IMG.LY vs. Pintura

Looking for deep integration, scalability, and a full-featured design editor? With IMG.LY, you get much more than basic image editing. See why CreativeEditor SDK is the best alternative to Pintura.

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500M+

video and photo creations are powered by IMG.LY every month
HP
Shopify
Reuters
Hootsuite
Semrush
Shutterfly
Sprout Social
One.com
Constant Contact
Your partner in crime

What makes IMG.LY the best Pintura alternative?

Fully-Featured Design & Video Editor

Our SDK has matured in demanding environments, powering 500+ million creations per month.

UI Customization & White-Labeling

Full UI customization and white-label capabilities to match your branding and use case.

Extensibility & Plugin System

Supports custom plugins and extensibility, enabling seamless integration of new tools, automation features, and industry-specific workflows.

Cross-Platform

Our SDK is optimized across platforms ensuring consistent rendering and interoperability.

What Our Clients Say About Us

IMG.LY’s solution engineers did a deep dive on our business case and helped us implement a custom print kiosk UI.

André Albrecht
Digital Solution Manager
 @ 
Brother

Our customers create over a million personalized postcards each year choosing from over hundreds of templates with IMG.LY’s SDK. It’s the only solution that allows us to build our own specialized, on-brand UI that integrates seamlessly with our platform.

Jeanine Zaalberg
Product Manager
 @ 
Swiss Post

Our app has photo-editing at the very core of its experience and the editor has been invaluable in making that vision happen. There are no other tools on the market up to the quality of PE.SDK.

Toby Green
Lead Developer
 @ 
Elbi

IMG.LY vs. Pintura at a Glance

Features

IMG.LY

Pintura

Advanced Design Editing

Full-featured design and video editor for images, video, and compositions.

Supports both basic and advanced editing workflows and video editing extensions.

Customization & White-Labeling

Fully customizable UI with theming and full white-label options.

Offers UI customization and white-labeling.

Advanced Video Editing

Multi-track video editing with overlays, transitions, and automation.

Offers video editing capabilities through its Video Editor extension.

Templating & Automation

Advanced template workflows and programmatic design with dynamic placeholders.

No templating system; manual image editing only.

Plugin System

Extensible with plugins for tailored functionality and workflows.

Offers a modular plugin system.

Framework & Platform Support

Cross-platform: Web, iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter, Electron, macOS, Node.js.

Web-based only; integrates with React, Vue, Angular.

Creative Automation

Headless API for automated design generation, batch processing, and generative AI.

Offers headless and automation capabilities for image processing.

File Format Compatibility

PSD, INDD, AI import; scene export for saving and re-editing designs.

Works with standard image formats (JPG, PNG); no layered design file support.

Asset Libraries

Integrates Unsplash, Getty Images, and custom libraries out of the box.

No built-in asset library integrations.

Enterprise Support

Dedicated support team, SLAs, custom onboarding, and rapid feature delivery.

Varying levels of support based on the chosen license.

IMG.LY

Pintura

Advanced Design Editing

Full-featured design and video editor for images, video, and compositions.

Lightweight image editor focused on cropping, resizing, filtering, and retouching with optional video editing extension for basic video manipulation.

Customization & White-Labeling

Fully customizable UI with theming and full white-label options.

Some visual customization via config, but limited UI control.

Advanced Video Editing

Multi-track video editing with overlays, transitions, and automation.

Basic video editing (trim, crop, rotate) via separate Video Editor extension.

Templating & Automation

Advanced template workflows and programmatic design with dynamic placeholders.

No templating system; manual image editing only.

Plugin System

Extensible with plugins for tailored functionality and workflows.

No plugin system; functionality is fixed.

Framework & Platform Support

Cross-platform: Web, iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter, Electron, macOS, Node.js.

Web-based only; integrates with React, Vue, Angular.

Creative Automation

Headless API for automated design generation, batch processing, and generative AI.

No headless or automation capabilities.

File Format Compatibility

PSD, INDD, AI import; scene export for saving and re-editing designs.

Works with standard image formats (JPG, PNG); no layered design file support.

Asset Libraries

Integrates Unsplash, Getty Images, and custom libraries out of the box.

No built-in asset library integrations.

Enterprise Support

Dedicated support team, SLAs, custom onboarding, and rapid feature delivery.

Single-developer project with limited support capacity.

Everything you need

Key Capabilities

Learn more about some of the functionalities of IMG.LY’s SDK

Editing

Transform

A globe
Web
Mobile

Crop, flip, and rotate with ease. Preset crop ratios to common formats.

Filters

A globe
Web
Mobile

Over 60 state-of-the-art filters allow users to control the style and mood of their creations.

Adjustments

A globe
Web
Mobile

Fine-tune designs with an exhaustive set of adjustment operations such as brightness and contrast.

Effect & Blur

A globe
Web
Mobile

Add a unique mood to designs with effects & blur.

Element Snapping

A globe
Web
Mobile

Snap stickers and text to control points for more precise placements.

Blend Modes & Grouping

A globe
Web
Mobile

Define the blending behavior and grouping.

