Nubu vs Plainly: which After Effects automation fits you?
An honest comparison of Nubu and Plainly for After Effects automation: pricing, workflow depth, APIs, and which teams each tool genuinely suits.
Nubu and Plainly solve the same core problem: you have an After Effects template, a spreadsheet of variations, and nowhere near enough hours to render them by hand. Both take real .aep projects and render the variations for you in the cloud. From there the two products diverge sharply, so the honest version of this page starts with a verdict for each.
Choose Plainly if you are a developer, or a solo motion designer with serious render volume: it is a mature video automation service with a developer-friendly API and metered pricing, pitched on its own homepage as creating "data-driven videos on autopilot".
Choose Nubu if you are a team: it wraps the same real After Effects rendering in a visual flow editor, a review and approval workflow with comments and roles, and direct delivery of finished ads into Meta and Google Ads as paused ads.
Nubu is our product, so read this the way you would read any vendor's comparison page. We have kept every Plainly claim below to what their own site states, attributed their prices to their pricing page, and conceded the areas where Plainly is genuinely the better buy. If you want the whole market rather than a head-to-head, start with our guide to Plainly alternatives instead.
Nubu vs Plainly at a glance
| Capability | Nubu | Plainly |
|---|---|---|
| After Effects rendering | Yes. Every render runs through genuine After Effects in Nubu's cloud, preserving template fidelity | Yes. Upload AE templates and render data-driven variations in the cloud |
| Data-driven batch creation | Yes. CSV datasets up to 5,000 rows and 40 columns; one build produces up to 5,000 creatives | Yes. Connect a data source and render variations on autopilot |
| Node-based flow editor with live diagnostics | Yes. Campaigns are a visual graph; problems surface as you build, not at render time | Not part of their published product |
| Public API and JSON-to-video | No public API today | Yes. A developer-friendly video editing API and JSON-to-video rendering |
| Review and approval workflow | Yes. Comments with @mentions, roles, and approval is what queues the render | Not listed on their site |
| Direct push to Meta and Google Ads | Yes, on Business+. Paused ads in Meta; paused Demand Gen ads and Performance Max asset groups in Google Ads | Integrations via their API and Zapier ecosystem, as they advertise |
| In-app AI generation | Yes, on Business+. Gemini images and Veo 3.1 video, using your own provider keys | Not listed on their site |
| Brand glossaries driving AI translation | Yes, on Business+. Per-market tone plus approved and forbidden terms | Not listed on their site |
| Ready-made template gallery | No. Bring your own .aep templates | Yes. A template gallery plus an After Effects expressions library |
| Media-buyer manifest with downloads | Yes. Every render ZIP includes a CSV of file names, placements, all ad copy and UTMs | Not listed on their site |
| Live collaboration | Yes. Real-time presence and conflict-safe editing in the flow editor | Not listed on their site |
| Track record | Newer product | Several years in market; case studies include WPP Production, UNICEF Australia and Leads.io; an Adobe "Video Technology Partner" badge |
| Pricing model | Per-seat, in GBP with VAT included; free plan; trial without a card | Metered by render minutes, from $69 per month as listed; 14-day free trial |
Three rows in that table deserve emphasis because they favour Plainly. First, the API: Plainly offers a developer-friendly video editing API and JSON-to-video rendering, and Nubu has no public API today. If your renders must be triggered from your own code, that alone may settle the decision. Second, track record: Plainly has been shipping for years, publishes a large blog and around fourteen solution pages, displays an Adobe "Video Technology Partner" badge, and lists case studies including WPP Production, UNICEF Australia and Leads.io. Nubu is the newer product, and you should weigh that honestly. Third, the gallery: Plainly maintains ready-made templates and an After Effects expressions library, while Nubu is strictly bring-your-own .aep.
Pricing: render minutes vs seats
The two pricing models are structurally different, and the difference matters more than any headline number.
Plainly meters render minutes. As listed on their pricing page: Starter at $69 per month with 50 render minutes, then Explorer at $134, Team at $259, Pro at $649, Unlimited at $1,500+, and a custom Enterprise tier, with plans metered by render minutes. They offer a 14-day free trial, and a 60-day money-back offer appears on their comparison pages.
Nubu meters seats. Prices are in GBP and include VAT. Every plan is a base fee plus a per-seat fee, and yearly billing saves 20%.
- Free: £0. One member, 10 GB of storage.
- Starter: £29 per month plus £12 per seat. Up to 5 members, 10 GB of storage per member.
- Pro: £79 per month plus £24 per seat. Up to 10 members, 100 GB per member, priority render queue.
- Business+: £199 per month plus £39 per seat. Unlimited members, 200 GB per member, a dedicated priority queue, and this is the tier that carries the AI features and the Meta and Google Ads integrations.
A worked example makes the shape obvious. A four-person in-house team on Nubu Pro pays £79 plus four seats at £24, which is £175 per month, or £140 per month equivalent on yearly billing. That figure does not move with output: a month of heavy builds costs the same as a quiet month. On a render-minute model the same team's bill follows how much they render, so steady, meaningful volume prices you by output, and where you land between $69 and $1,500+ depends on your minutes against Plainly's allowances.
