MASV vs Shade (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, MASV and Shade share a 2.0 GPA, and only MASV has a free plan.
Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
MASV grades higher on the free plan. Shade grades higher on features. They get the same grade on value for money, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
MASV
Pay-per-GB large file transfer for media and data teams
Shade
Cloud storage and review for video teams, with AI search
Which one is for you
Pick MASV if
- Fits if you move large media files between teams and clients
- Works for people who would rather pay per gigabyte than for seats
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a free plan without a card, as one is needed for the allowance
- Pricey if you send often: $0.25 a GB adds up fast
- Watch out: files are stored free for 5 days, then $0.07 a GB a month
- Watch out: subscriptions carry a 12-month commitment and pre-bought credits expire after 180 days
- Tight if you need single sign-on or malware scanning, which are on the custom plan
Pick Shade if
- Fits if you edit video and want review comments on the files themselves
- Works for creative teams that deliver files to clients
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you just want storage, at $29.75 a seat a month
- Not for you if you have over 15 seats or 150 guests, as that needs Enterprise at no published price
- Watch out: SSO, SCIM and audit logging are Enterprise only
- Watch out: the comparison claims against LucidLink, Frame.io and Dropbox are the vendor's own
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAMASVFair | 2.0GPAShadeFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | D$0.25 a GB after the first 15 GB, or $58 a month for 250 GB on a 12-month commitment. A tool for moving data, not storing it, but the price is a lot higher than $7, the category's middle. | D$29.75 a seat a month billed annually ($35 monthly), against $7 in the middle for file storage, though it is a different kind of product from plain storage. |
| Free plan and trial | C15 GB a month free, but a credit card is required, with a $10 hold at sign-up. Storage after 5 days costs $0.07 a GB a month. | DA free trial on Growth with no length stated on the pricing page, and no free plan. |
| Features | CPortals, watch folders, scheduled transfers, an API and security attestations. Single sign-on, malware scanning and system-to-system automation need the custom plan. | BMounted drives, AI search, transcription, face recognition, time-stamped review comments and client delivery on the same files. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. You set up portals, roles and automations. | CNo store rating on record, and workspaces and drives have to be set up. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb plus Mac, Windows and Linux apps, with S3, Synology, QNAP, Microsoft, Google and Dropbox and an API. No phone app is listed. | BWeb, Mac, Windows and Linux with Slack. No phone app is listed. |
| Best for | large media transfers paid by the gigabyte | video and creative teams sharing large files |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: MASV and Shade. How we grade
Price against what you get
MASV starts at $58 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Shade starts at $29.75 a month for each person and scores 2.7.
Shade scores higher and starts $28.25 a month lower. Of the other file storage and sync services on the chart, 31 score higher than MASV for less, and 13 score higher than Shade for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- MASV also covers workflow automation.
- Shade also covers transcription and file sync.
At a glance
| MASV | Shade | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $58 per month, billed monthly with a 12-month commitment (250 GB included) | $29.75 per seat / month, billed annually ($35 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | On-Demand: 15 GB of transfer free every month; credit card required for verification. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | Free trial on the Growth plan; its length is not stated on the pricing page |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | MASV | Shade Inc. |
| Price read from | masv.io | shade.inc |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
MASV
- A credit card is required even for the free allowance; MASV places a $10 pre-authorization at sign-up and releases it.
- Files are stored free for 5 days; after that storage is $0.07 per GB per month.
- Subscriptions carry a 12-month commitment, and pre-bought credits expire after 180 days.
- Single sign-on, malware scanning and system-to-system automation need the custom Platform plan.
Shade
- Growth is capped at 15 seats, 150 guests and 1 workspace; larger teams need Enterprise, which has no published price.
- Storage is 500 GB of active storage per seat on Growth, and the page says storage add-ons are available.
- SSO/SAML, SCIM and audit logging are limited to Enterprise.
- The site markets Shade as a replacement for LucidLink, Frame.io and Dropbox; these claims are the vendor's own.
Key features
MASV
- Usage-based pricing
- No paid seats; the charge is a per-GB fee when data leaves the platform, as a download or an upload to connected storage.
- Portals
- Branded portals for collecting files from outside collaborators, with roles and permissions.
- Automation
- Watch-folder triggers, scheduled transfers and routing of files to cloud or on-premises storage.
- MASV Studio desktop app
- Listed for Mac, Windows and Linux on every plan.
- API
- A developer platform and API for automating transfers; embedded transfer for custom applications is on the Platform tier.
- Security attestations
- The pricing page lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001:2022, HIPAA compliance and TPN verification as the vendor's claims.
Shade
- Mountable drives
- The homepage describes drives that mount on a computer like a local disk; the pricing page lists unlimited drives, with multi-mount on Enterprise.
- AI search and indexing
- Search by sentence, facial recognition and transcripts, with unlimited AI indexing on both plans.
- Review and approval
- Time-stamped comments, annotation and markup, and a Slack integration appear in the plan comparison.
- Client delivery
- Role-based access, download permissions and published links are listed for sharing work with clients.
- Video proxies and metadata
- Web playback and downloadable proxies, plus EXIF, IPTC, XMP and timecode metadata.
Plans
MASV
On-Demand (pay as you go)$0
plus $0.25 per GB after the first 15 GB each month
No contract and no cap on how much you send. Charges apply when data exits MASV; files stored beyond 5 days cost $0.07 per GB per month.
Annual Subscription 250 GB$58
per month for 250 GB, billed monthly with 12-month commitment
$0.23 per GB; volume refreshes monthly and overages are billed at a discounted rate. Larger steps: $110 for 500 GB, $215 for 1 TB, $410 for 2 TB.
Pre-Buy Credits 5 TB$1,229
one-time purchase for 5 TB
$0.24 per GB, credits valid 180 days. Larger packs: $2,355 for 10 TB and $5,632 for 25 TB.
PlatformCustom
Sold through sales. Adds centralized authentication, roles, malware scanning, system-to-system automation and embedded transfer.
Shade
Growth$29.75
per seat / month, billed annually ($35 billed monthly)
1 workspace, unlimited drives and AI indexing, up to 15 seats and 150 guests, and 500 GB of active storage per seat.
EnterpriseCustom
Unlimited workspaces and seats, up to 250 guests, 1 TB of active storage per seat, SSO/SAML, SCIM, audit logging and a dedicated account manager. Sold through sales.
Ways to pay less
MASV
- Other savings
Subscription and pre-buy discounts
The pricing FAQ says subscriptions and pre-purchases give up to 24% off the $0.25 per GB pay-as-you-go rate.
Shade
- Annual discount
Annual billing: $29.75 against $35 monthly
The pricing page shows $29.75 per seat a month on annual billing against $35 per seat a month billed monthly for Growth.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, MASV or Shade?
As of Nov 13, 2026, MASV starts at $58 per month, billed monthly with a 12-month commitment (250 GB included), and Shade starts at $29.75 per seat / month, billed annually ($35 billed monthly). One is priced for each person and the other is not, so which costs less depends on how many of you use it.
Which has a free plan, MASV or Shade?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only MASV has a free plan. Shade does not, though it has a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.