Templated is a hosted automation API with a drag-and-drop editor you can white-label and embed in your app. It renders images, video, and PDFs on its cloud and stores your templates. Polotno SDK is a design editor SDK you ship in your own bundle, with open JSON and rendering that can run on your servers. One question decides it: is a hosted editor in an embed enough, or does the editor need to live in your own code and on your side?
Pick the one that matches what you're building
Pick Templated if…
- You want a white-label editor with rendering already hosted: you embed the editor, call the API, and Templated runs the editor, rendering, and storage.
- You want automation with little code: the REST API, Zapier, Make, n8n, and CSV or Google Sheet uploads cover it.
- Your designs start in Canva: Templated imports Canva designs, and its AI Template Generator builds templates from a prompt.
- AI agents run your pipeline: its MCP server lets Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor render and edit, scoped to each customer's templates.
Pick Polotno SDK if…
- The editor has to work like the rest of your product: you compose it from React components, replace panels, and add your own controls. Templated says its embed gives you no low-level code access.
- You need editing and rendering on your side: every Polotno license includes self-hosted editing and rendering. Templated describes itself as cloud-based.
- You want your designs as JSON in your own database: the same documented file drives the editor, batch jobs, and rendering.
- You need SVG, HTML, PPTX, or print output: Templated lists JPG, PNG, WebP, PDF, and MP4. Polotno also exports SVG, HTML, and PPTX, with CMYK, bleed, and PDF/X for print.
How Templated and Polotno differ
Both products put an editor in front of your users and generate media from templates. They differ in where that editor lives and how much of the stack you run.
1. Hosted embed or SDK in your bundle
Templated's Embedded Editor is its hosted editor, placed in your page with an embed tag or iframe. It loads from Templated, and your users create, edit, and customize templates without leaving your platform. Production use needs the Scale plan or above. Templated runs the editor, rendering, and storage, so you have little to build and nothing to host.
Polotno SDK is a package you install and ship in your own bundle, and the editor mounts as components in your app.
Templated gets you to a working editor sooner. Polotno asks for more integration work, and it gives you code-level control of the result.
2. How far you can change the editor
Templated configures the embed through URL parameters: permissions for saving, downloading, and resizing, layer controls for moving, selecting, and editing text, and switches that hide panels. You add your colors and logo, remove Templated's branding, and receive webhooks. Templated's comparison page says you don't get low-level code access.
Polotno ships React components you lay out inside your own UI. You can replace side panels, add controls, and connect your own asset libraries. For governance, you get per-element locks on moving, resizing, deleting, content, and style, admin, user, and viewer roles, a font allowlist, and a brand kit panel. You write the validation rules and approval workflow. Customizing the editor needs React.
If parameters and branding cover your product, Templated is less work. If you need your own panels and logic in the editor, you need the components.
3. Who keeps the templates
Templated stores templates on its platform. You can create them from JSON layers through its API, which suits scripts and agents. We found no documented template export.
Polotno designs are JSON files in your own database. Your code creates or changes the JSON from CRM data, user input, or an LLM, and the same file drives the editor, batch pipelines, and rendering.
4. Where rendering runs
Templated renders on its cloud, so each render passes through its servers. Bring Your Own Storage delivers renders to your S3 or R2 bucket on the Scale plan and up. Its FAQ says Polotno's self-hosted approach might be necessary if you need complete control over data and infrastructure. It also mentions enterprise options for specific compliance needs, so ask what those cover if compliance is your reason to look.
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 those servers are yours to operate.
5. Pricing model
Templated sells monthly plans with render credits, and plans also cap templates and team members. Request a Polotno quote to compare the two models at your volume.
Templated and Polotno side by side
| Polotno SDK | Templated | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Design editor SDK you ship in your bundle | Hosted automation API with an embeddable editor |
| Editor in your app | React components in your bundle | Hosted embed, white-label, Scale plan and up |
| Customization | Replace panels, add controls, theme | URL parameters for permissions, layers, and UI, plus branding |
| Time to a working editor | Integration work in your codebase | An embed tag and a dashboard configuration |
| Templates | JSON files you store | On Templated's platform, created by editor or JSON API |
| Self-hosting | Editing and rendering, with every license, unlimited under fair use | None found, ask about its enterprise options |
| Rendering | Cloud Render API, your servers, or the browser | Templated's cloud, delivery to your bucket on Scale and up |
| Design data | Reaches Polotno servers only with Cloud Render or AI features | Stored and rendered on Templated's cloud |
| Output | PNG, JPEG, PDF, PPTX, GIF, MP4, plus SVG and HTML outside Cloud Render | JPG, PNG, WebP, PDF, MP4 |
| No-code integrations | None: you call the API from your code | Zapier, Make, n8n |
| Canva import | Export a PDF and import it as editable layers | Direct import |
| AI template generation | Your own LLM writes the design JSON | AI Template Generator, built in |
| AI agents | Skills and a docs MCP server for coding agents | MCP server that renders and edits |
| 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 | Free credits, no credit card |
When Templated is the right call
Templated fits teams that want an editor in their product with the least work, and rendering and storage already running. You embed the editor, wire a webhook, and call the API. Canva import, AI template generation, and MCP tools cover jobs an SDK leaves to you, and you operate no render servers. If nobody edits anything, you can skip the embed and use the API alone.
Polotno SDK fits when the editor is part of your product's code, when design data has to stay on your infrastructure, or when you want 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 Templated templates to Polotno?
There is no automatic transfer. You'd map text layers to text elements and image layers to image elements. For a small library, rebuilding in Polotno is usually faster than writing a converter.
