How Much Does Shade Cost?
The real price of the AI video asset manager, plan by plan, storage included.
Short answer: Shade starts at $29.75/seat/month on the Growth plan with annual billing ($35 monthly), with 500 GB of active storage per seat and a free trial. That is the price for one user. Because everything bills per seat, a 10-person studio runs closer to ~$298/month, and the Enterprise plan (SSO, bigger storage) moves to a custom quote. We walk through every plan, what pushes the bill up, and what you really pay for your profile.
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Shade, the key numbers
What each Shade plan costs
Shade lists two plans: Growth, self-serve with a public price, and Enterprise, by quote. The bill is calculated per seat, with each seat adding its price and 500 GB of active storage. Annual billing saves 15% versus monthly. Drives and AI indexing are unlimited on both plans.
Prices in USD, annual billing. Checked June 2026 on shade.inc/pricing.
Growth
For small and mid-size teams
$35/seat/month monthly
- 500 GB active storage per seat
- Up to 15 seats, 150 guests
- Unlimited drives and AI indexing
- AI search, transcription, automated metadata
- Facial recognition, timecoded comments, Slack
Enterprise
For studios and high volume
- 1 TB active storage per seat
- Unlimited seats, up to 250 guests
- SSO/SAML, SCIM, audit logging
- Dedicated account manager and workflow help
- Free data migration from your existing tools
Prices checked June 2026 on shade.inc/pricing. Shade raised its rates in 2026: some comparison sites still show the older entry price (~$20 to $25/seat), so always confirm the current rate on the official page. The average Enterprise contract the vendor cites runs around $10,000 to $15,000 a year for 10 users and 25 TB.
Shade bills per seat
The listed price is per seat, not per team. Every person you add costs a full seat, storage included. Here is what really pushes the bill up.
The number of seats
This is lever number one. Each Growth seat costs $29.75/month annually and forces 500 GB of storage. A team of 5 runs ~$149/month, a team of 10 ~$298/month. The price climbs linearly with users, not in tiers.
Active storage
Each seat includes 500 GB of active storage (the media streamed at full resolution) on Growth, 1 TB on Enterprise. If your footage exceeds that, you move to Enterprise and a custom quote, where the per-seat storage steps up.
Moving to Enterprise
Anything enterprise-grade (SSO/SAML, SCIM, audit logging, more than 15 seats, more than 150 guests) forces the Enterprise plan, with no public price. The average contract the vendor cites runs around $10,000 to $15,000 a year for 10 users and 25 TB.
Review guests
Good news here: guests for review and approval are free, up to 150 on Growth and 250 on Enterprise. They do not take a paid seat, as long as you stay under the cap.
- Working solo? One Growth seat at ~$30/month is enough.
- A small team? Count one seat per active editor.
- Footage over 500 GB per head? Look at Enterprise.
- Need SSO or more than 15 seats? That is by quote.
- External reviewers stay free, up to 150 guests.
How we size the real cost
Shade's listed price does not tell you what a team really pays, because it multiplies per seat. For the full studio, we take the Growth plan on annual billing and multiply by the number of active editors. Here is the math for a typical team.
- Price per seat (Growth)Annual, 500 GB storage included$29.75
- Active seatsA 10-editor studiox 10
- Pooled storage10 seats x 500 GB included5 TB
- Total per monthAbout $3,575 a year~$298
Estimate on the Growth plan. Adjust for the number of editors and the storage you actually need.
What you actually pay per month
The price hinges on seat count and storage. Four typical profiles, annual billing, assumptions stated.
Estimates in USD, annual. Storage beyond the quota not included.
Freelancer
1 seat
- 1 Growth seat, 500 GB storage
- AI search and streaming included
- Ideal for a solo editor
Small team
5 seats
- 5 Growth seats, 2.5 TB pooled
- Up to 150 review guests
- Unlimited drives and AI indexing
Studio
10 seats
- 10 Growth seats, 5 TB pooled
- About $3,575 a year
- Cap of the Growth plan (15 seats)
Enterprise
High volume + SSO
- Unlimited seats, 1 TB per seat
- SSO/SAML, SCIM, audit logging
- ~$10,000 to $15,000/year for 10 users, 25 TB
Estimates with annual billing (June 2026), based on the Growth seat price times the number of seats. Adjust for your editors and real storage. Past 15 seats, 150 guests or the storage quota, Shade moves to the Enterprise plan, whose price is not public.
Shade's price versus the alternatives
Shade's entry plan compared with the other video asset tools. Shade bills per seat with native AI; Frame.io targets review, Air the visual DAM, LucidLink pure streaming. Three models for three needs.
Entry prices checked June 2026. Different billing models.
Shade
Billed per seat, native AI
- AI search in plain language
- Full-resolution streaming, 500 GB/seat
- DAM and review in one tool
Frame.io
Billed per member
- Free plan (2 members, 2 projects)
- Built around review and collaboration
- Less AI search than a full DAM
Air
Unlimited seats
- Free plan (120 credits/month)
- Billed on storage and credits
- Visual DAM, more images than video
Entry prices checked June 2026 on the official pages. Shade and Air bill differently: Shade per seat (every editor costs a full seat), Air on storage with unlimited seats. Frame.io, at $15/member, focuses on video review and offers a free plan, where Shade bets on AI search and full-resolution streaming. LucidLink stays cheapest for pure streaming (from $7/month) but does no DAM or AI search.
So, is Shade expensive?
