A Tusk alternative for cards that just need to land on disk.
Tusk keeps your whole project backed up, cloud included. ShotGrab does a narrower job: once a project is armed, every card you plug in is copied, verified and filed into the right folders by itself, and it never touches the cloud.
Why people look for a Tusk alternative
Tusk is a good fit for some workflows. These are the reasons others look elsewhere.
A trial, then a paywall
Tusk gives you a 14-day trial with no card required, then it costs $79 one-time ($49 was the launch price for the first 100 licences), with one year of updates included. ShotGrab's free plan has no time limit: 128GB every 14 days, every feature on.
You wanted an importer, not a project backup
Tusk watches a project folder and keeps syncing it to drives and cloud accounts, and tracks where every file lives. If all you want is the card emptied into tidy folders, that is more tool than the job needs.
Footage can't go to the cloud
Tusk's destinations include Google Drive, Dropbox and S3-compatible storage. If a contract says footage stays on local disks, you want an app that never uploads footage anywhere. ShotGrab doesn't.
ShotGrab vs Tusk, side by side
They overlap on verified card offload and differ on what happens before and after it.
| ShotGrab | Tusk | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Yes: Free up to 128GB every 14 days, then €5 Pass (30 days), €29 Yearly or €39 Lifetime until 30 Nov 2026 (then €69) | $79 one-time ($49 for the first 100 licences), one year of updates included |
| Free option | Yes: Real free plan, no time limit, no account | 14-day trial, no signup or card |
| Platform | macOS 13+, Mac only | macOS 12+, Apple Silicon or Intel, Mac only |
| Starts when a card is inserted | Yes: Yes, once a project is armed | Not documented on its site |
| Verification | Yes: SHA-256 while copying, always on | Yes: BLAKE3 checksums on copies |
| Several destinations | Yes: Ordered cascade: primary verified first, card released, then disk to disk | Yes: Reads the card once and writes to every destination |
| Cloud destinations | No: No, local and network volumes only | Yes: Google Drive, Dropbox, S3-compatible (Backblaze B2, Wasabi, AWS S3) |
| Two cards at once | Yes: Parallel lanes when the second card comes from a different reader | Not documented on its site |
| Folders sorted from metadata | Yes: Date, camera and your own input from one template | Not described on its site; it syncs a project folder |
| Keeps syncing after the import | No: No, the copy is done when the card is | Yes: Watches the project folder and syncs new or changed files |
| Per-file status on unplugged drives | No: No | Yes: Tracks where each file lives, including drives not connected |
| Hand-off to editing tools | Yes: Optional automations hand the new folder to DaVinci Resolve, Lightroom Classic or Photo Mechanic | Not listed on its site |
Competitor details from tuskbackup.com, checked October 2026. Prices in USD as listed there.
Where Tusk wins: anything that outlives the card. Cloud copies, continuous project sync and a view of what is backed up where are things ShotGrab does not offer. If the question you care about is what happens to this project over the next three weeks, use Tusk.
What switching looks like
- Install ShotGrab and make a project
Set the destination and a folder template using date, camera or an input you type once, for example the client or the job name.
- Arm it and plug in the cards
Every card is copied, SHA-256 checked, filed and ejected. A second card from another reader gets its own lane and doesn't wait.
- Keep Tusk for the long game
The two don't conflict. ShotGrab gets the cards onto disk; Tusk can keep watching that project folder afterwards if you want the cloud copy.
Questions
Is ShotGrab a replacement for Tusk?
Only for part of it. ShotGrab covers automatic, verified offload of cards. It does not sync projects, track drives or back up to the cloud, which are Tusk's strengths.
Is there a free alternative to Tusk on Mac?
ShotGrab is free up to 128GB of copied files every 14 days, with all features and no account. Tusk has a 14-day trial, then a one-time purchase.
Does ShotGrab back up to Google Drive, Dropbox or S3?
No. ShotGrab only writes to local and network volumes. If you need an off-site copy, pair it with a cloud tool or use Tusk for that part.
Which copies the card faster?
I haven't benchmarked them against each other, so I won't claim a winner. ShotGrab hashes the card while reading it once, so verification doesn't add a second read, and a second card from a different reader runs in parallel.
Can I use ShotGrab and Tusk together?
Yes. Use ShotGrab to import and organize each card, then let Tusk watch the destination folder for ongoing backup, if that is your setup.
Keep reading
- ShotGrab vs Tusk in depth · Pricing · Features · Best SD card offload apps for Mac · Compare table · Other alternatives
Plug in a card and see.
Free is 128GB every 14 days with every feature unlocked. If you outgrow it: Pass €5 for 30 days, Yearly €29, or Lifetime €39 until 30 November 2026, then €69.
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