Head to head · Design templates · October 2026 research run
Adobe Photoshop API vs Placid API + MCP
Adobe Photoshop API has a score of 44.1 (E) against Placid API + MCP's 43.2 (E). Both do design templates. The largest gap is schema & documentation, 36 points.
Adobe Photoshop APIAdobe · HTTP API
E44.1/100#405 of 452
Placid API + MCPPlacid · HTTP API
E43.2/100#409 of 452
Which one, for what
Pick Adobe Photoshop API for
- schema & documentation (+36)
- security & auth (+28)
- maintenance & community (+35)
Pick Placid API + MCP for
- reliability (+20)
- payments & pricing (+35)
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | Adobe Photoshop API | Placid API + MCP | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 55 | 75 | Placid API + MCP +20 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 70 | 34 | Adobe Photoshop API +36 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 36 | 40 | Placid API + MCP +4 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 62 | 34 | Adobe Photoshop API +28 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 0 | 35 | Placid API + MCP +35 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 42 | 7 | Adobe Photoshop API +35 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 61 | 60 | Adobe Photoshop API +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -4 | 0 | |
| Total | 44.1 · E | 43.2 · E |
Facts side by side
| Fact | Adobe Photoshop API | Placid API + MCP |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Adobe | Placid |
| Hosted endpoint | https://photoshop-api.adobe.io | https://api.placid.app/api/rest |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth | API key |
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | none |
| Tools exposed | none | none |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-08 | none |
| Popularity | 498 npm/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 1.5/5 (2) | 3.5/5 (2) |
Verdicts
Adobe Photoshop API
Edits real PSDs, including text layers, smart objects, layer effects, groups and artboards. Enterprise contract only. No self-serve sign-up, free tier or public price.
Placid API + MCP
Hyperping status page with separate App and API components and 90-day history. No OpenAPI, no llms.txt, and the MCP tool list isn't published.
Before you call either
Adobe Photoshop API
- Call v2 paths on photoshop-api.adobe.io. Remove background and its status live on image.adobe.io
- Skip @adobe/photoshop-apis and the getting-started curl, which still target v1 /pie/psdService paths
- Poll /v2/status/{jobId} or subscribe to I/O Events, since every call returns a job
- Retry only 5xx and 429, using retry-after and at most three attempts
- Cache the IMS token and refresh it before 24 hours run out
Placid API + MCP
- Send the token in the
Authorizationheader, not as ?api_token=, wherever the client allows it - Read X-RateLimit-Remaining and wait for X-RateLimit-Reset after a 429
- Use test mode for watermarked previews while matching layer names, then switch to live renders
- Leave create_now off for batches, since it caps at 10 at once and may fail under load
- Poll the returned polling_url or pass webhook_success, since images start as queued
Other comparisons with Adobe Photoshop API or Placid API + MCP
Machine-readable
/api/v1/tools/adobe-photoshop-api.json·/api/v1/tools/placid.json- This page as Markdown,
/compare/adobe-photoshop-api-vs-placid.md