# Cinekive vs other tools

Honest positioning so people searching “FilmGrab alternative”, “local Flim”, or “offline shot library” land in the right place.

## At a glance

| Need | Try |
|------|-----|
| Browse famous stills in a browser | FilmGrab, MovieStillsDB, similar sites |
| Curated cloud shot library + search UX | Flim, Kive, ShotDeck (product depending on plan) |
| **Own the files**, search locally, ingest your cuts, moodboard | **Cinekive** |
| NLE editing | DaVinci Resolve, Premiere, etc. (Cinekive does not replace them) |

## FilmGrab / still sites

**They shine at:** discovery of iconic frames, zero install.

**Cinekive adds:** permanent local copies *you* choose to mirror or ingest, craft filters, visual similarity, project shelves, moodboards. Mirror scripts assume **your** licensed access — we do not ship third-party still archives in git.

## Flim / Kive / ShotDeck-style products

**They shine at:** polished hosted search, team seats, always-on cloud.

**Cinekive trades that for:** privacy, offline-friendly archives, no monthly rent for *your* library, open MIT code you can fork. You operate Docker (for now) and your own disk.

## Pure NLE bins

Resolve / Premiere bins are for cutting. Cinekive is for **finding and briefing** — then export or drag references into the edit.

## Agent / automation

Cinekive exposes a local HTTP API ([AGENT_API.md](AGENT_API.md)) so crews and tools can query the archive without a SaaS account.

## Summary one-liner

> **Cinekive is the local-first FilmGrab + moodboard + ingest stack for people who want the frames on their drive.**