---
title: "Topol Plugin vs Topol PRO"
description: "A detailed comparison of Topol's two main products, Topol PRO and the embeddable Topol Plugin, to help you pick the right email editor."
url: https://docs.topol.io/email-editor/guide/plugin-vs-pro.html
---

# Topol Plugin vs. Topol PRO

Topol comes in two forms. **Topol Plugin is a component you embed in your own application; Topol PRO is a finished application you log into.** The Plugin comprises two editors, the [Email Editor](https://docs.topol.io/email-editor/guide/introduction.html) and the [Landing Page Editor](https://docs.topol.io/landing-page-editor/guide/introduction.html) (beta); Topol PRO is built on the same email editor, and this page compares the email side of the two products.

The choice usually follows from who the editor is for. A product that needs email editing as a feature for its own users calls for the Plugin. A team that needs to design and send its own emails is served by PRO. This page covers the technical differences behind that split.

## At a glance

|     | Topol Plugin | Topol PRO |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Form** | Embeddable editor (loader script + iframe) | Hosted web application |
| **Intended user** | Developers integrating into a product | Marketers and design teams |
| **Setup** | Integration work in your codebase | Sign up and start |
| **Template storage** | Your infrastructure | Managed by Topol |
| **Asset storage** | Topol by default, or your own cloud | Managed by Topol |
| **White-labeling** | Full rebranding | Not available |
| **Customization** | UI, blocks, permissions, translations | Editor settings only |
| **Collaboration** | Editor UI, stored via your endpoints | Built in and ready to use |
| **API** | JS methods and callbacks, plus JSON-to-HTML conversion | Read-only template API |
| **Exports to email platforms** | Build your own from JSON/HTML | Built-in integrations |

## Setup and integration

**Topol Plugin is a frontend component with backend expectations.** A loader script renders the editor inside an iframe and a `TOPOL_OPTIONS` object configures it, authenticated by an API key limited to the domains you register. Getting the editor on screen is genuinely frontend-only.

Persistence is where server work begins, and it starts immediately: saving a template at all means handling the `onSave` callback and storing the JSON somewhere. Beyond that, [autosaves](https://docs.topol.io/email-editor/guide/autosaves.html), [comments](https://docs.topol.io/email-editor/guide/comments.html), product feeds, and [self-hosted storage](https://docs.topol.io/email-editor/guide/self-hosted-storage.html) each call endpoints you implement, and those endpoints need CORS configured for our domain. [How to work with your API](https://docs.topol.io/email-editor/guide/how-to-work-with-your-api.html) is the reference for all of them.

**Topol PRO requires no integration.** It is hosted and maintained by us, with accounts, storage, and templates handled in our infrastructure. Users log in and design; nothing needs to be built.

## Data ownership

This is the sharpest difference between the two products, and it splits into two questions.

**Templates: the Plugin never stores them on our servers.** The editor takes a template through `load` and returns the edited result through `onSave` as JSON and HTML. Storage, access control, retention, and version history all stay in your systems, which is what makes the Plugin workable under strict compliance requirements.

**Assets need a deliberate choice.** Images uploaded through the File Manager go to Topol storage by default, with a monthly data traffic allowance. Configuring custom storage (AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage, Cloudflare R2, DigitalOcean Spaces) or self-hosted storage routes uploads to your own infrastructure and bypasses ours completely. Plan on this early if your policy requires that assets never leave your environment.

> **INFO**
>
> Custom storage requires the Plugin Expansion plan or higher; self-hosted storage requires Plugin for Business or higher. See the [pricing page](https://topol.io/pricing).

**With Topol PRO, templates and assets live in our cloud.** Setup disappears as a concern, and templates can be exported when local copies are needed, but the raw data is reachable only through the interface and its export options.

## Customization and white-labeling

**The Plugin is built to disappear into your product.** Colors, fonts, and themes are configurable, the [top bar](https://docs.topol.io/email-editor/guide/top-bar.html) can be replaced with your own, content blocks can be switched off or [extended with custom ones](https://docs.topol.io/email-editor/guide/custom-block.html), and [roles and permissions](https://docs.topol.io/email-editor/guide/roles-and-permissions.html) control what each user may do. Removing Topol branding entirely is supported, so end users see only your application.

**Topol PRO is a managed product with its own interface.** Editor settings are adjustable, but the application's interface and branding are fixed and white-labeling is not offered.

## Collaboration

**The Plugin ships the collaboration interface and leaves the data layer to you.** The distinction matters when estimating integration work: you are not building comment threads or an autosave timer, but you are providing the endpoints behind them.

[Comments](https://docs.topol.io/email-editor/guide/comments.html) renders threads on sections and blocks, calling your conversation and comment endpoints to store them. [Autosaves](https://docs.topol.io/email-editor/guide/autosaves.html) captures drafts on a timer and posts them to your autosave endpoints, so version history accumulates in your storage and you decide how far back it reaches. [Active members](https://docs.topol.io/email-editor/guide/active-members.html) displays who else has a template open from the list your application passes to `setActiveMembers`, which means presence detection stays on your side. It is an indicator rather than real-time co-editing.

Approval workflows and permission models come from your application, using these features as building blocks.

**Topol PRO includes collaboration ready to use.** Teams share templates and comment on them, with autosave snapshots available for restoring earlier versions through the interface, and nothing to set up.

## APIs and exports

**The Plugin's programmatic surface is mostly JavaScript rather than REST.** The `TopolPlugin` instance on `window` exposes methods for controlling the editor (`load`, `updateTemplate`, `save`, `updateOptions`, `setMergeTags`, and others), while [callbacks](https://docs.topol.io/email-editor/guide/callbacks.html) report events back to you. There is no getter for the current template: `onSave` and `onSaveAndClose` push the JSON and HTML to you when a save happens.

Two REST surfaces exist alongside that. We publish an endpoint for [converting a JSON template to HTML](https://docs.topol.io/email-editor/guide/operations/convertJson2Html.html), authenticated with the `X-Secret-Key` header, which is useful for server-side rendering such as producing HTML for a specific language mutation. Separately, the endpoints that store your templates, autosaves, and comments are ones **you** implement and the editor calls, as described in [how to work with your API](https://docs.topol.io/email-editor/guide/how-to-work-with-your-api.html).

**Topol PRO offers a read-only template API** for listing templates, fetching one, and retrieving its HTML, authenticated with an account API token. Creating and editing templates happens in the interface rather than through the API.

**Exports work differently in each product.** Because the Plugin hands you raw JSON and HTML, sending a template to Mailchimp, SendGrid, a CRM, or an automation tool is an integration you build, in whatever shape you need. Topol PRO ships [built-in integrations](https://topol.io/integrations) for platforms like Mailchimp, SendGrid, ActiveCampaign, and HubSpot, which work without development effort but only for supported platforms.

## Which one to choose

**Choose Topol Plugin** to offer email editing inside your own product. It fits SaaS platforms, CRMs, and marketing tools that need a white-label editor, keep template data on their own infrastructure, and want the editor to match their interface. It assumes development work.

**Choose Topol PRO** when your team needs to design emails and nothing needs to be built. Storage, collaboration, and platform exports are ready on signup.

[Getting Started](https://docs.topol.io/email-editor/guide/getting-started.html) walks through a first Plugin integration. For help deciding, [schedule a demo call](https://topol.io/tariff-plugin?demo=true).