GreenSlate vs Saturation (2026): Production Payroll vs Production Finance

GreenSlate and Saturation serve different functions in a production's financial stack. Understanding which one you need, and whether you need both, requires knowing what each tool actually does.

GreenSlate is a production accounting and entertainment payroll platform: it processes W-2 payroll for union and non-union crew, manages timecards, handles accounts payable, and provides full production accounting services. Saturation is a production finance platform: it builds and manages production budgets, tracks actual expenses against them, and processes contractor and vendor payments through Saturation Pay.

The distinction matters because many productions end up using both: GreenSlate to pay their W-2 crew and manage accounting, Saturation to manage the budget and pay contractors and vendors outside the payroll system.

What GreenSlate Does

GreenSlate was built by production accountants specifically for film and television productions. Its core product is entertainment payroll combined with cloud-based production accounting, delivered through a single platform with one database that the accounting team, paymaster, and crew all access simultaneously.

Key GreenSlate capabilities:

• W-2 payroll processing: Full payroll for union and non-union cast and crew, including direct deposit, tax withholding, and year-end W-2s. Supports SAG-AFTRA, DGA, IATSE, and other entertainment guild agreements.

• Digital timecards: Crew submit timecards directly into the platform. The accounting team reviews and approves without paper or PDF handoffs. The same timecard data flows directly into payroll and cost reports.

• Production accounting: Full accounts payable system, general ledger, cost coding, and financial reporting. GreenSlate replaces the traditional combination of movie accounting software and a separate payroll service.

• Tax incentive tracking: Tools for tracking qualifying expenditures against state and country film tax credit programs. GreenSlate allows producers to manage tax incentives across all projects in a single dashboard.

• Paperless workflow: GreenSlate was a pioneer of fully paperless production accounting. Purchase orders, check requests, payroll, and reporting all live digitally with no physical documents required.

• Mobile access: Crew and accounting team can access the platform from any device, anywhere.

GreenSlate's pricing is quote-based, determined by production budget size and shooting location. There is no self-service free plan or published monthly rate. Larger productions on studio and streaming deals typically work with GreenSlate as a service engagement rather than a software subscription.

What Saturation Does

Saturation is a cloud-based production finance platform that handles the budgeting and expense management side of production finance. Where GreenSlate manages payroll and accounting for crew who are employees, Saturation manages the budget, tracks what is being spent against it, and processes payments to contractors and vendors.

Core Saturation capabilities:

• Collaborative budgeting: Build the production budget with multiple team members working in the same document simultaneously. Line producers, coordinators, and department heads can access and update the budget in real time from any device.

• Fringe calculations: Automatic fringe benefit application to crew labor lines, covering payroll taxes, union health and pension contributions, and workers compensation. Helps ensure labor costs are accurately budgeted before the production starts.

• Expense tracking and actuals: Track actual spending against the approved budget throughout production. Purchase orders, petty cash reconciliation, daily hot costs, and weekly cost reports keep the production accountable to the budget in real time.

• Saturation Pay: Contractor and vendor payment processing built into the platform. Pay crew members working as contractors, production vendors, service providers, and rental houses directly through Saturation, with each payment automatically logged against the relevant budget line. Note: Saturation Pay processes contractor and vendor payments, not W-2 employee payroll.

• Production banking: The Saturation production card earns 3% cash back on production expenses and feeds directly into expense tracking, reducing data entry for common production purchases.

• AICP format support: For commercial and music video productions, Saturation includes AICP account code templates matching the industry standard format for commercial agency bids.

Saturation offers a free plan covering full budget building for a single active project. Paid plans from $25/month add unlimited projects, full expense tracking, collaboration features, and payment management.

GreenSlate vs. Saturation: Feature Comparison

The Core Difference: Payroll vs. Budgeting

The most important thing to understand about GreenSlate vs. Saturation is that they solve different problems in the production financial workflow.

GreenSlate owns the payroll and accounting layer: it processes paychecks, files payroll taxes, manages timecards, and runs the general ledger. These are functions regulated by employment law and require a licensed payroll provider. GreenSlate is that payroll provider.

Saturation owns the budget and spending layer: it builds the budget before production starts, tracks what is being spent against it while production runs, and processes payments to contractors and vendors who are not on the W-2 payroll.

A typical mid-size independent film might use GreenSlate to process payroll for its union crew under SAG-AFTRA, DGA, and IATSE agreements, and Saturation to manage the overall production budget, pay non-union contractors, and give the line producer real-time visibility into where the production stands against budget.

Who GreenSlate Is Built For

GreenSlate is designed for productions that have W-2 crew requirements: union cast and crew operating under guild agreements, or non-union productions that employ their crew as employees rather than contractors. This typically means:

• Episodic television productions (network, cable, streaming)

• Mid-to-large budget independent features working under SAG-AFTRA, DGA, or IATSE agreements

• Commercial productions with union crew

• Productions that require full production accounting services, not just budgeting software

GreenSlate's quote-based pricing and service model reflects this: it is not designed for a filmmaker building their first short film budget. It is a professional services platform for productions with complex payroll and accounting requirements.

