How to Use Bannerbear to Turn a Product Sheet Into Ads

The short answer: a catalogue of 300 products in three ad sizes is 900 renders, which fits inside the 1,000 monthly credits of Bannerbear's $49 Automate plan as long as you ask for one file format (pricing page, checked on 26 October 2026). The steps: build one responsive template with named layers, upload your fonts, test it through a Form, connect your Airtable base with write-back, let an agent render ten rows for a person to check, then send the catalogue in batches.

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Do the sums first:

1. The batch, priced. For example, 300 products x 3 sizes = 900 credits in JPG alone. Ask for PNG as well and it doubles to 1,800, past Automate and into Scale at $149, because the credits article charges one credit per format.
2. The sheet you already have. One row per product with a name, a price and a public image link is all a template needs. If the rows live in Airtable, Bannerbear reads them and can write the finished image link back.
3. The reading that says it worked. After the test run, open the usage view, which the pricing FAQ says logs every request with the credits it cost. Ten products in three sizes should show 30 credits; anything above that is a format or a retry you did not mean to buy.

Plans and rivals are in the Bannerbear glossary entry. This guide is one job: a product sheet in, a folder of on-brand ads out.

What you need

• A trial workspace. It comes with 30 API credits and no card, and runs everything at a smaller scale: one workspace and three image templates, per the pricing page.
• Your brand fonts as OTF, WOFF or WOFF2 files; a workspace holds up to 500 custom fonts (font article).
• An Airtable personal access token with the scopes data.records:read and data.records:write, limited to the base you will use. Airtable shows it once, so store it straight away (token article).

Step 1: Build one template and name every layer

Start in the editor, from the template library, or from a Figma import, which the Image API page lists. A template is made of text containers, image placeholders, shapes and special objects such as QR codes and star ratings (template article). Name each dynamic layer after the column that feeds it: product_name, price, photo. Then set Text Fit to Auto Fit on the product name, so a long name shrinks to the height of its box instead of spilling over it (text fitting article).

Step 2: Make it responsive, so one template covers three sizes

Responsive settings tell each layer what to do when the canvas is rendered at another size: keep its position, scale with the canvas, or shift by the pixels the canvas gained, and keep or free its aspect ratio. They are set layer by layer, per the responsive template article. Lock the logo's aspect ratio, let the product photo stretch, and let the price shift with its corner. One template then renders a square feed ad, a story and a landscape banner, with the width and height passed in each request.

Step 3: Upload the brand fonts

Under Create, open More, then Fonts, choose the file and upload it (font article). The font then appears in the editor's Font Family menu. Do it before step 4, so the test shows the real typography.

Step 4: Test the layout with a Form

A Form turns a template into a public page where anyone you share it with fills in the fields and renders one image (Forms article). Under Integrations, click More, open Forms, choose your template, create the form and copy its public link. Send it to whoever writes the longest product names. The help centre also covers limiting how often a Form can be filled, which protects trial credits.

Step 5: Map the Airtable base, with write-back on

Click Apps, select Airtable under Explore, add a label, paste the token and the Base ID, and click Install (connection article). Then open the connected base, click Add Mapping, give the mapping a name and the table name or ID, select the template, and match each template layer to its Airtable field. Tick "Enable write-back after each render" and pick the column that receives the image (mapping article). Point the first mapping at a copy of the table that holds ten products, not the whole catalogue.

Step 6: Let an agent render the test rows, and check them yourself

Bannerbear's MCP server lets an AI client create templates, run workflows and create batch requests. Point Claude, ChatGPT, Codex or Cursor at the hosted endpoint, mcp.bannerbear.com, and sign in with OAuth; no API key is needed. The default profile carries 30 tools and the workflows-only profile 8, and the article advises the smallest profile that covers the job. Then ask in plain words, the way the MCP page shows: render the Product Promo template for the ten rows in products.csv, in all three sizes.

The agent renders; a person approves. Open all thirty files and check four things before the full run: the longest name still fits, every price carries the right currency, no photo is cropped through the product, and the logo sits clear of the story format's edges. Fix the template, not the files, and render again.

Step 7: Run the catalogue in batches

For the full run, a developer or the agent posts to the batch endpoint, which takes up to 100 image payloads per request, each with its own width and height on a responsive template (batch article). For example, 900 renders / 100 per request = 9 requests. The API reference caps POST requests at 60 per 10 seconds and returns results by webhook or by polling. Pin the template version in each request, so a later redesign cannot change what this campaign returns (Image API page).

Mistakes the help pages warn about

• Extra formats by habit. Every format in a request is another credit, so a JPG and a PNG together cost two (Image API FAQ).
• The same request sent twice. Each request is a fresh render and is billed as one, even when it repeats the previous one.
• A key that is shown once. The Airtable token and the Instant URL signing key are both displayed a single time (Instant URL article).
• Mixed versions. V3 and V5 do not share project data, and a V3 project API key needs version 2.7.1 of the Zapier plugin (Zapier article).
• Treating a failed job as free. Renders are charged when they are created, so a failure after that point is already counted, per the pricing FAQ.

What the trial settles, and where it stops

The 30 trial credits buy exactly the test in steps 4 to 6: for example, 10 products x 3 sizes = 30 renders in one format. If those thirty pass the four checks, the template and the data are sound, and a paid plan buys volume, not a repair. Bannerbear caps a trial account at three templates, and the API reference answers an install past that cap with a 402, payment required, so the free stage is sized to prove one campaign and to end the day you want a fourth layout.

FAQ

Can Bannerbear write the image links back to my sheet?

Yes, for Airtable, by ticking write-back in the mapping (mapping article). The integrations page lists the same option for Baserow, Directus and HubSpot.

How many images can one API call make?

Up to 100 in one batch request (batch article). A single render can also wait for the finished image on the synchronous host, for up to ten seconds, per the Image API page.

Which MCP endpoint should I connect?

The default at mcp.bannerbear.com covers templates, generation and workflows with 30 tools; the full set has 63. The MCP article recommends the smallest set that does the job, since fewer tools leave the agent less to reason about.