Snappa

Canva is one of the most popular web-based tools to create images for blogs, social media, invitations, and more. It's used by creators around the globe and rightfully so as it makes graphics creation a lot easier. However, while Canva is mostly free, it could feel limiting at times a few good features are locked behind a premium subscription. Or if you've recently started using Canva and haven't been enjoying it as much, there are many alternatives you can use. Here are some of the best Canva alternatives (free and paid) worth checking out. 1. Microsoft Designer AI is everywhere these days, including in Canva. However, Microsoft's new AI-powered Canva alternative is definitely one of the best Canva alternatives because it allows you to start designing by simply typing in what you need. It's what all the 90s and 2000s people imagined technology to be able to do someday. You can write things like "an invitation card for a birthday party" and it will generate a bunch of customizable templates. The more detailed description you type in, the better the target image will come out. For example, "an invitation card for Abu's birthday party on 30th May, at 8 PM" and the generated card will have those details included. You can also use Microsoft Designer to create YouTube thumbnails or Instagram Stories. Mentioning "thumbnail for YouTube," or "an Instagram Story" in the prompt, allows the Designer to adjust the aspect ratio that suits the platform. Pretty smart, right? The best part about Microsoft Designer? It's completely free! Ask any professional designer and they'll swear by Adobe's products for their design needs. Whether it's Photoshop or Illustrator, Adobe's tools are industry standards for a reason. Most Adobe stuff is a part of their Creative Cloud platform and requires downloading it onto your PC. However, if you're looking for a high-quality tool like Canva, check out Adobe Express. Express is a free-to-use tool that offers every feature you'd find in Canva and some more. You can start off with templates for popular things like Instagram Stories, Facebook posts, thumbnails for YouTube, and more. It even has templates for flyers, logos, book covers, and more. Besides, the overall user interface of Adobe Express will make long-term Canva users feel at home. Apart from all the Canva-like features, Adobe Express also brings in tools such as image resizing, background removal, and more to make editing easier. Besides, you can use Adobe Firefly (Website) to use AI to generate images and use them in your Adobe Express designs. Adobe Express has a free-to-use tier, but you can subscribe to its paid plan to access more features including Adobe's Stock library, content scheduling, and 100GB of cloud storage. Fotor is similar to Canva in many ways but one of the things that sets it apart is the number of AI tools it has. From built-in AI upscaler to old photo restorer, Cartoonizer, and Text to Image, Fotor comes with lots of AI features and filters. There are tons of templates to choose from. From YouTube Thumbnails to Channel Art to Collages and Instagram Story templates, there's everything you will ever need. Besides the AI shenanigans, you can also make a new simple design project where you can include those templates to create beautiful designs. The user interface will remind you of Canva. Its premium subscription gives you access to all AI features plus increased cloud storage and an Ad-free experience, and the best part is that it doesn't cost much. Overall, Fotor is easily one of the best Canva alternatives you can try. All the internet OGs know Picsart for its smartphone app but did you know Picsart has a web app as well? It's a great Canva alternative that lets you create graphics and images. You can choose from a variety of image sizes, including custom templates for Instagram Stories and posts, Facebook posts, YouTube thumbnails, and LinkedIn images, and it even has templates for Twitch banners and more. There are a lot of templates to get a jumpstart on your design process. The UI is pretty good, and quite similar to Canva in some ways. While there's some stuff locked behind a subscription, like Canva, most things are free. You can add photos, collages, text (with a bunch of cool fonts), background editing, and more to create the perfect flyer, poster, or social media post. If you're looking for a Canva alternative that will let you create infographics as well as social media posts, Visme is the tool for you. It has all the features of Canva, including templates for social media posts (think Facebook, Instagram, etc), and templates for creating presentations, infographics, charts, and more. The overall user interface of the app is pretty basic but easy to navigate. There's a lot more that Visme can let you create. It has templates for things like invoices, receipts, letterheads, etc., as well. Once you've selected a template (or a blank one), you can add things like graphics, images, data, etc. You can even change the theme colors and basically customize everything to fit your needs. Visme is no longer free though. We couldn't download a design as it always brought up the payment banner when we tried downloading. If the name VistaCreate sounds familiar, that's because the tool is from a popular custom apparel