{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "layerre", "name": "Layerre", "vendor": "Layerre", "vendorUrl": "https://layerre.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "design-assets", "summary": "Layerre turns Canva designs into reusable templates with editable layers and renders PNG, JPEG, WebP or PDF variants from data, through a REST API, a hosted MCP server and no-code connectors.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/layerre", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/layerre.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/layerre.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/layerre.json", "dns": "layerre.grade.anchorterminal.com", "repo": "https://github.com/Layerre/layerre-mcp", "license": "MIT for the MCP server. The Layerre API is a closed service under terms last updated 13 August 2026", "transports": [ "http", "streamable-http", "stdio" ], "remoteUrl": "https://api.layerre.com/v1", "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@layerre/mcp-server" } ], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "REST uses an API key (`lyr_...`) created at layerre.com/app/api-keys and sent as `Authorization: Bearer`; keys can be rotated in the dashboard. The hosted MCP server at mcp.layerre.com signs in with OAuth 2.1 and PKCE through a Supabase authorisation server, or takes the same API key as a bearer header for headless use. No key scopes documented.", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "Free $0 with 50 renders a month and API access. Starter $15 a month (500 renders), Plus $29 (2,000, up to 3 seats), Pro $99 (20,000, up to 10 seats); yearly plans give two months free. Each template import and each variant is one render. No overage; upgrade or wait for the reset.", "priceSummary": "$15 / mo", "where": "both", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "Subscriptions billed through Stripe. No x402, MPP or L402 in the OpenAPI, llms.txt, auth.md or pricing.md (checked 2026-11-06).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": 13, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": 119, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-11-06" }, "docsUrl": "https://layerre.com/docs/", "llmsTxt": "https://layerre.com/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://layerre.com/openapi.json", "registryName": "com.layerre/layerre", "capabilities": [ "design.templates", "design.render", "pdf.generate" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "mcp", "remote-mcp", "mcp-registry", "openapi", "llms-txt", "oauth", "api-key", "freemium", "free-tier", "canva", "bulk" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-29", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 57.6, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 785, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1486, "categoryRank": 6, "methodology": "0.7", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 69, "maintenance": 78, "payments": 25, "reliability": 42, "schema": 87, "security": 48, "transparency": 63 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-11-06" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "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.", "bestFor": "Bulk image and PDF variants from Canva designs a team already has.", "strengths": [ "Public OpenAPI 3.1 with examples, llms.txt and Markdown mirrors of key pages", "Rate limits in numbers, and 429 responses with Retry-After plus retry code samples", "Every MCP tool carries readOnly, destructive and idempotent hints, and the server has no delete or billing tools", "Free plan of 50 renders a month includes API access", "Privacy policy and DPA name ten subprocessors with locations" ], "weaknesses": [ "Imports Canva designs only; there is no template editor of its own", "No status page or SLA found", "API and MCP server are at version 0.1.0, with the MCP package first published on 29 October 2026", "No key scopes or read-only key documented", "Run by a sole proprietorship in Ontario with no named owner on its pages" ], "agentNotes": [ "Call `layerre_auth_status` first to confirm the connection", "Read a template's layer IDs with `layerre_get_template` before 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" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.7", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 57.6 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 69, "maintenance": 78, "payments": 25, "reliability": 42, "schema": 87, "security": 48, "transparency": 64 }, "provenanceScore": 62, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-11-06", "maintenance": "2026-11-06", "payments": "2026-11-06", "reliability": "2026-11-06", "schema": "2026-11-06", "security": "2026-11-06", "transparency": "2026-11-06" }, "last": "2026-11-06", "oldest": "2026-11-06", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "http": "curl https://api.layerre.com/v1/templates -H \"Authorization: Bearer $LAYERRE_API_KEY\"", "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http layerre https://mcp.layerre.com/mcp", "config": { "mcpServers": { "layerre": { "url": "https://mcp.layerre.com/mcp" } } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/design.templates", "tool": "https://letme.dev/layerre" }, "area": "design-diagrams", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Starter plan", "unit": "month", "usd": 15, "note": "500 renders a month, about $0.03 a render" }, { "item": "Plus plan", "unit": "month", "usd": 29, "note": "2,000 renders a month, up to 3 seats" }, { "item": "Pro plan", "unit": "month", "usd": 99, "note": "20,000 renders a month, about $0.005 a render, up to 10 seats" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Layerre (sole proprietorship, Ontario, Canada)", "domain": "layerre.com", "domainRegistered": "2025-08-13", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://layerre.com/terms/", "privacy": "https://layerre.com/privacy/", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://layerre.com/whats-new/", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-11-06", "notes": [ "The terms, privacy policy and DPA, all last updated 13 August 2026, name Layerre, a sole proprietorship based in Ontario, Canada, under Ontario law. No owner is named on the site; the MCP repository's commits are by Nicole Streltsov.", "The terms forbid automated systems (bots, scrapers) without permission. Public pages were read as data.", "layerre.com/robots.txt disallows /app/, /reset-password and /oauth/, with Content-Signal ai-train=no, search=yes, ai-input=yes. layerre-landing.pages.dev serves the same robots.txt and site.", "RDAP gives layerre.com a registration date of 13 August 2025.", "/.well-known/security.txt answers 200 with the site's HTML shell, not a security.txt file. No status page found. The What's New pages are drawn by script; their dates come from the sitemap." ], "score": 62 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/layerre.json", "live": { "slug": "layerre", "probe": { "target": "https://api.layerre.com/v1", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-11-07T18:20:34.768332322Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 361, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 308, "p95ms24h": 406, "samples24h": 200, "samples30d": 200, "days": [ { "date": "2026-11-06", "probes": 13, "ok": 13 }, { "date": "2026-11-07", "probes": 187, "ok": 187 } ] }, "versions": [ { "registry": "mcp-registry", "name": "com.layerre/layerre", "version": "0.1.0", "seenAt": "2026-11-07T18:16:28.95801333Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@layerre/mcp-server", "version": "0.1.0", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:39:10.744093049Z" } ], "githubStars": 0, "npmWeekly": 119, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://layerre.