Comparison

SaberFX Lite vs ProductionCrate

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

SaberFX Lite

Easily add movie-style special effects to your videos. This app functions like a drawing program, allowing you to rotoscope effects directly onto your movie frames. Customize glow, opacity, and width for a professional look.

Highlights
  • Add movie-style special effects
  • Rotoscoping functionality
  • Drawing tools for effects
  • Customizable saber effects
  • Adjust glow, opacity, and width
Features
Read full description

SaberFX Lite is used for adding special effects to your movies. It works just like a drawing program, except that you are drawing movie style special effects onto the frames of your movie. This process is often referred to as Rotoscoping. The goal of SaberFX Lite is to make this process as quick and easy as possible. Drawing tools include two Sabers, that may be customized for opacity, width, and size of glow.

About

ProductionCrate

Easily add superpowers, explosions, and fire effects to your videos in seconds. This mobile VFX studio uses real-time motion tracking and 3D rendering to create immersive special effects without requiring technical knowledge. Access a vast library of assets to enhance your video content.

Highlights
  • 10,000+ video FX
  • Real-time motion tracking
  • 3D rendering
  • No green screen required
  • Intuitive timing control
  • Access to all current and future special FX
Read full description

Add superpowers, explosions and fire VFX to your video instantly. While Hollywood movies take years to produce, ProductionCrate FX is the first mobile VFX studio that allows you to create exciting special effects in seconds. Built with flawless real-time motion tracking and 3D rendering, you have the power to create incredibly immersive video fx without any technical knowledge required. Simply add lightning, magic and spaceship fx into your scene, and hit record! ProductionCrate AR features: 10,000+ video FX 400+ high-quality 3D models Real-time camera tracking for your VFX Record, save and share your videos instantly Real-time foreground keying, no green screen required! Control over effect scale, rotation, brightness and more Intuitive timing control for timing your effects perfectly. Customizable trigger buttons to activate events Support for Front and Back camera Freedom to organize, delete and download new special fx. We've made high-end Hollywood effects accessible even to beginners by creating an effortless intuitive AR editing experience. You're in control of an unprecedented professional library of visual effects assets and are free to position them into augmented reality with the tap of a finger. Any video artist can use this app to compose lasers, dragons and spells with full control over its integration. ProductionCrate is constantly growing the selection of digital effects available for our community of mobile content creators. With this app, you'll have access to all current and future special fx forever. Pro ProductionCrate users will have unlimited access to everything on offer, while Free users can still access an exciting selection of effects. Inspire and stand out from the crowd by using ProductionCrate FX to build high production-value videos for your social media. You'll be able to produce short videos with incredible special effects without hours of additional work - helping you become an efficient video creator. This app will become your secret weapon to gain a competitive edge. Rapidly prototype effects for your film projects and use ProductionCrate FX as a previsualization platform. The vast selection of assets available makes this the perfect environment to plan out complex effects when working on a large project. By taking advantage of ProductionCrate FX's portability, you'll be able to collaborate and communicate ideas on-set, and instantly visualize these with your actors. Use ProductionCrate FX to learn the fundamentals of VFX. 3D tracking, blocking and lighting all become intuitive concepts to users of this app. Try placing a bright orange light source (such as a bulb, LED’s or a laptop screen) in the position of a fire effect, and you'll instantly recognise how practical lighting combined with ProductionCrate FX's digital effects work together to create a realistic image. ProductionCrate FX offers Free access to a limited range of content. Pro Membership unlocks access to the entire range of 10,000+ effects and 3D models. Payment will be charged either weekly, monthly or annually (dependant on selection) to your Apple account after upgrading to a Pro membership. You can cancel your Pro membership at any time. You will retain the features of Pro membership until the end of your current subscription period. Requires iOS 14 iPhone/iPad+ We would love to hear your feedback, ideas and questions. Contact us! Support@ProductionCrate.com TOS: https://www.productioncrate.com/legal/mobile-apps/TERMS.pdf

