The note sits on the frame
The client clicks the timeline and writes there. No more voice notes saying "somewhere near the middle".
vs
The replacement for Google Drive and Telegram in client work
Timecode notes instead of "fix it at 1:24", real versions instead of final_final_2, and approvals that stay on the record.
The short answer
Drive and a messenger work. The file uploads, the link goes out, the client replies. Nothing to pay for, nothing to learn, everyone already knows how.
It breaks on the third round, when the notes sit between a voice message and a sticker, the final cut is called final_final_2, and six months later nobody can say which master you delivered.
Basalt does not replace your messenger. It takes the one job a messenger is bad at: a note on the frame, a version with an author, an approval on the record, and an invoice on the same project.
Basalt
Google Drive and TelegramComments pinned to a timecode
Included
Not available
Version history a client can read
Included
Limited, or on a higher plan
Approvals kept on the record
Included
Not available
Plays in the browser without downloading
Included
Limited, or on a higher plan
Notes do not sink into the chat
Included
Not available
Projects, tasks and deadlines
Included
Not available
Estimates, invoices and per-project profit
Included
Not available
Client portal under your brand
Included
Not available
Portfolio and public case pages
Included
Not available
Telegram notifications
Included
Included
The client can still find the files in a year
Included
Limited, or on a higher plan
Free plan
Included
Included
Everyone already knows how to use it
Limited, or on a higher plan
Included
Starting price
Free · then $19
Free
IncludedLimited, or on a higher planNot available
- Version history a client can read.
- Drive keeps file revisions, but the client only sees a filename. Nothing tells them how v3 differs from v3_fix.
- Plays in the browser without downloading.
- The Drive player recompresses previews and asks for a full download on heavy masters. You cannot judge colour or sound off that preview.
- The client can still find the files in a year.
- A Drive link lives until the folder moves or the quota runs out. By then it is hundreds of messages up the thread anyway.
- Everyone already knows how to use it.
- An honest loss. Google Drive and Telegram are already on the client's phone; Basalt has to be shown once. That costs about one project.
This compares the "Drive plus a messenger" workflow, not the quality of either service. Drive stores files well and Telegram delivers messages well.
Moving from Google Drive and Telegram
Do not move everything. Take one project that is live right now and run it through Basalt from first cut to invoice. Leave Drive as the archive: what is there is already there. After two projects the chat stops being where your notes live.
What stops going missing. From the first project.
Versions with a date and an author
No more final_final_2. You can see what changed between rounds and which cut was approved.
An account, not a folder
The client opens their own address and sees every project, status and invoice. No link to hunt for.
Delivered work becomes a case
A finished project turns into a public portfolio page. The next client arrives already convinced.
A panel in Premiere Pro
Notes and versions inside the edit. You never leave the timeline to find out what the client asked for.
A mobile app
Read the notes and answer the client from your phone. Like a messenger, except it is only about the work.
What people ask.
Straight answers.
The five questions that come up most when a studio looks around.
No. You send a link, they open it in a browser and leave timecode notes. No account, no app. Signing up is only for clients who want a standing portal with all of their projects in one place.
Run one project through it
Free plan, no card: two projects, timecode review and a client portal. Drive is not going anywhere.
Start free