Polotno vs IMG.LY vs Templated: Which White-Label Image Editor Fits Your Product?

If your website or app requires a design editor for users, embedding an existing solution is often the most effective approach. While building one from scratch may sound tempting, the reality is that using a white-label editor can save you countless hours and the ongoing headache of maintaining complex functionality.

In this article, we’ll compare two of the most popular embeddable editors available today: Polotno and IMG.LY. Both are powerful, feature-rich, and widely adopted by developers and product teams.

Further, I’ll also introduce you to a third option you might not have heard of yet one that takes a completely different approach to embedding. And at the end, you’ll find a full feature comparison table to help you choose the best white-label editor for your specific needs.

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Polotno Overview

Polotno is a developer-friendly SDK that provides a ready-made image editor you can embed into web applications. It’s essentially a toolkit for creating a “Canva-like” experience inside your product

Polotno offers a multi-layer canvas editor with familiar design functions, users can add and manipulate text, shapes, images, and even videos on a drag-and-drop canvas

Core editing features include resizing, rotation, cropping, aligning, grouping layers, undo/redo, and more.

The editor is fast, easy to use, and good for testing before applying it to your websites.

Integration

From a developer’s perspective, Polotno is provided as a JavaScript/TypeScript SDK that you integrate into your codebase. It isn’t a single-line embed; instead, you install the library and initialize the editor in your app.

Its official docs include integration guides for React, Next.js, Vue, Angular, and plain JavaScript setups, reflecting its flexibility. This means you’ll need some coding skills to get it running inside your product (wiring up authentication, storage, etc.), but you gain control to customize or extend it as needed.

In fact, the documentation is quite extensible; developers can hook into events or even add custom panels/features because the editor’s components are modular. For example, you can connect Polotno to your own storage or use its APIs to sync designs to your backend.

Feature highlights

Polotno covers nearly the full spectrum of features you’d expect in a design editor:

• Canvas & layout: Multi-page support, layers panel, snap-to-grid, zoom/pan, and even print bleed settings for accuracy.

• Image tools: Image uploads, cropping/resizing, rotation/flip, masking, and one-click background removal (via an AI cloud API). (Background removal uses Polotno’s cloud service at $0.03 per removal).

• Text & fonts: Rich text editing, font selection (you can load custom fonts), text curving, alignment, spacing, and styling options.

• Shapes & graphics: Libraries of basic shapes, lines, icons, and even integration with Unsplash for free stock photos. (Polotno lets users search a stock image library via Unsplash API, but you would handle API keys/quotas for that.)

• Export options: Users can download designs as PNG or JPG images, and Polotno also supports PDF and SVG export (with CMYK color and bleed, useful for print-quality output)

In terms of white-labeling, its editor UI is skinnable. You can customize the interface to match your app’s branding (e.g., colors, logos) and choose which tools or features to enable.

However, since Polotno is an SDK, this typically involves configuring options or modifying components in code rather than a point-and-click settings panel. There’s no Polotno branding shown in the editor when you license it; it’s meant to be a hidden engine inside your own product.

Polotno Pricing Overview

• Team Plan – $199/month

• For teams with under 10 employees

• Up to 10,000 editor loads/month

• Tiered support access

• Business Plan – $399/month

• For teams with under 50 employees

• Unlimited editor loads

• Higher priority support

• Enterprise Plan – Custom pricing

• For larger teams and companies

• May include source code access, custom SLAs, and white-glove support

Ideal Use Case

Polotno is ideally suited for teams that need a robust, web-based design editor and have moderate development resources to integrate it. It’s a great fit for SaaS apps that offer graphic creation, including marketing tools, content generators, and web-to-print platforms, as well as AI startups looking to embed design workflows into their products.

IMG.LY Overview

IMG.LY provides the CreativeEditor SDK, a fully customizable design editor that can be embedded into your web or mobile app. It’s a powerful solution built for teams that need full control over the editing experience — from interface layout to feature set and branding.

Unlike lightweight embed tools, CreativeEditor SDK is designed for flexibility. You can build rich, multi-layer image editors tailored to your product’s exact needs. The SDK powers image design flows in enterprise platforms, marketing tech, and content automation tools.

CreativeEditor SDK is white-label by default, and allows deep customization of every visual and functional component.

Integration

From an integration standpoint, IMG.LY is a true SDK. You install it via your tech stack (npm, CocoaPods, etc.) and embed it into your app manually. There’s no iframe or URL embed, instead, you directly manage how and where the editor appears.

Developers can choose to:

• Use IMG.LY’s default editor UI kit (for quick integration)

• Build a completely custom UI using their headless editing engine

The SDK is modular and offers integration paths for:

• Web

• iOS & Android

• React Native

• Electron/Desktop

You’ll need engineering bandwidth to configure UI states, load design templates, manage exports, and connect asset libraries. In return, you gain full control over the editing workflow and long-term product fit.

