Polotno SDK and Robolly both turn templates plus data into finished graphics, and they part ways immediately after that sentence. Robolly is a hosted render service: your team designs templates in Robolly's cloud editor, and your systems generate images, PDFs, and short videos through a URL-based API. Polotno SDK is creative infrastructure you embed: an editor your end users work in, a programmatic API, and rendering that runs on your infrastructure, all driven by one open JSON schema.
What each product actually is
Robolly's pitch is "design once, render millions." Templates are built in Robolly's hosted editor; every element is addressable by name, so a render is literally a URL, /templates/{id}/render.png?title.text=Hello. Zapier, Make, Airtable, and Google Sheets integrations make it usable with no code at all. Output covers JPG, PNG, WEBP, multi-page PDF, and MP4 video as a paid add-on.
Polotno ships the layer underneath that workflow. The editor is embeddable in your product for your end users, the design format is documented JSON in your database, and rendering runs client-side, on your servers via polotno-node, or through the optional Cloud Render API.
In practical terms: Robolly is a service your automations call; Polotno is infrastructure your product is built on.
End-user editing
If your users need to create or edit designs, not just receive generated ones, Robolly doesn't have that surface. Its editor is for template authors on Robolly's domain. The closest feature is white-label render forms: hosted forms where someone fills in data fields that feed a render. Useful for structured personalization; not a design editor.
This is Polotno's core: a full canvas editor, white-label, composed into your UI, with your templates and governance. If the product roadmap contains "let users customize it" anywhere, this line decides the comparison.
Templates and data ownership
Robolly templates live in Robolly's cloud, in Robolly's format, authored only in Robolly's editor. That's fine while the arrangement lasts; there is no documented export to a portable format.
Polotno designs are JSON documents you store yourself. The same file drives the editor, the API, and the renderer, and it migrates with you, between rendering modes, infrastructure, or product surfaces.
Rendering and scale
Robolly renders exclusively on its cloud, metered in render credits. The URL-based model is genuinely convenient, a render link works in an email template or a spreadsheet cell, and responses are synchronous with caching.
Polotno renders wherever you point it: in the browser for instant previews, on your servers for batch pipelines, or through the Cloud Render API when you'd rather not run infrastructure. Throughput is a scaling decision you own rather than a credit balance you top up.
Pricing model
Robolly starts at $39/mo (Individual, up to 1,000 render credits) and $129/mo (Business, adjustable to 1M credits), with video as an add-on. Costs track render volume.
Polotno SDK is a flat commercial license (from $249/mo, Enterprise by custom quote, 60-day free trial) with no per-render metering when you self-host.
For a marketing team generating a few thousand social variants a month with no end-user editing, Robolly's math is hard to beat. For a product embedding design creation, the flat license plus your own rendering wins as volume and features grow.
Summary
| Polotno SDK | Robolly | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Embeddable SDK: editor, API, renderer | Hosted render API + template editor |
| End-user editor | Yes, white-label, in your app | No, render forms only |
| Design format | Open JSON, stored on your side | Proprietary, in Robolly's cloud |
| Rendering | Client, self-hosted, or optional cloud | Robolly's cloud, credit-metered |
| Automation | Programmatic API against open schema | URL-based render links, no-code tools |
| Pricing | Flat license from $249/mo | From $39/mo, credit tiers |
Conclusion
Robolly is a well-executed pick for automated graphic generation with minimal setup. The URL-render model and no-code integrations are genuinely clever, and the entry price is low. If nobody outside your team ever touches 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. Six years in, with 300+ businesses from startups to Amazon and BMW in production, that's the job it's built for.
