What IMG.LY does

IMG.LY GmbH, headquartered in Bochum, Germany, develops and licenses the CreativeEditor SDK (CE.SDK), a cross-platform software development kit for embedding photo, video, and design editing capabilities into third-party applications. The SDK is built on a proprietary C++ rendering engine that uses WebGL on the web, Metal on iOS, and native GPU pipelines on Android, desktop, and server, and is architected around a scene-based non-destructive editing model that preserves the full editable state of a composition independent of its export. CE.SDK ships with editor modules (Design, Photo, Video, AI, Print), engine/API modules (Headless Design Engine, Creative Automation, Server-Side Video Rendering, AI Gateway), and the CE.SDK Renderer for server-side batch rendering, and is currently deployed across web, mobile, desktop, and server environments powering more than 500 million creations per month.

The company sells SDK licenses to product teams under subscription terms with usage-based components (monthly active users, exports) and separately negotiated enterprise contracts, supported by a hybrid go-to-market combining self-service developer onboarding with direct enterprise sales. Its 600+ customer base includes platform companies such as Shopify, HP, Reuters, Shutterfly, Hootsuite, and Semrush, alongside advertising and print customers like Omneky, Plai, Digitas Germany, and SwissPost, spanning verticals including print, digital asset management, social media, marketing technology, e-commerce, e-learning, brands and agencies, and website builders. Revenue is generated through license fees, usage-based charges, and optional professional services with service-level commitments, and pricing is not publicly disclosed. Distribution is primarily through direct SDK download, direct enterprise sales, and OEM/embedded white-label deployment into customer products.

IMG.LY operates as an independent private company with no disclosed funding rounds, parent company, or institutional investor ownership signals. The product roadmap in 2025 has emphasized AI capability packaging through the AI Gateway and AI Editor modules, CE.SDK Agent Skills for AI coding assistants, and server-side rendering infrastructure, positioning the company as a white-label creative editing layer for both human users and AI-driven creative automation workflows.

Name

IMG.LY

Legal name

IMG.LY GmbH

Website

https://img.ly

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

IMG.LY builds the CreativeEditor SDK (CE.SDK), a cross-platform white-label SDK for embedding photo, video, and design editing into third-party applications. It serves 600+ product teams including Shopify, HP, Reuters, and Shutterfly via subscription and usage-based enterprise licensing.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Creative SDK (Software Development Kit)

NAICS

Software Publishers (51321)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Developer Tooling & SDK Platforms (BPAMAOAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Developer Portals, SDKs & Documentation Platforms (BPAMADAG), AI Application Enablement Platforms (Copilot/Agent Frameworks, SDKs) (HDAEANAJ)

Keywords

• Creative editing SDK
• Photo editing SDK
• Video editing SDK
• White-label editor
• Creative automation

Headquarters

HQ city

Bochum

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. SDK Licensing (Subscription): Software license fees based on subscription terms (monthly or annual Payment Periods). License fees are due upon execution of Order Form and then at commencement of each further Payment Period. Supports usage-based pricing models based on monthly active users or number of exports, and company size-based eligibility thresholds.
2. Usage-Based Pricing: Order Forms can include usage-based pricing models based on factors such as monthly active users or number of exports. Device identifiers (identifierForVendor on iOS, ANDROID_ID on Android) track usage for billing.
3. Extended Trial Periods: Extended trial periods subject to License Fees for customers testing the Software before committing to regular Subscription Term.
4. Professional Services: Solutions team offers support tiered to license level. Separate Service Level Agreement may be offered detailing specific availability commitments against additional remuneration.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

IMG.LY develops and licenses the CreativeEditor SDK (CE.SDK), a cross-platform software development kit that enables businesses to embed fully customizable photo, video, design, AI-assisted, and print-ready editing capabilities directly into their own web, mobile, desktop, and server applications. The SDK is sold via white-label subscription and usage-based licenses and is accompanied by a headless rendering API for programmatic automation and an AI Gateway that unifies access to 30+ generative models.

