Creatomate template modifications vs a Sume Format run input

A Creatomate render swaps content into a template you designed, so the layout never changes; a Sume Format run hands your data to a saved recipe that generates the media, so the result can differ every time. If every output must look identical apart from a name and a price, Creatomate is the better fit. If each output needs new footage, Sume's Format run is the closer match.

Creatomate's request shape is from its create a video by template page and its API introduction, both read on 2026-10-10. Sume's comes from Create a run and the Format API overview.

The Creatomate request

The page shows https://api.creatomate.com/v2/renders with a Bearer token. The body carries a template_id and a modifications object. A simple entry replaces content, such as "Primary-Text": "This text is placed in the video". Dot notation changes an attribute, for example "Primary-Text.font_family": "Montserrat", and an empty object, as in "Outro-Composition": {}, removes an element. The page I read did not list the response fields or render statuses, so this post does not describe them.

The Sume request

A run is POST /v1/formats/{handle}/{slug}/runs. The body must name at least one of instruction, input, previous_run_id or attachments. input is a JSON object you shape yourself, up to 64 top-level keys and 2 MiB, and Sume publishes no field list for it: the Format's recipe reads the keys it knows. Every create needs an Idempotency-Key; a replay with the same key and body returns 200 with idempotency_hit: true instead of 202.

What that means for your integration

Creatomate's contract is narrow and predictable: element names in, a render out. A Sume run is wider and less predictable by design. The recipe decides which tools to call, and the run belongs to a fresh sandbox, so you bind an output_schema and a spend cap to keep it inside bounds. The cap is a ceiling for the run, not a quote, and a number above the Format's own cap is accepted rather than clamped.

Which to pick

Use Creatomate for price tags, name cards and localized end screens, where the only moving part is text and a swapped asset. Use a Sume Format run when the brief changes the footage: a new product shot, a different presenter, a written script. For a template you have already built elsewhere, Creatomate's own documents are the authority; Sume does not import or run its templates.