a timed animatic, send a review link, collect frame-level notes, and track sign-off without moving the project through separate files. That makes Boords closer to a production approval system than a drawing app.

Key capabilities

Boords covers seven connected stages: script, storyboard, animatic, share, review, sign-off, and deliver. The value is not just image generation. It is the path from a written brief to an approved visual plan.

Script import and storyboard structure

You can paste a screenplay, treatment, or brief and use Boords to convert it into a structured storyboard. The script editor sits beside the frames, so lines and shots stay connected. The product also supports intelligent script import and automatic shot breakdowns, including camera angles, scene descriptions, and frame compositions.

This is useful when the creative changes late. If a frame moves, the script and board do not need to be rebuilt in separate documents. Custom text fields let teams add project-specific metadata, and saved templates can standardize the fields across a team. That matters for agencies that deliver boards in a house style or need extra production notes attached to every frame.

AI image generation and frame refinement

Boords includes an AI storyboard generator. You can describe a scene in plain language and generate an image for the frame. You can also upload your own stills, use a stock image library, or connect Dropbox and Google Drive assets. The product supports sketch, vector, and photorealistic styles, and it can keep a character cast consistent across scenes.

The more practical AI feature is targeted refinement. You can mark part of a frame and regenerate only that area. The rest of the frame stays as approved. Boords also lets you explore a different camera angle on an approved frame while keeping the shot, style, and character context. This avoids a full redraw when a client asks for a small visual change.

AI image limits are plan-based. Solo includes 250 AI images per month, Pro includes 1,000, Team includes 2,000, and Agency includes 3,000. Enterprise can use custom AI credit pools. Those limits are clear, but they matter if you generate many options for every scene.

Animatics and approval

A storyboard becomes a timed animatic inside Boords. You can preview pacing with audio before committing to a final cut. You can share the animatic through a link or export it as MP4. PDF and image exports are also available, along with shot lists and voiceover-ready scripts.

The approval layer is central. You send a review link. Clients do not need an account, SSO, or login. They can comment on individual frames and approve the cut. Password protection is available for shared links. Every comment, version, and sign-off stays on the record, which reduces the risk of a client later asking which version they approved.

Collaboration, versions, and team controls

Boords supports real-time collaboration, unlimited guest commenting, and project sharing links. Team members can edit storyboards together and see updates. Version control keeps revisions connected, and an activity trail records changes. Higher plans add client-hidden comments, project-level permissions, customizable templates, team invite links, custom subdomains, and two-factor authentication.

These controls are the difference between a personal storyboard maker and a studio workflow. A small freelancer may not care about a custom subdomain. A ten-person team usually does. The ability to hide internal comments from clients is one of the clearest agency needs, and Boords reserves it for higher tiers.

Integrations and delivery

Boords has a public API, webhooks, and Slack notifications. The API can create projects, import scripts, update frames, manage comments, and move storyboard data between Boords and other tools. Webhooks send signed event notifications when projects, storyboards, frames, or comments change. This makes Boords usable as a sign-off layer inside a larger production pipeline.

Before and after the tool

The before state is familiar to video teams. Feedback is scattered across email. A file named something like Final_v3_REAL.pdf sits in several folders. Nobody knows which version the client approved. The after state Boords sells is one place for storyboards, animatics, and sign-off. You share a link. The client does not need to log in. The approval is attached to the project instead of living in an inbox.

This is not a minor convenience if your team handles multiple client projects. A revision on a board costs minutes. A revision discovered after the shoot costs a day, a crew, and client trust. Boords positions the animatic as the place to catch pacing problems before an editor or production team commits to the cut.

Boords Agent

Boords also offers Boords Agent, a preproduction agent. In the product demonstration, the agent reads a script, creates frames, generates images, and adds a direction field with a suggested camera move for each frame. This is aimed at the first pass of a board, not the final creative judgment. A human still needs to review the shots, adjust timing, and confirm the client-facing version.

Pricing explained

Boords has four published paid plans and an Enterprise option. Monthly billing lists Solo at $39/month, Pro at $75/month, Team at $125/month, and Agency at $250/month. Yearly billing reduces the effective monthly price to $26, $50, $85, and $165 respectively. The pricing page says yearly billing saves 33%. It also says you can cancel or switch plans anytime and offers a 100% money back guarantee.

