The edition question is backwards if you start with the ladder. Start with the product you are publishing. A KDP paperback, an Etsy pack, a classroom worksheet, and a game on your site are four jobs. They do not need the same software, and they do not need the same add-on.
This page maps job to starting edition. Rights, tiers, and what each edition includes live on Puzzle Maker Pro Editions Explained.
You buy a puzzle type — word search, sudoku, maze — not a catalog bundle. The edition words mean the same thing on every type. Some types sell only two steps: the product itself already includes Creative’s design and one-collection Studio, then Productivity. Do not hunt for a cheaper reduced entry on those.
Start with what you are publishing
A KDP book. A bound interior with a trim, a page count, and a Look Inside. The buyer is paying for a paperback, not a file dump.
An Etsy printable pack. A short themed ZIP or PDF a buyer prints at home this afternoon. Eight to twenty pages with a key is a typical shape. A 150-page interior wearing a “printable” label is the wrong product.
Classroom practice. One skill on one page, plus a key a teacher can trust. TPT listings and your own packets live here. Front matter that makes a paperback feel finished makes a worksheet feel unfocused.
Site play. A visitor solves the puzzle in the browser on a site you already run. That is a different product from a PDF you can click through.
Pick one job as the first product. You can add a second channel later from the same generator. The edition you need is the one that ships the first job cleanly.
The minimum that gets the job done
For a book, a pack, or a classroom page, the starting product is enough.
You get the generator, the static exports (JPG, PNG, SVG, print PDF, PowerPoint), and Instant Puzzle Books: a book PDF or PowerPoint assembled from your current settings — margins, trim, layout — every puzzle the same, no extra book setup. Title page, table of contents, and a footer that points each puzzle at its solution page come with that build. If you tick the interactive PDF book option, those contents and footers become clickable links. That is a book-builder output. It is not the Interactive add-on.
The starting product already lets you sell the finished books, worksheets, and packs you make to your own readers and customers — KDP, Etsy, Teachers Pay Teachers, your own store. Watermark-free. One-time licence. Creative does not add permission to sell. It adds what you can make.
Try the free demo first if you have not generated the puzzle type yet. Demo output is watermarked and one puzzle at a time. It answers “is this the puzzle?” It is not how you produce a listing.
When Creative matters
Move to Creative when the look is the product.
Creative adds full design control and the design extras that type actually has — silhouette masks, content variation (numbers to letters, colours, or pictures), extra shapes or variants. Name only what that product page lists. It also unlocks Puzzle Book Studio Creative: every book-editing control, one puzzle collection. One collection is the only limit. It is not a thinner Studio.
Puzzle Slides sit here too, on types that export them: a playable PowerPoint for a classroom screen or a live session. That is a Creative output. It is not Interactive.
Stay on Creative when you are making one polished book or pack at a time and you care how the page looks. You still sell to your own readers. The licence did not change.
On a two-step product, this paragraph is already the starting product. You do not buy a separate Creative edition for those types.
When Productivity matters
Productivity is scale and workflow, not a longer feature list.
You need it when:
- Time Saver — generate many unique sets in one pass instead of one puzzle at a time.
- Puzzle Book Studio Productivity — the same full book editing across several collections in one book. A mixed-type interior. A series you compose as one project.
- JSON export — the puzzle data files for your own apps and workflows. Time Saver is batch production. It is not JSON. Name both honestly.
- Supplying other publishers — you may sell or supply the generated puzzles to other publishers and sellers. That right sits on Productivity. It is not implied by Time Saver.
If you already own an older Time Saver product, you keep Time Saver and multi-collection Studio. JSON and the right to supply other publishers need the actual Productivity licence. Those older products did not sell those two things.
Plain Productivity does not include site play. Add Interactive on top when the site is also a job.
When Interactive belongs
Interactive is web play. That is the whole add-on.
You buy Creative + Interactive or Productivity + Interactive for the puzzle type you want people to solve in a browser — hosted through the BookPublisherTools WordPress plugin, or a player you host yourself. A playable sample next to a book. A practice board on a class site. A puzzle of the week on your own domain.
Add Interactive if you need a site player. Do not add it for:
- Interactive PDF books. Clickable contents and puzzle-to-solution links. Both Instant Puzzle Books and Puzzle Book Studio already produce those. No extra edition gate.
- Puzzle Slides. Creative, where the type exports them.
- JSON files. Productivity.
Interactive is not a fourth rung. A print-only seller can stay on Creative or Productivity. A site-only seller can stay on Creative + Interactive and skip Time Saver.
Decision table
| Job | Start here | Add Interactive if… |
|---|---|---|
| KDP book for your own readers | The puzzle product + Instant Puzzle Books | You also want a playable sample on your site |
| Etsy printable pack | Same starting product; export the short pack | You want a playable extra on a site you run |
| Classroom pages / TPT | Same starting product; one skill plus a key | Students should play on a class site |
| Classroom slides | Creative (Puzzle Slides, where the type exports them) | The class also plays in a browser |
| Mixed or multi-collection book, or batch volume | Productivity | Those puzzles also need to play on a site |
| Supply puzzles to other publishers | Productivity | You also need a site player for that supply |
| Site play (WordPress / your site) | Creative + Interactive | — that is the Interactive job |
You can move up later — further up the ladder, or Interactive on top of the edition you already own. Start with today’s job.
On two-step products, read “start here” as the product itself (Creative’s design and one-collection Studio already included), then Productivity if the row says so.
Rights, in one paragraph
The starting product and Creative both let you sell the finished books, worksheets, and packs you make to your own readers and customers. Productivity includes that, plus selling or supplying the generated puzzles to other publishers and sellers. The tiers differ in what you can make, not in permission to sell a finished book. For the contract wording, conditions, and what the grant does not cover, read Puzzle Maker Pro Editions Explained.
The free demo is the cheap way to confirm the puzzle type. Then buy the edition the table pointed at.