Edit Square vs Creatomate. Which video automation tool should you choose?

TL;DR

Edit Square is the stronger choice when the design matters. You get a real-time motion graphics editor with presets, expressions and a 2D camera, then render your templates through a form or our API.

Creatomate is a good fit if you’d like ready-made connections to no-code tools, or you need to generate images as well as video.

Overview

What is each tool built for?

Edit Square is a motion graphics editor first. It’s designed by motion graphics professionals, and you animate on a GPU-powered canvas where everything plays back live. When you’re happy, you turn the project into a template, and your team or your own systems make every version after that.

Creatomate is an automation platform first. It has a template editor in the browser too, and it’s built to plug in to as many tools as possible.

Side by side

Edit Square vs Creatomate: feature by feature

Let’s put the two side by side and pick a winner for each row.

Feature	Edit Square	Creatomate	Winner
Template editor	In your browser, real time on the GPU	In your browser	Edit Square
Try before you buy	Free forever, no sign-up	Trial with 50 credits	Edit Square
Keyframes and easing	Yes	Yes	Tie
Motion presets	Animate any layer in one click, then stack and tune	A set of animation and text presets	Edit Square
Expressions	Yes. Loops, wiggles, maths and linked properties	Not available	Edit Square
2D camera	Yes. Pan, zoom and glide across your scene	Not available	Edit Square
Exports from the editor	Free and unlimited, rendered on your machine	Rendered in the cloud with credits	Edit Square
Template forms	Yes, with a live preview	Yes	Tie
Render API	Yes, with webhooks	Yes, with webhooks	Tie
No-code integrations	Any tool that can send a web request	Zapier, Make, n8n and Pabbly	Creatomate
Versions from a spreadsheet	Through the API	Yes	Creatomate
Image generation	Video only	Yes	Creatomate
Render pricing	By the second of render time	By the size and length of the video	Depends on volume

Create

How does the editing experience compare?

Edit Square is built on the GPU, so everything happens in real time. You scrub, play and edit with instant feedback. There are no previews to render and no waiting when you change a value.

Animations live on the timeline as chips you can move and trim, so you can build a title in seconds by stacking a few motion presets. When you want finer control, keyframes are one click away.

• Motion presets. Animate any layer in one click, then tune each preset until the motion feels like yours.
• Expressions. Link properties together and drive them with a line of code. Loops, wiggles and maths, no keyframes needed.
• 2D camera. Pan, zoom and glide across your whole scene without moving a single layer.
• Text animations. Full control over characters, words and lines, powered by a real text engine.
• Effects. Blur, glow, distort and more, all running on the GPU.

Creatomate’s editor is capable, with keyframes, easing and shapes. It’s designed for assembling a template, so you’ll find fewer tools for crafting the motion itself.

Template

Which tool handles templates better?

Both tools let you turn a design into a template. In Edit Square it takes three steps.

1. Create your variables. Link one or more properties to a variable. One colour can drive two layers, one text field can drive the headline.
2. Build your form. Choose which variables become fields. The form is all your team ever needs to see.
3. Anyone can render. Your team picks a template, fills in the form and watches the preview update as they type.

Because any property can be linked to a variable, a single field can change colours, text and timing across your whole video. Creatomate has shareable forms as well, so this one comes down to which editor you’d like to build your templates in.

Automate

How do the APIs compare?

Edit Square has a render API built in. You send the fields, we send back an MP4. It’s one request from your app, CRM or workflow tool, and our cloud servers handle the rendering.

Here’s the data you’d send to our API. You name the template and pass through the values that change.

{
  "name": "Welcome - John Smith",
  "project_id": "proj_jd71dcg41pjy7rax1v2h4pvcmd7gtar9",
  "template_id": "tpl_8f2c1d4e6a7b9c0d1e2f3a4b5c6d7e8f",
  "values": { "customer_name": "John Smith" }
}

And that’s it! To track when your render is completed, you can set up a webhook and we’ll notify you of any changes. Take a look at our API docs for the full details.

Creatomate’s API works in a similar way, and it goes further on integrations. It has ready-made apps for Zapier, Make, n8n and Pabbly, and it can create versions from a spreadsheet. If your workflow lives in one of those tools, that’s a real advantage.

Pricing

What are the pricing differences?

Edit Square is free to use for as long as you like. You get the full editor in your browser with no sign-up, so you can design and test your templates before you spend anything.

	Edit Square	Creatomate
Free	Full editor, free forever. 720p exports with a watermark	Trial with 50 credits
Designing	Exports from the editor are free and unlimited. $25 a month removes the watermark	Every export uses credits
Automation	$60 a seat each month, or $600 a year. Template forms, the render API and 12.5 minutes of cloud rendering a month	From $54 a month with 2,000 credits
Extra rendering	$4 for 50 credits. One credit is five seconds of render time	Larger plans with more credits

The two charge for rendering in different ways. We charge for the time a render takes on our servers. Creatomate charges by the size and length of the finished video. If you render a very large number of videos, it’s worth comparing both against your own numbers. Take a look at our pricing for the full details.

Note: we’ll never bill you for going over. If you run out of credits, your cloud renders pause until the next month or until you add more.

Beyond video

What about no-code tools and images?

Edit Square is focused on motion graphics. If you’d like a ready-made app for Zapier or Make, or you need to generate images alongside your videos, Creatomate is the tool for that job.

You can still connect Edit Square to a no-code tool. Our API is a standard REST API, so any tool that can send a web request can start a render.

Decide

Which tool is right for you?

Switching

Looking for a Creatomate alternative?

If you’ve been using Creatomate and find that your videos look a little plain, your designer wants better tools, or you’re spending credits just to preview your work, Edit Square solves all three.

• Videos look a little plain? Stack motion presets and add effects in one click.
• Your designer wants better tools? Give them keyframes, expressions and a camera.
• Spending credits on previews? Playback and exports from the editor are free.

Our verdict

Edit Square is the better choice when design matters

For marketing teams, agencies and developers who want their automated videos to look hand-made, Edit Square is the better choice. Your designer gets a proper motion graphics editor, your team gets a form and your systems get a simple API.

Creatomate is still a good tool if integrations matter more to you than the editor. If your workflow depends on its no-code apps, stay where you are.

If you’re on the fence, open the editor and rebuild one of your templates. It’s free, there’s no sign-up and you’ll know within the first project whether it fits how you work.