seller, Vistaprint. VistaCreate is a solid tool like Canva that you can use to create designs for social media, websites, logos, business cards, and more. It even has templates to help create t-shirt designs, Zoom backgrounds, etc. You can also use VistaCreate to make animated designs. There are templates for popular ones like YouTube intros, Instagram video stories, Reels, and more. Inside, the UI will feel very familiar to anyone who has used Canva. You can drag and drop elements such as photos, videos, music, objects, text, and more. A lot of the templates are locked behind a paywall, but there are plenty of designs you can use for free. Once done, you can download your design as a jpg, png, gif, or even a pdf, and you can share links with collaborators to easily give them access to your design. Besides, the app also has many editing features found in Canva, besides a pretty significant library of free photos you can use. Tools such as Remove Background, and Resize, and features like Unlimited storage, high-quality downloads, and version history are all locked behind a $10/month paywall. One of the other features I love about VistaCreate and would love Canva to add someday is Color Palettes which gives you a collection of colors that go well with each other. Kittl is a solid Canva alternative if you're looking for something that brings Canva-like features. It has everything you'll need in terms of basic features. You can find templates for creating social media posts, logos, cards, labels, posters, etc., and there are a bunch of pre-made graphics for you to start with. What's great here is that you can design a graphic and then convert it into a mockup in just one click. Kittl supports creating mockups for t-shirts, walls, hoodies, bags, wall art, and more, and it works really well. The true USP of the tool is its AI capabilities. With this tool, you can create graphics and images for your designs by simply typing what you want to create. It's similar to other image-creation tools on this list. You can also use Midjourney to create images and import them into your Kittl projects too. Pricing: Free tier available, paid plans start from $15 per month And these are some of the best Canva alternatives you can use. Canva is all about templates and design creation, and if you don't need templates, we recommend another app called Pixlr. That said, out of all the apps on this list, VistaCreate, Fotor, and Microsoft Designer are great free tools. Sure, Fotor and VistaCreate have premium subscriptions that can unlock more features but the free versions will suffice for most users. What are some of the other underrated Canva alternatives that deserve to be on this list? Let us know in the comments below

Barbara is a tech writer specializing in AI and emerging technologies. With a background as a systems librarian in software development, she brings a unique perspective to her reporting. Having lived in the USA and Ireland, Barbara now resides in Croatia. She covers the latest in artificial intelligence and tech innovations. Her work draws on years of experience in tech and other fields, blending technical know-how with a passion for how technology shapes our world. Canva is a graphic design platform designed to make it easy for anyone to create professional-looking visuals without needing the advanced design skills necessary for navigating tools like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. When I first discovered Canva about two years ago, I thought of it as Photoshop for dummies. OK, I have a certificate for Adobe Suite and used to do graphic design professionally, so my judgment of Canva was probably a bit harsh. Nonetheless, I couldn't deny its user-friendly and intuitive interface. Canva offers a drag-and-drop interface, thousands of templates and a vast library of customizable images, fonts and design elements. You can even upload your own brand elements, but you'll need a Pro subscription. It also includes artificial intelligence tools like background removal, image generation and resizing or automating certain design elements without requiring advanced skills. These features streamline the design process and help you create polished visuals faster. But do their benefits outweigh the downsides, like data safety, artistic integrity and intellectual property? Here, I'll do a deep dive on the history of Canva, its AI tools and the pros and cons of using them. Melanie Perkins, one of Canva's co-founders and CEO, privately tutored graphic design skills back in the day, using the most used tools, such as Photoshop. She told CNBC back in 2020 that it took students an entire semester just to learn where all the buttons are, adding, "That seemed completely ridiculous." That's how the idea of creating a tool like Canva came about. Perkins co-founded Canva in Perth, Australia, with Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams on Jan. 1, 2013. Since its launch, Canva has grown into a widely used tool for graphic design creation, particularly among small businesses, bloggers, freelancers, influencers and marketers. With over 220 million monthly active users and 30 billion designs created, it's now available in 190 countries in more than 100 languages. Canva has a few competitors on the market, including Adobe Express, Snappa, Visme and