Dataclay Templater alternative
If you need a local video automation solution for small-scale projects, Dataclay Templater is an option to consider. But if you want a cloud-based video automation solution that offers creative flexibility and frees you from worrying about rendering infrastructure or After Effects crashing mid rendering, then Plainly is the best choice.
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A comparison table
Feature
Plainly
Dataclay Templater
Cloud rendering
Web app
After Effects plugin
API
Limited
Webhook support
Integrate any data source
Paid add-on
Native integrations
12+
Paid add-on
Cloud storage
Team management
Customer support
Paid add-on
Pricing
Starts at $59/month
Starts at $84/licence
Get more done with Plainly
99.9% render success rate since switching to Plainly
91% users replaced 2+ tools with Plainly
42% users finish projects faster
Templater vs Plainly: Which is right for you?
You occasionally have small-scale data-driven video projects with minimal rendering needs.
You have ongoing high-volume creative versioning projects that need to be rendered fast and without hiccups.
You are a freelancer or solo creator skilled in After Effects, with no need for collaboration.
You need to collaborate with your team through the Web App, even with non-native After Effects users.
Your company only allows usage of on-premise solutions.
You need a powerful API to create custom workflows or white-label video automation.
An honest comparison of Plainly as a Dataclay Templater alternative.
Templater vs Plainly pricing
Templater had a 2.8x price increase last year. Since it's a local-based solution you'll have to pause your work to render or shell out even more cash for a render infrastructure.
Besides that, if you want to use the full capabilities of their API you would need to buy their QUE add-on which is also not cheap. Oh, and Templater is seat-based, meaning you need to buy licenses for each team member.
Plainly pricing is simple. We charge based on usage, with no add-ons, hidden fees or seat-based pricing.
Cloud rendering vs Local rendering
The default for Templater is local rendering, and if you ever used After Effects you know how unstable it can be.
This means your batch can be stopped at any point due to After Effects crashes. Additionally, being limited to rendering on your own machine stops you from working on other tasks.
With Plainly, a product alternative to Templater, the default is cloud rendering, eliminating the issues associated with local rendering and After Effects stability. Scale up your production as much as you need – without any worry.
Using any data source
For you to use another source besides Google Sheets in Templater, you need to buy their other product QUE, which as mentioned above is not cheap.
Plainly gives you access to the API and native integrations to popular tools at no additional cost. You can create your own custom integrations and use any data source, such as other APIs, databases, or google spreadsheets.
This flexibility will allow you to build the exact workflow you need, and maximize efficiency.
Distributing videos
Since it’s mainly used for local rendering, Templater stores your videos on your local machine. If you want to push your videos to other tools you'll have to purchase their add-on which is currently in beta.
Publishing to cloud storage providers or websites like YouTube and Vimeo is supported natively in Plainly and enabled in a few clicks.
Whitelabel video production
To unlock the full Templater API, you'll have to buy the Bot plan and QUE add-on. On top of that, you'll have to set up your own render infrastructure. Patching everything together and making it work without hiccups is a nightmare of its own.
Plainly is an API-first solution. You can set up templates, render and distribute videos via API. That's why Fortune 100 companies trust plainly to be their rendering engine in the backend.
Team & project management
Although an After Effects plugin might be nice, we realize that not everybody has or uses After Effects. That’s why we built a dedicated Web App that allows you to upload your After Effects project and select the dynamic elements.
This way you can keep all of your projects, team members, and renders in one centralized place which makes management a piece of cake.
Support should be included
If you want to talk to a real person on Templater you need to pay extra, which again can add to the overall cost of using them.
They do offer a support forum for free which is pretty useful and it’s got a ton of useful solutions… but sometimes you just need an expert that’s going to solve your problem immediately.
That’s how our support works – you won’t need to pay anything or waste any time scrolling the forums.
Some of our happy clients
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Dataclay Templater Alternative - that’s Plainly
Switching from Templater to Plainly can be scary, that’s why we are giving you a 60-day money-back guarantee. If you're not completely satisfied with our platform, simply let us know, and we'll refund your purchase.
We literally had team members saying "It's like magic".
Plainly team was amazing helping us bring everything to production, it's obvious that customer satisfaction is super important to them. To anyone who wants to automate video production, we recommend Plainly over any other alternative on the market!
Lead Technical Artist / Eterlast