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T16:00:04.824003957Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://layerre.com/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T15:32:52.000761574Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://layerre.com/whats-new/", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:12:39.384244794Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "a76ef99f3a88" }, { "url": "https://layerre.com/privacy/", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:12:35.304236441Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "a76ef99f3a88" }, { "url": "https://layerre.com/terms/", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:12:37.533574445Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "a76ef99f3a88" } ], "mcpTools": { "url": "https://mcp.layerre.com/mcp", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T01:51:50.188462603Z", "status": "auth", "note": "asks for credentials before listing its tools", "changedAt": "2026-11-06T01:38:41.856942389Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T18:20:34.768332322Z" } }, "answer": "Shotstack scores 67.3 (B) on agent readiness against Layerre's 57.6 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Layerre leads on agent ergonomics and maintenance \u0026 community.", "b": { "slug": "shotstack", "name": "Shotstack", "vendor": "ShotStack Pty Ltd", "vendorUrl": "https://shotstack.io", "kind": "http-api", "category": "design-assets", "summary": "Shotstack is a cloud video editor driven by JSON. It renders video, images and audio from edits and templates with merge fields. Agents reach it through the Edit API, a hosted MCP server or a CLI with an agent skill.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/shotstack", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/shotstack.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/shotstack.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/shotstack.json", "dns": "shotstack.grade.anchorterminal.com", "repo": "https://github.com/shotstack/shotstack-cli", "license": "Proprietary service under Shotstack's Terms and Conditions. The schemas package and SDKs are MIT and the Studio SDK is under PolyForm Shield 1.0.0. The CLI was Apache-2.0 up to its last public source (0.15.2, 22 October 2026); since 25 October 2026 its source isn't published and the shotstack-cli repository holds only the agent skill", "transports": [ "http", "streamable-http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://api.shotstack.io/edit/v1", "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@shotstack/cli" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@shotstack/schemas" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "shotstack-sdk" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "shotstack-sdk" } ], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "REST calls and the CLI send an API key in the `x-api-key` header. A browser signup at app.shotstack.io gives one sandbox key and one production key, self-serve, with no scopes found in the docs. The same keys reach the Edit, Serve and Ingest APIs. The MCP server uses OAuth (authorisation code with PKCE S256, dynamic client registration, one scope, `mcp:tools`) or the API key in an `x-api-key` header for headless use.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "10 free credits on signup, valid 30 days, with no card. Pay as you go is $10 for 50 credits, 20 cents a minute of rendered video. Monthly plans run from $39 for 250 minutes to $499 for 10,000. The `stage` sandbox renders free with a watermark, so an agent can start without a contract. AI generation is charged per model in credits (checked 2026-10-08).", "priceSummary": "$0.20 / credit", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "Prepaid credits and monthly plans. No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs, llms.txt, OpenAPI definition or pricing page (checked 2026-10-08).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": 15, "popularity": { "githubStars": 0, "npmWeekly": 1211, "pypiWeekly": 326, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://shotstack.io/docs/guide/", "llmsTxt": "https://shotstack.io/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://shotstack.io/docs/api/api.edit.json", "capabilities": [ "design.templates", "design.render", "video.edit", "video.generate", "image.generate", "speech.tts", "audio.music" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "closed-source", "mcp", "oauth", "openapi", "llms-txt", "cli", "agent-skill", "async-jobs", "webhooks", "video", "images", "sandbox", "status-page", "sla" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-27", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 67.3, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 333, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1486, "categoryRank": 2, "methodology": "0.7", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 63, "maintenance": 73, "payments": 45, "reliability": 95, "schema": 88, "security": 48, "transparency": 73 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-11-02" }, "negative": -3, "negativeNotes": [ "4 October 2026. Release 1.22.0 of the published API definition removed the `pricing` object from the `GET /models` response and replaced it with `POST /generate/quote`, in a minor release with no breaking-change mark and no notice found. We did not test whether the live response changed that day (https://github.com/shotstack/oas-api-definition/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md)" ], "verdict": "A public OpenAPI definition, Markdown docs, a hosted MCP server with OAuth and a free watermarked sandbox let an agent draft, check and render video with little setup. API keys have no scopes, webhooks are unsigned, no security contact or certification of Shotstack's own was found, and the npm Node SDK dates from July 2024.", "bestFor": "Teams that render video, images or audio from JSON or templates at volume and want an agent to draft edits that a person reviews in Studio.", "strengths": [ "OpenAPI 3.0.1 definition at `https://shotstack.io/docs/api/api.edit.json` with 122 schemas, plus llms.txt, llms-full.txt and a Markdown twin of every guide page", "Hosted MCP server at `https://mcp.shotstack.io/` with 15 tools, OAuth authorisation code with PKCE S256 and dynamic client registration, or an `x-api-key` header", "`shotstack validate` checks an edit offline and `shotstack studio` opens a preview link, both with no API key and no credits", "The `stage` environment renders free with a watermark, and `POST /generate/quote` returns the credit cost of an AI generation without charging", "Rate limits are published per API (Edit 300 requests per 60 seconds in production), no incident in the 90 days to 2 November 2026, and a 99.9 per cent SLA" ], "weaknesses": [ "API keys have no scopes. One production key and one sandbox key reach the Edit, Serve and Ingest APIs, and key rotation was not found in the docs", "Webhook callbacks are not signed, per the webhooks guide, which tells receivers to confirm a render by calling the API", "No security.txt, disclosure policy or certification of Shotstack's own was found. The DPA relies on AWS's SOC 2 and ISO 27001 reports", "The published API definition dropped the `pricing` object from `GET /models` in release 1.22.0 on 4 October 2026, a minor release with no breaking-change mark", "The npm `shotstack-sdk` package (0.2.9) was last published in July 2024, and since 25 October 2026 the CLI's source is no longer public" ], "agentNotes": [ "Fetch `https://shotstack.io/docs/api/api.edit.json` and the conventions guide before writing an edit. Track order is reversed, so the first track renders on top", "Render in `stage` first. It is free and watermarked, but AI generation there is charged from the production credit balance", "Call `POST /generate/quote` before `POST /generate`, and send an `Idempotency-Key` header on generation. `POST /render` has no idempotency key, so do not resubmit blindly", "Do not store the `url` from the render status response. It expires after 24 hours. Use the CDN address built from `owner` and the render id", "On a 429, wait for the 60-second window to reset and retry with backoff. Limits are per API key, 300 a minute on the Edit API in production" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 4, "avgRating": 3.5, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.7", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 67.3 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 63, "maintenance": 73, "payments": 45, "reliability": 95, "schema": 88, "security": 48, "transparency": 61 }, "provenanceScore": 85, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-11-02", "maintenance": "2026-11-02", "payments": "2026-11-02", "reliability": "2026-11-02", "schema": "2026-11-02", "security": "2026-11-02", "transparency": "2026-11-02" }, "last": "2026-11-02", "lastMoved": "2026-11-02", "oldest": "2026-11-02", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "install": "npm install -g @shotstack/cli", "http": "curl -X POST https://api.shotstack.io/edit/stage/render -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" -H \"x-api-key: $SHOTSTACK_API_KEY\" -d @edit.json", "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http shotstack https://mcp.shotstack.io", "config": { "mcpServers": { "shotstack": { "url": "https://mcp.shotstack.io/" } } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/design.templates", "tool": "https://letme.dev/shotstack" }, "area": "design-diagrams", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Pay as you go credit", "unit": "credit", "usd": 0.2, "note": "$10 for 50 credits, one credit renders one minute of video, valid 12 months" }, { "item": "Starter", "unit": "month", "usd": 39, "note": "250 minutes a month" }, { "item": "Pro", "unit": "month", "usd": 99, "note": "750 minutes a month" }, { "item": "Scale", "unit": "month", "usd": 199, "note": "2,000 minutes a month" }, { "item": "Volume", "unit": "month", "usd": 499, "note": "10,000 minutes a month" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "ShotStack Pty Ltd", "domain": "shotstack.io", "domainRegistered": "2017-06-30", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://shotstack.io/terms/", "privacy": "https://shotstack.io/privacy/", "statusPage": "https://status.shotstack.io", "changelog": "https://github.com/shotstack/oas-api-definition/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-11-02", "notes": [ "The terms name ShotStack Pty Ltd, ACN 632 863 024, and the privacy policy gives an address in Maroubra, New South Wales.", "The terms were last updated on 6 October 2026. They cover the APIs, Studio and AI generation, and include plans and an SLA as schedules.", "The privacy policy was last updated on 21 December 2021. A DPA and a sub-processor list, both updated 6 October 2026, are at shotstack.io/dpa/ and shotstack.io/sub-processors/.", "The API answers at api.shotstack.io, the MCP server at mcp.shotstack.io and hosted files at cdn.shotstack.io.", "shotstack.io/.well-known/security.txt returns 404 (re-read 2 November 2026).", "The status page runs on Kener and links an RSS feed of incidents and maintenance.", "The changelog is the CHANGELOG.md of the API definition repository. No changelog page was found on shotstack.io.", "RDAP for shotstack.io gives a registration date of 2017-06-30 and Gandi SAS as registrar." ], "score": 85 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/shotstack.json", "live": { "slug": "shotstack", "probe": { "target": "https://api.shotstack.io/edit/v1", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-11-07T18:20:54.288364838Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 200, "lastMs": 902, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 872, "p95ms24h": 1000, "samples24h": 239, "samples30d": 7289, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-09", "probes": 169, "ok": 169 }, { "date": "2026-10-10", "probes": 247, "ok": 247 }, { "date": "2026-10-11", "probes": 247, "ok": 247 }, { "date": "2026-10-12", "probes": 247, "ok": 247 }, { "date": "2026-10-13", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-14", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-15", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-16", "probes": 252, "ok": 252 }, { "date": "2026-10-17", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-18", "probes": 256, "ok": 256 }, { "date": "2026-10-19", "probes": 255, "ok": 255 }, { "date": "2026-10-20", "probes": 252, "ok": 252 }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-22", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-23", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-24", "probes": 251, "ok": 251 }, { "date": "2026-10-25", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-10-26", "probes": 252, "ok": 252 }, { "date": "2026-10-27", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-28", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-10-29", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-30", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-31", "probes": 251, "ok": 251 }, { "date": "2026-11-01", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-11-02", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-11-03", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-11-04", "probes": 246, "ok": 246 }, { "date": "2026-11-05", "probes": 185, "ok": 185 }, { "date": "2026-11-06", "probes": 241, "ok": 241 }, { "date": "2026-11-07", "probes": 187, "ok": 187 