Head to head · Design templates · October 2026 research run
Layerre vs Robolly
Layerre scores 57.6 (C) on agent readiness against Robolly's 48.4 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Robolly leads on reliability, agent ergonomics and payments & pricing. Both do design templates.
Best programmatic image and design asset APIs for AI agents · All 153 assets comparisons
Which one, for what
Layerre C
Best for Bulk image and PDF variants from Canva designs a team already has.
Ahead on
- Schema & documentation, 87 against 57
- Maintenance & community, 78 against 5
- Transparency & trust, 63 against 49
Also in its favour
- Runs on your own machine
Watch for
Imports Canva designs only; there is no template editor of its own
Robolly D
Best 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 42
- Agent ergonomics, 75 against 69
- Payments & pricing, 35 against 25
Also in its favour
- Free to start without a card
Watch for
No OpenAPI or other machine-readable contract found
Why the edge
Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.
Maintenance & community Layerre +73
Layerre 78
@layerre/mcp-server 0.1.0 published to npm on 29 October 2026, 8 days before this check (30). MCP server commits from 19 to 24 October, the registry entry of 29 October, and What's New entries dated 21 August and 18 October in the sitemap (20). The repository is a week old with no issues to judge; support by email and in-app chat (5 of 25). com.layerre/layerre is in the official MCP registry under a domain-verified namespace (15). CI runs the vitest suite on push and pull requests to main on Node 22 (8 of 10). 30 + 20 + 5 + 15 + 8 = 78.
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 Layerre +30
Layerre 87
Public OpenAPI 3.1 at layerre.com/openapi.json with 16 operations, and zod schemas on all 13 MCP tools in the open-source server (25). llms.txt, auth.md and Markdown mirrors of the pricing, FAQ and integration pages (10). Every operation has a description, and tool descriptions note costs such as 'an expensive operation that may take 10-30 seconds', without saying when not to use a tool (15 of 20). Layer properties have minimums, maximums and enums such as text_align, and list calls cap limit at 1,000 (14 of 15). 88 examples in the spec, and 404, 422 and 429 responses documented on most operations (13 of 15). Versioned /v1 paths and dated What's New pages, read from the sitemap since the pages are drawn by script; the API itself is version 0.1.0 (10 of 15). 25 + 10 + 15 + 14 + 13 + 10 = 87.
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 Layerre +14
Layerre 63
The MCP server is MIT. The service is closed under terms of 13 August 2026 that name a sole proprietorship in Ontario (20 of 30). The privacy policy and DPA of the same date agree. Data is kept while the account is active and deleted from production on account deletion, with limited backups. Design files aren't used to train public AI models. Google Analytics runs on accepted cookies (24 of 30). No deprecation policy or notice period (0). Ten subprocessors listed with purpose and location in both documents, including Supabase, Stripe, Cloudflare, Google, Resend, Canva and Slack (20). 20 + 24 + 0 + 20 = 64.
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.
Payments & pricing Robolly +10
Layerre 25
No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Plan prices are public with render counts, and one import or one variant is one render, so the price a render follows from the plan (about $0.03 on Starter, $0.005 on Pro) without being published per unit (15 of 20). Free plan of 50 renders a month with API access; the pricing page doesn't say whether a card is needed (10 of 20, half as with an unstated card rule). A person signs up and creates the key, or approves OAuth in a browser (0). 0 + 15 + 10 + 0 = 25.
Robolly 35
No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Plan prices are public and a table gives the credit cost of each format and size (15 of 20). 7-day trial with no card (20). A person signs up, then copies the key or approves OAuth (0). 0 + 15 + 20 + 0 = 35.
Reliability Robolly +6
Layerre 42
Hosted lines, for the REST API and the hosted MCP server. No status page found on the site, in llms.txt or in the docs (0). No readable incident history (5). Rate limits published as 10 requests a second, a 20-request burst and 600 a minute per IP address (15). A 429 carries Retry-After and a retry_after field, and the docs give retry code samples. No idempotency key or safe-retry note for variant creation, which spends renders (12 of 15). No SLA found (0). Neither surface is labelled beta, though both are at version 0.1.0 (10). 0 + 5 + 15 + 12 + 0 + 10 = 42.
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.
Agent ergonomics Robolly +6
Layerre 69
13 MCP tools (15 for 11 to 30), with no toolsets or read-only subset (15). Template and variant lists take skip and limit, and templates filter by tag and q and can leave out layers (16 of 20). 422 validation bodies and a JSON 429 with retry_after (17 of 20). Every tool is annotated, read tools with readOnlyHint and idempotentHint, updates idempotent, no tool destructive, and the server has no delete tool. The REST API has no idempotency keys for variant creation (16 of 20). Few required fields, but no official SDK; a Postman collection and the MCP package only (5 of 15). 15 + 16 + 17 + 16 + 5 = 69.
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.
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | Layerre | Robolly | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 42 | 48 | Robolly +6 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 87 | 57 | Layerre +30 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 69 | 75 | Robolly +6 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 48 | 47 | Layerre +1 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 25 | 35 | Robolly +10 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 78 | 5 | Layerre +73 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 63 | 49 | Layerre +14 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | C 57.6/100 | D 48.4/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | Layerre | Robolly |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Layerre | Avantis Innovations LLC (Robolly) |
| Hosted endpoint | https://api.layerre.com/v1 | https://api.robolly.com/v1 |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT for the MCP server. The Layerre API is a closed service under terms last updated 13 August 2026 | Closed service under the Robolly terms of use (effective 8 April 2026) |
| Tools exposed | 13 | 9 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | com.layerre/layerre | 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 | not found in the text | 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 |
| Popularity | 119 npm/wk | none |
Verdicts
Layerre
A public OpenAPI 3.1 contract, published rate limits with Retry-After, and 13 annotated MCP tools that can't delete anything make Layerre straightforward for an agent to call. It works only from Canva designs, is run by a sole proprietor with no status page or SLA, and its API and MCP server are at version 0.1.0.
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
Layerre
- Call
layerre_auth_statusfirst to confirm the connection - Read a template's layer IDs with
layerre_get_templatebefore creating variants - Use the bulk variant endpoint for batches; each variant still costs one render
- On 429 wait for the Retry-After seconds; limits are per IP address
- Expect template import from a Canva link to take 10 to 30 seconds
Robolly
- Call
get_template_modificationsbeforerenderto learn the keys a template accepts - Send renders one at a time; the API refuses more than 3 a second with
rate-limit - Repeat an identical render freely; it is cached for 45 days and costs nothing
- Poll
get_renderafterrender_video, since video renders are queued - Stop on
render-limit-exhaustedand tell the user the monthly credits are spent
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, Layerre or Robolly?
Layerre scores 57.6 (C) on agent readiness against Robolly's 48.4 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Robolly leads on reliability, agent ergonomics and payments & pricing.
Do Layerre and Robolly need an API key?
Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.
Can an agent call Layerre and Robolly without installing anything?
Yes. Layerre has a hosted endpoint at https://api.layerre.com/v1 and Robolly at https://api.robolly.com/v1.
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Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/layerre-vs-robolly.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/layerre.json·/api/v1/tools/robolly.json - From a terminal
anchor compare layerre robolly(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "layerre", "b": "robolly"}at/mcp, no key