# Abyssale vs Robolly

> Abyssale scores 65.6 (B) to Robolly's 48.4 (D) for design rendering. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-robolly
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-robolly.md (~4,600 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-07

Abyssale scores 65.6 (B) on agent readiness against Robolly's 48.4 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Robolly leads on reliability. Both do design rendering.

- Abyssale: grade B, 65.6/100, rank #413 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/abyssale.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/abyssale.json
- Robolly: grade D, 48.4/100, rank #1127 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/robolly.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/robolly.json
- Best programmatic image and design asset APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/design-assets/index.md
- All 153 assets comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/design-assets/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Abyssale (B)

Good for: Multi-format ad creative, video, HTML5 banners and print PDFs from one design, for marketing teams and agencies with an agent in the loop.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 98 against 57
- Agent ergonomics, 85 against 75
- Security & auth, 55 against 47
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 5
- Transparency & trust, 71 against 49

Watch for: API and MCP need the Pro plan at $45 a seat a month

### Robolly (D)

Good for: Template-driven images, PDFs and short videos for marketers and developers who want a hosted editor and simple synchronous calls.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 48 against 41

Watch for: No OpenAPI or other machine-readable contract found


## Why the edge

### Maintenance & community: Abyssale +80

- Abyssale (85): API version v2026-10-29, eight days before this check (30). Fifteen dated API versions between 21 August and 29 October, MCP server releases 1.0.0 (1 September) to 1.2.0 (7 October), and SDK releases in October (20). Closed service with a changelog and RSS feed, help@abyssale.com and in-app chat, which we didn't test (12 of 15). com.abyssale/mcp is in the official MCP registry under a domain-verified namespace, and the Node.js (1.9.0) and Python (1.7.0) SDKs were both released on 21 October 2026 (15). Both SDKs are current; their repositories weren't read (8 of 10). 30 + 20 + 12 + 15 + 8 = 85.
- Robolly (5): No changelog, release notes or dated API change was found. The sitemap marks every docs page as modified on 4 November 2026, which reads as a site rebuild rather than a change, so it isn't counted (0). No dated changes since 8 August (0). Support by email, with chat on higher plans; not tested (5 of 15). Not in the official MCP registry and no SDKs (0). No public package or repository (0). 0 + 0 + 5 + 0 + 0 = 5.

### Schema & documentation: Abyssale +41

- Abyssale (98): A 424 KB OpenAPI file at developers.abyssale.com/api.yaml with 34 operations, from which the reference pages are generated (25). A detailed llms.txt that states the base URL, auth, rate limits, error envelope and webhook signing up front (10). Pages say what each endpoint is for and when to use another, such as synchronous versus asynchronous generation and designs versus workspace templates, and the MCP permissions page says what each tool can break (19 of 20). Typed parameters with enums, ranges and required fields across layers and formats (14 of 15). One error envelope everywhere, an error catalogue with machine-readable ids and what to do for each, and worked examples (15). Date-based versions named in every response and a dated changelog in Keep a Changelog form with a Breaking section first; the MCP server has its own semver changelog (15). 25 + 10 + 19 + 14 + 15 + 15 = 98.
- Robolly (57): No OpenAPI or other machine-readable contract found for the REST API, and the MCP server is closed. The MCP page lists all nine tools and `get_template_modifications` returns each template's keys, constraints and examples at run time (8 of 25, on that partial evidence). llms.txt indexes the docs (10). The MCP page says what each tool does, which tools change templates or spend credits, and that there is no delete tool (14 of 20). Modification keys follow `{element-name}.{modification-key}` with constraints from the template rather than a fixed schema (7 of 15). Request examples throughout and an error code table with eight codes (13 of 15). /v1 paths with no changelog (5 of 15). 8 + 10 + 14 + 7 + 13 + 5 = 57.