Solo is for one user. It includes unlimited storyboards and exports, 250 AI images per month, no watermarks, a stock image library, Dropbox and Google Drive connections, auto frame numbers, custom text fields, and intelligent script import. It also includes no-signup client reviews, project sharing links, unlimited guest commenting, real-time collaboration, password protection, animatic editor, PDF exports, all export formats, version control, and an activity trail.

Pro raises the limit to 1,000 AI images per month and supports up to five users. It adds everything in Solo, but the comparison table does not give Pro the team controls that appear on higher plans. Team costs more and supports up to ten users, 2,000 AI images per month, and advanced team controls. Agency supports up to thirty users, 3,000 AI images per month, and priority support.

Enterprise is custom. It includes single sign-on through SAML, custom seat counts and billing terms, custom AI credit pools, dedicated support and onboarding, MSA and DPA support, and an audit-grade activity trail. Boords says typical response is within one working day. The homepage also mentions a free forever plan with no credit card, although the pricing page focuses on paid trials and paid tiers.

The pricing is simple to understand, but it is not cheap for a single user. A solo operator paying monthly pays $468 a year before taxes. Yearly billing lowers that to $312 a year. That is still more than many general-purpose visual tools, but it is priced around agency workflow rather than casual storyboarding.

The main buying decision is not whether the core workflow is included. Every published plan runs the full workflow from storyboard to sign-off. The decision is how many users need seats, how many AI images you expect to generate, and whether you need team controls such as client-hidden comments, project permissions, templates, invite links, custom subdomains, and two-factor authentication.

How it compares

Boords competes with general design tools, script-to-production platforms, and animation-specific storyboard software. Its own buyer guide places it as best for teams, while Canva is the free-leaning general option, Celtx is for broader preproduction, and Toon Boom Storyboard Pro is for animation pipelines. That framing is useful because Boords is strongest when the job is client approval, not advanced drawing.

Against Canva, Boords is more production-specific. Canva can be a good place to make a simple board with templates, and it has a large free tier. It is not built around frame comments, animatics, version control, or sign-off in the same way. Against Celtx, Boords is less about scriptwriting and production management and more about visual boards and client review.

Against Toon Boom Storyboard Pro, the difference is depth of drawing and animation tooling. Toon Boom is an industry standard for traditional animation, with full drawing tools, 3D camera moves, and tight integration with Toon Boom Harmony. Boords is browser-based and easier for non-artists to use. It is better suited to agencies that need presentable boards and approvals than to animation studios that need frame-by-frame drawing control.

Boords also sits near newer tools such as Storyflow, which pitches an infinite canvas and AI context. The distinction is workflow shape. Boords presents a linear, stage-based preproduction loop with established export and approval features. A canvas tool suits freeform exploration. Boords is built for getting a board approved and moving it into production.

The strongest comparison point is client friction. Boords lets reviewers participate without creating accounts. That matters more than raw drawing power when the bottleneck is getting a client to look at the right version and say yes.

Who should skip it

Skip Boords if you need a professional animation drawing suite. Toon Boom Storyboard Pro has full drawing tools, 3D camera moves, and a pipeline role in traditional animation that Boords does not claim. If your team is made of storyboard artists who need precise hand control, Boords feels more like a review and planning system than a drawing tool.

Skip it if budget is the only constraint and you only need a static board. Canva and other general visual tools can produce a simple storyboard at a lower price or on a free tier. They do not give you the same approval trail, but they may be enough for internal mockups or one-off projects.

Skip it if you need enterprise security on a standard plan. SAML single sign-on, custom seat counts, MSA and DPA support, and audit-grade activity trail are listed under Enterprise, not the published self-serve tiers. Procurement-heavy organizations should talk to Boords before buying. Also skip it if your AI image volume is very high and the monthly AI limits on lower plans force constant upgrades.

Finally, skip it if your process is entirely solo and informal. The Solo plan is still $39 per month on monthly billing. If you never send boards to clients, never track approvals, and never need animatics, the workflow overhead may not justify the cost. Boords makes the most sense when other people must review, comment, and approve.