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.shotstack.io", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T04:48:45.114558047Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@shotstack/cli", "version": "0.17.0", "seenAt": "2026-11-07T00:05:41.083663572Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@shotstack/schemas", "version": "1.23.3", "seenAt": "2026-11-07T00:05:41.625150494Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "shotstack-sdk", "version": "0.2.9", "seenAt": "2026-11-07T00:05:43.32367796Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "shotstack-sdk", "version": "0.2.8", "released": "2024-07-19", "seenAt": "2026-11-07T00:05:45.311644882Z" } ], "githubStars": 0, "npmWeekly": 370, "pypiWeekly": 245, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://shotstack.io/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T16:00:10.982687762Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://shotstack.io/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T15:33:55.150019501Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "shotstack.io", "checkedAt": "2026-11-01T14:22:55.371274673Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/shotstack/oas-api-definition/main/CHANGELOG.md", "kind": "changelog", "status": 304, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:23:31.082600398Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-27T03:55:55.627870867Z", "fingerprint": "0b2656bd7b4a" }, { "url": "https://shotstack.io/privacy/", "kind": "privacy", "status": 304, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:19:46.779374273Z", "changedAt": "2026-11-04T08:32:42.350513445Z", "fingerprint": "e09c706eb4f5" }, { "url": "https://shotstack.io/terms/", "kind": "terms", "status": 304, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:19:49.363330236Z", "changedAt": "2026-11-04T08:32:46.005681016Z", "fingerprint": "5e9074a6f69a" } ], "mcpTools": { "url": "https://mcp.shotstack.io", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T01:48:01.653435881Z", "status": "auth", "note": "asks for credentials before listing its tools", "changedAt": "2026-11-07T01:48:01.653435881Z" }, "github": { "repo": "shotstack/shotstack-cli", "checkedAt": "2026-11-02T09:25:34.758841111Z", "stars": 0, "archived": false, "issuesEnabled": true, "pushedAt": "2026-10-30T12:00:41Z", "openIssues": 0, "openPRs": 0, "issuesOpened90d": 0, "issuesClosed90d": 0, "prsMerged90d": 51 }, "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T18:20:54.288364838Z" } }, "edges": [ { "by": 53, "category": "reliability", "leads": "shotstack", "name": "Reliability", "reasons": { "a": "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.", "b": "Hosted lines. Public status page at status.shotstack.io with monitors, the Edit API in production among them (20). Its feed and incident pages hold no incident in the 90 days from 4 August 2026. The newest incident, number 8 (range parameters in render payloads causing failures, 21 July 2026), left the window on 20 October, /incidents/9 answers 404, and the window holds only two completed maintenance windows (11 August, rendering stayed available; 4 and 5 September, billing, with the API fully available). A readable page that posts incidents, none in the window, is a clean record (30, was 20). Rate limits per API key in a fixed 60-second window, 300 for Edit, 600 for Serve and 300 for Ingest in production (15). A 429 returns `rate_limit_error` with advice to wait for the window and retry with exponential backoff, and `POST /generate` takes an `Idempotency-Key`, but `POST /render` has none and no `Retry-After` is documented for rate limits (10). Schedule 2 of the terms is an SLA of 99.9 per cent with a 10 per cent credit, free plans excluded (10). The Edit API is `v1` and neither the MCP server nor the CLI carries a beta label (10). 20 + 30 + 15 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 95." }, "scores": { "a": 42, "b": 95 } }, { "by": 20, "category": "payments", "leads": "shotstack", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "reasons": { "a": "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.", "b": "No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Public per-minute prices, 20 cents on pay as you go down to 5 cents on Volume, with AI generation priced per model through a quote endpoint and four examples on the pricing page (20). 10 credits for 30 days with no card, and a free watermarked sandbox (20). Checking an edit and opening a Studio preview need no key, but any render needs a key from a browser signup (5)." }, "scores": { "a": 25, "b": 45 } }, { "by": 10, "category": "transparency", "leads": "shotstack", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "reasons": { "a": "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.", "b": "Closed service under published terms, with the schemas and SDKs under MIT. The CLI was Apache-2.0 in its last public source (0.15.2, 22 October 2026); since 25 October its source isn't published and the repository keeps only the agent skill (15). A DPA and sub-processor list updated 6 October 2026, and terms that say customer data is not used to train AI models. The privacy policy is dated 21 December 2021 and says ingested media is deleted after rendering, while the Ingest guide says sources are stored until deleted, and the DPA gives 24 hours for outputs while the hosting guide calls CDN hosting permanent by default (18). The terms promise reasonable notice before a feature is retired and 30 days before material changes to the terms, and deprecated asset types keep working, but no dated deprecation policy was found (8). Five sub-processors named with purposes and locations, AWS in Sydney and the United States, with seven days' notice of additions (20)." }, "scores": { "a": 63, "b": 73 } }, { "by": 6, "category": "ergonomics", "leads": "layerre", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "reasons": { "a": "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.", "b": "15 MCP tools by the vendor's list, with the authoring guide loaded on demand through `get_shotstack_guide` and skill references read only when relevant (18). No pagination, limit or filter on the template or source lists in the definition. The CLI prints JSON with `--output json` (6). Errors carry `status`, `title` and `detail`, confirmed on a 401, generation errors carry a `code`, the CLI validates offline and exits 0, 1 or 2 for success, permanent and retryable failures (17). `Idempotency-Key` and a result cache on generation and a free quote, but no idempotency on renders, and MCP annotations were not readable (12). Smart clip lengths and a default `v1` environment keep requests short. Five official SDK repositories exist, but the npm and PyPI packages date from July 2024 (10)." }, "scores": { "a": 69, "b": 63 } }, { "by": 5, "category": "maintenance", "leads": "layerre", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "reasons": { "a": "@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.", "b": "API definition 1.23.3 (@shotstack/schemas) tagged on 27 October 2026, six days before the check, after 1.23.0 on 15 October added a source file on generation assets (30). 