OffShoot vs ShotPut Pro vs VerifiedCopy: Mac offload tools compared

By Ting Tze Chuen · Updated October 7, 2026

I make VerifiedCopy, so read this with that in mind. I've tried to describe each tool the way its own maker does, and to say plainly where the others do more. Every competitor fact below comes from the vendor's own website or documentation, checked on October 7, 2026. Where I couldn't confirm something there, I've left it out.

What does an offload tool do that Finder doesn't?

An offload tool copies a camera card or folder to one or more drives and then checks that the copies match the source, usually by calculating a checksum (a fingerprint of every byte) on both sides. Finder copies without reading anything back, so it can't tell you whether a copy was damaged on the way. That's covered in more detail in how to verify a file copy on Mac.

Beyond the copy itself, the professional tools add things film and TV productions need: hash lists that travel with the footage, camera-aware reports for the editor, queues, presets and integrations with other on-set software.

How do the tools compare side by side?

Sources: OffShoot product page and OffShoot verification docs, ShotPut Pro for Mac, Pomfort Offload Manager and Pomfort's system requirements FAQ. Pomfort's license prices weren't shown on its store page when I checked, so I've left them out.

What is OffShoot (formerly Hedge) good at?

OffShoot is the renamed Hedge, and it's built for speed with many drives at once. It copies multiple sources to all destinations in one transfer and can cascade, copying to your fastest drive first so the card is free sooner. XXH64 checksums are always generated; MD5, SHA-1 and C4 are optional for workflows that expect them.

The Pro license adds ASC MHL, which OffShoot describes as "required by Netflix", plus S3 destinations, Codex support, scripting and a menu bar helper. A perpetual license covers both macOS and Windows, and there's an iPhone and iPad version, OffShoot Solo. If you work on productions with a DIT, or move between Mac and PC, it's a strong choice.

What is ShotPut Pro good at?

ShotPut Pro from Imagine Products offers the widest checksum choice of the tools here (several xxHash variants, MD5, SHA and C4), ASC MHL seals, presets that define destinations and folder naming, and cascaded copies.

Its reports stand out: media-focused PDFs with thumbnails, custom logos and camera metadata, plus TXT and CSV, aggregate reports across jobs and push, SMS or email notifications when a job finishes. It runs on Mac and Windows. The trade-off is cost over time: after the first 12 months, updates are a yearly fee.

Where does Pomfort's Offload Manager fit?

Offload Manager comes from Pomfort, the company behind the Silverstack on-set data management apps. It copies to multiple destinations from multiple sources in parallel, verifies with xxHash, MD5 or SHA-1, writes ASC MHL manifests automatically, and produces offload reports for editorial. Pomfort says all of its desktop apps run on macOS only.

Its licenses are time-limited (14 days, 1 month or 1 year) rather than perpetual, which suits crews who buy software per project. If your production already uses Silverstack, staying in the Pomfort ecosystem keeps things consistent.

Where does VerifiedCopy fit, and where doesn't it?

VerifiedCopy is a small Mac app for people who want every copy checked without a pro workflow around it. It copies to one, two or three drives in a single pass, reading the source once. Each chunk (4 MB by default) is written, flushed to the drive, read back and its SHA-256 compared with the source. A chunk that doesn't match is rewritten and re-checked on its own, so one bad block doesn't mean restarting a 200 GB copy. A full-file SHA-256 check runs afterwards by default.

Its other job is Verify & Repair: scanning an existing backup against a known-good source and rewriting only the damaged chunks. It works with any file type, not just camera media, and costs $4.99 once.

What it doesn't do: no MHL files, no Windows version, no camera-metadata PDF reports, no cloud or Codex destinations. If a client or post house expects ASC MHL, use OffShoot Pro, ShotPut Pro or Offload Manager.

Are Finder and rsync good enough?

Finder is fine for files you could easily replace. It doesn't verify, so it isn't a safe way to clear a camera card.

rsync is free and scriptable. A normal run copies files, and a second dry run with checksums compares them afterwards:

rsync -rcnv /Volumes/CARD/ /Volumes/Backup/CARD/

Any file listed differs or is missing. It works, but it's one destination per run, there's no report, and you have to remember to do the second pass. The camera card offload guide has a full manual routine with a checksum list.

Which offload tool is right for you?

• OffShoot: DITs, data wranglers and video crews who need ASC MHL (Pro), many destinations at once, cloud uploads, or the same license on Mac and Windows.
• ShotPut Pro: productions that want detailed PDF camera reports, a wide range of checksum options, notifications, and Mac or Windows support.
• Pomfort Offload Manager: Mac-based crews who already use Silverstack or prefer to license software per project.
• VerifiedCopy: photographers, hobbyist and solo videographers, and anyone backing up photo libraries, footage or archives on a Mac who wants every copy read back and checked, with chunk-level repair, for a one-time $4.99.
• Finder and rsync: occasional copies, or people comfortable checking by hand in Terminal.

If you're unsure, all four apps have free trials. Offload one real card with each and see which fits how you work.