Feature Highlights

IMG.LY's CreativeEditor SDK includes a wide range of image design capabilities:

• Canvas & layout: Drag-and-drop multi-layer canvas with zoom, alignment, grid snapping, and layer management
• Image tools: Crop, rotate, resize, filter presets, brightness/contrast adjustments, and masking
• Text & fonts: Rich text editor with styling, curved/outlined text, font uploads, and responsive font sizing
• Templates: Load and render predefined templates for user customization
• Asset integration: Bring your own icon sets, images, and design assets, or connect external libraries
• Plugin support: Extend the SDK with your own tools and workflows (e.g., brand restrictions, custom exports)
• White-label UI: Customize colors, labels, icons, and themes — no IMG.LY branding appears in the final experience
• Localization: Translate the full UI to support global users, including RTL language support

IMG.LY Pricing Overview

1. Custom enterprise pricing

   Based on:

• Number of platforms (Web, iOS, Android, etc.)
• Features/modules required
• User volume or app scope
• On-prem vs cloud deployment

2. Free trial available

• 30-day evaluation license (request access via sales)

3. Support & onboarding

• Dedicated onboarding and technical support for paid customers
• Access to demos, docs, and SDK integration guides

Ideal Use Case

IMG.LY is best suited for teams that need a fully customizable white-label image editor across multiple platforms. It’s ideal for enterprise SaaS products, creative automation platforms, or any app that demands fine-grained control over the user interface, design features, and editing logic. Teams with strong engineering resources will benefit most from its deep extensibility and SDK-first approach.

Templated White Label Image Editor

Templated offers a simple yet powerful way to embed a white-label image editor directly into your website or app, without using a traditional SDK. Instead of installing packages or writing complex code, you can integrate Templated’s editor by simply embedding a URL-based editor instance, making it one of the fastest tools to get up and running. The editor is fully hosted, responsive, and customizable. You can upload your brand assets, hide tools you don’t want users to see, and control the editor experience through the Templated dashboard, all without touching a codebase. Designed for speed, simplicity, and scale, Templated is perfect for startups, agencies, SaaS tools, and no-code platforms that want a Canva-like experience embedded inside their product. Video for editor here - https://youtu.be/NikDuvpmysA?si=ECLRTs5YPvwALsGw

Integration

Integration is where Templated stands out. There’s no SDK setup, no NPM installs, and no custom build process. You simply:

• Configure your editor in the Templated dashboard (branding, feature toggles, default templates)
• Copy the generated embed code
• Paste it into your app or website

The editor loads via an <iframe> tag pointing to your unique embed URL. You can drop it into:

• Any web-based frontend (React, Vue, plain HTML, etc.)
• No-code tools (e.g., Bubble, Webflow, Wix)
• Webviews inside desktop/mobile apps

Templated also supports webhooks, allowing you to trigger backend actions (e.g., save a design, send a notification) when a user completes a design. It’s simple to deploy and works out of the box, no developer required.

Feature Highlights

Templated offers a robust set of image editing features optimized for template-based design workflows:

• Canvas & layout: Multi-layer drag-and-drop editor, alignment, resizing, stacking/layering

• Image tools: Upload images or use built-in stock photos, crop/resize, masking, and placement

• Text & fonts: Rich text editor, support for Google Fonts and custom fonts, color, size, spacing, and curved text

• Template library: Comes with ready-to-use templates for common use cases (social posts, banners, flyers), and you can upload your own

• Design asset library: Includes searchable stock photos, icons, shapes, and backgrounds

• Export options: Users can download designs as high-resolution images or PDFs

• White-label branding: Replace logos, change colors, and fully rebrand the editor to match your product

• Permissions control: Toggle which tools users can access, limit export types, or lock specific fields

• Responsive UI: Editor adapts to container size; usable on web and embedded modals

• Security options: Domain whitelisting to restrict editor usage, dev mode for localhost testing

Templated Pricing Overview

Templated’s white-label editor is available as part of its standard subscription plans — no extra SDKs or rendering engines required. Pricing is based on the plan you choose, which unlocks the editor embed, branding tools, and template management:

1. Scale Plan – $99/month

• Full access to the embeddable editor
• Custom branding (logo, colors)
• Upload your own templates
• Enable/disable editor tools via dashboard
• Stock assets and fonts included
• Webhooks + domain restrictions

2. Enterprise Plan – $179/month

• Everything in Scale, plus:
• Upload custom fonts
• Priority support
• Higher usage thresholds (for heavier editor use)

3. Free trial available

• Editor can be tested in dev mode or production with limited usage
• No credit card required to try

Ideal Use Case

Templated is perfect for agencies, SaaS apps, internal tools, and no-code builders that want to embed a white-label image editor without the hassle of SDK integration. If your priority is to launch fast, avoid heavy engineering, and still offer users a beautiful, branded editing experience, Templated delivers. It’s the ideal solution for teams who want speed, simplicity, and scalability with zero technical overhead.

Here’s a full comparison of the feature list of all three products.

Conclusion

So which one should you choose between Polotno, IMG.LY, or Templated? Ultimately, it depends on your use case, team resources, and how much control or simplicity you need:

• If you're building a highly custom workflow with engineering resources in place, IMG.LY offers unmatched flexibility.

• If you want a powerful canvas editor with a lighter SDK footprint and a generous trial, Polotno is a great choice.

• If you're looking to launch fast with minimal setup and still want a polished, white-label editor experience, Templated offers a refreshingly simple approach.

Yes, Templated is newer than Polotno or IMG.LY, but we’ve intentionally built it to match the best parts of both, while removing the friction.

Where Templated Stands Out

• Instant embedding via URL — no SDKs, no dev delays

• Thoughtful defaults — you don’t need to configure a dozen things to get started

• Lightning-fast support — real humans on live chat to help you ship faster

If you're a founder, designer, or product owner, Templated gives you a production-ready image editor in minutes, not weeks.

Additional Resources

4 Best Polotno Alternatives To Test Out

5 Best Image Editors To Embed on Your Website