21 definition tags and 13 CLI tags (0.8.x to 0.15.2, the last on 22 October) since 4 August 2026, and the skill repository synced from CLI 0.16.0 to 0.17.0 between 25 and 30 October (20). Dated changelog for the definition in its repository, in-app support on every plan and a GitHub issue template for the CLI. Issue threads were not read (8). `@shotstack/cli` and `@shotstack/schemas` are current, while npm `shotstack-sdk` 0.2.9 dates from July 2024 per the 8 October check; the PyPI release date came from a path pypi.org's robots.txt disallows and is struck, and pypi.org didn't resolve on 2 November. The MCP registry entry was not checked (7). The definition repository runs build, smoke and example tests on pull requests. Since 25 October the CLI repository holds only the agent skill and says the CLI's source isn't published there, so its release tests can no longer be read (8). 30 + 20 + 8 + 7 + 8 = 73." }, "scores": { "a": 78, "b": 73 } } ], "facts": [ { "a": "HTTP API", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Layerre", "b": "ShotStack Pty Ltd", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://api.layerre.com/v1", "b": "https://api.shotstack.io/edit/v1", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio", "b": "HTTP, Streamable HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "OAuth or key", "b": "OAuth or key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Freemium", "b": "Pay per use", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "MIT for the MCP server. The Layerre API is a closed service under terms last updated 13 August 2026", "b": "Proprietary service under Shotstack's Terms and Conditions. The schemas package and SDKs are MIT and the Studio SDK is under PolyForm Shield 1.0.0. The CLI was Apache-2.0 up to its last public source (0.15.2, 22 October 2026); since 25 October 2026 its source isn't published and the shotstack-cli repository holds only the agent skill", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "13", "b": "15", "name": "Tools exposed" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "com.layerre/layerre", "b": "not listed", "name": "MCP registry" }, { "a": "2026-10-29", "b": "2026-10-27", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "no date given", "b": "no date given", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "no date given", "b": "no date given", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "119 npm/wk", "b": "0 stars, 1.2k npm/wk, 326 PyPI/wk", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "none", "b": "3.5/5 (4)", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Shotstack scores 67.3 (B) on agent readiness against Layerre's 57.6 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Layerre leads on agent ergonomics and maintenance \u0026 community.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Layerre or Shotstack?" }, { "answer": "Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.", "question": "Do Layerre and Shotstack need an API key?" }, { "answer": "Yes. Layerre has a hosted endpoint at https://api.layerre.com/v1 and Shotstack at https://api.shotstack.io/edit/v1.", "question": "Can an agent call Layerre and Shotstack without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Agent ergonomics, 69 against 63", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 78 against 73" ], "also": [ "Runs on your own machine", "No incidents deducted, where Shotstack loses 3 points for them" ], "goodFor": "Bulk image and PDF variants from Canva designs a team already has.", "slug": "layerre", "watchFor": "Imports Canva designs only; there is no template editor of its own" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 95 against 42", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 45 against 25", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 73 against 63" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "Teams that render video, images or audio from JSON or templates at volume and want an agent to draft edits that a person reviews in Studio.", "slug": "shotstack", "watchFor": "API keys have no scopes. One production key and one sandbox key reach the Edit, Serve and Ingest APIs, and key rotation was not found in the docs" } ], "history": { "layerre": null, "shotstack": [ { "causes": [ "time" ], "date": "2026-11-02", "delta": 2, "from": 65.3, "fromGrade": "B", "to": 67.3, "toGrade": "B" } ] }, "job": { "capability": "design.templates", "name": "Design templates" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-photoshop-api-vs-layerre.json", "title": "Adobe Photoshop API vs Layerre", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-photoshop-api-vs-layerre" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-photoshop-api-vs-shotstack.json", "title": "Adobe Photoshop API vs Shotstack", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-photoshop-api-vs-shotstack" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apitemplate-io-vs-layerre.json", "title": "APITemplate.io vs Layerre", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apitemplate-io-vs-layerre" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apitemplate-io-vs-shotstack.json", "title": "APITemplate.io vs Shotstack", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apitemplate-io-vs-shotstack" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bannerbear-vs-layerre.json", "title": "Bannerbear API + MCP vs Layerre", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bannerbear-vs-layerre" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bannerbear-vs-shotstack.json", "title": "Bannerbear API + MCP vs Shotstack", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bannerbear-vs-shotstack" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/canva-vs-layerre.json", "title": "Canva REST APIs + MCP vs Layerre", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/canva-vs-layerre" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/canva-vs-shotstack.json", "title": "Canva REST APIs + MCP vs Shotstack", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/canva-vs-shotstack" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/contentdrips-vs-layerre.json", "title": "Contentdrips API and MCP vs Layerre", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/contentdrips-vs-layerre" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/contentdrips-vs-shotstack.json", "title": "Contentdrips API and MCP vs Shotstack", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/contentdrips-vs-shotstack" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/creatomate-vs-layerre.json", "title": "Creatomate vs Layerre", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/creatomate-vs-layerre" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/creatomate-vs-shotstack.json", "title": "Creatomate vs Shotstack", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/creatomate-vs-shotstack" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dynapictures-vs-layerre.json", "title": "DynaPictures vs Layerre", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dynapictures-vs-layerre" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dynapictures-vs-shotstack.json", "title": "DynaPictures vs Shotstack", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dynapictures-vs-shotstack" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-photoroom.json", "title": "Layerre