Works alongside · checked September 2026
BacklotHub and Saturation
Short answer: BacklotHub doesn’t replace Saturation. Saturation is production finance: budgets, actuals, cost reports, cards, purchase orders and payables. BacklotHub has no budgeting. It runs the production office (crew, hires to payroll, vendors with insurance tracking, call sheets, gear, shipping and events). Both have purchase orders, so pick one place for them.
What is Saturation?
Saturation calls itself “the financial operating system for production teams”: film budgeting software that tracks money in real time. Its site lists budget creation and actualizing, cost reports and EFC tracking, purchase order management with role-based approval routing on the Team plan and up, expense tracking with virtual and physical cards, and accounts payable with vendor onboarding and ACH, wire or check payments.[1][2][3]
Saturation and BacklotHub, feature by feature
“Not published” means we couldn’t find it on Saturation’s own site. It may still exist. Numbers in brackets point to the sources at the bottom of the page.
Swipe the table sideways to see both columns.
| Feature | Saturation | BacklotHub |
|---|---|---|
| How it’s priced | Plans with seats included[2] | Flat monthly price per company |
| Budgeting | Yes: budgets, actuals, cost reports[2] | No |
| Purchase orders with approval | Yes, with approval routing (Team and up)[2] | Yes, second approver required |
| Vendor records and insurance (COI) expiry tracking | Vendor onboarding; insurance tracking not published[3] | Yes |
| Payroll processing | Not published | No |
| Crew database for your company | Not published | Yes |
| Crew hires sent to payroll, confirmed from a link | Not published | Yes |
| Build call sheets | Not published | Yes |
| Gear and asset tracking | Not published | Yes, sequential asset tags |
| Shipping requests, labels and live carrier status | Not published | Yes; label buying on Studio and up |
| Event RSVPs, guest lists and door check-in | Not published | Yes |
| Single sign-on (SSO) | Enterprise plan[2] | On the roadmap (Enterprise) |
Pricing: Saturation and BacklotHub
Saturation
As published on Saturation’s own site, September 2026.
BacklotHub
One flat monthly price per production company, in US dollars.
- Lite · 5 staff seats$199/mo
- Studio · 15 staff seats$399/mo
- Pro · 40 staff seats$599/mo
- Enterprise · unlimited seatsCustom
- · Annual billing: 12 months for the price of 10.
- · Extra staff seat: $20/month.
- · Crew, vendors, payroll contacts and guests are never seats.
How they fit together
Step 1
Build and track the budget, actuals and cost reports in Saturation.
Step 2
Keep vendor records, insurance certificates and the weekly expiry digest in BacklotHub.
Step 3
Decide where POs live: next to the budget in Saturation, or next to the vendor and production in BacklotHub.
Step 4
Run crew, hires, call sheets, gear, shipping and events in BacklotHub.
When you need Saturation, and when you need BacklotHub
Use Saturation for…
- Budgets, actuals, cost reports and estimates to complete.
- Cards, expenses and paying vendors by ACH, wire or check.
- Purchase orders that need to reconcile against the budget.
Use BacklotHub for…
- The crew roster, hires and the payroll hand-off.
- Vendor records with insurance certificate expiry tracking.
- Call sheets, gear, drives, shipping and events.
Questions people ask
- Does BacklotHub do budgeting?
- No. BacklotHub has no budgeting, actuals or cost reports. Keep Saturation, or whichever budgeting tool you use.
- Both have purchase orders. Which should we use?
- If your POs need to reconcile against the budget and actuals, keep them in Saturation. BacklotHub’s POs are raised against a vendor and a production, need an Admin to approve (never the person who raised it), and warn when the vendor’s insurance needs attention.
- Does BacklotHub integrate with Saturation?
- No. They sit side by side.
Related
Other comparisons
The BacklotHub features in question
Checked September 2026 · sources
Everything we say about Saturation comes from Saturation’s own website or help centre, read in September 2026. Prices and features change, so check their site before you decide. Where something isn’t published, we say so rather than guess. Spot something out of date? Email us and we’ll fix it.
- [1]Saturation home page: saturation.io/
- [2]Saturation pricing: saturation.io/pricing
- [3]Saturation accounts payable: saturation.io/accounts-payable
Saturation is a trademark of its owner; BacklotHub is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Saturation. We name it only to compare the products.
Keep Saturation. Run the rest of the office in BacklotHub.
A 30-minute walkthrough with someone who has run a production office. Bring the spreadsheet you trust least.