Creatomate and Polotno SDK both produce templated video, and they start from different places. Creatomate is a hosted, video-first automation platform: templates or JSON go in, finished video and images come back from its cloud, and its Preview SDK can put a live canvas in your app. Polotno SDK is a complete editor you ship in your own bundle, and it renders image, video, and PDF in the cloud, on your servers, or in the browser. One question decides it: do you want to build an editor around a hosted preview, or start from a finished editor that runs on your side?
Pick the one that matches what you're building
Pick Creatomate if…
- Your renders come from data, with no person in the loop: the API, Bulk Generation from spreadsheets, and official Zapier, Make, and n8n support cover this job.
- Video is your main output: the product leads with video, and your code can describe a whole video in JSON with no template.
- Your users change a few fields and watch the result: the Preview SDK shows the video live in your app, and the API renders it as previewed.
- You want to hand out a form: Shareable Forms turn a template into a link for your team, clients, or customers.
Pick Polotno SDK if…
- You want a finished editor for your users: Polotno ships the full editor UI. Creatomate's SDK gives you a hosted canvas, and you build the timeline and properties panel.
- Your users edit on phones and tablets: Polotno's editor adapts to touch screens. Creatomate's live preview needs a desktop browser.
- You need PDF or print output: Creatomate's formats are MP4, JPG, PNG, and GIF. Polotno adds PDF, with CMYK, bleed, and PDF/X for print.
- You want to render in the browser or on your own servers: Creatomate's final render runs in its cloud. Polotno gives you those two options plus a Cloud Render API.
How Creatomate and Polotno differ
The two tools overlap on output and on driving a design from JSON. They differ in five places that affect the decision.
1. What you embed
Creatomate's Preview SDK is a small package that loads a preview in a frame Creatomate serves, so the engine stays out of your bundle. You get a player, or an interactive mode where users select, move, and resize elements on the canvas. You build the interface around it, such as the timeline and properties panel. The live preview needs a desktop browser, and the SDK comes with the Growth plan and up.
Polotno SDK is the whole editor: canvas, side panels, toolbars, and a video timeline. You mount it as a JavaScript component inside your application, your customers design or customize templates, and the result feeds your render pipeline.
Creatomate says most apps need a few fields and the preview, and for that job its SDK is a light fit. If your users need a full design surface, Polotno means you skip building one around a canvas.
2. Formats and video depth
Creatomate is video-first, and one format covers both media: RenderScript is JSON that defines a video or image, with MP4, JPG, PNG, and GIF as outputs. PDF isn't on that list.
Polotno handles image, video, and PDF in one JSON schema and one editor. Video editing is a timeline with trim, split, audio tracks, and animation, and it stops short of a full non-linear suite.
If video is the whole job, Creatomate is built around it. If a feature crosses from social video to print PDF, Polotno covers both in one integration.
3. Automation tooling
Creatomate ships Bulk Generation from spreadsheets, Shareable Forms, an API, and official Zapier, Make, and n8n support. Schedules and event triggers come from those tools, with Creatomate as a step in the scenario.
Polotno doesn't bundle automation tooling. You get a Cloud Render API and an SDK, and you call them from your own job runner, queue, or cron.
Ops teams get further with Creatomate before they need an engineer. Engineering teams that already run their own jobs lose little with Polotno.
4. What your JSON depends on
Creatomate's RenderScript is documented. You can read and write a template's source through the API, keep it in Git, and render from JSON with no stored template. Final rendering still needs Creatomate's cloud.
Polotno designs are JSON too, and the same file drives the editor, batch jobs, and a renderer you can run yourself. Programmatic generation and user-edited variants share one data model.
Both formats suit Git and code. With Polotno, the editor and renderer that read the file can run on your side.
5. Where rendering happens
Creatomate shows the preview in the browser and renders the final file in its cloud.
Polotno SDK renders in three places: through the Cloud Render API with webhook callbacks, on your own servers, or in the browser on the user's device. The quickest route is Cloud Render: you send the JSON and get the file back, with no servers to run. Self-hosting stays an option when your data has to stay on your side, with no per-render fee.
A regulated workload can self-host, a consumer app can export in the browser, and a backend job can call Cloud Render, with one schema across all three.
Creatomate and Polotno side by side
| Polotno SDK | Creatomate | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Design editor SDK you ship in your bundle | Hosted video and image automation platform |
| Editor in your app | Full editor UI in your bundle | Preview SDK: hosted canvas, you build the UI around it, Growth plan and up |
| Touch devices | Editor adapts to phones and tablets | Live preview needs a desktop browser |
| Design format | Open JSON schema | Documented RenderScript JSON |
| Video from JSON with no template | Yes, your code writes the design JSON | Yes, with RenderScript |
| Spreadsheet generation | You build it | Bulk Generation |
| Forms you share by link | You build them | Shareable Forms |
| No-code integrations | None: you call the API from your code | Official Zapier, Make, and n8n support |
| Output | PNG, JPEG, PDF, PPTX, GIF, MP4, plus SVG and HTML outside Cloud Render | MP4, JPG, PNG, GIF |
| Self-hosting | Editing and rendering, with every license, unlimited under fair use | None found |
| Final render | Cloud Render API, your servers, or the browser | Creatomate's cloud |
| Design data | Reaches Polotno servers only with Cloud Render or AI features | Passes through Creatomate's cloud to render |
| Pricing model | Fixed license fee by custom quote, no per-render fee when self-hosted, Cloud Render billed per use | Monthly plans with credits |
| Evaluation | 30-day free trial for development and prototyping, no credit card | Free credits, no credit card, no time limit, previews up to 480 pixels |
When Creatomate is the right call
Creatomate fits when your buyer is your ops team and your users receive finished video. It's built for video automation where a person doesn't sit in the middle of each render. You can describe a whole video in JSON, feed it from a spreadsheet, or hand a form to a client, and the official no-code connectors save work engineering teams often rebuild.
It also fits a product with a light personalization step. If your users change a price and a photo and watch the video update, the Preview SDK does that with a small package and no renderer of your own.
If your product needs a full editor your users open and operate, or output on your own servers, Polotno is the right call. You can test it with the 30-day free trial, no credit card needed.
FAQ
Can I migrate Creatomate templates to Polotno?
There is no automatic transfer. RenderScript is documented and you can read a template's source through the API, so a converter is possible. Text elements map to text elements, image and video elements map to image and video elements, and modifications become values your code sets in the JSON. We'd recommend rebuilding templates unless your library is large.
Does Polotno handle complex video timing and animation?
Polotno models common video patterns through its animation schema: entry, exit, and loop presets, easing curves, text animated by letter, word, or line, and layered timing. Creatomate's RenderScript describes each element, its timing, and its animation in JSON, and the product leads with video. A project built around bespoke video may fit Creatomate better, or Remotion if you want to write video as code.