VistaCreate (formerly Crello). Because of its ease of use, affordability and extensive template library, Canva quickly became a go-to platform for both professionals and amateurs. This versatile platform lets you design and edit visual documents, photos, videos, print and marketing materials. Think social media posts, reels and videos across all popular platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube. You can also design logos, business cards, brochures and infographics, or give some spice to your resume or presentations. If you don't want to pay a hefty sum for your wedding invitations, you can even do that with hundreds of templates you can easily edit to your liking. If you're into print-on-demand, you can also create designs for T-shirts, mugs, stickers, posters and website mockups. Besides designing all that for yourself, you can even sell the design templates you create. There are endless options for using this simple tool. You can further customize your design with various tools, such as changing text, fonts and colors, and adding elements such as frames, charts, shapes and stickers. Some are available in the free tier, while for others, you'll need to upgrade to the Pro version. With the Brand Kit integration (available in the Pro version), you can ensure brand consistency by storing logos, colors and fonts in one place to use in your designs when necessary. AI can help with any and all of these projects (which I'll get into below), giving you more ideas and designs to choose from, and speeding up the design process. Canva operates on a cloud-based model, meaning you can create, store and share your designs online. But you can also download them in many different formats: PNG, JPG, PDF, SVG (Pro), MP4 Video, GIF and PPTX (PowerPoint document). It's available on both desktop and mobile and is an accessible alternative to more complex software like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Affinity Designer, which Canva acquired last year. Another advantage is that you can connect Canva to many different productivity and social media apps. That way, you can directly upload your design without downloading it first and then uploading it to the specific app. Canva released Magic Studio in October 2023, and has leaned more into AI since then. The intention behind integrating these AI-powered tools is to streamline design workflows. They help you create polished designs faster and with less effort. You can generate images, text, animations and videos using prompts or quickly edit and format your creation in just a few steps. Some of those Magic Studio AI features are Background Remover, Magic Resize, Magic Grab, Magic Switch, Magic Write, Magic Design, Magic Media and more. (If you want to read more about Magic Media, we previously reviewed Canva's Magic Media AI image and video generator, where you can get the full scoop about this feature and learn how to create AI images in Canva.) In late October last year, Canva introduced Dream Lab, another new feature that lets you create AI-generated images based on your prompts. And if those images remind you a lot of Leonardo.AI's style, you aren't wrong. Canva acquired Leonardo.AI in July last year and uses it to power Dream Lab. Since then, Canva's photorealistic AI-generated images have drastically improved. One of the downsides of these AI tools is that data safety is always a concern. Canva states it doesn't use your content to train its AI but may occasionally ask for opt-in consent (Canva has committed $200 million to a creator and content fund over the next three years, some of which goes toward royalties for creators who opt-in to help train the AI tools). Be mindful of third-party data use, as Canva integrates, besides its own Magic Media, OpenAI's Dall-E and Google's Imagen for AI image generation. Interestingly, AI images don't come with an AI-generated watermark, but videos do have a rainbow watermark indicating AI usage for creation. While the use of AI tools in Canva expands creative possibilities, it also raises questions about artistic merit and originality. "Writers, graphic designers, photographers and other artists like illustrators and animators ... all of that work can be done very easily now with AI tools," Fang Liu, professor at the University of Notre Dame and co-editor-in-chief of ACM Transactions on Probabilistic Machine Learning, told CNET. "It doesn't mean that it's going to replace them. Maybe those people will just need to upskill and use those tools for their creativity." Rather than replacing artists, these tools often serve as a shortcut for those without design skills, though concerns remain about how AI-generated content impacts traditional creative industries and intellectual property rights. Without proper regulations, those questions will remain open. "We view AI as a creative partner, not a replacement. There's no replacement for human ingenuity," Canva co-founder and Chief Product Officer Cameron Adams told CNET. "We do feel confident that as more people are able to leverage AI, we'll see more human creativity in the world as people are able to do things they couldn't before." The only real limits are your imagination, the AI's ability to interpret prompts and built-in content filters meant to prevent plagiarism and copyright