Soontra vs Air
Air is a digital asset manager. Soontra is a content workspace that indexes what is inside your files and then runs the rest of the pipeline. Here is where each one wins.
Updated July 2026
The Verdict
Soontra and Air solve different problems. Air is an established digital asset manager built to organize and distribute brand assets, while Soontra is a content workspace that indexes every file with AI — word-level transcripts, visual scene descriptions, OCR — and then carries the work through projects, review, publishing, and analytics. Choose Air for pure asset management at enterprise scale; choose Soontra when you want to search inside your footage and keep the whole content pipeline in one tool.
Choose Soontra if
- You want to search inside your footage: word-level transcripts, visual scene descriptions, and OCR let you jump to the exact second of a video or page of a PDF.
- You need the pipeline after storage — projects, anchored review, a publishing composer for five platforms (currently in pilot), and channel analytics in one workspace.
- You want an AI agent in the workspace: Astrono chat is unlimited and free on every plan, and agent mode drafts projects, docs, and post drafts.
- You edit for social: natural-language trims by transcript quote, silence removal, and 16:9/9:16/1:1/4:5 reframes with subject tracking and burned captions.
Choose Air if
- Your core need is classic digital asset management from an established product with a longer track record.
- You depend on a mature integrations ecosystem that has been built out over many years.
- You run enterprise brand-asset workflows — brand libraries, large-team distribution — that Air is designed around.
Feature comparison
| Soontra | Air | |
|---|---|---|
| Find & organize | ||
| AI indexing: word-level transcripts, visual scene descriptions, OCR |  | Core DAM strength in asset organization |
| Semantic moment search — jump to the exact second in a video | | — |
| Jump to the exact page inside a PDF | | — |
| Create with AI | ||
| AI chat | Astrono — unlimited, $0 on every plan | — |
| Agent mode that creates projects, docs, and post drafts | | — |
| Image generation and 5–10 second video generation | | — |
| Natural-language video editing: trim by transcript quote, remove silence, reframe with subject tracking — with accept/reject proposals | | — |
| Plan & review | ||
| Projects with kanban, list, and calendar flows, subtasks, and recurrence | | See air.inc |
| Comments anchored to video timestamps, image pins, PDF pages, and doc text | | See air.inc |
| Draw-on-frame annotations | | See air.inc |
| Share links with password and expiry, guest comments, external review mode | | See air.inc |
| Publish & measure | ||
| Publishing composer for YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn (currently in pilot) | | — |
| Channel analytics: YouTube retention, traffic, geo, demographics; Instagram reach; TikTok KPIs; CSV export | | — |
| MCP server: ~50 tools for Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code (drafts only) | | — |
| Pricing | ||
| Entry plan | $49/mo — 100 GB, 600 AI minutes, 1 seat | See air.inc pricing |
| Free trial | 7 days | See air.inc pricing |
| Annual discount | 10% off | See air.inc pricing |
Is Soontra a replacement for Air?
For teams that want asset management plus the rest of the content pipeline, yes — Soontra replaces the DAM-plus-separate-tools stack; for pure enterprise brand-asset distribution, Air remains the safer pick. Soontra stores and organizes files like a DAM, but its center of gravity is what happens next: the same workspace runs projects, review, publishing, and analytics.
The practical test is where your work goes after storage. If assets leave Air to be planned in one tool, reviewed in another, and published in a third, Soontra collapses those steps into one place. If your organization mainly needs a governed brand library that other teams pull from, that is the job Air was built for.
How does Soontra search compare to a DAM search?
Soontra searches what is inside a file, not just its name and tags: every upload is indexed with word-level transcripts, visual scene descriptions, and OCR for on-screen text. A search for a phrase someone said takes you to the exact second it was spoken; a search for a term in a contract takes you to the exact page of the PDF.
That matters most for footage-heavy teams. Instead of scrubbing through hours of video to find a moment, you type what was said or what was on screen and jump straight to it — semantic moment search treats every second of video and every page of a document as an addressable search result.
