Polotno Studio vs Canva: which should you use?
Both have free plans. Polotno Studio is a no-signup browser editor with a built-in automation API (Free is 100 credits a month; Starter is $19/month). Canva has far more templates and brand tooling, and Bulk Create needs Pro or Teams. If your designers already work in Canva and you need images or PDFs at scale, import the Canva link into Layerre rather than rebuilding it in Polotno.
Polotno Studio and Canva overlap on basic design, but they are built for different jobs. Details below come from each vendor's public pages as of November 2026.
| Polotno Studio | Canva | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes, editor works with no sign-up; 100 credits/month on a free account | Yes, with limited templates and assets |
| Paid | Starter $19/mo (12,000 credits), Growth $49/mo, $149/mo tier | Pro and Teams |
| Editing | Browser canvas, local and private by default | Hosted editor with a very large template and asset library |
| Exports | PNG, JPG, PDF, SVG, GIF, MP4, PPTX; CMYK and bleed | PNG, JPG, PDF and more; transparent PNG, SVG on Pro |
| Automation | Built-in automation API, metered in credits | Bulk Create (Pro/Teams, manual, ~100 rows) and the Connect API Autofill |
| Premium content | Stock assets and uploads | Pro elements are watermarked on Free until licensed |
Pick Polotno Studio when you want a lightweight editor that opens instantly without an account, or you want template rendering through one vendor's API. The separate Polotno SDK is for embedding a canvas editor inside your own product.
Pick Canva when designers need the template library, brand kits, collaboration, and the editor your team already knows.
Where Layerre fits. Layerre is not an editor. If the design already lives in Canva, paste the share link, map text and image layers, and generate images and PDFs from the API, a Google Sheet, Zapier, Make, or n8n. Free is 50 credits and Starter is $15 a month for 500. You avoid rebuilding templates in a second editor.
Automate your Canva designs with no code required
Import Canva templates and connect to Zapier, Make, or n8n to generate design variants automatically. Free to start.
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