Sutra has two blocks for putting content from somewhere else onto your page. The Embed block takes a link or an embed code from another service and shows it. The HTML block runs your own HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. They behave differently, and they are not available on the same plans.
Both live in the editor's insert menu under Media.
Which block, which plan
Embed block — available on every plan, including Basic. There is no upgrade prompt.
HTML block — available on Gold and Enterprise only. On any other plan the block still appears in the insert menu, but selecting it opens an upgrade prompt instead of adding the block.
Your plan is read from your top-level space, not from the subspace you happen to be editing. Subspaces inherit the plan of the account above them, so if your top-level space is on Gold, every space beneath it can use the HTML block.
The Embed block
Choose Media → Embed in the insert menu. The panel that opens has two tabs.
Link — paste the ordinary address of the page you want to embed. Sutra recognises the service and builds the embed for you.
Code — paste the full embed code the other service gives you, usually an iframe snippet. Sutra reads the address out of it.
Use Code whenever Link does not work. Any iframe embed code is accepted, so this covers services Sutra does not recognise by name.
Services recognised from a plain link
Pasting a link from any of these works without an embed code:
Video and audio — YouTube, Vimeo, Loom, Twitch, Adilo, Aparat, Coub
Google — Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms
Social — Instagram posts, Facebook posts, Pinterest pins, and Twitter posts. Twitter is recognised from twitter.com addresses only; an x.com address is not recognised, so use the Code tab for those.
Other — CodePen, Imgur, Yandex Music, Sensemaker
Anything else goes in the Code tab.
Google Forms
A Google Form embeds straight from a link, but only from the full form address ending in /viewform.
Works — the address you get from the form's Send → link option, with or without extra parameters after it.
Does not work — a shortened forms.gle link, or the /edit address from your browser's address bar while you are building the form.
If all you have is a short link, open the form, choose Send and then the embed option, and paste that iframe code into the Code tab instead.
Display options
Once the embed is on the page, its settings panel offers Display as:
Embed — shows the content inside the page. Videos show a poster image with a play button, and start playing when someone clicks it.
Embed + pop up — shows the poster in the page; clicking opens the content in a pop-up instead of playing in place.
Card — shows a link card with the title, description, and thumbnail rather than the content itself.
When a link is not recognised
If you paste an address the Embed block does not recognise into the Link tab, it does not warn you. It adds an image block pointing at that address, which then shows as a broken image. Delete that block and use the Code tab instead.
This affects direct links to PDFs too. To add a PDF, use the File block rather than an embed link.
The HTML block
Requires the Gold plan or above. Choose Media → HTML in the insert menu, then open the block's settings panel to add your code.
HTML — your markup. Paste a snippet from another service, or write your own.
Add CSS & JavaScript — turn this on for two more fields. Both run inside the same frame as your HTML.
Height — Auto fits the frame to your content as it renders. Fixed holds a set height, between 40 and 10,000 pixels.
Accessibility label — describes the block for people using a screen reader.
Full width — makes the block span the full width of the screen.
Your changes save about half a second after you stop typing, and the preview reloads at the same time.
What the HTML block can and cannot do
Your code does not run on the Sutra page itself. It runs inside a frame served from a separate Sutra-controlled domain that carries no cookies and no session.
It can:
run JavaScript, including inline event handlers
submit forms, and send requests to your own server or another service
open links and pop-up windows, including links that replace the whole page when someone clicks them
It cannot:
read or change anything on the surrounding Sutra page
see who is signed in, or reach a member's Sutra session, cookies, or account
use the camera, microphone, location, payments, or USB — these are all blocked
report anything back to Sutra. The only thing the frame tells the page is how tall it needs to be.
Tracking what people do inside an HTML block
Because nothing comes back out of the frame, Sutra records nothing about what happens inside an HTML block — no answers, no button clicks, no progress through a multi-step form. Participation data will show that someone opened the page, and nothing more.
If you need to know what people did, you have two options:
Send the data to your own service. Forms and network requests work from inside the frame, so an embedded app can post to a spreadsheet, a form service, or a server you control. The results live there, not in Sutra.
Use Sutra's own surveys, quizzes, or forms instead. Responses are saved against each member, appear in the space's Manage area, and can trigger automations.
Where embeds do not appear
Both blocks are interactive, and some places cannot show interactive content.
Email broadcasts — an Embed block becomes a clickable thumbnail, or a text link when no thumbnail is available, pointing at the original. An HTML block becomes a short notice reading “Interactive content — view on the web”.
PDF exports — an HTML block becomes that same notice, and an Embed block is left out of the file altogether.
If you move off the Gold plan
HTML blocks you have already published keep rendering after a downgrade, so your pages do not suddenly go blank. The block is removed the next time that page is saved, though, and that removal is permanent.
If you are planning to downgrade and want to keep the code, copy it out of each HTML block's settings panel first.
Troubleshooting
A dashed empty box — the HTML block has no code in it yet. Open its settings panel and add your markup.
“This HTML embed has been disabled” — HTML blocks have been switched off for this space. Contact support.
“HTML embeds aren’t configured for this environment” — the block cannot run where you are viewing it. Contact support.
A blank or refused embed — many sites do not allow themselves to be shown inside a frame. Check whether the service publishes its own embed code, and use the Code tab.
A broken image where your embed should be — the address was not recognised. Delete the block and use the Code tab.
If you are unsure which to reach for: try Embed first, and use HTML only when you need code of your own.