What does Astrono add that a DAM does not have?
Astrono is an AI agent built into the workspace: chat is unlimited and costs $0 on every plan, and agent mode can create projects, write docs, and prepare post drafts. It also generates images and 5–10 second videos.
For video work, Astrono edits by natural language — trim a clip by quoting the transcript, remove silences, reframe to 16:9, 9:16, 1:1, or 4:5 with subject tracking, and burn in captions. Every edit arrives as a proposal you accept or reject, and Astrono can be assigned project tasks like a teammate.
Can Soontra handle review and publishing too?
Yes — review and publishing are built in. Comments anchor to the exact video timestamp, a pin on an image, a page of a PDF, or a selection of doc text, and reviewers can draw directly on a video frame. Share links support passwords and expiry dates, guests can comment without an account, and an external review mode keeps client-facing feedback separate.
When work is approved, the publishing composer formats posts for YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn with per-platform rules and live previews, plus a scheduling calendar and a best-time heatmap. Publishing is currently in pilot. Afterwards, analytics track YouTube retention, traffic, geo, demographics, devices, and playlists, Instagram reach and audience quality, and TikTok KPIs, with CSV export and roughly six-hour refresh.
How much does Soontra cost compared to Air?
Soontra starts at $49/month for Starter (100 GB storage, 600 AI minutes, 1 seat), with Creator at $199/month (1 TB, 4,800 minutes, 5 seats) and Enterprise at $999/month (8 TB, 20,000 minutes, 20 seats); Air publishes its current pricing at air.inc. Soontra annual billing takes 10% off, and every plan starts with a 7-day trial.
When comparing, price the full stack: if a DAM sits alongside separate project, review, publishing, and analytics tools, compare Soontra to the total of that stack rather than to the DAM line item alone.
When Air is the better choice
- Air is an established DAM with a longer track record — if you need a proven system of record for brand assets, that maturity counts.
- Air has built a mature integrations ecosystem over time; if your workflow depends on those connections, it is the safer fit.
- Enterprise brand-asset workflows — governed libraries and large marketing-organization distribution — are the job Air is designed around.
- If asset organization is the entire job and your workflow already lives happily in other tools, a focused DAM may be all you need.
Frequently asked questions
Is Soontra a DAM?
Soontra covers what most teams use a DAM for — organized storage and deep search — and then keeps going: projects, review, publishing (currently in pilot), and analytics live in the same workspace. The key difference is depth of search: Soontra indexes every file with AI (word-level transcripts, visual scene descriptions, OCR), so search reaches inside files rather than stopping at filenames and tags.
Can I migrate my files from Air or Google Drive to Soontra?
Soontra imports files directly from Google Drive — the step-by-step guide lives at soontra.com/help/drive-files/import-google-drive. Files exported from Air to Drive or to your computer can be brought in the same way, and every imported file is automatically indexed with transcripts, scene descriptions, and OCR as it arrives.
How much does Soontra cost?
Soontra Starter is $49/month with 100 GB of storage, 600 AI minutes, and 1 seat; Creator is $199/month (1 TB, 4,800 minutes, 5 seats); Enterprise is $999/month (8 TB, 20,000 minutes, 20 seats). Annual billing is 10% off and every plan includes a 7-day trial. For Air pricing, check air.inc.
Does Soontra publish to social platforms?
Yes — the composer prepares posts for YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn with per-platform rules, live previews, a scheduling calendar, and a best-time heatmap. Publishing is currently in pilot.
Does Soontra work with Claude or ChatGPT?
Yes. Soontra ships an MCP server with roughly 50 tools that connects to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and VS Code. It works drafts-only by design: it can search your library and prepare drafts, but it never publishes or deletes anything.
See your own footage become searchable.
Every plan starts with a 7-day trial — from $49/month.
Launch SoontraOr read the first-hour quickstart guide