Play is not only where the material lives: it is the Air alternative that also produces it

Air solves the creative library very well. Play includes a library and adds the brief, the tasks, the budget, the real cost and the crew that shoots.

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Updated: September 2026

The short version: Play vs Air

Air is a creative asset management platform: it centralises material, searches it conversationally, stacks versions, allows review and approval, and brings editing and AI tools to bear on the file itself. Play Platform includes a media library with AI tagging and videofeedback, and adds what happens before and around the file: briefing, tasks, calendar, budgets, cost control and talent management, plus production services in the same environment. The practical difference: Air is the best place for finished material, Play is the system that produces it.

Air is better if…

Your bottleneck is finding and reusing creative material of every kind, and you value conversational search, editing on the asset itself, and AI tools applied to the image.

Play is better if…

Your bottleneck comes earlier: coordinating a shoot, approving cuts with the client, knowing what each piece costs, and finding a crew when you run short of capacity.

Feature comparison: Play against Air

They agree on the library, on review and — unusually — on not charging per user. They part company on money, on teams and on execution.

Play Platform compared with Air. Play's data follows its published plans; Air's data follows its public plan documentation (reviewed: September 2026).
Capability	Play	Air
Central material library with search	YesAutomatic AI tagging from PRO	YesConversational search, its core
Stacked versions and public links	YesOn every plan, LITE included	Yes
Review and approval with comments	YesVideofeedback on the piece	YesReviews and comments on the asset
Image and video editing inside the tool	NoPlay organises the edit, it does not perform it	YesCanvas, with more than 50 AI models
AI image generation	No	YesIncluded on every plan
Structured briefing and project planning	YesBriefing assisted by KAMI AI	No
Tasks, delivery queues and a production calendar	Yes	No
Budgets, rate cards and cost control	YesCost Control, expenses and purchase orders	No
CRM, opportunities and sales funnel	YesBuilt for production companies and agencies	No
Talent management: professional network and talent calls	YesMore than 1,200 vetted professionals	No
Production services you can hire from the platform	YesPLAY /Services, integration coming soon	No
External collaborators at no per-seat cost	YesUnlimited on LITE, PRO and Enterprise	YesUnlimited seats on every plan
Price published on the website	YesLITE, PRO and Enterprise, with figures	NoFour plans, figures not published

What Air is and what Play is

What Air is

Air is a creative asset management platform, halfway between a modern DAM and a creative ops tool. It centralises images and video, searches them conversationally, stacks versions, allows commenting and approval, and adds editing and generative AI on top of the material itself. Its most distinctive decision is commercial: every plan includes unlimited seats, so you do not pay per person. It sits in the asset management category with a creative layer on top.

What Play is

Play is a Production-Tech company. It combines three pieces in one flow: Play Platform, the software where production is planned, managed, approved and optimised; PLAY /Services, the creative, production and post-production team that makes the content; and KAMI AI, the assistant that structures briefs, organises projects and tags footage. Play comes out of having run more than 10,000 video projects.

Why they are not the same category

A DAM only stores. A project tracker only organises tasks. Review software only covers one stage. And a traditional production service hands you the video but gives you no platform and no control. Play is the only option that puts platform, services and AI in a single flow, from brief to publication. Air sits in the first box, very well solved and with a creative layer above it.

The four differences teams notice most

They all start from the same point: Air works on files that already exist. Production begins before the first one does.

Air starts at the asset. Play starts at the brief

In Air you upload material and from there you organise, edit and approve it. What comes before — the brief, the budget, the shoot calendar and who does what — lives in email, spreadsheets and a general-purpose project tracker. In Play a project starts as a structured brief that KAMI AI helps assemble, and the tasks, the calendar and the delivery queues come out of it.

One source of truth about where each piece stands, not only about where it ended up.

Air does not know what the material it stores cost

An asset platform does not handle money. Play includes budgets, a rate card, cost control, expenses and purchase orders inside the same project where you review the videos. When you close the piece, you know what it cost rather than estimating afterwards.

Real cost per project and per account, without rebuilding it at the end of the month.

External people are free in both, but for different reasons

Air does not charge per seat, and that is a real advantage worth acknowledging. The difference is what inviting someone is for: in Air they come in to view and comment on material; in Play they come in to work inside a project, with their task, their delivery date and their share of the budget.

The external crew on a shoot does not only look at the material: it delivers inside the project.

Air gives you software. Play gives you software and hands

When you run short of capacity, an immaculate library still leaves the problem with you: find a production company, request quotes, coordinate. Behind Play there is a network of more than 1,200 vetted professionals and an in-house creative, production and post-production team in Barcelona, Madrid and Toronto.

You scale content volume without building an internal team or opening a procurement process.