Product overview

IMG.LY offers the CreativeEditor SDK (CE.SDK), a unified creative editing platform comprising multiple integrated modules: Design Editor for template-based visual design, Photo Editor for image editing with AI tools, Video Editor for multi-track video creation, AI Editor for refining generative AI outputs, and Print Editor for CMYK/PDF-X print workflows. Supporting web (JavaScript, React, Vue, Angular, Svelte, Next.js), mobile (iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter), desktop (Electron, macOS), and server (Node.js) deployment, CE.SDK delivers 500+ million creations monthly. Related engines include the headless Design Engine for programmatic rendering, Creative Automation for batch variant generation, Server-Side Video Rendering, and AI Gateway for managed generative AI model access. The platform is white-label with deep customization, GPU-accelerated rendering (WebGL on web, Metal on iOS, native GPU on Android), and client-side processing with no data transmission to IMG.LY servers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• CreativeEditor SDK (CE.SDK) Primary design engine SDK enabling fully customizable photo, video, and design editing with template-based workflows, white-label UI, AI-powered features, and a headless programmatic rendering API. Runs across web (JavaScript, React, Vue, Angular, Svelte, Next.js, Nuxt.js, SvelteKit), mobile (iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter), desktop (Electron, macOS, Mac Catalyst), and server (Node.js). Powers 500+ million creations monthly and is licensed to enterprise product teams including Shopify, HP, Reuters, Shutterfly, Hootsuite, and Semrush.
• AI Gateway Managed AI layer providing unified API access to 30+ generative image, video, text, and voice models (including DALL-E, Ideogram, Recraft, Flux, Firefly, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion). Designed for developers and product teams integrating generative AI capabilities into their applications without locking into a single model provider.

Quantifiable outcome

• 500+ million creations per month in production environments
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

AI capability8 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Getty ImagescoreTechnology or IntegrationOut-of-the-box integration with Getty Images stock library. Allows CE.SDK users to access and incorporate licensed Getty imagery directly within the creative editor.
• UnsplashcoreTechnology or IntegrationDirect integration with Unsplash stock photo library. Enables CE.SDK users to search and use Unsplash images within design workflows.
• PexelscoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegrated stock photography from Pexels. CE.SDK users can access Pexels library directly within the editor.
• SoundstripecoreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership for royalty-free music and audio integration. Enables CE.SDK users to add licensed music tracks to video and multimedia content.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Banuba: Banuba offers face-tracking AR, video, and photo editing SDKs that compete head-to-head with IMG.LY's Photo and Video Editors across mobile and web. Both sell embeddable, white-label creative SDKs to app developers and product teams.
• Picsart: Picsart's Creative APIs and SDKs provide embeddable photo and video editing, background removal, and AI tools to developers and enterprises — overlapping closely with IMG.LY's CE.SDK modules and target developer buyer.
• Shotstack: Shotstack provides a programmatic video editing and rendering API for automated video generation at scale, directly comparable to IMG.LY's Headless Design Engine and Server-Side Video Rendering for batch creative automation.
• Photoroom: Photoroom offers an AI photo editing API/SDK for e-commerce and product imagery, including background removal and batch processing — a direct overlap with IMG.LY's Photo Editor and Creative Automation use cases for e-commerce.
• Polotno: Polotno provides a JavaScript design editor SDK for building Canva-like web apps; it is named in IMG.LY's own comparison materials and competes for the same template-based design SDK use cases.
• Konva.js: Konva is an open-source 2D canvas framework for the web that competes as a lower-level alternative for developers building custom editors, and is explicitly referenced in IMG.LY's competitive comparisons.

Broad incumbents

• Canva: Canva is a broad design platform that also offers a Connect/Apps SDK and extensive template-based design tooling, competing with IMG.LY for the embedded editing experience across martech, e-commerce, and education customers.
• Figma: Figma is a design and prototyping platform with an embed/plugin ecosystem (Dev Mode, Figma plugins) that overlaps with IMG.LY's developer tooling positioning, especially for product teams building design-aware applications.
• Pixlr: Pixlr is a long-standing browser-based photo editor with API/embed offerings, comparable to IMG.LY's Photo Editor as a broader incumbent in the same embed/SDK creative editing space.

Others

• Replicate: Replicate is an AI model hosting and inference API that underpins a wave of generative image, video, and voice features — adjacent to IMG.LY's AI Gateway rather than directly competitive, but shaping buyer expectations for model-agnostic AI access.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/imgly

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about IMG.LY