How to switch from Frame.io without redoing your whole workflow

You can switch off Frame.io in an afternoon — the thing that actually slows people down isn’t the software, it’s the fear that moving will break a live project. It won’t, if you move one project first instead of everything at once. Here’s the honest version of what switching involves, what carries over, and what doesn’t.

Why editors put off switching

The bill is the reason most people start looking — per-seat pricing in US dollars stacks up fast once you add a second editor or an assistant (we broke the real numbers down in Frame.io pricing in INR). But the reason they stall isn’t the price, it’s switching cost: the quiet worry that a client is mid-review, comments live somewhere, and moving means losing the thread.

That worry is bigger than the actual work. Here’s what’s really involved.

What you do NOT need to migrate

Most of what feels like “data locked in Frame.io” doesn’t need to come with you:

Old comments. Feedback on a cut you already delivered is history. You don’t re-import it — you start the new tool on the current cut.
Finished projects. Anything approved and shipped stays where it is. You only move active work.
Reviewer accounts. Your clients never had real accounts to migrate — and on a good tool they don’t need one at all.

So the “migration” is much smaller than it sounds. It’s really just your active files and a share link per client.

The actual steps (one project, start to finish)

Do this with a single live project first — not your whole account. It takes an afternoon:

Download the current cut(s) of one active project from Frame.io. You only need the latest versions, not every old one.
Create the project in the new tool and upload the files. If your masters already live in Google Drive, you can import straight from Drive instead of re-downloading.
Create a share link and send it to that client exactly like you did before. They click, they watch, they comment on the frame — no signup.
Invite your team if another editor or an assistant is on this project.
Run the next revision round entirely in the new tool. Once that round closes cleanly, you know it works — move the next project.

That’s it. There’s no export/import tool to learn because there’s nothing locked up to export in the first place.

What changes for your clients (almost nothing)

This is the part people over-worry about. From the client’s side, the only thing that changes is the link they click. They still:

Open a link, no account, no password
Watch the cut in the browser, on desktop or phone
Leave a comment pinned to the exact frame
Approve when it’s done

If anything, it gets easier for them — a free, no-account reviewer flow is less friction than being added as a Frame.io collaborator.

Why editors in India make the switch

Once the migration fear is gone, the reasons to leave line up fast — and most of them are about how you pay:

Flat rupee pricing, not dollar seats. Editlock is a Frame.io alternative billed in INR, all-inclusive. Starter is ₹599/month for 150 GB, Studio is ₹1,699/month for 500 GB — not a per-seat dollar figure that climbs every time you add a teammate.
Reviewers and clients are always free and unlimited. You’re paying for storage, not for people. Add your whole team on one flat plan.
You pay the way you already pay. UPI, RuPay, net banking, domestic cards — no international card, no forex markup, and a proper GST invoice.

If you want the side-by-side before you move, we laid it out in Editlock vs Frame.io, and the free-plan limits comparison covers where Frame.io’s free tier runs out.

The bottom line

Switching off Frame.io isn’t a data-migration project — it’s moving one active project and sending one new link. Do it with a single client first so you can see the full loop close, then move the rest at your own pace. Start free on Editlock, move one live project in, and run your next revision round there.