The 5 Best Cast & Crew (PSL+) Alternatives for 2025 (And One That Isn't a Fragmented Mess)
For years, Cast & Crew (PSL+) has been a go-to for large productions, but this legacy power comes with a high price and even higher levels of frustration.
Producers and accountants are fed up with its core problems: it’s not a single platform but a fragmented ecosystem of nine separate desktop apps. This lack of integration forces teams to hire extra staff just for manual data entry, driving up costs. The system feels old—like it was “designed for paper”—and it lacks the automation, 3rd-party integration, and simple cloud access that modern productions demand.
Add in high prices, hidden fees, and disconnected support, and you have a recipe for frustration.
It’s time for a better model. What if your software was a single, blazing-fast, cloud-based platform? What if it was built on a simple subscription that let you run unlimited projects and actually became a profit center for your company?
That’s Periscope. Here is an honest comparison of how we stack up against C&C and other common alternatives.
Part 1: The Business Model Comparison (The "Big Picture")
| The Big Picture | Periscope (The New Standard) | Cast & Crew PSL+ (The Legacy Giant) | Other Alternatives (Greenslate, Wrapbook) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform | A single, unified, cloud-native app | A fragmented ecosystem of 9+ separate apps | Generally unified apps |
| Pricing Model | One low monthly subscription for your entire company (unlimited projects) | Massive per-project licensing fees + additional hidden charges | Per-project fee or tied to payroll services |
| Business Impact | Becomes a profit center for your company | A major budget drain on every production | A necessary cost center |
| User Experience | Blazing-fast, intuitive, and modern | Dated, clunky, and slow, with multiple logins | Generally modern |
| Collaboration | Unlimited users, real-time access | Primarily single-user, requires manual data sharing | Varies, often limited |
Part 2: Core Accounting Features: Head-to-Head
Don’t let our simple, unified design fool you. We have all the professional-grade power you need, without the bloat.
| Core Feature | Periscope | Cast & Crew PSL+ | Greenslate | Wrapbook | ABS Payroll |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Budget Import | (Seamless 1-Click) | Manual | Limited | ||
| Film Cost Report | Limited | ||||
| A/P Aging Report | |||||
| Check Printing | |||||
| Bank Reconciliation | |||||
| Petty Cash & CC Mgt. | |||||
| General Ledger Report | |||||
| Trial Balance | |||||
| The Bottom Line: | All the enterprise-level features you need, in one fast, modern app. |
A Detailed Look at the Alternatives
Here’s a breakdown of the most popular C&C alternatives and why they still fall short of a truly modern, profitable model.
1. Periscope Apps
Overview: Periscope delivers enterprise-level performance through a payroll-agnostic platform, giving you the freedom to work with any payroll provider while enjoying a lightning-fast, industry-leading budgeting experience. Unlike other platforms, Periscope never locks you into a single payroll system; your flexibility is built in from the start.
Core Strengths: As an accounting-first, payroll-agnostic platform, it is designed to be your central financial hub, empowering you to manage your entire slate from indie projects to studio features for a single payment of $7. Fully cloud-based, real-time collaboration, and ultra-fast, Periscope brings every tool you need under one affordable, all-in-one solution.
The Periscope Difference: Periscope combines a faster, smarter accounting engine with a business model built for growth. It helps you save time, cut costs, and turn your accounting system into a profit center. From your first independent film to a full-scale production slate, Periscope gives you the power and flexibility to scale with confidence under one subscription.
2. Greenslate
Overview: Greenslate offers a true all-in-one, web-based platform that integrates payroll, accounting, and onboarding into a single application, giving it an edge over PSL+’s fragmented system.
Core Strengths: Delivers a more integrated, paperless, remote-friendly experience with stronger automation than C&C.
The Periscope Difference: Greenslate is a great modern payroll company, but their software is designed to keep you locked into their payroll service. Periscope is payroll-agnostic. We give you the freedom to use any payroll provider you want, while still offering a superior, faster accounting platform and a business model that saves you money.
3. Wrapbook
Overview: Wrapbook also stands out as an all-in-one finance platform integrating payroll, onboarding, cost tracking, and accounting in real-time.
Core Strengths: Powered by AI, Wrapbook can extract data from invoices to speed up AP processing. Its suite includes real-time budgeting, EFC tracking, and comprehensive accounting reports.
The Periscope Difference: Like Greenslate, Wrapbook is a payroll company first. Their accounting tools support their core payroll business. Periscope is an accounting-first platform, built to be the most powerful, flexible, and profitable financial hub for your production company, giving you the freedom to choose your other vendors.
4. Revolution Entertainment Services (ProBooks)
Overview: ProBooks delivers a modern, fully web-based production accounting experience designed for speed, efficiency, and a 100% paperless workflow.
Core Strengths: Includes automated receipt capture (OCR), bank integration, and robust financial reporting. Its AICP-ready tools are great for commercial production.
The Periscope Difference: ProBooks is a strong modern tool, but it’s still built on the old per-project cost model. Periscope provides the same modern, paperless workflow plus a revolutionary business model. Why pay per project when you can run your entire slate for one low monthly fee?
5. ABS Payroll & Accounting
Overview: ABS is tailored for indie filmmakers and small productions, offering real-time cost reporting, hot costs, and multiple budgets per project.
Core Strengths: Known for its user-friendly interface, live technical support, and focus on the needs of lower-budget projects.
The Periscope Difference: ABS is a great starter tool, but Periscope is the platform you can grow with. We offer a full, professional-grade accounting suite that scales from your first indie film to a full slate of studio features, all under the same predictable subscription that turns into a profit center.
Stop Paying Enterprise Prices for Fragmented,
Outdated Software.
The old way of paying a fortune for a bundle of nine different apps is over. You can have all the core features you depend on, unified in a single, blazing-fast, cloud-based platform.
Choose the system that’s built for the future of production, not the past.
Join the Waitlist!
Be the first to experience our revolutionary film production accounting software, Periscope Apps. Experience real-time cost reports, payroll, P.O.s, Petty Cash Management, and more. Coming soon!