Now reverse it. A solo motion designer with burst volume, quiet most months with the occasional big campaign, is exactly who metered pricing suits: one person never pays per-teammate fees, and Plainly's $69 Starter with its listed 50 render minutes is a low floor to idle on. On Nubu, a solo account is the Free plan or Starter at £41 per month for a single seat, which is cheaper still. But the moment that freelancer wants in-app AI generation or direct Meta and Google delivery, they need Business+ at £238 per month for one seat, and that is a lot for one person. For a solo, high-volume motion designer, Plainly's model will usually cost less. We would rather tell you that here than have you discover it on a billing screen.
One footnote when comparing the columns: Plainly's prices are in USD, Nubu's are in GBP with VAT already included, so the numbers are not directly equivalent.
Which should you choose?
| Your situation | Lean towards | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Solo motion designer | Plainly, usually | Metered pricing fits solo economics, and you get the API and template gallery. Nubu Free or Starter (£0 to £41 per month) fits if you want the flow editor and can live without AI and ad delivery. |
| Small studio, 2 to 6 people | Depends on how you work | If colleagues review and approve inside the tool, Nubu Starter or Pro. If the studio is developer-led and renders via code, Plainly. |
| In-house performance team | Nubu Business+ | Review roles, comments, brand glossaries, and finished ads pushed into Meta and Google Ads as paused objects, with a manifest for the media buyer. |
| Enterprise | Talk to both | Plainly lists Unlimited at $1,500+ and custom Enterprise; Nubu Business+ has unlimited members. Run the same template through both trials before committing. |
The workflow Nubu adds around the render
Rendering is the middle of the job, not the whole of it. Where Plainly concentrates on being an excellent render engine with an API, Nubu builds the before and the after into the product. This is the heart of the difference, and it is easier shown than told. If the category is new to you, our explainer on what creative advertising automation is sets the scene.
A visual flow editor with live diagnostics. In Nubu, a campaign is a node graph: templates, CSV datasets, assets, AI steps and outputs connected on one canvas (flows overview). Datasets accept CSVs up to 5,000 rows and 40 columns. If/Else nodes route rows down different branches, and auto-pairing wires generated variants together from the data itself, so mass wiring never becomes your job. The editor diagnoses problems live while you build rather than failing at render time, and one build produces up to 5,000 creatives: the same flow and the same data always produce the same set.
Here is the interactive version, a live node graph you can prod:
Review and approval before anything renders. Builds land in a review state, not a render queue. Teammates comment with @mentions directly on creatives, roles control who may approve, and approval is the act that queues the render. Nothing consumes render capacity or moves towards an ad account because someone clicked the wrong thing.
Direct delivery into Meta and Google Ads. On Business+, approved and rendered creatives push into Meta as paused ads, and into Google Ads as paused Demand Gen ads and paused Performance Max asset groups (connecting Meta, connecting Google Ads). Everything arrives paused, so a human always flips the final switch. Plainly's route to other platforms is its API and Zapier ecosystem, as they advertise, which is a more flexible model if you have engineers and a much less direct one if you do not.
Downloads a media buyer can actually use. Every render download is a ZIP that includes a manifest CSV: file names, platform, placement, market, language, every field of ad copy and the full UTM set for each creative. Handing finished work to an external buyer stops being a spreadsheet-reconstruction exercise.
Live collaboration. Flows are multi-user in real time, with presence and conflict-safe editing, so two people can work the same campaign without overwriting each other.
Migrating your templates
Your templates are not locked to any platform. They are the same .aep files you already have, and moving to Nubu is not a rebuild. You run the Nubu builder plugin inside After Effects to export the project as a template package that describes its dynamic fields, then upload the package to your library (exporting your template, uploading a template, templates overview). If you are earlier in the journey and still rendering variations by hand, start with our After Effects automation guide.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use my existing After Effects templates?
Yes. Both products render genuine After Effects projects, so the .aep files you have already built carry over. For Nubu, you export each project with the builder plugin into a template package and upload it; the template docs cover the structure end to end.
Does Nubu have an API like Plainly's?
No. Nubu has no public API today. Plainly offers a video editing API and JSON-to-video rendering, and if you need renders triggered from your own code, Plainly is the stronger choice on that axis. Nubu's automation is built visually in the flow editor instead.
Is Nubu's rendering real After Effects?
Yes. Every render runs through genuine After Effects in Nubu's cloud, which is what preserves your template's fidelity. Every render is traceable: who created it, which template version, which inputs. Outputs are versioned, never overwritten.
Can Nubu publish ads directly to Meta and Google Ads?
Yes, on the Business+ plan. Finished creatives upload into Meta as paused ads, and into Google Ads as paused Demand Gen ads and paused Performance Max asset groups. Nothing goes live until a human enables it inside the ad platform.
How much does Nubu cost for a small team?
A three-person team on Starter pays £29 plus three seats at £12, which is £65 per month including VAT. The same team on Pro pays £151. Yearly billing takes 20% off either. There is a free trial with no credit card required, plus a permanent Free plan for one person; full details are on the pricing page.
Try both, honestly
The cheapest way to settle this is with your own template and your own data. Plainly lists a 14-day free trial, and a 60-day money-back offer appears on their comparison pages. Nubu has a Free plan and a free trial with no credit card required: create an account, upload a template, run a real build, and see whether the workflow fits. The features page has the full capability list, and if neither tool feels right, the wider field is covered in our Plainly alternatives round-up.
