Backed hasn't launched yet. At the time of writing, its website is a waitlist page, a one-minute demo video and an Instagram account, so everything below about Backed comes from what that page says it does. We'll update this comparison once it ships and has a price, supported platforms and a manual. ShotGrab is available now, so the practical question for anyone shooting this week is simpler: what do you do with the cards in your bag today?
Side by side
| ShotGrab | Backed | |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | Available now, notarized, with automatic updates | Waitlist only |
| Platform | macOS 13+ (plus an iPhone companion) | Not stated |
| Price | €5 pass (30 days) · €29/yr · €39 lifetime (launch price until 30 Nov 2026, then €69) | Not announced |
| Free tier | 128GB every 14 days, every feature unlocked | Not announced |
| What happens on insert | Arm a project once: every card that follows imports on its own, no click | Shows how many files aren't on your drive yet, then copies, sorts and verifies |
| Skipping what's already copied | Per project, by name, size, shot time and camera model — never re-reads the card to decide | Matches files by content, not by name |
| Verification | SHA-256 on every file, always on, hashed while copying | Says every file is verified; method not published |
| Folders | Template-driven from metadata (date, camera, card, your own variables) | Client and job name, then folders are created |
| Several cards at once | Parallel lanes: a second reader gets its own lane automatically | Not stated |
| Several destinations | Ordered cascade to any number of secondary drives, card freed early | Not stated |
| Sorting downloads (music, VO, LUTs) | No | Yes, into the job's Assets folder |
| After the copy | Safe-to-remove card, "mark for formatting", hand-off to DaVinci Resolve, Lightroom Classic and Photo Mechanic | Not stated |
What Backed gets right
The pitch is clear and well aimed: put a card in, see at once how much of it is still uncopied, and let the app file everything under a client and a job. Sorting downloaded music, voice-overs and LUTs into the same job folder is a thoughtful touch for editors, and ShotGrab doesn't do it. Matching files by content instead of by name is also a fair way to catch the case where a camera restarts its numbering. If you work client by client and want an app built around that vocabulary, Backed is aimed at you.
Where ShotGrab is already ahead
Mostly it's a matter of being finished. ShotGrab verifies every file with SHA-256 while it copies, never deletes anything from your card, imports card after card without a click once a project is armed, copies from two readers at once, and cascades to as many backup drives as you like. It marks verified cards for formatting, hands the new folder to Resolve, Lightroom Classic or Photo Mechanic, and speaks thirteen languages. And you can try all of it today, free, up to 128GB every two weeks.
One honest difference: ShotGrab decides what to skip from file name, size, shot time and camera model rather than from the contents of each file, because reading everything just to decide what to skip would make a big card much slower. In practice that catches the same files, and every file that is copied is still checksummed.
Who should pick which
You have cards to offload now
A working, verified, hands-off offload with parallel lanes and multiple backups, free to try.
You can wait and want the client/job workflow
Worth a look when it launches, especially for the Assets sorting. Check its price and platforms first.