When to choose Air and when to choose Play

Air is a very good tool with a specific scope. These are the cases where each one wins.

Choose Air if

Your problem is finding and reusing material, not producing it.
You work with a lot of stills as well as video.
You value editing and generating with AI on the asset itself.
You want the whole company to come in and view material without paying per person.
The production budget and calendar are kept somewhere else and that works fine.

Choose Play if

You produce content regularly and across several markets.
You need to control cost, time and resources, not only approve the material.
You want briefing, tasks and delivery in the same place as the library.
You are a production company or agency and want sales, production and delivery in one system.
You would like to be able to hire production without leaving the platform.

What Play costs against Air

Neither charges per user, so the comparison is not about seats. It is about what the price includes: Air publishes plans without figures and bills consumption by credits; Play publishes its own and charges per workspace.

LITE

0 €

Up to 3 internal users
Unlimited external collaborators
250 GB of media
Production and collaboration modules

PRO

149 €/month /workspace

5 users included, 19 € per extra user
Unlimited external collaborators
1 TB of media included
Every module: CRM, Cost Control, Analytics

Enterprise

Custom

Volume discounts on users and storage
SSO, SAML and SLA
Account Manager and migration included
A flat 10 % off production services from 15 users

Annual billing works out at 10 months. Extra storage at 29 €/TB per month.

To be straight about it: if what you need is an excellent creative library with editing and AI on top, and the rest of your production is already sorted, Air does it better than Play and its free plan is generous. Play stops being comparable from the moment you add up what it replaces: the project tracker, the cost spreadsheet, the CRM, and coordinating the crew that shoots. See all of Play's plans and add-ons.

How to migrate from Air to Play

There is no need to cut over in one go. The usual route is to open Play with the next project and decide afterwards what material lives where.

Open a LITE workspace and try it at no cost
The LITE plan is free, allows 3 internal users, unlimited external collaborators and 250 GB. Enough to run a real project, not a demo.
Upload the active material to the Media Library
Download the assets from projects in flight and upload them to Play. On PRO you can buy assisted migration, and on Enterprise it is included.
Invite the team and the collaborators
Client, freelancers and production company come in without taking a licence, just as in Air. The difference is that here they come into a project with tasks and dates, not just a folder.
Switch on the modules Air did not cover
Briefing, tasks, calendar, budgets and cost control. This is the step that lets you drop the project tracker and the spreadsheet, not only Air.
Decide what stays where
Many teams keep Air for a while as the creative library for stills, while video production runs entirely in Play.

More than 350 brands, agencies and production companies already produce with Play

videos managed: +10,000
brands and agencies: +350
professionals in the talent network: +1,200
offices: Barcelona, Madrid and Toronto: 3

Frequently asked questions about Play as an Air alternative

Is Play an alternative to Air?

Yes, for teams whose problem is producing and not only archiving. Play covers the media library, the versions, the public links and the review that most teams use Air for, and adds briefing, tasks, budgets, cost control and talent management. It is a broader alternative, not a clone.

What is the difference between Play and Air?

Air is a creative asset platform with an editing and AI layer: its unit of work is the file. Play is a production system: its unit of work is the project, from brief to publication, and it also connects to real production services.

Does Air charge per user?

No. Air includes unlimited seats on all its plans and says so explicitly on its website. Play does not charge per person for external collaborators either — they are unlimited on LITE, PRO and Enterprise; only internal users are counted.

What does Play cost against Air?

Play has a free LITE plan, a PRO plan at 149 € per workspace per month with 5 users included and 19 € per extra user, and a custom Enterprise plan. Air offers four plans, with a free plan requiring no card and storage by credits, but it does not publish the figures for its paid plans.

Does Play have review and approval like Air?

Yes. Play's Media Library includes videofeedback and public links so the client can comment without needing an account, available on the free plan too.

Does Play edit or generate images with AI?

No. Air includes editing on the asset itself and AI image generation, and it has a clear advantage there. Play's AI sits elsewhere: KAMI AI structures briefs, organises projects and tags footage.

Can I use both at once?

Yes, and that is the most common starting point. Air as the creative library, especially for stills, and Play as the system where video gets produced. Many teams end up consolidating in Play once they see the library is already inside it.

How do I migrate from Air to Play?

Open a free LITE workspace, upload the material from projects in flight, invite the team and the external collaborators, and switch on the production modules. Assisted migration is optional on PRO and included on Enterprise.

Keep comparing

Media and videofeedback in Play

How the library, the AI tagging and the review links work

Play vs DAM

The same comparison, against the whole category rather than one product

Play as an alternative to Frame.io

What video review software covers, and what it leaves out

Play pricing

LITE, PRO and Enterprise, with the full module comparison

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