Crayo API alternative
A Crayo API alternative that bills per rendered minute
Crayo’s developer API is one of the better ones in this category: 34 endpoints, a scene-based project model, transcripts, generation tools and signed webhooks. Two things push developers to look elsewhere. It requires a paid plan, because free accounts have no credits, and its reference states that credits are charged when a request is accepted, even if the job fails. StoryTok’s API is narrower and priced the other way round: pay per minute rendered, keys on any account, and failed jobs refund themselves.
The short version
Same JSON-in, MP4-out idea, billed per rendered minute with refunds on failure.
- Keys on any account; Crayo’s API needs a paid plan because free accounts have no credits.
- One credit per rendered minute, settled on the finished length; Crayo charges on acceptance even if the job fails.
- Five formats, catalog endpoints, presigned uploads and HMAC-signed webhooks. Crayo’s API is broader if you need image or audio generation.
- Packs from $5, nothing renews
- Credits never expire
- 3 free render minutes, no card
- Failed renders and posts refund themselves
A real StoryTok render · 12 s · 1080×1920
| StoryTok | Crayo API | |
|---|---|---|
| Access | Create a key at /settings/developer on any account; spends the same credits as the app | Requires a paid plan; free accounts have no credits or storage |
| Billing | 1 credit per rendered minute; 2 with premium voices; failed jobs refund automatically | Four credit types; charged on acceptance even if the job fails |
| What it renders | Reddit story, texting story, auto captions, split screen (classic or streamer), highlight clips | Projects built from scenes, narration, music and a subtitle style; auto clip |
| Generation tools | AI script writer in the app; not exposed via API | Image generator, icon generator, face swap, voiceover, voice changer, speech enhancer |
| Catalog endpoints | Voices, backgrounds, caption presets, your uploaded music | Voices, languages, subtitle styles, music |
| Uploads | Presigned direct-to-S3 upload, then complete | Signed PUT, then complete; URL import |
| Publishing to social accounts | Not through the API, CLI or MCP server. They render and download. The finished video appears in your StoryTok library, where the web app can post or schedule it to TikTok, Instagram and YouTube if it is eligible | No publishing endpoints found (September 2026) |
| Webhooks | job.completed and job.failed, HMAC-SHA256 in a StoryTok-Signature header with a timestamp | export.completed and export.failed, HMAC-SHA256 in a crayo-signature header; up to 5 endpoints |
| Limits | No request rate limit; at most 3 jobs rendering at once per account | 2 requests/second; 50/min default, 10/min heavy generation, 120/min polling |
| Docs | /developers, with curl examples | api.crayo.ai |
| MCP server / agent tooling | Yes: a local MCP server (the storytok-agent npm package) for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Windsurf and Claude Desktop, plus a CLI and skill file; two-phase cost confirm and a per-key daily cap | None; REST endpoints only (September 2026) |
What a job looks like
A StoryTok job is one JSON document: the format, the script or messages, a voice id from the catalog, a background key, a caption preset, optional music, and for texting stories a theme and a voice per side. You POST it, get a job id, and either poll or wait for the webhook. The finished MP4 is a presigned download URL on the job. Credits are reserved on creation from an estimate, then settled on the measured length of the rendered video, so a 50-second story costs one credit and a job that fails costs nothing.
Crayo’s model is lower level: you upload assets, assemble a project from scenes with start and end times, attach narration and music, and export it, which is more flexible if you are building an editor and more work if you just want the video.
Use it from an agent instead of writing HTTP
If the code you were going to write is a script that calls the API on your behalf, there is a shorter path. The storytok-agent npm package wraps every endpoint as an MCP tool, so Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Windsurf or Claude Desktop can take a request like "make a 45-second Reddit story about my landlord" and do the catalog lookup, the script, the estimate, the render and the download itself. Each creating tool returns a cost estimate first and only renders on a confirmed second call, creation is idempotent, and every key has a daily credit cap, 30 by default. It runs locally with npx and a key; there is no OAuth server and it works on the free trial. Crayo has no equivalent as of September 2026. The install lines are at /developers/agents.
Where the API stops
StoryTok can publish to TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, but only from the web app. The REST API, the CLI and the MCP server cannot publish, schedule or connect a social account; there is no endpoint for it and an agent cannot do it on your behalf. What they produce is a completed job with a presigned MP4 URL, and the same video in your library.
From there you have two paths. Your own code can take the MP4 and upload it wherever you like. Or you open the video in the web app, pick the connected accounts, write the caption and confirm the post, which costs 1 paid credit per account. A video is eligible when it is complete and unwatermarked, so jobs rendered on trial credits can be downloaded but not published. If API publishing is a requirement, this is a gap; Faceless.so’s API and CLI can publish and schedule, per its developer docs (checked 18 September 2026).
Choose Crayo’s API when
- You need image generation, face swap, voice changing or audio cleanup from code.
- You want scene-level control over timing rather than a format that composes itself.
- You already pay for a Crayo plan and the credits are sunk.
Choose StoryTok’s API when
- You want to generate story videos from a script or a Reddit post and do not want to assemble scenes.
- You want per-minute billing with no plan and no expiry, and refunds on failures.
- You want to use your own gameplay footage as the background.
- You want the same Autopilot-grade pipeline (rewrite, narrate, caption, render) without running it yourself.
- You are fine with rendering from code and publishing from the web app, or with uploading the MP4 from your own code.
Questions people ask
Does Crayo have an API?
Yes. Crayo publishes a developer API at api.crayo.ai with 34 endpoints covering account, uploads, generation tools, catalogs, transcripts, projects, exports, auto clip and webhooks. It uses the same credits as the app and requires a paid plan.
How is StoryTok’s API billed?
Per rendered minute, from the same pay-as-you-go packs as the app: $5 for 20 credits, $10 for 60, $50 for 360. One credit per minute with included voices, two with premium ElevenLabs voices. Failed jobs refund automatically.
Are webhooks signed?
Yes on both. StoryTok signs each delivery with HMAC-SHA256 over a timestamp and the body, sent as a StoryTok-Signature header, and lets you send a test delivery from the settings page. Crayo uses a similar scheme in a crayo-signature header.
Can the StoryTok API post a video to TikTok, Instagram or YouTube?
No. Publishing, scheduling and connecting accounts happen in the StoryTok web app only. The API, CLI and MCP server render and download. A video rendered through them lands in your library, and the web app can publish it there if it is complete and unwatermarked, at 1 paid credit per connected account.
Get an API key and render a test job
3 free minutes on every new account. Docs at storytok.ai/developers.
Try StoryTok freeKeep reading
Use StoryTok from a coding agent
Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and Claude Desktop, with a cost estimate before every render.
StoryTok API docs
Endpoints, job schema, webhook signing.
Publishing to TikTok, Reels and Shorts
What the web app does with a video after the API renders it.
The Crayo alternative without a subscription
Credit packs instead of a monthly plan.
StoryTok vs Crayo, feature by feature
Where each one wins, honestly.
Crayo pricing explained
What the four meters actually buy.
Competitor facts checked September 2026 against the competitor’s public pricing page, FAQ, API reference and Trustpilot profile. StoryTok publishes this page. Crayo, AutoShorts, OpusClip, Revid and Faceless.so are trademarks of their owners; StoryTok is not affiliated with any of them.