Greenlight vs the alternatives
Screenplay format conversion without the manual script handoff
Screenwriting formats are a niche with few serious competitors. Final Draft, FadeIn, and Fountain don't offer batch conversion APIs. Celtx is a creative platform, not a conversion engine. Bespoke conversion scripts work, until you have to validate schemas and encrypt for distribution. Greenlight wraps screenjson-cli in a proper job queue with AES-256 encryption and multi-channel notifications.
The dimensions that matter
| Option | Pricing model | Scaling | Data residency | Customization | Lock-in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenlight Self-hosted | Flat per-container licence | Redis workers | Your S3 | YAML task pipelines | Low — inputs/outputs are files |
| Final Draft (desktop) Desktop | Per-user licence | One user, one machine | User desktop | None | Medium — FDX lock-in |
| Celtx SaaS | Per-user subscription | Managed | Celtx | App workflows | Medium |
| Custom screenjson-cli scripts Open-source | Free | DIY | Your VPC | Unlimited | Low |
What each alternative is good at — and where it falls short
Every tool here is excellent. Read the strengths. Then read where it stops fitting your situation.
Final Draft (desktop)
DesktopStrength
Industry-standard screenwriting tool. Handles FDX natively.
Where it falls short
Desktop only — no batch conversion API. Per-user licence. Converting thousands of scripts is a manual chore.
Pricing model
Per-user perpetual or subscription.
Celtx
SaaSStrength
Full production platform with scripting, scheduling, and collaboration.
Where it falls short
A production tool, not a format-conversion API. No programmatic batch workflows for studios wanting to normalise a script archive.
Pricing model
Per-user subscription.
Custom screenjson-cli scripts
Open-sourceStrength
The screenjson-cli tool exists and is free — it's what Greenlight wraps.
Where it falls short
You build the queue, worker, dashboard, encryption layer, notification fan-out, and multi-format pipeline. Greenlight is that wrapper, already running.
Pricing model
Free — but the work to build around it is not.
For studios and screenwriting platforms converting scripts at scale, Greenlight is the managed pipeline around the open format-conversion core.
The principles behind self-hosting
These apply across every comparison on this site — not just this one.
Flat-rate cost model
A self-hosted container costs the same whether it processes 100 jobs or 10 million. SaaS and cloud alternatives meter per request, minute, or connection — costs scale linearly with usage.
Your data stays in your VPC
No cross-border data transfer. No vendor data-processing agreements. Compliance, residency, and audit are simpler when data never leaves.
No vendor lock-in
Every service speaks open standards — MQTT 5, OpenAPI, OCI Distribution, Redis protocol, S3 API. Migrating away is a DNS change, not a rewrite.
One contract across your stack
One platform contract. Once your team learns one service, onboarding the next is an afternoon. Compare to mastering AWS IoT and Document Intelligence and MediaConvert separately.
Scale on the boxes you already have
Every service is stateless HTTP plus a worker pool. Helm charts ship with every image. If you have a Kubernetes cluster, you already have the platform.
Extend without asking permission
Need a custom task, a new notification driver, or a bespoke integration? The source is yours to modify. No vendor roadmap. No feature request backlog.
Try Greenlight. See the difference.
One Docker container. One live demo. Five minutes to see it running on your stack.