Undo & Redo

A globe
Web
Mobile

Allow users to undo and redo all editing operations.

Printing

Cutout Lines

A globe
Web
Mobile

Create and customize cutout shapes for web-to-print.

CMYK/ Spot color support

A globe
Web
Mobile

Integrate CMYK and Pantone color spaces, customized color libraries, including your brand's colors.

Templating

Design Templates

A globe
Web
Mobile

Create role based design templates to jumpstart users’ creativity.

Text Variables

A globe
Web
Mobile

Enable mass personalization and creative automation by embedding variables.

Placeholders & Lockable Designs

A globe
Web
Mobile

Constrain templates to guide your users’ design and ensure brand consistency.

Configurable Presets

A globe
Web
Mobile

Enforce a consistent aesthetic across all creations by using preset filters, adjustments, fonts, and crop ratios.

Customizability

Build Custom UIs

A globe
Web
Mobile

Use the headless API powering all creative operations to implement an entirely custom UI.

Theming

A globe
Web
Mobile

Change the editor theme to fit seamlessly with your app.

Media Libraries

A globe
Web
Mobile

Set up custom libraries that are easily sortable.

Toolbar Customization

A globe
Web
Mobile

Reposition toolbar elements, change icons, or rename tools to fit your use case.

Internationalization

A globe
Web
Mobile

Add support for additional languages, and customize any button label.

Export Options

A globe
Web
Mobile

Export designs in JPG, PNG, or PDF with custom quality, page ranges, and dimensions.

And there’s more

Check Out Other Use Cases

Learn more about related social media solutions.
Web2Print Designer

Web2Print Designer

Elevate your Web2Print application with best-in-class Design Editor.
Learn MoreOpen Showcase
Creative Automation

Creative Automation

Automate & scale content creation with ease.
Learn MoreOpen Showcase
Variable Data Printing

Variable Data Printing

Enable mass-personalization in your design & print workflows.
Learn MoreOpen Showcase
Photo Prints

Photo Prints

Provide seamless design experience and inspire users with easily personalized templates.
Learn MoreOpen Showcase
Print Personalization

Print Personalization

Streamline personalization for your print products.
Learn MoreOpen Showcase
Apparel Designer

Apparel Designer

Whether t-shirts, hoodies or caps, build for any use case, deploy on any platform.
Learn MoreOpen Showcase

More from IMG.LY

IMG.LY for Brands & Agencies

Automate design processes and generate on-brand marketing materials with ease.
Learn More

IMG.LY for Marketing Tech

Scale and automate any creative workflow.
Learn More

Camera SDK

Make in-app recording easy with our Camera SDK.
Learn More

Photo Editor SDK

Bring beautiful photo editing to your applications.
Learn More

Creative Editor SDK

Empower your users with an easy-to-use design editor.
Learn More

IMG.LY for Social Media

Unleash your users' creativity & leverage user generated content.
Learn More

IMG.LY for DAM

Empower users to create, collaborate , and automate design tasks in your app.
Learn More

Video Editor SDK

Powerful video editor for your iOS, Android, and web applications.
Learn More

More to discover

Explore Our Demos

See how IMG.LY looks and feels.
Check out our
demos

Get in Touch

Contact our sales team to learn more about licensing options and get access to our AI plugins for CE.SDK.

Contact SalesFree Trial

FAQs

What’s the best Pintura alternative?

If you're looking for a powerful, extensible, and scalable solution, IMG.LY is a great alternative to Pintura. It goes beyond basic image editing with support for advanced design and video workflows, automation, and deep customization options ideal for SaaS products, creative tools, and enterprise applications.

What are the key differences between IMG.LY and Pintura?

While Pintura focuses on lightweight image editing with optional video trimming, IMG.LY offers a full creative suite. Key differences include multi-track video editing, template-based workflows, automation via headless APIs, cross-platform support, plugin extensibility, and enterprise-grade features like dedicated support and scalability.

Can I use both solutions for advanced video editing or social media content creation?

No, Pintura's video editing capabilities are limited to basic manipulations. IMG.LY supports full video editing, including multi-track editing, overlays, transitions, and automation, making it more suitable for social media content creation.

Which solution is better for integrating into a SaaS product?

IMG.LY offers more flexibility, scalability, and white-labeling options, making it ideal for SaaS platforms targeting various industries.

Does Pintura support automation or headless editing?

No, Pintura is a purely manual editor. IMG.LY offers a headless API for batch processing and programmatic design generation.

Can I customize the entire UI in both solutions?

Pintura allows minor UI tweaks via configuration but does not support deep customization or full theming like IMG.LY does.

What platforms does each editor support?

Pintura is web-only. IMG.LY works across web, mobile (iOS/Android), and even in native desktop environments via Electron and macOS.

Which one supports plugins or extending the editor's functionality?

Only IMG.LY supports a plugin system that allows you to build and integrate custom tools into the editor.

What kind of design workflows are possible with IMG.LY that Pintura doesn't offer?

Templating, dynamic content insertion, smart layout constraints, and multi-layer editing—none of which are available in Pintura.