Who Saturation Is Built For

Saturation is built for producers and production teams who need to manage production budgets and spending across a range of production sizes:

• Independent filmmakers building and managing budgets for short films, features, and documentaries

• Commercial producers building AICP bids and managing commercial production budgets

• Production companies running multiple projects simultaneously and needing real-time budget visibility across all of them

• Line producers who need collaborative budgeting with remote department heads and coordinators

• Productions with a mix of W-2 and contractor crew, where payroll is handled by a separate provider but contractor payments need to be tracked

Saturation's free plan and accessible pricing mean it serves indie filmmakers through to professional production companies, which GreenSlate's service model does not.

Can GreenSlate and Saturation Work Together?

Yes, and for many productions this is the natural setup. GreenSlate handles the payroll and production accounting functions. Saturation handles the production budget and contractor payments that fall outside the payroll system.

In practice, the workflow looks like this: the production budget is built and managed in Saturation, giving the line producer and coordinator real-time budget visibility. W-2 crew payroll flows through GreenSlate. Contractors, vendors, and rental houses are paid through Saturation Pay. The production card handles day-to-day production purchases. GreenSlate handles the accounting for payroll-related costs; Saturation handles expense tracking for the non-payroll spend.

There is no native integration between GreenSlate and Saturation as of early 2026, so actual costs from GreenSlate are typically reconciled into Saturation's budget tracking manually or through export.

For more on how production expense management works across these workflows, see our guide to managing film production expenses.

Production Accounting vs. Budget Management

One source of confusion between these tools is the overlap in terminology. Both GreenSlate and Saturation involve "tracking expenses" and "cost reports" in some form, but at different levels of the production finance stack.

GreenSlate's cost reports come from the production accounting general ledger: they reflect actual payroll costs processed, AP transactions coded and approved, and the resulting budget actuals. These are accounting records with audit trails and tax implications.

Saturation's cost reports reflect the production budget and the spending being tracked against it: purchase orders, petty cash, and contractor payments. This is the line producer's view of where the production stands against the approved budget at any point in time.

For a comprehensive production, both views are necessary. The accounting view (GreenSlate) and the production finance view (Saturation) are complementary, not redundant.

For a complete breakdown of how production accounting and cost reporting work, see our guide to film production accounting software.

Tax Incentive Tracking: GreenSlate's Advantage

GreenSlate includes dedicated tools for tracking qualifying production expenditures against state and country film tax incentive programs. For productions whose financing depends on tax credits, having this tracking built into the same system processing payroll means qualifying costs are captured accurately at the source.

Saturation does not currently include tax credit tracking tools. Productions planning to claim significant tax incentives will need to handle this through GreenSlate, a tax credit broker, or manual tracking in a separate system.

For an overview of how film tax incentives affect production budgeting, see our guide to how to create a film budget.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is GreenSlate a budgeting tool?

No. GreenSlate is a production accounting and entertainment payroll platform. It processes W-2 payroll for cast and crew, manages timecards, runs accounts payable, and provides production accounting services. It does not include film budget building tools. For production budgeting, tools like Saturation serve that function.

Does Saturation process payroll?

No. Saturation Pay processes contractor and vendor payments for 1099-eligible workers, not W-2 employee payroll. Productions with union or employee crew need a licensed payroll provider like GreenSlate, Wrapbook, Cast & Crew, or Entertainment Partners for W-2 payroll processing. Saturation handles the budget, expense tracking, and contractor payments that fall outside the payroll system.

What is the difference between GreenSlate and a payroll company like Wrapbook?

Both GreenSlate and Wrapbook process entertainment payroll, but GreenSlate combines payroll with full production accounting in a single platform, while Wrapbook focuses more specifically on payroll with a separate production accounting add-on. GreenSlate was built specifically as an integrated accounting and payroll system and targets productions that want both services from one provider.

Can I use Saturation instead of GreenSlate?

Only if you do not have W-2 payroll requirements. If your production employs union or W-2 crew, you need a licensed payroll provider like GreenSlate. Saturation does not replace payroll. If your production uses contractors only, Saturation Pay can handle those payments. Most productions with mixed crews use a payroll provider for W-2 crew and Saturation for the overall budget and contractor payments.

Who are GreenSlate's main competitors?

GreenSlate competes primarily with other entertainment payroll and production accounting platforms: Entertainment Partners (EP), Cast & Crew, and Wrapbook. These are all payroll services. Saturation is not a payroll competitor to GreenSlate; it is a budget management tool that operates in a different part of the production finance stack.

Does GreenSlate have a free plan?

No. GreenSlate is a professional production accounting and payroll service with quote-based pricing determined by production budget size and location. There is no self-service free tier. Saturation offers a free plan that covers full budget building for a single active project with no time limit.

Is GreenSlate suitable for indie film budgeting?

GreenSlate is a professional services platform designed for productions with payroll and accounting complexity: union agreements, large crews, and full production accounting requirements. For indie filmmakers who need to build a production budget and track expenses, Saturation's accessible pricing and free plan make more sense. If an indie film has union crew under SAG-AFTRA or DGA agreements, they will need a payroll provider like GreenSlate regardless, typically alongside a separate budgeting tool.