--- title: When to use Creatomate or Shotstack vs invideo description: Creatomate or Shotstack for thousands of renders a day with API keys. invideo for tens of videos that a person runs with an agent, priced before each step. --- Use Creatomate or Shotstack when a server renders thousands of videos a day from a template, with API keys. Use invideo when a person runs tens of videos with an agent, reviews each one on a timeline, and wants a price before each paid step. All three tools render video from a template and data. Creatomate and Shotstack are render APIs for servers. invideo is an editor where each video is a timeline you can open and change. ## One brief, three tools The brief: a 15 second product video for each row of a product spreadsheet, with the name, the price and a photo. **In Creatomate or Shotstack.** You design a template in the online editor, with fields for the name, the price and the photo. Your server sends one API call per row, with an API key, and gets back one MP4 per row. Creatomate also takes the spreadsheet as a CSV, and connects to Zapier, Make and n8n. This scales to large runs with no person in the loop. **In invideo.** Your agent builds one timeline as the template and checks it with `capture`. For each row, it copies the timeline with `duplicate_timeline`, swaps the text with `set_text`, places the row's photo with `insert_media`, and runs `export`. For a large sheet, it runs in parts. Each video stays a timeline, so a person can open one and fix it by hand. ## At a glance Checked on 29 October 2026 against Creatomate's and Shotstack's sites and docs. They may change. | | Creatomate | Shotstack | invideo | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Editable timeline after the cut | A template editor; renders are files | Studio and a white-label editor; renders are files | Yes, every video is a timeline | | Generation | AI voiceovers and AI video by API | AI models | Video, image, voice and music models through `generate` | | Captions | Auto subtitles, in its tutorials | Auto captions with word-level animation, in its docs | `add_captions` from a transcript | | Agent access | An MCP server | An MCP server, a CLI and a skill | CLI and skills for terminal agents; MCP server for clients without a shell | | Project files out | MP4 and images | Video files | MP4, or a project for Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro or DaVinci Resolve | | Offline | No, it renders in the cloud | No, it renders in the cloud | No, invideo runs in the cloud | | Batch | Spreadsheets, CSV and API calls at volume | "Render thousands of videos in minutes" | `duplicate_timeline`, `set_text` and `export` per row, run in parts | | Sign-in | API keys | Sandbox and production API keys | No API keys; a signed-in person | ## Use Creatomate or Shotstack when These tools are built for render volume. - You render thousands of videos a day, with no person watching. - Your server calls the API with a key, on a schedule or from your app. - You want to embed a video editor in your own product (Shotstack's white-label editor, Creatomate's preview SDK). - You run no-code automations in Zapier, Make or n8n (Creatomate). ## Use invideo when invideo fits volume that a person still oversees. - You make tens of videos, not thousands, and a person checks them. - You want each video to stay editable, so one fix does not mean a new render job. - You want a price before each paid step. `dry_run` gives it, and `max_credits` stops any call above it. - You want no API keys to manage. invideo has none, by design: every call runs as a signed-in person. See [Is there an invideo API?](/api). ## Use both Use invideo to design and approve the template with your team, then rebuild the approved look in Creatomate or Shotstack for volume. Or render the bulk in a render API and use invideo for the few videos that need a hand edit. Bring those files in with `add_media`. ## What Creatomate and Shotstack do better Say it plainly. These tools are better at some things. - **Volume.** They are built to render at server scale. invideo runs in parts and is not built for unattended volume. - **Server keys.** A server calls them with an API key. invideo signs in as a person, in the browser or with a device code. - **Embedding.** Shotstack has a white-label editor and Creatomate a preview SDK for your own app. invideo has no embeddable editor. - **No-code automation.** Creatomate connects to Zapier, Make and n8n out of the box. ## Try the brief in invideo Set up your agent first with [invideo for AI agents](/agents). Then give it the brief in your own words, like this. ```text Build one 15 second product video as a template. Then make one copy per row of products.csv with the name, price and photo, and export each. Run it in parts and tell me when each part is done. ``` ## Cost Edits and exports are free in invideo. Generation and transcripts cost credits. Paid stock costs a small credit charge, or one of your workspace's iStock licenses. Your agent runs a dry run first and tells you the price before it spends anything. Prices are on [Credits and what they cost](/account/credits). ## Related - [AI video tools compared, including invideo](/compare/alternatives) - [Is there an invideo API?](/api) - [Turn a CSV into many videos with a script](/how-to/developers/csv-to-videos) - [Run invideo in CI and on servers](/how-to/ci-and-servers) - [Know the cost before you spend](/how-to/cost-before-you-spend)