vs Photoroom API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-photoroom" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-pictify.json", "title": "Layerre vs Pictify", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-pictify" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-pixelixe.json", "title": "Layerre vs Pixelixe", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-pixelixe" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-placid.json", "title": "Layerre vs Placid API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-placid" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-postnitro.json", "title": "Layerre vs PostNitro", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-postnitro" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-robolly.json", "title": "Layerre vs Robolly", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-robolly" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-templated.json", "title": "Layerre vs Templated API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-templated" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photoroom-vs-shotstack.json", "title": "Photoroom API vs Shotstack", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photoroom-vs-shotstack" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pixelixe-vs-shotstack.json", "title": "Pixelixe vs Shotstack", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pixelixe-vs-shotstack" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/placid-vs-shotstack.json", "title": "Placid API + MCP vs Shotstack", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/placid-vs-shotstack" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/postnitro-vs-shotstack.json", "title": "PostNitro vs Shotstack", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/postnitro-vs-shotstack" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/robolly-vs-shotstack.json", "title": "Robolly vs Shotstack", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/robolly-vs-shotstack" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/shotstack-vs-templated.json", "title": "Shotstack vs Templated API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/shotstack-vs-templated" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-layerre.json", "title": "Abyssale vs Layerre", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-layerre" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-shotstack.json", "title": "Abyssale vs Shotstack", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-shotstack" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-osmo-cli.json", "title": "Layerre vs Osmo CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-osmo-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/osmo-cli-vs-shotstack.json", "title": "Osmo CLI vs Shotstack", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/osmo-cli-vs-shotstack" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pictify-vs-shotstack.json", "title": "Pictify vs Shotstack", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pictify-vs-shotstack" } ], "panel": null, "scores": [ { "by": 53, "edge": "shotstack", "key": "reliability", "layerre": 42, "name": "Reliability", "shotstack": 95, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 1, "edge": "shotstack", "key": "schema", "layerre": 87, "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "shotstack": 88, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 6, "edge": "layerre", "key": "ergonomics", "layerre": 69, "name": "Agent ergonomics", "shotstack": 63, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 0, "edge": "", "key": "security", "layerre": 48, "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "shotstack": 48, "weight": 14 }, { "by": 20, "edge": "shotstack", "key": "payments", "layerre": 25, "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "shotstack": 45, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 5, "edge": "layerre", "key": "maintenance", "layerre": 78, "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "shotstack": 73, "weight": 7 }, { "by": 10, "edge": "shotstack", "key": "transparency", "layerre": 63, "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "shotstack": 73, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Shotstack scores 67.3 (B) on agent readiness against Layerre's 57.6 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Layerre leads on agent ergonomics and maintenance \u0026 community. Both do design templates.", "tasks": null, "tutorials": [], "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.", "shotstack": "A public OpenAPI definition, Markdown docs, a hosted MCP server with OAuth and a free watermarked sandbox let an agent draft, check and render video with little setup. API keys have no scopes, webhooks are unsigned, no security contact or certification of Shotstack's own was found, and the npm Node SDK dates from July 2024." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-shotstack", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-shotstack.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-shotstack.md", "mcp": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-shotstack.min.md" }, "markdown": "Shotstack scores 67.3 (B) on agent readiness against Layerre's 57.6 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Layerre leads on agent ergonomics and maintenance \u0026 community. Both do design templates.\n\n- Layerre: grade C, 57.6/100, rank #785 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/layerre.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/layerre.json\n- Shotstack: grade B, 67.3/100, rank #333 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/shotstack.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/shotstack.json\n- Best programmatic image and design asset APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/design-assets/index.md\n- All 153 assets comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/design-assets/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Layerre (C)\n\nGood for: Bulk image and PDF variants from Canva designs a team already has.\n\nAhead on:\n- Agent ergonomics, 69 against 63\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 78 against 73\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Runs on your own machine\n- No incidents deducted, where Shotstack loses 3 points for them\n\nWatch for: Imports Canva designs only; there is no template editor of its own\n\n### Shotstack (B)\n\nGood for: Teams that render video, images or audio from JSON or templates at volume and want an agent to draft edits that a person reviews in Studio.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 95 against 42\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 45 against 25\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 73 against 63\n\nWatch for: API keys have no scopes. One production key and one sandbox key reach the Edit, Serve and Ingest APIs, and key rotation was not found in the docs\n\n\n## Why the edge\n\n### Reliability: Shotstack +53\n\n- 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.