Filestage is built to prove a process: reviewer groups, stages, templates and routing rules configured before the first file moves. BugSmash gives you a link, pinned comments, version history and a recorded approval, and opens native mobile apps, 3D models and CAD drawings that Filestage cannot.
4.8 out of 5 · 1,250+ agencies in 100+ countries
Loved by1,250+Agenciesand companies in 100+ countries
Both review video, audio, images, documents and live websites with no login for reviewers. BugSmash costs a fraction of the entry price, adds native mobile app, 3D and CAD review, and includes AI review and integrations without a credit meter or an add-on.
| Feature | Filestage | BugSmash |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 1 project, 5 files a month | 2 projects, unlimited files |
| Entry price | $0, then $199/mo (10 seats) | $0, then $25/mo (2 users included) |
| Unlimited projects | $199/mo | $25/mo |
| AI review | $329/mo, 50 credits a month | Included, from Free |
| Single sign-on | Paid add-on, even on Business at $329 | Included on Enterprise |
Filestage is an online proofing platform for video, images, documents, websites, interactive HTML and audio. Files move through numbered review steps, each with its own reviewer group, and reviewers approve or request changes without needing an account.
It is built for governed approval: reviewer groups, workflow templates, automations, review reports and, on Enterprise, verified approval that satisfies FDA 21 CFR Part 11. Every plan includes ten seats, with more sold in bundles of five.
Filestage is a genuinely strong proofing platform and we say where it beats us further down. Four things push agencies to look elsewhere, and all four are about where the plan lines fall.
Filestage Free gives you one active project and five new file uploads a month, and the limit resets monthly without rolling over. That is a demo allowance rather than a working plan. The first real plan is Starter at $199 a month.
Reviewer groups are how Filestage separates review stages and audiences. Free and Starter both give you two. Business at $329 gives you three. Only Enterprise makes them unlimited.
For an agency, a reviewer group is usually a client. Two clients on a $199 plan is the constraint that catches people, and it is not obvious from the headline price.
Filestage Review Agents check grammar, forbidden terms, mandatory images, barcodes and compliance. They are on Business and Enterprise only, and both include fifty agent credits a month, which reset and do not carry over. Useful, and rationed.
On the Business plan at $329, single sign-on, multiple teams, intake forms, custom integrations, premium support, data residency and security assessments are all listed as add-ons rather than features. Seats work the same way: every plan includes ten, and more come in bundles of five whose price is not published.
Filestage is usually bought by a marketing operations or compliance function and rolled out to a team. Before a single file moves, someone decides the reviewer groups, the stages, the templates and the automation rules, and every new client means doing that again. In a regulated business that configuration is the product. The process has to run the same way every time and be provable afterwards, and Filestage is very good at making that true.
In an eight to twenty five person agency the process is send it to the client, collect the comments, ship. There, the same configuration is setup cost paid up front and re-paid on every onboarding, in exchange for governance nobody asked for.
It shows on the reviewer side too. A Filestage reviewer belongs to a group inside a stage, so your client has to be placed into a structure before they can look at anything. That structure is what makes the audit hold up. It is also more than a client needs in order to say the logo should be bigger.
The real worry about changing review tool is never whether the new one is better. It is whether your client will refuse to use it. Nothing you ask of your clients changes.
Clients open the link and comment. No account, no password, no install.
Paste it into the email you were already writing.
Click the exact spot, type, reply in a thread.
Organise by client, control who can view or comment, get notified when they do.
The short version. The detailed comparison is underneath.
