A Kitsu alternative for small studios
Kitsu, by CGWire, is an open-source production tracker for animation, VFX and game studios. OIO is project management for small studios: projects, tasks, files, freelancers and the client in one place, with the quote and the invoice on the same project. If you run a small 3D, CGI or motion studio and want the business side next to the work, this is the comparison.
What Kitsu is good at
Kitsu is built by CGWire for animation, VFX and game productions, and its code is open source under the AGPL. It breaks a production into sequences, shots and assets, shows which assets go into which shot, and reviews work in playlists with drawn notes and version comparison. Time tracking and budget forecasting sit on top, a Python API connects it to studio tools, and Kitsu Publisher sends previews straight from Blender. The Blender Studio makes its films with it.
Where it gets heavy for a small studio
- The hosted version is sold per user, so every artist and producer on it is a paid seat, with a two-week trial and no free plan. Self-hosting removes the subscription and adds a server someone in the studio has to update and back up.
- It models a production as sequences, shots and assets. If most of your jobs are a few product renders or a single motion piece, you fill in more structure than the job has.
- It tracks the production, not the business. Kitsu's feature pages list budget forecasting but no quotes or invoices, so what the client was billed and has paid lives in another tool.
What OIO does instead
OIO is project management for small studios. Each client job gets one project page with its tickets on a kanban or a timeline, the deadline, files, a whiteboard and team chat, and on paid plans recorded calls with transcripts. The budget, the hours and what has been paid sit on the same page.
A freelancer gets a link to a ticket. In a browser they read the brief and the feedback, upload the work and mark it done, with no account and no seat. The client gets a status link that shows where the project stands.
The quote and the invoice come from the same project, in any currency. Studio is $69 a month for five seats, and people who only view use no seat. The free plan covers 3 projects, no card.
More on how a studio runs on it: project management for studios with remote freelancers.
When Kitsu is the better fit
- If you need a shot and asset breakdown across sequences, with each asset cast into the shots it appears in, Kitsu is the better fit. OIO tracks tickets, not shots.
- If you review work in playlists with drawn notes and version comparison, Kitsu is the better fit. OIO keeps files and comments on the ticket but has no review player.
- If your artists publish previews from Blender into the tracker, Kitsu is the better fit. OIO has no plug-ins for 3D software.
- If you want the tracker open source and running on your own servers, Kitsu is the better fit. OIO is cloud only and its code is not public.
Feature by feature
| What you actually need | OIO | Kitsu |
|---|---|---|
| Shot and asset tracking by sequence | ||
| Review playlists with versions and drawn notes | ||
| Publishing previews from Blender | ||
| Open source, can run on your own server | ||
| Tasks with a timeline view | ||
| Quotes and invoices on the project | ||
| A free hosted plan |
Has it Partly, or a paid add-on Does not
Kitsu's column was checked against cg-wire.com on 12 October 2026. Running your own server means the open-source code; CGWire also sells on-premise installation on its Enterprise plan. Prices are left out on purpose because they change. Sources: Kitsu pricing, Kitsu features, Kitsu and Blender, Kitsu source code.
Questions
Is OIO a good Kitsu alternative?
For a small studio that needs projects, tasks, files, freelancers and the client in one place, with quotes and invoices on the same project, yes. If you need shot and asset breakdowns, review playlists or a tracker you host yourself, Kitsu does that and OIO does not.
Is Kitsu free?
Its code is open source, so a studio can run it on its own server without a subscription. The hosted version CGWire runs is paid per user, with a two-week trial. OIO is hosted only and has a free plan for 3 projects, no card.
Can freelancers work in OIO without a seat?
Yes. You send them a ticket link. They read the brief and the feedback, upload the work and mark it done in a browser, with no account. If they want to keep a history of their work, they can create a free account later.
Try it against your own work
Free plan, no card. Set up in under a minute, and you can keep using Kitsu alongside it while you decide.
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