\n- Shotstack (95): Hosted lines. Public status page at status.shotstack.io with monitors, the Edit API in production among them (20). Its feed and incident pages hold no incident in the 90 days from 4 August 2026. The newest incident, number 8 (range parameters in render payloads causing failures, 21 July 2026), left the window on 20 October, /incidents/9 answers 404, and the window holds only two completed maintenance windows (11 August, rendering stayed available; 4 and 5 September, billing, with the API fully available). A readable page that posts incidents, none in the window, is a clean record (30, was 20). Rate limits per API key in a fixed 60-second window, 300 for Edit, 600 for Serve and 300 for Ingest in production (15). A 429 returns `rate_limit_error` with advice to wait for the window and retry with exponential backoff, and `POST /generate` takes an `Idempotency-Key`, but `POST /render` has none and no `Retry-After` is documented for rate limits (10). Schedule 2 of the terms is an SLA of 99.9 per cent with a 10 per cent credit, free plans excluded (10). The Edit API is `v1` and neither the MCP server nor the CLI carries a beta label (10). 20 + 30 + 15 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 95.\n\n### Payments \u0026 pricing: Shotstack +20\n\n- 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.\n- Shotstack (45): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Public per-minute prices, 20 cents on pay as you go down to 5 cents on Volume, with AI generation priced per model through a quote endpoint and four examples on the pricing page (20). 10 credits for 30 days with no card, and a free watermarked sandbox (20). Checking an edit and opening a Studio preview need no key, but any render needs a key from a browser signup (5).\n\n### Transparency \u0026 trust: Shotstack +10\n\n- 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.\n- Shotstack (73): Closed service under published terms, with the schemas and SDKs under MIT. The CLI was Apache-2.0 in its last public source (0.15.2, 22 October 2026); since 25 October its source isn't published and the repository keeps only the agent skill (15). A DPA and sub-processor list updated 6 October 2026, and terms that say customer data is not used to train AI models. The privacy policy is dated 21 December 2021 and says ingested media is deleted after rendering, while the Ingest guide says sources are stored until deleted, and the DPA gives 24 hours for outputs while the hosting guide calls CDN hosting permanent by default (18). The terms promise reasonable notice before a feature is retired and 30 days before material changes to the terms, and deprecated asset types keep working, but no dated deprecation policy was found (8). Five sub-processors named with purposes and locations, AWS in Sydney and the United States, with seven days' notice of additions (20).\n\n### Agent ergonomics: Layerre +6\n\n- 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.\n- Shotstack (63): 15 MCP tools by the vendor's list, with the authoring guide loaded on demand through `get_shotstack_guide` and skill references read only when relevant (18). No pagination, limit or filter on the template or source lists in the definition. The CLI prints JSON with `--output json` (6). Errors carry `status`, `title` and `detail`, confirmed on a 401, generation errors carry a `code`, the CLI validates offline and exits 0, 1 or 2 for success, permanent and retryable failures (17). `Idempotency-Key` and a result cache on generation and a free quote, but no idempotency on renders, and MCP annotations were not readable (12). Smart clip lengths and a default `v1` environment keep requests short. Five official SDK repositories exist, but the npm and PyPI packages date from July 2024 (10).\n\n### Maintenance \u0026 community: Layerre +5\n\n- 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.\n- Shotstack (73): API definition 1.23.3 (@shotstack/schemas) tagged on 27 October 2026, six days before the check, after 1.23.0 on 15 October added a source file on generation assets (30). 21 definition tags and 13 CLI tags (0.8.x to 0.15.2, the last on 22 October) since 4 August 2026, and the skill repository synced from CLI 0.16.0 to 0.17.0 between 25 and 30 October (20). Dated changelog for the definition in its repository, in-app support on every plan and a GitHub issue template for the CLI. Issue threads were not read (8). `@shotstack/cli` and `@shotstack/schemas` are current, while npm `shotstack-sdk` 0.2.9 dates from July 2024 per the 8 October check; the PyPI release date came from a path pypi.org's robots.txt disallows and is struck, and pypi.org didn't resolve on 2 November. The MCP registry entry was not checked (7). The definition repository runs build, smoke and example tests on pull requests. Since 25 October the CLI repository holds only the agent skill and says the CLI's source isn't published there, so its release tests can no longer be read (8). 30 + 20 + 8 + 7 + 8 = 73.\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Layerre | Shotstack | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 42 | 95 | Shotstack +53 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 87 | 88 | Shotstack +1 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 63 | Layerre +6 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 48 | 48 | even |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 25 | 45 | Shotstack +20 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 78 | 73 | Layerre +5 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 63 | 73 | Shotstack +10 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -3 | |\n| **Total** | | **57.6 · C** | **67.3 · B** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Layerre | Shotstack |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Layerre | ShotStack Pty Ltd |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.layerre.com/v1` | `https://api.shotstack.io/edit/v1` |\n| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |\n| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |\n| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | MIT for the MCP server. The Layerre API is a closed service under terms last updated 13 August 2026 | Proprietary service under Shotstack's Terms and Conditions. The schemas package and SDKs are MIT and the Studio SDK is under PolyForm Shield 1.0.0. The CLI was Apache-2.0 up to its last public source (0.15.2, 22 October 2026); since 25 October 2026 its source isn't published and the shotstack-cli repository holds only the agent skill |\n| Tools exposed | 13 | 15 |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| MCP registry | `com.layerre/layerre` | not listed |\n| Last release | 2026-10-29 | 2026-10-27 |\n| Terms last updated | no date given | no date given |\n| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | no date given |\n| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Popularity | 119 npm/wk | 0 stars, 1.2k npm/wk, 326 PyPI/wk |\n| Agent reviews | none | 3.5/5 (4) |\n\n## How the scores have moved\n\n### Layerre\n\nNo score change since it was listed.\n\n### Shotstack\n\n- +2.0 on 2 November 2026: time\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**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.