| Feature | Filestage | BugSmash |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $0, then $199/mo (10 seats) | $0, then $25/mo (2 users included) |
| Free plan limit | 1 project, 5 new files a month | 2 projects, unlimited files |
| Ten people | $199/mo on Starter | $69/mo on Team |
| Reviewer groups per plan | 2, then 3, unlimited on Enterprise | Not offered, single-stage review |
| AI review | $329/mo, 50 credits a month | Included from the free plan |
| Mobile apps, 3D and CAD | Not supported | Yes |
| Feature | Filestage | BugSmash |
|---|---|---|
| COST AND LIMITS | ||
| Free plan | 1 active project, 5 new files a month, 2 GB | 2 projects, unlimited files, 5 GB |
| Entry price | $0, then $199/mo (10 seats) | $0, then $25/mo (2 users included) |
| Unlimited active projects | $199/mo | $25/mo |
| Reviewer groups and review stages | 2 on Free and Starter, 3 on Business, unlimited on Enterprise | Not offered, single-stage review |
| Separating clients | Reviewer groups | Projects and folders |
| Seats included | 10 on every plan | 10 on Team, 25 on Agency |
| Extra seats | Bundles of 5, price not published | $5 each, published |
| Storage | 2 GB, 1 TB, 3 TB, 10 TB by plan | 5 GB free, up to 500 GB |
| Trial | 14 days, no card, drops to Free | Free plan instead of a clock |
| WHAT YOU CAN REVIEW | ||
| Video and audio with timestamps | Yes | Yes |
| Images, designs, documents, PDFs | Yes | Yes |
| Live websites and interactive HTML | Yes | Yes |
| Native mobile apps | No | Yes |
| 3D models and CAD drawings | No | Yes |
| WHAT YOUR CLIENT SEES | ||
| Comment without an account | Yes | Yes |
| Your logo | Starter, $199 | Team, $69 |
| Your own domain and email | Not published | Agency, $129 |
| Password protected review links | Starter, $199 | Yes |
| Review page in the reviewer's language | Not published | 20+ languages from Team |
| WORKFLOW AND INTEGRATIONS | ||
| Jira, Slack, Monday, Zapier, Make | Yes | Yes |
| ClickUp, Asana, Trello, Linear, Notion | Not listed | Yes |
| Adobe Premiere, After Effects, Photoshop, InDesign | Yes | Figma plugin only today |
| API and webhooks | Business, $329 | Agency, $129 |
| AI review | $329, 50 credits a month | Included from Free, unlimited on Agency |
| Hand open comments to an AI agent | No | Yes, over MCP |
| WHERE FILESTAGE IS STRONGER | ||
| Multi-stage approval routing | Reviewer groups, templates, automations | Not offered at all |
| Regulated sign-off | Verified approval for FDA 21 CFR Part 11 and EU Annex 11 | Not offered |
| Certifications and data residency | ISO 27017, German servers, GDPR DPA, Germany residency option | GDPR and CCPA ready, no ISO certification |
| Adobe Creative Cloud plugins | Four, shipped | Figma plugin |
| Audit logs | Enterprise | Not offered |
| If this is you | Filestage | BugSmash | Difference a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freelancer, 8 files a month | $199 | $0 | $2,388 |
| Small studio, 3 clients | $199 | $25 | $2,088 |
| Twelve person agency, 8 clients | $329 | $79 | $3,000 |
| Agency needing own domain | $329 plus add-ons | $129 | $2,400 |
The freelancer row is the widest gap in this whole comparison set. Filestage has no priced step between free and $199, and the free plan stops at five files a month.
View BugSmash Plans & PricingTwo projects and unlimited files free, fifty projects at $25, unlimited projects and ten people at $69. There is no gap between a demo allowance and a $199 commitment. Both tools include ten seats at their working plan, so this is a straight price comparison on the same headcount.
Accessibility, UI, copy and broken link checks run on every upload from the free plan. Agency adds custom reviewers trained per client on their brand book, tone and compliance rules, with no monthly credit balance to watch.
Three asset types Filestage does not open at all. If your studio touches product, engineering or app work alongside marketing, that is the difference between one review workspace and two.
ClickUp, Asana, Trello, Linear, Notion and Airtable alongside Jira, Slack, Monday, Zapier, Make, n8n and webhooks. Filestage covers the enterprise end of that list well and leaves out most of the tools smaller agencies actually run on.
If you need multi-stage approval routing with distinct reviewer groups per stage, audit logs, ISO 27017 certified hosting with German data residency, or verified approval that satisfies FDA 21 CFR Part 11, Filestage does all of that and BugSmash does not. If your creative team lives inside Premiere, After Effects, Photoshop and InDesign, Filestage has shipped plugins for all four today.
That is a real enterprise proofing product and the price reflects it. If you are an agency under twenty people who needs review and sign-off rather than a governed approval chain, keep reading.
Everything you didn't know you needed, until now.
Filestage exports PDF review reports from the Business plan, so you can keep a record of past approvals, but there is no structured import into another tool. Here is what actually works.
Start free and put your next new project in BugSmash. Do not move history. New work only.
Send one client the link. No account for them means no email explaining a signup, which is the step that usually kills a tool change.
Leave Filestage running until your billing period ends. Finish the reviews already in flight over there.
Cancel once the last one closes. Nothing is stranded, because nothing moved.
Simple canvas-style review on live sites, images, PDFs and video, unlimited users on every plan. Pro is metered at 100 reviews a month and the next plan is $499.
Very wide file type support and mature live website proofing, including on its free plan. Meters workflow stages and starts around $199.
The most reliable live website rendering in the category. Meters active canvases and charges per seat above five people.
Strong bug triage board with unlimited projects and guests. Needs a JavaScript snippet on every site.
Two-way sync with Jira, Linear and GitHub, with status flowing back to the reporter. Built for engineers rather than clients.
We keep a page on every tool in this category, including the ones that beat us in places. See all comparisons
It depends on what you need. If the $199 entry price is the problem and you want review and approval without governed multi-stage routing, BugSmash is the closest replacement. If you need enterprise proofing at that level, Ziflow is the closer like-for-like.
Set up your first review in under a minute. No credit card, no onboarding calls.
