Shade vs Suite Studios (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Shade grades higher than Suite Studios: 2.0 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Shade grades higher on features and platforms. Suite Studios grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on value for money and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Shade
Cloud storage and review for video teams, with AI search
Suite Studios
Cloud storage that streams large media files like a local drive
Which one is for you
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
Pick Suite Studios if
- Fits if you edit video straight from a cloud drive
- Works for teams that share big files with outside clients through Suite Connect
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you just need general storage: $75 a TB a month
- Skip it if you want a free plan, as there isn't one
- Watch out: users beyond five cost $10 each a month
- Not for you if you need a phone app, since none is listed
- Tight if you need SSO or your own storage, which are Enterprise with no published price
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAShadeFair | 1.8GPASuite StudiosWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | D$75 per TB a month with 5 users, and $10 for each extra user. General storage plans typically cost around $7 a month, so this is far above the category. |
| Free plan and trial | DA free trial on Growth with no length stated on the pricing page, and no free plan. | CA 14-day free trial of the Managed plan is the only free offer; the page does not say whether a card is needed. |
| Features | BMounted drives, AI search, transcription, face recognition, time-stamped review comments and client delivery on the same files. | CFile streaming, multiple drives, bandwidth limits, transfers to outsiders and encryption. S3 access, SSO and bring-your-own-storage sit on Enterprise. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record, and workspaces and drives have to be set up. | CNo rating on record. You mount drives and set up users and bandwidth. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, Mac, Windows and Linux with Slack. No phone app is listed. | CDesktop apps for Mac, Windows and Linux with Amazon S3 access. No phone apps are listed. |
| Best for | video and creative teams sharing large files | cloud storage for large media 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: Shade and Suite Studios. How we grade
Price against what you get
Shade starts at $29.75 a month for each person and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Suite Studios starts at $75 a month and scores 2.0.
Shade scores higher and starts $45.25 a month lower. Of the other file storage and sync services on the chart, 13 score higher than Shade for less, and 49 score higher than Suite Studios 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
- Shade also covers transcription.
At a glance
| Shade | Suite Studios | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $29.75 per seat / month, billed annually ($35 billed monthly) | $75 per TB / month |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | Free trial on the Growth plan; its length is not stated on the pricing page | 14-day free trial of the Managed plan |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Shade Inc. | Suite Studios Inc. |
| Price read from | shade.inc | suitestudios.io |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Suite Studios
- There is no free plan; storage is billed by the terabyte from $75 a month.
- Users beyond the first five cost $10 each per month on Managed.
- The download page lists macOS, Windows and Linux apps; no mobile apps are listed.
- Bring-your-own-storage, SSO and SCIM are Enterprise features with no published price.
Key features
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.
Suite Studios
- File streaming
- Files open from a mounted drive and are fetched as needed, so large media does not have to be downloaded in full first.
- Suite Connect transfers
- Send files to people outside the team through Suite Connect, which is included on both plans.
- Multiple drives and bandwidth limits
- Managed accounts can create several Suite drives and cap how much bandwidth the app uses.
- S3-native access
- The site announces S3-native file streaming; the pricing page lists S3 native read and write as live and attaches it to Enterprise.
- Encryption and access controls
- Data is encrypted with AES-256 in transit and at rest, with granular access controls on both plans.
- Enterprise identity controls
- Enterprise adds SSO, SCIM and a team-wide MFA requirement, plus an SLA and a dedicated account manager.
Plans
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.
Suite Studios
Managed$75
per TB / month
Includes 5 users; extra users are $10 each per month. Multiple drives, bandwidth limiting and Suite Connect transfers.
EnterpriseCustom
Dedicated infrastructure, optional bring-your-own storage, onsite caching, SSO and SCIM; priced per team.
Ways to pay less
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.
Suite Studios
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Shade or Suite Studios?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Shade starts at $29.75 per seat / month, billed annually ($35 billed monthly), and Suite Studios starts at $75 per TB / month. 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, Shade or Suite Studios?
As of Nov 13, 2026, neither Shade nor Suite Studios has a free plan. Both have a free trial.
Which platforms do Shade and Suite Studios run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Shade lists a web app. Both list macOS, Windows and Linux apps. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
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.