# Creatomate (slim)

> Creatomate renders videos, images and GIFs from templates or from RenderScript, its JSON format. Agents reach it through a REST API with a project key or a hosted MCP server with OAuth.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/creatomate.md (~6,800 tokens) · this version ~1,780 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/creatomate.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/creatomate
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-09

**D · 47.7/100 · rank #737 of 842 · #5 in Programmatic asset production · not agent-ready · confidence medium**


Assessment: A hosted MCP server with eight tools, OAuth with PKCE and per-project connections sits beside a small REST API whose errors carry a hint and a documentation link, and `dry_run` validates a render at no cost. No status page, changelog, OpenAPI file or security contact was found, and the terms and privacy policy date from June 2022.

## Facts

- Kind: HTTP API · vendor: Creatomate · category: Programmatic asset production · legal entity: Creatomate · provenance 65/100
- Endpoint: `https://api.creatomate.com/v2` (HTTP, Streamable HTTP)
- Auth: OAuth or key · pricing: Paid · x402: no · licence: Proprietary service under Creatomate's Terms and Conditions. The Node, PHP and Preview SDK libraries on GitHub are MIT
- Probe metrics: not measured yet (probes haven't run)
- REST API: `https://api.creatomate.com`. `POST /v2/renders`, `GET /v2/renders/:id`, and create, list, get, update and delete on `/v2/templates`. `/v1/renders` returns an array and renders by tag, and `/v1/feeds` reads feeds (https://creatomate.com/llms/api.md)
- MCP server: Hosted at `https://api.creatomate.com/mcp` over Streamable HTTP, or `/mcp/YOUR-PROJECT-ID` to fix the project. Eight tools. OAuth sign-in, or the project API key as a bearer token
- Read and write: Templates read and write, renders create and read. Template delete answers 204, and llms.txt describes it as a soft delete recoverable for 30 days
- Render formats: MP4, JPG, PNG and GIF, from a template with `modifications` or from raw RenderScript
- Render speed: Asynchronous. `POST /v2/renders` answers 202, then poll or pass `webhook_url`. The docs say images are usually ready within seconds and videos can take much longer
- Rate limits: 30 requests per 10 seconds per account across all projects. Every response carries `X-RateLimit-Limit`, `-Remaining` and `-Reset`, and a 429 carries `Retry-After`
- Errors: `{"hint", "documentation"}` on 400, 401, 402 (out of credits), 404 and 429. Render responses may add advisory `errors` and `warnings`
- Credits: 1 credit an image at any resolution. Video is width x height x frame rate x seconds / 100,000,000, rounded up, about 14 credits a minute at 720p and 25 fps
- Free tier: Trial with 50 credits, no card, output limited to 480 px per side per llms.txt
- Retention: Renders hosted for up to 30 days. Template and feed media stays while in use and counts towards plan storage (5 GB, 50 GB or 500 GB)
- Spend controls: A monthly credit budget per project, and `render_scale` for cheaper drafts
- SDKs: Node `creatomate` 1.2.1 (23 September 2024, calls `/v1`), PHP library (last pushed 21 October 2024), `@creatomate/preview` 1.6.1 for in-browser preview (3 September 2026), an n8n node 0.2.0 (11 August 2026). All MIT
- AI providers: ElevenLabs, OpenAI speech and Stability AI run on the customer's own provider keys, set in Project Settings
- Billing: Paddle is the payment processor named in the privacy policy, and the pricing page loads prices from Paddle
- Prices: Essential $54 per month (plan); Growth 10K $129 per month (plan)

- Scores: Reliability 40, Performance pending, Schema & documentation 53, Agent ergonomics 67, Security & auth 48, Payments & pricing 35, Task success pending, Maintenance & community 34, Transparency & trust 51 · total over the 7 assessed categories
- Why: Reliability, Hosted lines. · Schema & documentation, No OpenAPI file found (api.creatomate.com/openapi.json returns 404), and the MCP tool schemas can't be read without an account (0). · Agent ergonomics, Eight MCP tools by the vendor's list, definitions unseen, and the template list omits sources (22). · Security & auth, MCP uses OAuth authorisation code with PKCE S256 and dynamic client registration, one scope, with connections revocable per application. · Payments & pricing, No x402, MPP or L402 (0). · Maintenance & community, No changelog. · Transparency & trust, Closed service under published terms, with MIT client libraries (15).
- Sources: 22, open questions: 8, both in the full twin
- Capabilities: design.templates, design.render, video.render
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/creatomate.json
- Verify (for the vendor): the badge `https://www.anchorterminal.com/badges/creatomate.svg` or a link to https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/creatomate from a page on creatomate.com or one of its subdomains, or the README of github.com/creatomate/creatomate-node, then `POST https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/verify` `{"slug", "url"}` or `verify_listing` at /mcp; re-checked weekly, no effect on the grade. Snippets in the full twin.

## Before you call it

1. Send `"dry_run": true` to `POST /v2/renders` before a paid render. It returns `valid`, `errors`, `warnings` and the effective source
2. Read `warnings` on every render response. A modification keyed to an unknown element or property name is ignored without an error
3. Keep under 30 requests per 10 seconds across the whole account, and wait for `Retry-After` on a 429
4. Download each file when the webhook fires. Renders, their URLs and their status records are deleted after 30 days
5. Use `render_scale` 0.5 for draft videos, about a quarter of the credits, and remember MCP `create_render` spends credits without a confirmation step from the server

## Connect

```bash
npm install creatomate
```

```bash
curl -X POST https://api.creatomate.com/v2/renders -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Authorization: Bearer $CREATOMATE_API_KEY" -d '{"template_id": "YOUR_TEMPLATE_ID", "dry_run": true, "modifications": {"Title-1": "Your headline here"}}'
```

```bash
claude mcp add creatomate --transport http https://api.creatomate.com/mcp
```
Full config and headless snippets are in the full page. Through letme (picks today, calling later): https://letme.dev/creatomate

## Similar tools

| Tool | Grade | Score | Shared capabilities | Slim |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Canva REST APIs + MCP | B | 64.3 | design.templates, design.render, video.render | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/canva.min.md |
| Templated API + MCP | C | 61.2 | design.templates, design.render, video.render | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/templated.min.md |
| Bannerbear API + MCP | C | 60.5 | design.templates, design.render, video.render | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bannerbear.min.md |
| Placid API + MCP | E | 42.9 | design.templates, design.render, video.render | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/placid.min.md |
| Shotstack | B | 65.3 | design.templates, design.render | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/shotstack.min.md |


## Panel reviews (0, desk reviews from public material, no calls made)