Comparison · Repeat PDFs and images from HTML, templates, and data
thirds.ai vs cloudlayer.io
Both tools make PDFs and images from HTML or a saved design, and both have a visual editor and an API. They differ in how you build the design, where the finished file goes, and what happens when a delivery fails.
We aren't connected to cloudlayer.io. cloudlayer.io is a trademark of its owner. We checked cloudlayer.io's features and prices on 12 September 2026. Numbers marked (vendor claim) come from cloudlayer.io. Where we say which tool fits, or that we didn't find a feature, that's our opinion.
- 1 credit
- makes 1 PDF or image
- 50 credits
- free every month, no card
- $29
- a month for Starter, with 2,500 credits
- 4 formats
- PDF, PNG, JPEG, and WebP
Try it yourself
Test the same job in both tools
Make the same monthly report and campaign image in both, with two sets of details. Check the CSS, fonts, page breaks, and photo crops, and what your code gets back when the file is done. If you turn a private or script-heavy page into a file, test its login and load wait too.
Feature by feature
Side by side
| What you need | thirds.ai | cloudlayer.io |
|---|---|---|
| Inputs | Describe it to the AI, paste your own HTML, or upload a picture that becomes a design you can edit. Your code can also send plain HTML without saving a design. | Raw HTML, a reachable URL, or a saved Nunjucks template with JSON data. Its visual editor can also start from a blank canvas or an AI prompt (vendor claim). |
| Outputs | PDF, PNG, JPEG, and WebP. | PDF, PNG, JPEG, and WebP from HTML, URLs, or templates (vendor claim). |
| Template editing | A visual editor and an AI chat work on the same HTML design. Saved versions never change. | A visual drag-and-drop editor and an HTML code view for one template, with Nunjucks data fields, live preview, and an AI starting mode (vendor claim). |
| Brand kits | Save your logo, colours, and fonts once, and your designs can use them. | Font, colour, image, and logo controls are available in templates (vendor claim). We did not find one saved brand kit that applies them across templates in the docs we read (our reading). |
| API and MCP | A REST API at /v1/pdf, /v1/image, and /v1/templates, plus an MCP server for AI agents. Webhook events retry up to eight times. | A v1 sync API and v2 job API, webhooks, an MCP server, asset endpoints, and official SDKs for several languages (vendor claim). Its webhook guide says delivery gets one attempt, with job polling as the fallback (vendor claim). |
| Integrations | The web app, the API, and MCP. | Zapier actions, Integrately, SDKs, the REST API, and MCP (vendor claim). Its Zapier page lists 5,000+ connected apps (vendor figure). |
| Storage | Files stay in your account for 30 days. Each download link works for 15 minutes, and you can get a new link while the file is there. | A sync response with no storage, managed cloud storage, or a customer S3-compatible bucket on Growth and Business plans (vendor claim). |
| Pricing model | One credit makes one PDF or image. Starter is $29 a month for 2,500 credits. Extra credits cost $0.015 each on a paid plan, and packs start at $10 for 500 credits. | Its pricing page says one PDF or image is one document regardless of pages or size (vendor claim). Starter is $49 a month for 5,000 documents and 5 GB of cloud storage. It says overage is billed at a dashboard rate that is not public on that page (vendor claim). |
| Free tier | 50 free credits a month for a verified account, no card. Making a design with AI or from a picture costs 50 credits, and free credits don't pay for it. | A 30-day trial with no card and full editor, API, and template access (vendor claim). We did not find a monthly free plan on the pricing page (our reading). |
| Where it fits | Teams that want their brand saved once, pictures turned into designs, files kept for 30 days, and webhooks that retry. | Teams that capture URLs or need SDKs, Zapier, flexible storage, or several API response modes (our judgment). |
Read before you decide
Limits on both sides
thirds.ai limits
- It doesn't capture a reachable page URL as a PDF or image.
- It doesn't offer ready Zapier or Integrately links.
- It doesn't publish official language SDKs.
- It doesn't send files to your own S3-compatible bucket or offer a no-storage sync response.
- It doesn't convert DOCX files or merge PDFs.
cloudlayer.io limits we found
- It does not show a source-image import that rebuilds a picture as an editable branded template (our reading).
- It does not show one saved brand kit for logos, colours, and fonts across templates in the docs we read (our reading).
- Its pricing page lists a 30-day trial, but no monthly free plan (our reading).
- Its webhook delivery makes one attempt and does not retry automatically. The vendor tells customers to poll the Jobs API as a fallback (vendor claim).
- The public pricing page does not state its overage rate or the retention period for managed files. Both values need a dashboard or account check (our reading).
Pricing
How we compared prices
- We checked both pricing pages on 12 September 2026. Prices can change, so check the cloudlayer.io pricing page and our pricing page before you decide.
- One thirds.ai credit makes one PDF of up to 100 pages, or one image. The AI uses credits too. It costs 50 to build a new design or rebuild one from a picture, and 25 for a later AI edit. A file that fails costs nothing. See credits and billing.
- cloudlayer.io says each PDF or image counts as one document regardless of page count or file size (vendor claim). Its public pricing page does not say how a failed generation affects that count.
- cloudlayer.io Starter is $49 a month for 5,000 documents, and thirds.ai Starter is $29 a month for 2,500 credits. Every thirds.ai plan includes the visual editor, brand kits, the API, and MCP. Storage, SDKs, AI costs, integrations, and delivery rules differ.
- cloudlayer.io offers a 30-day trial. thirds.ai gives 50 credits every month. Free credits don't pay for AI, so an AI build needs trial credits, a credit pack, or a paid plan.
Switching
Moving from cloudlayer.io
Move one HTML template and its JSON data first. cloudlayer.io templates use Nunjucks fields and call /v2/template/pdf or /v2/template/image. thirds.ai templates use MiniJinja and call /v1/pdf or /v1/image with template_id, an exact version, and data. Variable, loop, and condition syntax is similar, but filters and helper functions can differ. Check each field, font, page break, and output format.
If you use URL capture, prepare the final HTML in your app before you send it to thirds.ai. If you use customer storage, collect the thirds.ai file from its signed link and save it yourself. Replace the cloudlayer.io job and asset response with the thirds.ai job status, and replace one-attempt callbacks with signed webhook events. Then follow Use templates with your data to pin the version and validate the input.
Checked and dated
Sources
- https://cloudlayer.io/pricing/, checked 12 September 2026
- https://cloudlayer.io/docs/api-overview/, checked 12 September 2026
- https://cloudlayer.io/docs/visual-editor/, checked 12 September 2026
- https://cloudlayer.io/docs/template-to-image/, checked 12 September 2026
- https://cloudlayer.io/docs/storage/, checked 12 September 2026
- https://cloudlayer.io/docs/webhooks/, checked 12 September 2026
- https://cloudlayer.io/docs/mcp-setup/, checked 12 September 2026
- https://cloudlayer.io/integrations/zapier/, checked 12 September 2026
- thirds.ai facts come from our pricing page, API reference, and billing guide.
Try the same job here
Open the Campaign results report design and type in two reporting periods. A developer can then use the template data guide to make the next PDF from code and check its webhook.
Change the details and make a real file for free. It has a watermark. Sign in to keep working on the same design with the same details.