Robolly is a hosted render service: your team designs templates in its visual editor, and your systems generate images, PDFs, and short videos through a link, an API, or no-code tools. Polotno SDK is a design editor SDK you ship in your own bundle, so your users design inside your product, and rendering can run on your servers. One question decides it: does anyone outside your team need to edit a design, beyond filling in fields?
Pick the one that matches what you're building
Pick Robolly if…
- You want a render to be a link: a plain URL returns the image, so it works in an email or a spreadsheet cell, with signed links and caching.
- Your data lives in spreadsheets: the Google Sheets add-on and CSV Datasets generate images in bulk with no code.
- Teammates or clients fill in fields: Render Forms share a template by link, and you keep control of the design.
- You want templates that adapt to your data: Smart Cover centers the key object in an image, such as a face, and conditional styling restyles the words you mark in your data.
Pick Polotno SDK if…
- Your users need to design or edit inside your app: Polotno is a full editor in your own UI. We found no embeddable editor in Robolly's docs.
- You need editing and rendering on your side: every Polotno license includes self-hosted editing and rendering. Robolly renders on its cloud.
- You want your designs as files: designs are documented JSON you store in your own database.
- You want self-hosted rendering with no per-render fee: Robolly meters renders in credits. Polotno charges a fixed license fee by custom quote, so compare the two models at your volume.
How Robolly and Polotno differ
Both products turn templates and data into finished graphics. They differ in who gets to edit the design and where the work runs.
1. End-user editing
We found no embeddable editor in Robolly's docs, and its editor serves the people who author templates in Robolly. The closest feature is Render Forms: you share a link, and anyone with it can fill in the fields you made visible and render from your templates. White-label forms are included for enterprise customers and available on request for high-volume business accounts.
Polotno is a full canvas editor, white-label and composed into your UI, with your templates. You control what users can change through per-element locks and admin, user, and viewer roles.
A form covers structured personalization. If your roadmap says "let users customize it" and that goes beyond fields, you need an editor.
2. Templates and data ownership
Robolly templates live in its cloud, in its own format. The API reference documents no export to a portable format, though its MCP server can read and update a template's editable design.
Polotno designs are JSON documents you store yourself. The same file drives the editor, the API, and the renderer, and it stays with you when you change rendering modes or infrastructure.
3. Rendering and scale
Robolly renders on its cloud. A render link returns the file synchronously, so you can drop one into an email template or a spreadsheet cell, and Robolly adds smart caching. Output covers JPG, PNG, WebP, and multi-page PDF, with MP4 and WebM video through add-ons.
Polotno SDK renders in three places: through the Cloud Render API, on your own servers, or in the browser. The quickest route is Cloud Render: you send the JSON and get the file back in seconds, with no servers to run. Self-hosting stays an option when your data has to stay on your side, and its throughput depends on the servers you run.
4. Pricing model
Robolly sells monthly plans metered by render credits, with higher credit ceilings on its business plans and video as an add-on.
Robolly and Polotno side by side
| Polotno SDK | Robolly | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Design editor SDK you ship in your bundle | Hosted render service with a template editor |
| Editor for your users | Full editor in your own UI | None found, Render Forms by link |
| Render by plain link | You build it | Yes, with signed links and caching |
| Spreadsheet generation | You build it | Google Sheets add-on and CSV Datasets |
| No-code integrations | None: you call the API from your code | Zapier, Make, n8n, Airtable, Pabbly, Albato |
| Design format | Open JSON, stored on your side | Its own format, in Robolly's cloud |
| Self-hosting | Editing and rendering, with every license, unlimited under fair use | None found |
| Rendering | Cloud Render API, your servers, or the browser | Robolly's cloud |
| Design data | Reaches Polotno servers only with Cloud Render or AI features | Stored and rendered on Robolly's cloud |
| Output | PNG, JPEG, PDF, PPTX, GIF, MP4, plus SVG and HTML outside Cloud Render | JPG, PNG, WebP, multi-page PDF, MP4 and WebM through add-ons |
| Pricing model | Fixed license fee by custom quote, no per-render fee when self-hosted, Cloud Render billed per use | Monthly plans with render credits |
| Evaluation | 30-day free trial, no credit card | 7-day free trial, no credit card |
When Robolly is the right call
Robolly is a strong pick for automated graphics with minimal setup. The render link is a clever model: you can put a personalized image in an email with no backend at all. Add the Google Sheets add-on and Render Forms, and a marketing team can run without engineers. If nobody outside your team edits a design, it may be all you need.
Polotno SDK fits when creative production is part of your product: end users editing designs under your brand, design data on your infrastructure, and one schema powering the editor, the automation, and the render pipeline. Polotno has been in market since 2020, with 300+ businesses in production, including Amazon and BMW. You can test it with the 30-day free trial, no credit card needed.
FAQ
Can I migrate Robolly templates to Polotno?
There is no automatic transfer. For a small library, rebuilding in Polotno is usually faster than writing a converter.