Screenshots

ProductionCrate4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: SaberFX Lite at none against ProductionCrate's 5. SaberFX Lite also leads on iOS requirement (13.1 vs 17.0). ProductionCrate's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 12 months) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. ProductionCrate sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month. SaberFX Lite asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 3.9 for SaberFX Lite against 3.9 for ProductionCrate. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 88 and 312 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 59% and 59% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SaberFX Lite ships an update every 12 months, ProductionCrate monthly. Both last shipped on November 3, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
SaberFX Lite versus ProductionCrate: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSaberFX LiteProductionCrate
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.9 (88 ratings)3.9 (312 ratings) — better
Positive reviews58.8% of reviews58.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings88312 — better
Update frequencyEvery 12 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS13.1 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB19 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJoe SchiwallPRODUCTIONCRATE STUDIOS LLC

Customer experience

SaberFX Lite

All ratings75 ratings
Positive64.0%
Neutral22.7%
Negative13.3%
Written reviews34 reviews
Positive58.8%
Neutral26.5%
Negative14.7%

ProductionCrate

All ratings244 ratings
Positive70.5%
Neutral6.6%
Negative23.0%
Written reviews112 reviews
Positive58.9%
Neutral7.1%
Negative33.9%

User reviews

SaberFX Lite

From 88 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great for casual use
  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 👍 Good for stop motion
  • 👍 Awesome app
  • 👍 Good final product

Room to improve

  • 🔴 Only two colors (red and green)
  • ⏳ Long rendering/editing time
  • 🫥 Blurry video output
  • 🚫 Copyright bar on exported videos
  • 🤔 Difficult to use without manual

ProductionCrate

From 312 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Extremely user friendly and easy to use
  • 🚀 Free version has tons of great effects
  • 🚀 Effects are super high quality
  • 👍 Good for monster movies
  • 👍 Game changer for creative cinematic projects

Room to improve

  • 🔒 Hard to edit the VFX to be perfect
  • 🔒 Download limit on the free version is obscure
  • 🔒 Most effects require premium subscription
  • 🐛 Can't do a lot of things, not fun
  • 🔒 Everything costs money, too greedy

Bugs and requests

SaberFX Lite

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Rendered product not going into photos
  • Blurry video output
  • Cannot watch/export video
  • App sometimes doesn't load video

Requested features

7 requests
  • Add more colors (blue, color wheel)
  • Add other effects like lightning
  • Improve clash effect
  • Allow editing with photos
  • Improve manual descriptiveness
Show 2 more
  • Add a way to change colors
  • Add more editing options

ProductionCrate

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • Download limit exceeded error even without downloads
  • Free effects are actually paid
  • Camera is extremely slow, like 1 frame per minute
  • Effects disappear when moved
  • Login issues even with paid subscription
Show 1 more
  • Can't use videos from camera roll

Requested features

10 requests
  • More free VFX effects
  • Vampire, werewolf, and other monster filters
  • Add sound effects
  • Allow horizontal orientation
  • More free effects, less premium content
Show 5 more
  • Add ability to record and then add effects
  • Allow editing of already filmed videos
  • Add custom sound effects
  • Improve cutout and 3D object handling
  • Add Kamehameha effect

In-app purchases

None

SaberFX Lite

No in-app purchases

5 purchases

ProductionCrate

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly$14.991 Month
  • Yearly$49.991 Year
One-time3
  • 1 Download$0.99
  • 10 Downloads$6.99
  • 50 Downloads$24.99

Questions

Is SaberFX Lite free?
SaberFX Lite is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ProductionCrate free?
ProductionCrate is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, SaberFX Lite or ProductionCrate?
ProductionCrate is rated higher. SaberFX Lite averages 3.9 out of 5 from 88 ratings, while ProductionCrate averages 3.9 from 312 ratings.
Do SaberFX Lite or ProductionCrate have ads?
Neither SaberFX Lite nor ProductionCrate shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SaberFX Lite or ProductionCrate?
SaberFX Lite ships an update every 12 months, and ProductionCrate monthly. Most recently, SaberFX Lite was updated on November 3, 2026 and ProductionCrate on November 3, 2026.

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