### Transparency & trust: Abyssale +22

- Abyssale (71): Closed service under terms of service version 3 of 21 July 2026, from a Paris SAS with its register number (15). The privacy policy and terms agree on EU hosting on AWS Ireland, deletion timelines and breach notice within 72 hours, but AI model training on anonymised customer content is on by default with a workspace opt-out, and anonymised data may be kept indefinitely (20 of 30). The changelog has Deprecated and Removed sections and refers to a deprecation policy that covers stable endpoints but not alpha ones; the policy's notice period wasn't found (14 of 20). Subprocessors named with locations, among them AWS Ireland, Auth0, Brevo, Intercom and AI providers including OpenAI, Anthropic, Black Forest Labs and Google, some outside the EEA (20). 15 + 20 + 14 + 20 = 69.
- Robolly (49): Closed service under terms effective 8 April 2026 from Avantis Innovations LLC in Wyoming. The terms can change without notice (15). The privacy policy of the same date covers Google sign-in and Sheets data, says spreadsheet rows aren't kept beyond a render and account data is deleted with the account, and otherwise names no periods (10 of 30). No deprecation policy or notices (0). Hosting is described only as third-party vendors, with no processors or locations named, while the footer says Made in EU (2 of 20). 15 + 10 + 0 + 2 = 27.

### Agent ergonomics: Abyssale +10

- Abyssale (85): 20 MCP tools (15 for 11 to 30), plus 5 because OAuth scopes per tool group let a client be approved for reads only (20 of 25). Design listings search by words in any order, filter by project, orientation, size, format and dates, sort and order, and say honestly when a page is past the end; listing tools refuse unsupported options rather than ignore them, per MCP 1.2.0 (19 of 20). One envelope with an `id` to branch on, and error docs that say which errors a retry never fixes (19 of 20). The permissions page marks each tool read-only, mutating or destructive, but MCP annotations couldn't be confirmed on the closed server, and generation has no idempotency key (12 of 20). Official Node.js and Python SDKs with retry behaviour and polling helpers (15). 20 + 19 + 19 + 12 + 15 = 85.
- Robolly (75): Nine MCP tools (25). The renders list pages with a cursor, and templates are found by name (14 of 20). Errors carry `errorCode` and `developerMessage` with eight documented codes (17 of 20). Identical renders are cached for 45 days, so repeats are free and safe, the MCP server has no delete tool, and annotations couldn't be read on the closed server (12 of 20). Renders return the file synchronously by default, but there's no SDK (7 of 15). 25 + 14 + 17 + 12 + 7 = 75.

### Security & auth: Abyssale +8

- Abyssale (55): The MCP server uses OAuth through Auth0 with scopes per tool group (`read:design`, `write:design`, `delete:design`, `import:design`, `generate:banner`, `read:credits` and others), enforced alongside the user's workspace role, and approval is per client connection. The REST API uses a workspace `x-api-key` with no scopes documented (28 of 30). A client can be approved for reads only, and deleting needs its own scope, but nothing on the server asks for confirmation; the docs leave that to the client per the MCP spec (17 of 20). Tools return the workspace's own designs and fonts; image layers can point at outside URLs (10 of 15). No audit log or per-call record was found (0). No security.txt, disclosure policy, bug bounty or certification found (0). 28 + 17 + 10 + 0 + 0 = 55.
- Robolly (47): Bearer API key, signed render links, and MCP OAuth with one `robolly:mcp` scope limited to the organisation the user approves. Connections are listed and revoked under Connected AI Tools, and the API key is never shared with an OAuth client. No key scopes or rotation documented (22 of 30). The MCP server can create and update templates but not delete them; there's no read-only mode (10 of 20). Tools return the user's templates and public gallery designs (10 of 15). A renders list and the connected-tools view give some visibility, with no audit log documented (5 of 15). No security.txt (the path returns the site's HTML shell), disclosure policy, bug bounty or certification (0). 22 + 10 + 10 + 5 + 0 = 47.

