Celtx is worth paying for if you plan productions, not just write them. The free tier is a demo. Writer Pro at $24.99 a month covers solo scriptwriting well, but breakdown, scheduling and call sheets stay locked behind add-ons until you reach the Team plan. Check that gap before you subscribe.
If you are still shortlisting, start from our best screenwriting software 2026 roundup and the screenwriting software comparisons hub. This piece goes narrow instead: what Celtx actually gives you at each price, and where the tier boundaries bite.
All prices below come from Celtx's own pricing page, which states that all figures are in US dollars. Annual billing takes 25% off every individual and team plan.
The verdict
Celtx has been around long enough that most people already have an opinion about it, usually formed on a version that no longer exists. The current product is a browser-based studio, not the old desktop app. It writes screenplays competently, and it is one of the few tools at this price that also schedules a shoot.
The pitch is that one subscription carries you from blank page to call sheet. That holds on the Team plan. Below it, it holds partly. A solo writer on Writer Pro gets a strong script editor plus story development tools, then hits a wall the moment they want a stripboard.
| You are | Best fit | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Trying it out | Free | $0, 1 project |
| Writing spec scripts alone | Writer | $11.24/mo billed yearly |
| Writing episodic, no production work | Writer Pro | $18.74/mo billed yearly |
| Prepping an actual shoot | Team (3 seats) | $38.24/mo billed yearly |
| Enrolled with a school email | Student | $79.99/year |
Celtx displays a self-reported 4.4 out of 5 from 1,387 survey responses on that same pricing page. Treat it as vendor-collected, because it is.
What Celtx does well
Start with the editors, because they are the part people underrate. Screenplay, Multi-Column AV and Stageplay are all available on every tier, free included, and the AV editor matters more than its billing position suggests. If you write commercials, corporate video or documentary, a real two-column editor bundled at this price is not common.
Production planning is the actual differentiator. Breakdown, Cast and Crew, Catalog, Schedule, Budget, Call Sheets and Production Reports are all real modules, and where they are included they are the reason to be here. Before paying for that tier, run your script through a script breakdown checklist and see whether you are ready to use them.
Revision mode, custom watermarking, and review and approval all arrive one tier lower, at Writer Pro. Anyone circulating drafts to producers or a cast needs those three, and plenty of competitors hold them back for a top tier.
Collaboration is priced by studio rather than by document, which I like. A paid studio collaborator inherits your subscription type and gets billed to your account. Upgrade yourself and every collaborator seat moves up with you. For a two-person writing partnership, that beats most per-seat models.
The trial deserves credit as well. Seven days, then you upgrade or stay free, and your studio survives either way.
Where Celtx costs you
The free plan is a demo, not a workspace. One project, one seat, read-only script history, limited script settings, no script drafts, no custom headers and footers, no commenting or collaboration. You can write in it. You cannot work in it. If your plan was to run a short film off the free tier, budget for a paid month.
Then the one that catches people: production planning is not in Writer Pro. At $24.99 a month you get unlimited projects, episodic scripts, revision mode and the full story development suite, and Breakdown, Schedule, Budget and Call Sheets are still marked Optional Add-on. The all-in-one pitch only fully arrives at Team pricing.
Episodic work splits the same way, and worse. Episodic scripts unlock at Writer Pro. Episodic planning stays locked until Team. Building a series bible and a season schedule on your own means paying for a three-seat plan to use one seat.
Two smaller frictions. Story development (beat sheet, storyboard, shot lists, talent sides) is an add-on at the Writer tier, which leaves Writer as a script editor with collaboration and not much past that. And the three-project cap runs out faster than people expect, because drafts of different things count against it. Writers juggling a spec, a pilot and a rewrite end up on Writer Pro within a couple of months no matter which plan they started on.
Everything auto-renews. Cancellation is self-serve inside the studio under Management then Plan, so cancelling takes a minute. Annual subscribers should still set a reminder.
