Customer's Canvas by Aurigma is a print personalization platform: Hub embeds editors in your store and renders production files, and Portal adds a ready-made storefront. Polotno SDK is a design editor SDK you install from npm, with print export included. Both end in production print files. One question decides it: do you need a print production system, or a lighter editor inside your own product?
Pick the one that matches your print operation
Pick Customer's Canvas if…
- Print production is your business: imposition, preflight, cut paths, and separations for white ink, foil and spot UV are part of the product.
- Your templates start in InDesign or Photoshop: it imports both, so your designers keep their tools.
- Different products need different editors: freehand, form-based, option-based and upload-based flows come prebuilt, with 3D preview for cartons and labels.
- You also want a storefront or B2B portal: Customer's Canvas Portal adds catalogs, pricing and ordering, with implementation services.
Pick Polotno SDK if…
- You want a component to compose into your product: install from npm, mount the editor, and keep designs in your database, with no admin backend to adopt.
- You want designs as open JSON: a documented schema you store, version and generate from code.
- Your print needs end at the print file: CMYK, bleed, crop marks, PDF/X-1a and PDF/X-4, spot colors and overprint. Your printer or a fulfillment API handles the rest.
- You want to start building today: the 30-day free trial needs no credit card. A license still needs a quote.
How Customer's Canvas and Polotno differ
1. Platform or component
Customer's Canvas Hub is a cloud platform with an admin backend for products, options, templates and assets. You embed its editors with JavaScript components, drive it through REST APIs with clients for .NET, Node.js, PHP and Python, and connect shops with plugins for Shopify, WooCommerce, nopCommerce, Magento and BigCommerce. You get product configuration and order handoff that you would otherwise build, and you take on a platform's setup.
Polotno installs from npm and renders in your DOM. You compose the editor in your own code and keep designs in your database, so the integration stays inside your codebase. Product configuration and order logic are yours to build.
2. Print production depth
For print manufacturing, Customer's Canvas is the more complete system. It covers imposition, preflight that can fix problems such as RGB artwork, cut paths and dielines, engraving, and separate production elements for white ink, foil and spot UV. It outputs PDF/X-4 with CMYK and spot colors. Polotno has no imposition or cut lines. If your operation runs on imposed sheets, that alone decides it.
Polotno covers the print file. Vector PDF output comes in PDF/X-1a and PDF/X-4. A color stored as exact CMYK values reaches the PDF with those values, apart from a few effects such as shadows that draw an RGB preview. Spot colors map fills and strokes to named separation inks, Pantone names included, and overprint handles foil and varnish. The PDF export docs have the details, and our preflight tool checks finished files. Polotno pairs with fulfillment APIs for the production side, and the web-to-print and print-on-demand pages show how.
3. Templates and formats
You can import Customer's Canvas templates from InDesign (IDML) or Photoshop, build them in its Template Editor, or create them through its APIs. It saves designs as proprietary state files, and its Design Atoms libraries document the object model so your code can create designs too. Template rules lock elements or properties, define editable regions, and set limits such as minimum font size.
Polotno designs are open JSON in your database from the first save, and your code sets values in that JSON for variable data. Import covers PDF, SVG, PPTX, PSD in beta, Figma frames through SVG, and Illustrator files through the PDF path. IDML is not on that list, so a team built on InDesign should weigh this first. Per-element locks and admin, user and viewer roles control what users can change. Our docs show how to add QR codes and bar codes to a design.
4. Editing experiences
Customer's Canvas ships a prebuilt editor per job: a freehand editor, a 3D version for folding cartons and labels, an option-based configurator, and a form-based editor where customers fill in fields without touching the layout. You choose per product.
Polotno ships one editor that you configure in code. A form-based or option-based flow is yours to build on top of it. You write more of the interface, and you control all of it.
5. Deployment and data
Both can keep data on your side. Customer's Canvas Hub runs in managed cloud regions, including the US, EU and Australia, with a private-cloud option. Customer's Canvas On-Premises is a separate product: a suite of components you deploy in your own infrastructure, and not a local copy of Hub.
Design content reaches Polotno servers only if you use Cloud Render or AI features. License checks and the default asset panels carry no design content. Self-hosting means running a JavaScript library and a Node rendering package.
6. Pricing model
Customer's Canvas routes you through sales on its website, with a demo and a free trial on request. Its Shopify app listing publishes monthly plans by renders, connected products and storefronts, each with a 30-day free trial.
Side by side
| Polotno SDK | Customer's Canvas | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Embeddable design editor SDK | Print personalization platform, plus Portal storefront |
| Integration | npm package, React components | JavaScript components and REST APIs, with an admin backend |
| Design format | Open JSON, yours | Proprietary state files, with a documented object model |
| Template import | PDF, SVG, PPTX, PSD (beta), Figma frames | IDML and Photoshop |
| Print output | CMYK, bleed, crop marks, PDF/X-1a and PDF/X-4, spot colors, overprint | CMYK, bleed, PDF/X-4, spot colors, cut lines, white ink and foil separations |
| Imposition | Not included | Included |
| Preflight | Separate preflight tool | Built-in, with automatic fixes |
| Editors | One editor, configured in code | Prebuilt freehand, form, option and 3D editors |
| Deployment | Your side, with optional Cloud Render | Cloud regions, private cloud, or the separate On-Premises product |
| Storefront | Not included | Portal, a separate product |
| Pricing | Fixed license fee by custom quote, Cloud Render billed per use, 30-day free trial | Quote through sales, plus published monthly plans for its Shopify app |
When Customer's Canvas is the right call
If your business is print manufacturing, with InDesign templates, imposed sheets and cut-line work, Customer's Canvas belongs at the top of your shortlist. Packaging and label producers get dielines, 3D previews and finishing separations from one vendor. A print company with no online ordering yet can start from Portal, with implementation services included. Teams with strict deployment rules can choose regional cloud, private cloud or on-premises.
Polotno fits product teams who need embedded design with solid print output and no manufacturing platform. They compose a component, keep designs as open JSON, and can start a trial without a sales call.
FAQ
Is Polotno proven in production?
Polotno has been in market since 2020, with 300+ businesses in production, including Amazon and BMW. The Momentu and Peleman case studies cover web-to-print in detail.