### Reliability: Robolly +7

- Abyssale (41): Hosted lines, for the REST API and the remote MCP server. No status page was linked from the site or the docs, and status.abyssale.com did not answer (0). No readable incident history (5). Rate limits published in full, 10 requests a second globally and per-workspace tiers with per-minute and per-hour budgets (15). 429s carry Retry-After and X-RateLimit headers, three 429 ids say which limit was hit, failed generations cost nothing, and webhooks carry a delivery id to deduplicate on. No idempotency key on generation requests (13 of 15). The terms promise best-effort availability and leave SLAs to Enterprise contracts, so none is published (0). Generation and the MCP server are generally available, while Design Import, the JSON authoring route, is labelled alpha (8 of 10). 0 + 5 + 15 + 13 + 0 + 8 = 41.
- Robolly (48): Hosted lines. The footer links an UptimeRobot status page, but it loads its figures from /api/, which stats.uptimerobot.com's robots.txt disallows, so the page showed no monitors or history (10 of 20 for a page that exists) and no history was read (5). A hard limit of 3 renders a second is published (15). The `rate-limit` error code and advice to send renders one at a time, and identical renders are cached for 45 days at no cost, which makes a retry safe; there's no Retry-After or backoff interval (8 of 15). No SLA found (0). The API isn't labelled beta (10). 10 + 5 + 15 + 8 + 0 + 10 = 48.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Abyssale | Robolly | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 41 | 48 | Robolly +7 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 98 | 57 | Abyssale +41 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 75 | Abyssale +10 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 55 | 47 | Abyssale +8 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 35 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 85 | 5 | Abyssale +80 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 71 | 49 | Abyssale +22 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **65.6 · B** | **48.4 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Abyssale | Robolly |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Abyssale SAS | Avantis Innovations LLC (Robolly) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.abyssale.com` | `https://api.robolly.com/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Closed service under the Abyssale terms of service (version 3, 21 July 2026) | Closed service under the Robolly terms of use (effective 8 April 2026) |
| Tools exposed | 20 | 9 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | `com.abyssale/mcp` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-10-29 | none |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2026-04-08 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-04-08 |
| Customer content may train models | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |

## Verdicts

**Abyssale.** Abyssale publishes a full OpenAPI file, dated versions, tiered rate limits with Retry-After, one error envelope and per-tool OAuth scopes on its MCP server. API access starts at $45 a seat a month after a 14-day trial, and no status page or published SLA was found.

**Robolly.** Robolly's nine MCP tools, synchronous renders, typed error codes and free cached re-renders keep template rendering cheap and predictable for an agent, and OAuth connections can be revoked per client. There is no OpenAPI file, changelog or dated release, and API access starts at $39 a month after a 7-day trial.

## Before you call either

### Abyssale

1. Branch on the error `id`, never the message; `request_rate_limited` means wait Retry-After seconds
2. Multiply credits by formats before a batch, since 200 products in 6 formats cost 1,200 credits
3. Ask the MCP user to approve only `read:design` unless the task must generate or change designs
4. Use asynchronous generation for several formats and deduplicate webhooks on `X-Abyssale-Delivery-Id`
5. Check `GET /credits` first; it costs nothing and shows both balances

### Robolly

1. Call `get_template_modifications` before `render` to learn the keys a template accepts
2. Send renders one at a time; the API refuses more than 3 a second with `rate-limit`
3. Repeat an identical render freely; it is cached for 45 days and costs nothing
4. Poll `get_render` after `render_video`, since video renders are queued
5. Stop on `render-limit-exhausted` and tell the user the monthly credits are spent

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Abyssale or Robolly?

Abyssale scores 65.6 (B) on agent readiness against Robolly's 48.4 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Robolly leads on reliability.

### Do Abyssale and Robolly need an API key?

Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Abyssale and Robolly without installing anything?

Yes. Abyssale has a hosted endpoint at https://api.abyssale.com and Robolly at https://api.robolly.com/v1.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-robolly.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-robolly.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "abyssale", "b": "robolly"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare abyssale robolly`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/abyssale.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/robolly.json

## Other comparisons with Abyssale or Robolly

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- [Robolly vs Templated API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/robolly-vs-templated.md)
- [Abyssale vs Adobe Photoshop API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-adobe-photoshop-api.md)
- [Abyssale vs APITemplate.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-apitemplate-io.md)
- [Abyssale vs Bannerbear API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-bannerbear.md)
- [Abyssale vs Canva REST APIs + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-canva.md)
- [Abyssale vs Contentdrips API and MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-contentdrips.md)
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- [Abyssale vs DynaPictures](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-dynapictures.md)
- [Abyssale vs Layerre](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-layerre.md)
- [Abyssale vs Osmo CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-osmo-cli.md)
- [Abyssale vs Pictify](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-pictify.md)
- [Abyssale vs Pixelixe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-pixelixe.md)
- [Abyssale vs Placid API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-placid.md)
- [Abyssale vs PostNitro](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-postnitro.md)
- [Abyssale vs Shotstack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-shotstack.md)
- [Abyssale vs Templated API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-templated.md)
- [Osmo CLI vs Robolly](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/osmo-cli-vs-robolly.md)
- [Pictify vs Robolly](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pictify-vs-robolly.md)
- [Abyssale vs Photoroom API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-photoroom.md)

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Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp