Keep the one-screen simplicity. Lose the drift.
A prop-list spreadsheet is free, everyone on set already knows how to open one, and on day one of prep it is genuinely the fastest thing to reach for. PropsHub keeps the same five columns crews already fill in by hand and adds the one thing a spreadsheet can’t do: a count that comes from the scenes themselves.
This isn’t a case against Excel. It’s a case for knowing exactly where it starts to cost you time — and nowhere else.
Excel wins on cost and on speed. Say so plainly.
Zero cost. Zero install. Zero onboarding — anyone joining the art department already knows how to open a sheet and start typing. On a two-week indie shoot, that head start can matter more than anything a dedicated tool offers.
The failure mode isn’t that spreadsheets are primitive. It’s that a spreadsheet has no way to know scene 45 now needs two pocket watches instead of one, or that the sheet on the shared drive is two days old, or that the continuity department is working from a different copy than props.
The honest comparison.
| Capability | PropsHub | Excel / Google Sheets |
|---|---|---|
| Free to start | No | Yes |
| Learning curve | A few minutes | None — everyone already knows it |
| Prop count calculated from the scene breakdown | Yes | No |
| One list, one current version, for everyone | Yes | Partial |
| Two people editing the same scene at once | Live presence + merge | Overwrites, or a locked file |
| Works with no signal on set | Read-only offline today | Yes |
| Printable shoot-day scene card with prop table | Yes | You build it yourself |
| Per-person, per-production access control | Yes | File- or sheet-level sharing only |
| Total flexibility — any column, any layout, any time | No | Yes |
PropsHub
- Free to start No
- Learning curve A few minutes
- Prop count calculated from the scene breakdown Yes
- One list, one current version, for everyone Yes
- Two people editing the same scene at once Live presence + merge
- Works with no signal on set Read-only offline today
- Printable shoot-day scene card with prop table Yes
- Per-person, per-production access control Yes
- Total flexibility — any column, any layout, any time No
Excel / Google Sheets
- Free to start Yes
- Learning curve None — everyone already knows it
- Prop count calculated from the scene breakdown No
- One list, one current version, for everyone Partial
- Two people editing the same scene at once Overwrites, or a locked file
- Works with no signal on set Yes
- Printable shoot-day scene card with prop table You build it yourself
- Per-person, per-production access control File- or sheet-level sharing only
- Total flexibility — any column, any layout, any time Yes
PropsHub feature set as shipped in v3.36.3. “Excel / Google Sheets” describes the free-text spreadsheet workflow generally, not a specific vendor.
Prop Item. Prop Number. Scene Number. Location. Notes.
That’s the structure art departments already use — on paper, in Excel, in the free templates that circulate on production forums. PropsHub doesn’t replace it with something new. It’s the same five ideas, applied to every episode and every scene at once instead of one flat list per production.
The difference shows up the moment two departments need the same number: in a spreadsheet, someone has to remember to update both copies. In PropsHub, the count is recalculated from your scenes, not typed — you never maintain it by hand.
Not ready to switch? The free prop list template below is the same five columns, no email required.
See how PropsHub compares to other tools.
Propared — a theatre/live-events production platform — a different job, done for a different industry.
SyncOnSet for Props — the closest true feature match found — enterprise-only, no public pricing.
StudioBinder — runs the whole production; its props feature is a script tag, not a database.
You already know the model. We just do the arithmetic.
Tell us about your production and we’ll set it up with you — or start with the free template if a spreadsheet is still the right tool for where you are today.