IMG.LY CreativeEditor SDK (CE.SDK) and Polotno SDK both embed a design editor in your app, run on your side, and ship white-label. CE.SDK runs one C++ engine across web, native mobile, desktop, and server. Polotno is a JavaScript editor built from React components, with designs stored as plain JSON. One question decides most evaluations: do you need a native iOS or Android editor, or a web editor you compose and drive from code?
Pick the one that matches what you're shipping
Pick IMG.LY if…
- You ship native iOS or Android apps: CE.SDK has native SDKs for iOS, Android, Flutter, and React Native on the same engine as the web version.
- Your files come from InDesign: CE.SDK converts IDML into editable designs, and exports editable IDML.
- Video is a core feature: you get a multi-track timeline, keyframes, motion paths, and a native Linux renderer for server-side video.
- You want generative AI inside the editor: plugins for image and video generation, style transfer, and voiceover come with the license, and you pay the model provider for usage.
- You need an air-gapped deployment: enterprise licenses can turn off all communication with IMG.LY's servers.
Pick Polotno SDK if…
- You build for the web and want to own the UI: the editor is React components you compose in your own code, with your panels next to ours.
- You want designs as plain data: a design is documented JSON you can read, diff, and write from any language.
- You want rendering with no per-render fee: every license includes self-hosted editing and rendering, unlimited under fair use.
- You want a managed render path as well: the optional Cloud Render API renders the same designs for you, billed per use.
- A WebView covers your mobile needs: we document iOS, Android, React Native, and Flutter, each with a demo project.
How IMG.LY and Polotno differ
1. Native apps
IMG.LY wins this one. CE.SDK ships native SDKs for iOS, Android, Flutter, and React Native, plus Electron, Mac Catalyst, and macOS on the desktop. One engine sits under all of them, and IMG.LY says a scene saved on the web renders identically on a phone or a server.
Polotno has no native SDK. The editor runs in the browser, and on desktop it runs in Electron with no bridge to build. Native apps reach it through a WebView: we document iOS, Android, React Native, and Flutter, each with a demo project, and the same approach works in Capacitor. The editor adapts to touch, and customers ship this in production today.
The WebView route costs you three things. You build and maintain the bridge yourself, high-resolution exports need testing on older devices (or moving to server-side rendering), and stock photos, templates, and fonts need a network connection unless you take the enterprise option that bundles assets for offline use.
IMG.LY's native SDKs remove the bridge. Offline use takes planning on both sides: CE.SDK loads its core assets from IMG.LY's CDN by default, and its docs tell you to host them yourself in production. A standard license key validates online, and offline license files are for enterprise customers.
2. Editor UI
Both go white-label on a commercial license. They differ in where your custom UI lives.
CE.SDK gives you a finished editor to configure. You show or hide tools, reposition and rename controls, apply your theme, and translate labels. A plugin API adds functionality, and a headless API lets you build a completely custom interface on the engine.
Polotno gives you React components. You choose which panels exist, put your own next to them, and change what the toolbar shows, all in your own code. We publish guides for Next.js, Vue, Angular, Svelte, and plain JavaScript, but customizing the editor needs React.
If your team writes React, a custom panel in Polotno is one more component in your app. If it doesn't, that counts against Polotno, and CE.SDK's starter kits for each web framework will suit you better.
3. Design data and automation
Both products build designs entirely from code, and both run that code on a server. CE.SDK's Create From Scratch guide starts from a blank scene and adds pages, text and graphic blocks, placeholders, and text variables through its API, in the browser or on Node. Its design generation fills templates with your data, and its CoDesign SDK lets your AI agent generate, resize, and rebrand editable designs on your servers.
The difference is the file. A CE.SDK scene is a serialization the engine writes. IMG.LY's glossary describes a compact Base64-encoded string, and we found no published field-level spec, so you drive designs through the engine's API and store what it produces. A Polotno design is documented JSON. You can read it, diff it, query it in your database, and write it from any language or an LLM without loading the SDK.
CE.SDK has the stronger built-in template model: placeholders and text variables live in the scene. Polotno's schema has no variable concept, so your code sets the values in the JSON, with a placeholder pattern as a convention.
4. Rendering on your servers
You can render on your own servers with either product, and it isn't an enterprise-only feature on either side.
IMG.LY's pricing page lists server-side rendering through Node among its platforms, with no enterprise condition. Setup is an npm package and a license key. A native Linux Renderer adds GPU-accelerated processing for heavier jobs. Each platform is licensed separately, so server use can be its own line on your quote, and on plans that meter exports, server exports count the same way as client exports.
