Baselight vs Chromatica
Baselight
filmlight.ltd.uk
Chromatica
chromatica.storeSide by side
| Figure | Baselight | Chromatica |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $625/mo | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 5 | 2 |
| Spec score · Video Color Grading Software | 8.4 (#5) | 7.6 (#13) |
| Purpose | Baselight is a colour grading and finishing system for film, television, commercials and broadcast. | Chromatica is color science software for filmmakers. |
| Support | FilmLight says Baselight for macOS includes 24/7 user support; its product overview describes global follow-the-sun phone and email support, project advice, training, installation and consultancy. | Support is provided by email by the software's author, with replies expected in days. |
Plans
Baselight
- Baselight free licenceFree
- Baselight M 14-day trialFree
- Baselight S custom-duration licence$90, paid once
- Baselight for macOS quarterly subscription$2,500 a month
- Baselight for macOS annual subscription$7,500 a year
In their own words
Baselight
Baselight is a colour grading and finishing system for film, television, commercials, and broadcast, available for Linux and macOS. Its layered architecture combines implicit alpha handling with a multitrack timeline. Baselight 6.0's X Grade allows several localized corrections within one layer without making a key or matte, while Chromogen is designed for scene-referred looks from wide-dynamic-range camera data. Face Track uses machine learning to locate and follow faces and can copy corrections along a timeline. Baselight v7 adds matte creation and refinement tools, a channel system for hundreds of mattes, and Transform Matching for scaling, rotation, and translation. On macOS, Baselight S is aimed at single freelancers and lacks advanced collaboration tools; Baselight M is designed for facilities needing multi-user interconnectivity and supports links with CONFORM and ASSIST. The listed options include a 14-day Baselight M trial, unspecified free licences, custom-duration S licences, and subscriptions. The maker recommends at least 64GB unified memory and an external Thunderbolt NVMe enterprise SSD with at least 8TB reserved for cache for macOS.
Chromatica
Chromatica has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.