CineSend cinesend.comCan AI replace CineSend?
The file delivery is not the product. The product is that A24, HBO, and Sundance accept it. A screener page with an expiring link is an afternoon, and it buys you nothing, because the two things CineSend actually sells cannot be written by an agent at any price: forensic watermarking, which is a licensed product from Nagra that survives a camcorder pointed at a monitor and traces the leak back to one named viewer, and studio-grade DRM, which needs license keys Google and Apple issue to companies, not to your VPS. Underneath both sits the part no code touches · a rights holder's legal team signing off on where their unreleased master is allowed to sit. You can build a private video page. You cannot build permission to receive the film.
01What it costs
Checked Aug 12, 2026 · source: cinesend.com.
| Plan | Monthly | Billed yearly | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| CineSend Files, Teams | $797 | — | 5 users; 6 TB storage; 150 screener links/month; Aspera sends billed separately. |
| CineSend Files, Enterprise | — | — | Unlimited users, storage and screener links; custom security and support. |
| CineSend OTT, Pro | $1,997 | — | 3 TB storage; 250,000 streaming minutes/month; $0.01/minute overage. |
| CineSend OTT, Enterprise | — | — | Unlimited storage; 1,000,000 streaming minutes/month; $0.01/minute overage. |
| CineSend Request | — | — | Free uploads; no file-size limit; 3-month storage; usage billed at $0.50/GB downloaded. |
Hidden costs: Files Teams charges $0.50/GB for Aspera sends; OTT charges $0.01 per streaming minute above the included allowance; CineSend Request charges $0.50/GB downloaded; taxes can be added.
02Could AI build it for you?
The core job: The honest floor: expiring private screener links with a visible per-viewer burn-in, view limits, and an access log. Deterrence, not security.
What a working version needs:
- ffmpeg
- object storage plus a CDN
- a VPS for the screener pages
- an email sender for invites
- an accurate understanding of what a visible watermark does and does not stop
The purest no on the list · the deliverable is not software, it is a rights holder's permission.
03What you'd give up
- NexGuard forensic watermarking that survives re-encoding and a phone pointed at the screen
- Widevine, FairPlay, and PlayReady DRM, which require licensed keys issued to companies
- the studio and festival trust that makes anyone send you a master in the first place
- Aspera acceleration for moving finished masters across continents
- branded Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV, and smart TV apps for the screening room
- the audit trail and chain of custody a distribution contract asks for
They pay to be allowed to hold the file. A distributor's security requirements are a contract term, not a preference, and the accepted vendor list is short on purpose. When a screener leaks, forensic watermarking turns a catastrophe into a phone call to one person, and that single capability justifies the whole line item. Nobody is paying 797 dollars a month for a download page.
04The build prompt
Read the verdict first: this one is hard to get right.
The complete build prompt, plus 11 step-by-step prompts from research to launch, a design system file, a page-by-page spec, the data model and a launch checklist.
Get the Build Kit · $9 →One-time payment. Delivered on screen and by email.
05Free open-source starting points
- Nextcloud: Self-hosted file sharing with password-protected, expiring share links and access logs. Genuinely solves the delivery half, and stops exactly where the licensed half starts.
- Shaka Packager: Open-source packaging with Common Encryption for Widevine and other DRM systems. Shows the wall clearly: you can encrypt the stream, but the license server and the device keys are not yours to issue.
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Prices change; confirm on the vendor's site before you decide.
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