Our take after testing it: Shade costs more at the entry than its neighbors, but it replaces several tools. Here is when it pays off, and when it stings.
Good value if…
You currently juggle a DAM, a review tool and a file-streaming layer. Shade folds AI search, full-resolution streaming and review into one subscription. For a video team stacking several licenses, the $29.75 seat can come out cheaper than the combined stack.
Less appealing if…
You are solo or a small team and just want to review edits. There, Frame.io ($15/member, free plan) or Air (unlimited seats) come out cheaper, and Shade's per-seat entry adds up fast. Plus, anything SSO or heavy storage goes to an opaque quote.
The verdict
Shade is a solid AI asset manager at a fair price for a video team that wants everything in one place. The move: start the free trial, take only one seat per genuinely active editor, and pay annually for the 15% saving.
- Pay annually: 15% off every seat.
- Start the free trial to test the AI search.
- Take only one seat per genuinely active editor.
- Keep external reviewers as free guests.
- Request an Enterprise quote only for SSO or heavy storage.
Frequently asked questions about Shade pricing
How much does Shade cost per month?
Shade starts at $29.75/seat/month on the Growth plan with annual billing, or $35/seat/month monthly. Each seat includes 500 GB of active storage, unlimited drives and unlimited AI indexing. Because everything bills per seat, a team of 5 runs about $149/month and a 10-person studio about $298/month. The Enterprise plan, which adds 1 TB per seat, SSO and audit logging, moves to a custom quote. The smart move is to take only one seat per genuinely active editor.How much does Shade cost per year?
With annual billing, a single Growth seat runs about $357/year ($29.75 x 12). For a small team of 5 seats, expect around $1,785/year, and for a 10-seat studio about $3,575/year, with 500 GB of storage per seat included. Annual billing saves 15% versus monthly. Past 15 seats or for heavy storage, Shade moves to the Enterprise plan, whose average contract runs around $10,000 to $15,000/year for 10 users and 25 TB. Always confirm the exact price on the official page before you pay.Does Shade have a free plan?
No, Shade has no permanent free plan. It does offer a free trial on the Growth plan, which unlocks AI search, full-resolution streaming, transcription and automated metadata. That is enough to test whether the tool actually finds your clips by their content before you commit. After the trial, you move to a paid per-seat subscription to continue. If you want a tool with a real free tier, Frame.io (2 members, 2 projects) and Air (120 credits a month) both have one.Is storage included in Shade's price?
Yes. Each Growth seat includes 500 GB of active storage, meaning the media streamed at full resolution, at no extra cost. The Enterprise plan steps up to 1 TB per seat. Storage is therefore proportional to your seat count: a team of 10 has 5 TB pooled. If your footage exceeds that, you move to the Enterprise plan and a custom quote, where the per-seat storage scales up. It is a point to plan for if your team handles a lot of high-resolution video.How much does Shade cost for a full studio?
Expect about $298/month with annual billing for a 10-seat studio on the Growth plan, around $3,575/year, with 5 TB of pooled storage. The math at Shade is simple: the per-seat price times the number of active editors, with no public tiers or volume discounts. Past 15 seats, the studio moves to the Enterprise plan, whose average contract the vendor cites runs around $10,000 to $15,000/year for 10 users and 25 TB. With only a few editors, you stay well below that, of course.Is Shade more expensive than Frame.io or Air?
At the entry, yes. Frame.io starts at $15/member/month with a free plan, and Air offers unlimited seats from about $25/month by billing storage. Shade, at $29.75/seat/month annually, costs more per user. The nuance: Shade folds AI search, full-resolution streaming and review into one tool, where Frame.io focuses on review and Air on the visual DAM. If you currently stack several licenses, Shade can come out cheaper than the combined stack, even with a higher entry price.Is AI search included in Shade's price?
Yes. AI indexing and plain-language search are unlimited and included on both Growth and Enterprise, at no extra cost. It is the heart of the product: finding a clip by its content, such as a face, a word spoken in the transcript or a described scene. Automated transcription, generated metadata and facial recognition are also baked into the seat price. You do not pay separate AI credits, unlike some DAMs that bill enrichment by usage.Is there a discount for paying Shade annually?
Yes. Annual billing saves 15% on the seat price: the Growth plan drops from $35 to $29.75/seat/month. That is the main reliable way to pay less for Shade. There is no recurring official promo code, so be wary of third-party coupon pages. The best lever is to combine the annual commitment with a tight seat count: subscribe one seat per genuinely active editor only, since each seat costs a full subscription and forces 500 GB of storage.How much does Shade cost for a large team or enterprise?
For a large team, Shade moves to the Enterprise plan, with no public price. It adds 1 TB of storage per seat, unlimited seats, SSO/SAML, SCIM, audit logging, a dedicated account manager and free data migration. The average contract the vendor cites runs around $10,000 to $15,000/year for 10 users and 25 TB of storage. The exact rate depends on the number of seats and the storage volume negotiated. For a precise figure you have to request a quote directly from Shade, starting from your editor count and your real terabytes.Can I cancel Shade easily?
Yes, the Growth subscription is managed from your account and you can adjust the seat count over time. The watch-out is storage: before closing your account, export your media and metadata, because full-resolution streaming assumes the files live with Shade. On an Enterprise contract, cancellation terms and the commitment length are negotiated case by case, so read your quote carefully. And keep in mind that switching from annual to monthly costs you the 15% discount.
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