What Central Desktop does

Central Desktop, operated by Blue Drift Software, Inc., is a cloud-based SaaS collaboration and project management platform founded in 2005 and headquartered in Spokane, Washington with a legal entity address in Austin, Texas. The platform enables teams to organize work in secure, role-based workspaces with project management, file sharing, workflow automation, online proofing, and dynamic databases. It targets marketing teams, creative agencies, and enterprise organizations, with named customers spanning sports media (MLB Advanced Media), human rights (Amnesty International), public relations (FleishmanHillard), education (Sesame Workshop), human capital (CareerBuilder), and digital marketing (Blue Corona, Javelin). The product is structured into three subscription tiers — Teams ($15/user/month, 5-user minimum), Marketers ($45/user/month, 5-user minimum), and Enterprise ($25/user/month, 25-user minimum with volume discounts) — with the lower tier offering self-serve trials and the upper tiers requiring sales-assisted demos. The company also offers nonprofit and academic discounts and bills annually in advance, with price increases capped at 5% per year.

Name

Central Desktop

Legal name

Blue Drift Software, Inc.

Website

https://centraldesktop.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Central Desktop is a cloud-based SaaS collaboration and project management platform founded in 2005, offering secure workspaces, workflow automation, file sharing, online proofing, and dashboards to marketing teams, creative agencies, and enterprise organizations via three subscription tiers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Pasadena

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. SaaS Subscription - Teams Tier: Annual subscription model at $15/month per user or $300/year per user with a minimum of 5 users. Includes secure workspaces, project management and task assignments.
2. SaaS Subscription - Marketers Tier: Annual subscription at $45/month per user or $540/year per user with minimum 5 users. Includes all Teams features plus project templates, account view, assigned roles, time tracking, resource reporting, review & approve, and annotation & markups.
3. SaaS Subscription - Enterprise Tier: Annual subscription at $25/month per user with minimum 25 users and volume discounts. Includes scalable features for thousands of users, enterprise security, bulk user management, compliance, platinum support, concierge onboarding, custom integrations, and extended storage.
4. Professional Services: Implementation training, professional services, and dedicated collaboration strategist for onboarding and rollout planning. Account managers handle user license additions and payment method changes for contracted customers.
5. Non-profit and Academic Discounts: Discounted pricing for non-profit organizations (with 501(c) tax exempt status) and academic institutions including K-12, colleges, universities, public libraries, and research institutes.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Central Desktop is a cloud-based SaaS team collaboration and project management platform that enables teams to organize work in secure workspaces, manage projects with templates and task assignments, share and co-edit files with version control, automate custom workflows, run online proofing and approvals, and collaborate with internal and external stakeholders. It is sold via tiered annual subscriptions (Teams, Marketers, Enterprise) with dedicated collaboration strategist onboarding for contracted customers.

Product overview

Central Desktop is a cloud-based SaaS team collaboration and project management platform operated by Blue Drift Software, Inc. The platform is offered in three pricing tiers: Teams ($15/user/month), Marketers ($45/user/month), and Enterprise ($25/user/month, minimum 25 users). The core Central Desktop Platform provides secure workspaces, project management, custom workflows, online databases, and review/approve capabilities. The Marketers tier adds project templates, time tracking, and resource reporting. Key modules include Automated Dashboards for real-time reporting, Cloud Assist for native file editing, Microsoft OneDrive and Google Drive integrations for cloud file management, and Ziflow-powered online proofing. The platform is built around organizing work into customizable workspaces with project templates, task assignments, document management, and workflow automation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Central Desktop Platform Cloud-based SaaS team collaboration and project management platform enabling teams to organize work in secure workspaces, manage projects, share files, track tasks, automate workflows, and collaborate with internal and external stakeholders.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduce internal email by 60-70% through automated notifications and task routing
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature9 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Microsoft OneDrivecoreTechnology or Integration · 12 June 2025Integration partnership enabling users to connect their Microsoft OneDrive for Business accounts directly to Central Desktop workspaces. Users can upload files directly from OneDrive to any Central Desktop workspace without downloading and re-uploading. Additionally, Cloud Assist enables native editing of Microsoft Office files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) stored in Central Desktop directly from the desktop, with automatic saving back to the workspace.
• Google DrivecoreTechnology or Integration · 12 June 2025Integration partnership enabling users to connect their Google Drive accounts directly to Central Desktop workspaces. Users can upload files directly from Google Drive to any Central Desktop workspace without downloading and re-uploading. Part of 2025 roadmap to expand collaboration possibilities and reduce friction in file management.
• ZiflowcoreTechnology or Integration · 26 August 2024Ziflow is Central Desktop's online proofing platform partner. The partnership replaced Central Desktop's legacy proofing platform with Ziflow's industry-leading proofing solution. Ziflow brings workflow automation, multiple compare tools, unlimited free reviewers, public URLs, real-time comment threads, advanced commenting features (private reply, label, filter), and customizable proofing experience. This is described as Central Desktop's first substantial platform upgrade since new ownership took over in April 2024.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Notion: Notion has expanded from notes/docs into team workspaces, databases, and project management, increasingly competing with Central Desktop for SMB and team-level collaboration. While Notion's strength is in flexible databases and docs, both platforms compete for the same modern knowledge worker audience.

Broad incumbents

• Microsoft Planner: Microsoft Planner (part of Microsoft 365) provides native project management within the broader Microsoft ecosystem. As Central Desktop integrates with Microsoft OneDrive and Office, it both complements and competes with Planner, particularly for Microsoft-centric enterprise customers.
• Trello: Trello (owned by Atlassian) provides visual project management with boards, lists, and cards. While simpler than Central Desktop, Trello competes for the same SMB and team-level collaboration customers with a freemium model and broad market reach.

Direct peers

• Smartsheet: Smartsheet provides collaborative work management with strong spreadsheet-based project tracking and workflow automation, overlapping with Central Desktop's dynamic databases and custom workflows. Both target enterprise and mid-market customers with tiered SaaS pricing.
• Asana: Asana is a leading work management and team collaboration platform serving marketing, creative, and cross-functional teams. Both compete directly for marketing team and agency customers with project management, task tracking, and workflow automation capabilities, though Asana operates at significantly greater scale.
• Monday.com: Monday.com provides a cloud-based work operating system with strong customization and workflow automation features similar to Central Desktop. Both target marketing teams and mid-market/enterprise customers with tiered pricing and customizable workspaces, though Monday.com is a public company with substantially more resources.
• Basecamp: Basecamp is a long-standing team collaboration and project management platform with to-do lists, file sharing, and message boards. Notably, Blue Corona (a Central Desktop customer) explicitly replaced Basecamp with Central Desktop, indicating direct competitive overlap in the SMB/mid-market segment.
• ClickUp: ClickUp is an all-in-one productivity platform combining project management, docs, whiteboards, and workflows. Both compete for the same SMB and mid-market customer base seeking customizable, all-in-one collaboration tools at accessible price points.
• Box: Box provides cloud content management and collaboration with secure file sharing, version control, and workflow automation. Blue Corona also replaced Box with Central Desktop, indicating competitive overlap in file-centric collaboration for marketing teams.
• Wrike: Wrike (acquired by Citrix) offers project management and collaboration software with strong creative workflow and proofing capabilities that overlap directly with Central Desktop's marketer-focused feature set. Both platforms serve enterprise marketing teams with customizable workflows and approval routing.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/centraldesktop
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/centraldesktop
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/central-desktop
• Facebookfacebook.com/CentralDesktop

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Central Desktop