Kitsu
Paris, France
What it is
Kitsu is a collaboration and production-tracking platform for animation, VFX, and game studios. Teams can schedule tasks, assign artists, and balance workloads. Review playlists collect shots and assets while retaining preview versions for comparison. Dashboards report production progress, and a real-time activity feed follows subscribed task changes. Kitsu tracks asset versions, related tasks, and progress, with an asset library for reuse. Budget forecasting and artist time tracking cover assets and shots. Integrations include digital content creation tools and chat services, with Blender, Toon Boom Harmony, Unreal Engine, Slack, Discord, and Mattermost named in documentation. Developers receive REST API access, Python and JavaScript clients, and a command-line interface. Kitsu is offered on the web, Linux, and as AGPL open-source self-hosted software. Cloud infrastructure is in Europe. Paid cloud plans start at €20/user/mo billed annually, and the trial lasts 14 days.
For and against
For
- Task scheduling and workload balancing
- Shot and asset review playlists
- Asset version tracking and library
- Budget forecasting and time tracking
- REST API and developer tools
Against
- Paid cloud plans start at €20/user/mo annually
- Self-hosting requires operational responsibility
- Trial runs on low-end hardware by default
- Intensive previews may require extra storage
The verdict
Kitsu brings planning, review, asset management, reporting, and integrations into one studio platform. Teams can choose hosted plans or self-host the open-source edition, with different responsibilities and costs.
Who it suits
Kitsu suits animation, VFX, and game studios coordinating schedules, reviews, assets, budgets, and time. Self-hosting fits organizations prepared to manage infrastructure and operations themselves.
Plans and prices
Self-hosted
AGPL open source · customer-provided infrastructure and operations
Read 15 Oct 2026 · cg-wire.com
Agency
1–20 users · basic support · <48h response · 100GB storage
Read 15 Oct 2026 · cg-wire.com
Production
1–100 users · premium support · <24h response · 3TB storage
Read 15 Oct 2026 · cg-wire.com
Studio
1–300 users · diamond support · <12h response · 10TB storage
Read 15 Oct 2026 · cg-wire.com
Artist Schools
up to 100 students
Read 15 Oct 2026 · cg-wire.com
Enterprise
unlimited users · on-premise installation · SSO · contractor synchronization
Read 15 Oct 2026 · cg-wire.com
On the record
- Activity feed
- Real-time activity feeds let users follow production changes and subscribe to task-status notifications.cg-wire.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- API
- Kitsu provides REST API access, a Python client, a JavaScript SDK, and a command-line interface.dev.kitsu.cloud · read 30 Sep 2026
- Architecture
- The stack uses a Vue frontend, Flask-based Zou API and event service, PostgreSQL, Redis, FFmpeg and Meilisearch.dev.kitsu.cloud · read 15 Oct 2026
- Asset library
- Studios can maintain reusable asset libraries to avoid duplicate assets.cg-wire.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Asset management
- Kitsu tracks asset versions, related tasks, and progress, and provides an asset library for reuse.cg-wire.com · read 30 Sep 2026
- Breakdown lists
- Breakdown lists associate assets with shots and provide readiness statistics.cg-wire.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Budget and time
- Features include budget forecasting and artist time tracking across assets and shots.cg-wire.com · read 30 Sep 2026
- Budget forecasting
- VFX workflows include scenario testing that compares current costs with budget forecasts.cg-wire.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Cloud hosting
- CGWire says Kitsu Cloud infrastructure runs in Europe and that hosting operations include updates, backups, monitoring, and video processing.cg-wire.com · read 30 Sep 2026
- Company adoption
- The company’s GitHub profile says more than 300 studios use Kitsu, while its product site claims more than 500 studios and 25,000 active users.github.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Company founded
- LinkedIn lists CGWire as founded in 2017 with headquarters in Paris.linkedin.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Company size
- LinkedIn lists CGWire as a privately held information-technology company with 2–10 employees.linkedin.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Documentation depth
- The developer site includes guides for authentication, permissions, publishing, asset management, automation, search, plugins, deployment, backups and migrations.dev.kitsu.cloud · read 15 Oct 2026
- Extensibility
- Developers can use event listeners, custom actions and plugins with backend routes and embedded UI.dev.kitsu.cloud · read 15 Oct 2026
- Founder report
- Frank Rousseau’s 2026 project review says Kitsu serves about 500 studios, mainly independent productions, and that five people work on it full time.blog.frankrousseau.fr · read 15 Oct 2026
- Hardware requirements
- Recommended minimums range from 2 cores and 4GB RAM for 1–10 users to 8 cores and 30GB RAM for 81–200 users.dev.kitsu.cloud · read 15 Oct 2026
- Identity options
- Self-hosted deployments document LDAP or Active Directory, SAML 2.0 and OpenID Connect authentication.dev.kitsu.cloud · read 15 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- Official developer documentation lists Blender, Toon Boom Harmony, Unreal Engine, Slack, Discord and Mattermost integrations.dev.kitsu.cloud · read 15 Oct 2026