Polotno renders through the optional Cloud Render API, on your own servers under Node, or in the browser, all from the same JSON. The quickest route is Cloud Render: you send the JSON and get the file back in seconds, with no servers to run. Every license also includes self-hosted editing and rendering, unlimited under fair use, with no per-render fee.
5. Feature depth
CE.SDK goes further on video, AI, and file interchange.
- Video. CE.SDK has a multi-track timeline, keyframes, motion paths, voiceover recording, and server-side video. Polotno has a timeline with trim, split, audio tracks, and animation, and stops short of a full non-linear video suite.
- AI. CE.SDK's plugins cover image and video generation, background removal, style transfer, and text-to-speech, and you can point them at your own endpoints. Polotno offers background removal and AI text, plus the editor side of Expand, Generative fill, and Upscale, which run on the AI provider you connect.
- Import. CE.SDK converts PSD, IDML, PPTX, PDF, and Illustrator files into editable designs, in the browser and on Node. Polotno imports PDF, SVG, PPTX, PSD in beta, Figma frames through SVG, and Illustrator files through the PDF path.
Print is close. CE.SDK offers CMYK, spot colors, bleed, cut-out lines, and PDF/X export. Polotno offers CMYK, bleed, crop marks, PDF/X-1a and PDF/X-4, spot colors, overprint, and a preflight tool, and has no imposition or cut lines.
6. Licensing and data
Both vendors quote, so compare two quotes for your usage. IMG.LY prices on the platforms, components, and AI features you license, on monthly or yearly subscriptions, and some plans meter exports.
Neither vendor receives your users' content by default. CE.SDK processes content on the device or your server, and sends license validation and export counts to IMG.LY. 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.
Polotno SDK and IMG.LY compared
| Polotno SDK | IMG.LY CE.SDK | |
|---|---|---|
| Web editor | React components you compose | Configurable editor, plugins, or your own UI on the engine |
| Native mobile | WebView, with guides for iOS, Android, React Native, and Flutter | Native SDKs for iOS, Android, Flutter, and React Native |
| Desktop | Electron | Electron, Mac Catalyst, macOS |
| Design format | Documented JSON you can write yourself | Scene file the engine writes, driven through its API |
| Designs from code | Yes, by writing JSON | Yes, through the engine API |
| Template variables | Your code sets values in the JSON | Placeholders and text variables in the scene |
| Server rendering | Node on your servers, plus optional Cloud Render API | Node package and native Linux Renderer |
| Video | Timeline with trim, split, audio tracks, and animation | Multi-track timeline, keyframes, motion paths, server-side video |
| CMYK, bleed, crop marks, PDF/X-1a and PDF/X-4, spot colors, overprint | CMYK, spot colors, bleed, cut-out lines, PDF/X | |
| Design import | PDF, SVG, PPTX, PSD (beta) | PSD, IDML, PPTX, PDF, Illustrator |
| Export | PNG, JPEG, PDF, SVG, HTML, PPTX, GIF, MP4. Cloud Render: PNG, JPEG, PDF, PPTX, GIF, MP4 | PNG, JPEG, WebP, SVG, TGA, PDF, MP4, plus editable PSD and IDML |
| AI in the editor | Background removal, AI text, and Expand, Generative fill, and Upscale on the provider you connect | Plugins for image and video generation, background removal, style transfer, text-to-speech |
| Air-gapped use | Restricted networks when self-hosted | Enterprise license option |
| Pricing model | Fixed license fee by custom quote, Cloud Render billed per use | Quote on platforms, components, and AI features, with some plans metered |
| Trial | 30-day free trial, no credit card | 30-day free trial |
When IMG.LY is the right call
Choose IMG.LY when one engine across web, native mobile, desktop, and server matters more to you than owning the editor's UI code. A product with native iOS and Android clients, a print business that receives InDesign files, or a video tool with server-side rendering will get further with CE.SDK than with a WebView. Its docs name Shopify, HP, and Swiss Post among its customers.
Polotno is the better fit when you build for the web, your team writes React, and your designs need to be data your own code can write.
FAQ
Is IMG.LY priced by monthly active users?
Not as a general rule. Its pricing page bases pricing on the platforms, components, and AI features you license. Its docs add that some plans meter exports and that usage-based models can track monthly active users. IMG.LY publishes no MAU tiers, so ask which metric applies to your quote.
