The short version.
Offshoot is the photographer-focused product from Hedge BV — same verification heritage as Hedge, sharper UI for stills workflows, sits inside the Connect / Postal ecosystem.
SyncShot is the same category for cards and cameras, plus iPhone and Android as first-class sources, plus NAS, S3, Google Drive, SFTP, and FTP destinations bundled at the base tier. Pro is $49/year, one Mac, every destination included.
For a solo photographer who shoots cards plus phone and wants one tool that lands the files everywhere at once, SyncShot fits. If you're already invested in Hedge BV's ecosystem or need MHL handoff, Offshoot stays in the bag.
Side by side.
What each one supports on Mac, out of the box, without add-ons.
| Axis | SyncShot | Offshoot |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | macOS 13+ | macOS |
| Camera cards (SD, CFexpress, CFast) | Yes | Yes |
| Cameras over PTP/MTP | Yes | Yes |
| iPhone camera roll | Yes (AFC) | Not first-class |
| Android DCIM | Yes (ADB + MTP) | Not first-class |
| Local SSD / HDD destination | Yes | Yes |
| NAS over SMB destination | Yes | Yes |
| SFTP / FTP destination | Yes (base tier) | Via add-on |
| S3 + S3-compatible destination | Yes (base tier) | Add-on (Postal) |
| Google Drive destination | Yes (base tier) | Add-on (Postal) |
| Multi-destination, one pass | Unlimited | Yes |
| Verification | BLAKE3, single-pass | xxHash / MD5 / C4 |
| MHL sidecar output | No | Yes |
| Byte-accurate resume on disconnect | Yes | Yes |
| Saved workflows | Yes (Workflow Builder) | Yes (Triggers) |
| Team / peer transfer | No | Yes (Connect) |
| Base price | $49 / year | Subscription + add-ons |
Where SyncShot pulls ahead.
Three axes where SyncShot reaches further than Offshoot.
- iPhone and Android as native sources
- iPhone over AFC after the Trust prompt, Android over ADB or MTP — selection, organize-by, and verification work identically to cards. Offshoot's focus is cards and drives; phones aren't first-class.
- Cloud and network destinations bundled
- S3 (AWS, B2, R2, Wasabi, MinIO), Google Drive, SFTP, FTP, and NAS over SMB are destinations at Pro — no Postal add-on, no per-destination pricing. Credentials live in macOS Keychain, bytes go straight from Mac to bucket.
- $49/year, one bundle
- One Mac, unlimited jobs, unlimited workflows, every destination. Offshoot + Postal + Connect priced à la carte adds up faster.
Where Offshoot is stronger.
Honest about what Hedge BV does that SyncShot doesn't.
- MHL sidecar output
- Offshoot writes ASC MHL via the Hedge engine — the standard handoff between DIT, post, and archive. SyncShot doesn't emit MHL today. If a downstream archive vendor expects MHL, Offshoot stays in the chain.
- Hedge ecosystem integration
- Connect for teammate-to-teammate transfer and Postal for cloud delivery are mature products that snap into Offshoot. SyncShot covers the cloud side from the base app but doesn't (yet) offer a peer-handoff layer.
- Years of brand recognition in photographer circles
- Offshoot has been the recommendation on photographer forums for a while. SyncShot is newer. If you read the same review and want the same workflow as the recommender, Offshoot is the safer recognition path.
When to pick which.
By workflow.
- Wedding / event shooter on Mac with iPhone backups
- SyncShot. iPhone camera roll and the CFexpress card run on one job, fan out to NAS and S3, verified. Saved workflow turns the second card into a one-click run.
- Studio photographer handing off MHL to archive
- Offshoot. The MHL sidecar matters more than every other axis on this page.
- Solo travel / documentary photographer
- SyncShot. Phone-as-source + Google Drive destination is the entire workflow, and it's $49/year.
- Photographer who collaborates with a Hedge-using team
- Offshoot. If the receiving end uses Connect / Postal, sending from the same tool is friction-free.
- First-time evaluator deciding between the two
- Both offer trials. SyncShot is 14 days, no credit card; install the DMG, plug a card in, see if the workflow fits. Offshoot has its own trial with the Hedge identity layer.
Questions photographers ask.
Lifted from the FAQ.
- Is SyncShot an Offshoot alternative?
- Yes. SyncShot is a macOS app for photographers that automatically backs up photos and videos from cameras, cards, and phones to multiple destinations you control — NAS, S3, Google Drive, SFTP, and FTP — verified end to end with BLAKE3 checksums. Offshoot (by Hedge BV) covers the same offload-and-verify category for cards and drives; SyncShot adds iPhone and Android as native sources and bundles cloud + network destinations at the base tier.
- How is SyncShot different from Offshoot?
- Same category, different reach. Both verify every byte on copy. SyncShot treats iPhone (AFC) and Android (ADB + MTP) as first-class sources alongside cards, and includes S3, Google Drive, SFTP, and FTP destinations without an add-on. Offshoot is sharper at the photographer-specific UI polish and slots into Hedge BV's broader ecosystem (Connect for team transfer, Postal for cloud delivery).
- Does SyncShot work for stills photographers like Offshoot is built for?
- Yes — that's the target. RAW + sidecar awareness, organize-by-date / month / device / type, conflict resolution by EXIF date, per-destination paths, and saved workflows are all in the box. The same 14-day trial covers cameras, cards, drives, iPhone, Android, NAS, and cloud — no separate tiers for the parts of a wedding shoot.
- Can SyncShot upload to cloud while it copies locally, like Offshoot via Postal?
- Yes, in one pass on the same job. Local destinations finish first; S3 / Google Drive / SFTP / FTP keep uploading in the background. Multipart for S3, resumable-upload session for Drive, byte-accurate resume across all of them on disconnect. No separate Postal subscription — cloud destinations are included in Pro at $49/year.
- Does Offshoot do MHL? Does SyncShot?
- Offshoot, via the Hedge engine, writes MHL (Media Hash List) sidecars — the standard handoff format between DIT, post, and archive. SyncShot does not emit MHL sidecars today. If a downstream pipeline requires MHL, Offshoot is the better fit.
- What about pricing?
- SyncShot Pro is $49/year — one Mac, unlimited jobs, every destination included. Offshoot is sold as a subscription with cloud delivery (Postal) and team transfer (Connect) priced as separate add-ons. For solo Mac photographers, SyncShot is the lower-cost bundle.
Curious about the Hedge side of the family? SyncShot vs Hedge. Ready to put a card in? Download SyncShot.