Celtx pricing decoded
Individual plans, both billing cycles:
| Plan | Monthly | Billed yearly | Seats | Projects |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 1 | 1 |
| Writer | $14.99/mo | $11.24/mo | 1 | Up to 3 |
| Writer Pro | $24.99/mo | $18.74/mo | 1 | Unlimited |
Team scales by seat count, and the marginal seat gets cheaper as you add people:
| Members | Monthly | Billed yearly | Per seat, billed yearly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | $50.99/mo | $38.24/mo | $12.75/mo |
| 5 | $76.49/mo | $57.36/mo | $11.47/mo |
| 10 | $131.49/mo | $98.61/mo | $9.86/mo |
| 15 | $186.49/mo | $139.86/mo | $9.32/mo |
Two plans sit outside that grid. Student is $79.99 billed yearly, requires a school email, and Celtx describes it as over 75% off regular price for the Writer Pro feature set plus Production Planning Tools. That makes it the cheapest legitimate route to the full toolkit by a wide margin. Education covers 10 to 700 seats, is quoted by sales, bills annually by invoice, ACH wire or credit card, and adds educator controls: student activity status, domain-restricted file sharing, recyclable student seats. Our Celtx for students guide covers the eligibility side in more depth.
Payment methods are broad: Visa, MasterCard, Amex, Discover, Diners Club, China UnionPay, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Education and Student are annual only.
What each tier unlocks
| Capability | Free | Writer | Writer Pro | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screenplay / AV / Stageplay editors | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Script history | Read-only | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Commenting and collaboration | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom headers and footers | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Episodic scripts | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Revision mode, watermarking, review and approval | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Beat sheet, storyboard, shot lists, talent sides | No | Add-on | Yes | Yes |
| Breakdown, schedule, budget, call sheets | No | Add-on | Add-on | Yes |
| Episodic planning | No | No | No | Yes |
| Adobe Premiere Pro plugin | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Advanced sharing controls, live chat support | No | No | No | Yes |
Read that table one row at a time before you pick a plan. The two rows that change people's minds are episodic planning and the production planning block.
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Start FreeWho should pick which plan
- You write specs and nothing else. Writer. Three projects and collaboration are enough, and on annual billing you save $7.50 a month against Writer Pro.
- You write television. Writer Pro for the scripts. Accept that season-level planning is not included.
- You are the writer, producer and first AD. Team at three seats. It costs more than Writer Pro and it is the only tier where the all-in-one claim holds up. Pair it with a real pre-production workflow, because the software will not invent one for you.
- You are a student. Student, immediately. $79.99 a year for Writer Pro plus production planning is not close to any other option here.
- You teach. Education, and ask sales about recyclable seats before you count heads. Recycling seats between semesters changes the real cost more than the sticker price does.
Run the numbers on a full year. Writer Pro billed monthly is $299.88 against $224.88 billed yearly, and the same 25% gap applies to every paid tier. Our breakdown of the hidden costs in free screenwriting software is worth reading before you talk yourself into the free plan.
Alternatives worth checking
Celtx competes on breadth. If breadth is not what you need, the shortlist shifts fast. For the head-to-head against the industry standard, we keep that argument in one place: Celtx vs Final Draft. Writers who already own a Celtx studio and want to leave will find the export path documented in our guide to migrating off Celtx.
The broader field, including one-time-purchase options and the plain-text camp, sits in the screenwriting software comparisons hub.
FAQ
Is Celtx good in 2026?
For production planning at this price, yes. For pure screenwriting it is solid without being remarkable, and the tier boundaries are aggressive. The value case is strongest on Team and on the Student plan, weakest on Writer.
Is Celtx really free?
There is a permanent free plan, but it allows one project and one seat, keeps script history read-only, limits script settings, and excludes drafts, custom headers and footers, and collaboration. It is fine for evaluating the software and unusable for running a production.
How long is the Celtx free trial?
Seven days. Celtx states that at the end of the trial you can upgrade or stay free, so the account survives either way.
Does Celtx include storyboards and shot lists?
They are included from Writer Pro upward. On the Writer plan, beat sheet, storyboard, shot lists and talent sides are all sold as optional add-ons.
Can I schedule a shoot on Writer Pro?
Not without paying extra. Breakdown, Cast and Crew, Catalog, Schedule, Budget, Call Sheets and Production Reports are marked Optional Add-on on both Writer and Writer Pro, and are only included from the Team plan up.
Does the annual discount apply to every plan?
Annual billing saves 25% on Writer, Writer Pro and Team. Education and Student are sold as annual subscriptions only, so there is no monthly comparison for those two.
What happens if I cancel?
Your subscription runs to the end of the paid cycle, then the account reverts to a free studio. You cancel from Management, then Plan, inside the studio. Plans auto-renew unless you do this.
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