\n\n**Shotstack.** A public OpenAPI definition, Markdown docs, a hosted MCP server with OAuth and a free watermarked sandbox let an agent draft, check and render video with little setup. API keys have no scopes, webhooks are unsigned, no security contact or certification of Shotstack's own was found, and the npm Node SDK dates from July 2024.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Layerre\n\n1. Call `layerre_auth_status` first to confirm the connection\n2. Read a template's layer IDs with `layerre_get_template` before creating variants\n3. Use the bulk variant endpoint for batches; each variant still costs one render\n4. On 429 wait for the Retry-After seconds; limits are per IP address\n5. Expect template import from a Canva link to take 10 to 30 seconds\n\n### Shotstack\n\n1. Fetch `https://shotstack.io/docs/api/api.edit.json` and the conventions guide before writing an edit. Track order is reversed, so the first track renders on top\n2. Render in `stage` first. It is free and watermarked, but AI generation there is charged from the production credit balance\n3. Call `POST /generate/quote` before `POST /generate`, and send an `Idempotency-Key` header on generation. `POST /render` has no idempotency key, so do not resubmit blindly\n4. Do not store the `url` from the render status response. It expires after 24 hours. Use the CDN address built from `owner` and the render id\n5. On a 429, wait for the 60-second window to reset and retry with backoff. Limits are per API key, 300 a minute on the Edit API in production\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Layerre or Shotstack?\n\nShotstack scores 67.3 (B) on agent readiness against Layerre's 57.6 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Layerre leads on agent ergonomics and maintenance \u0026 community.\n\n### Do Layerre and Shotstack need an API key?\n\nBoth take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.\n\n### Can an agent call Layerre and Shotstack without installing anything?\n\nYes. Layerre has a hosted endpoint at https://api.layerre.com/v1 and Shotstack at https://api.shotstack.io/edit/v1.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-shotstack.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-shotstack.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"layerre\", \"b\": \"shotstack\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare layerre shotstack`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/layerre.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/shotstack.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Layerre or Shotstack\n\n- [Adobe Photoshop API vs Layerre](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-photoshop-api-vs-layerre.md)\n- [Adobe Photoshop API vs Shotstack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-photoshop-api-vs-shotstack.md)\n- [APITemplate.io vs Layerre](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apitemplate-io-vs-layerre.md)\n- [APITemplate.io vs Shotstack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apitemplate-io-vs-shotstack.md)\n- [Bannerbear API + MCP vs Layerre](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bannerbear-vs-layerre.md)\n- [Bannerbear API + MCP vs Shotstack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bannerbear-vs-shotstack.md)\n- [Canva REST APIs + MCP vs Layerre](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/canva-vs-layerre.md)\n- [Canva REST APIs + MCP vs Shotstack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/canva-vs-shotstack.md)\n- [Contentdrips API and MCP vs Layerre](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/contentdrips-vs-layerre.md)\n- [Contentdrips API and MCP vs Shotstack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/contentdrips-vs-shotstack.md)\n- [Creatomate vs Layerre](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/creatomate-vs-layerre.md)\n- [Creatomate vs Shotstack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/creatomate-vs-shotstack.md)\n- [DynaPictures vs Layerre](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dynapictures-vs-layerre.md)\n- [DynaPictures vs Shotstack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dynapictures-vs-shotstack.md)\n- [Layerre vs Photoroom API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-photoroom.md)\n- [Layerre vs Pictify](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-pictify.md)\n- [Layerre vs Pixelixe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-pixelixe.md)\n- [Layerre vs Placid API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-placid.md)\n- [Layerre vs PostNitro](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-postnitro.md)\n- [Layerre vs Robolly](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-robolly.md)\n- [Layerre vs Templated API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-templated.md)\n- [Photoroom API vs Shotstack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photoroom-vs-shotstack.md)\n- [Pixelixe vs Shotstack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pixelixe-vs-shotstack.md)\n- [Placid API + MCP vs Shotstack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/placid-vs-shotstack.md)\n- [PostNitro vs Shotstack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/postnitro-vs-shotstack.md)\n- [Robolly vs Shotstack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/robolly-vs-shotstack.md)\n- [Shotstack vs Templated API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/shotstack-vs-templated.md)\n- [Abyssale vs Layerre](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-layerre.md)\n- [Abyssale vs Shotstack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abyssale-vs-shotstack.md)\n- [Layerre vs Osmo CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-osmo-cli.md)\n- [Osmo CLI vs Shotstack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/osmo-cli-vs-shotstack.md)\n- [Pictify vs Shotstack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pictify-vs-shotstack.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "attributionRequired": true, "credit": "CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link the page or API address you took it from (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-11-07", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.7", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "terms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Layerre vs Shotstack", "url": "" } ], "description": "Shotstack scores 67.3 (B) to Layerre's 57.6 (C) for design templates. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Layerre C 57.6", "Shotstack B 67.3", "scores" ], "h1": "Layerre vs Shotstack", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/default.png", "path": "/compare/layerre-vs-shotstack", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Layerre vs Shotstack for AI agents in 2026: scores and prices", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-11-07", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/layerre-vs-shotstack" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 4650, "slim": 2580 }, "version": 1 }