# Placid API + MCP vs Shotstack (slim)

> Shotstack scores 65.3 (B) on agent readiness against Placid API + MCP's 42.9 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do design templates. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/placid-vs-shotstack.md (~2,150 tokens) · this version ~680 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/placid-vs-shotstack.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/placid-vs-shotstack
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-09

Shotstack scores 65.3 (B) on agent readiness against Placid API + MCP's 42.9 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do design templates.

- Placid API + MCP: E 42.9, rank #786 of 842 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/placid.min.md
- Shotstack: B 65.3, rank #297 of 842 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/shotstack.min.md
- Placid API + MCP, good for Small teams and no-code builders who want template renders to image, PDF and video at a low monthly price, and agents that should be fenced to a few templates. Also No incidents deducted, where Shotstack loses 3 points for them.
- Shotstack, good 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. Ahead on Reliability, 85 against 75; Schema & documentation, 88 against 34; Agent ergonomics, 63 against 40; Security & auth, 48 against 34; Payments & pricing, 45 against 35; Maintenance & community, 73 against 7; Transparency & trust, 73 against 57.

| Category | Placid API + MCP | Shotstack |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 75 | 85 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 34 | 88 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 40 | 63 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 34 | 48 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 35 | 45 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 7 | 73 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 57 | 73 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Placid API + MCP | Shotstack |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Placid | ShotStack Pty Ltd |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.placid.app/api/rest` | `https://api.shotstack.io/edit/v1` |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Pay per use |
| Licence | none | Proprietary service under Shotstack's Terms and Conditions. The CLI and skill are Apache-2.0, the schemas package and SDKs are MIT, and the Studio SDK is under PolyForm Shield 1.0.0 |
| Tools exposed | none | 15 |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | none | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated | 2024-11-25 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2024-11-18 | no date given |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 0 stars, 1.2k npm/wk, 326 PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | none |