infringement. "It also offers a way for people who maybe lack the skill," Liu added. "Like, if I have a vision in my head, but I don't know how to draw, then I'm just going to explain what I want in the prompt." Adams likewise said Canva's AI tools "make visual communication more accessible." "AI enables anyone to bring their ideas to life and scale them faster, whether they're a professional designer exploring creative possibilities, or they're someone creating their first design with Canva," Adams said. There's also the issue that AI-generated images are often a little strange, most often when it comes to hands and faces. So if you're creating images within any AI tool, keep an eye out for oddities, and be aware that your imagery may not be perfect. Canva offers a free plan with basic features and a selection of templates. For users who need more functionality, Canva Pro costs $120 per year for one person and includes premium templates, stock content, AI tools and Brand Kit management features. You can test a Pro plan for free for 30 days. Canva for Teams, designed for businesses, is $100 per user with a minimum of three users, making it $300 per year, and includes collaboration features and expanded storage. Additionally, in May last year, Canva introduced the Enterprise plan for mid to large organizations. The company has pledged to make Canva 100% free for K-12 teachers and students and registered non-profits. While Canva is a good tool, it has some limitations. For one, whether you use it on a desktop or a smartphone, it requires an internet connection. Professional designers may also find Canva's features too basic compared to software like Adobe Photoshop, so if you need some advanced design or more detailed editing, Canva's features probably won't suffice. Since Canva doesn't require you to have professional graphic design knowledge, its accessibility and affordability have made it a favorite among freelancers, small business owners and influencers. What they have in common is the need for a successful social media strategy. One of the best ways to stand out in the ever-so-busy feed is with eye-catching graphics that match your business's branding. And Canva is a good tool for that, with its dozens of use cases and AI tools negating the need to hire a professional for personal branding and digital marketing.

If you are searching for an easy way to create amazing visuals from a simple text prompt. You might be interested in learning more about Napkin AI. A new AI tool that allows you to create visual graphics from text, making it an indispensable tool for business communication and presentations. This AI-powered solution swiftly converts text into visually appealing representations, saving you time and effort while delivering professional-quality results. Napkin AI specializes in turning text into stunning visual graphics in a matter of seconds. Simply input your text, and the tool will generate a corresponding visual representation. It offers a variety of visualization styles, such as ladder style and process funnels, to cater to your diverse needs. You can easily customize the text, alignment, font, colors, and even add images to ensure the visuals align perfectly with your brand's aesthetics. Napkin AI's versatility makes it suitable for a wide range of tasks across various industries. Whether you're designing webinar slides, creating engaging presentations, drafting informative email newsletters, or generating eye-catching social media posts, this tool can handle it all. It's also ideal for crafting sales funnel diagrams, infographics, blog post visuals, pitch decks, and onboarding materials. By using visual representations of complex processes or steps, you can enhance clarity and engagement in your communications, making your message more impactful and memorable. Here are a selection of other articles from our extensive library of content you may find of interest on the subject of AI image generators: Napkin AI offers two main modes to cater to your specific needs: Draft with AI and Blank Napkin. The Draft with AI mode harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to generate content, such as onboarding flows, based on your input. This mode is perfect for those who want to quickly create visuals with minimal effort. On the other hand, the Blank Napkin mode allows for more manual input, giving you greater control over the final output. This mode is ideal for users who prefer to customize their visuals extensively. Another key feature of Napkin AI is its easy export options. You can effortlessly copy-paste or download the generated graphics, ensuring seamless integration into various platforms and formats. This flexibility allows you to use the visuals in presentations, documents, websites, or any other medium without any hassle. Customization is a significant strength of Napkin AI. The tool provides a range of templates and styles, allowing you to highlight particular steps or details in your visuals. You can edit and personalize the generated graphics to meet your specific requirements, ensuring they align with your brand guidelines and effectively convey your message. This level of customization ensures the graphics are not only visually appealing but also highly informative and tailored to your target audience. As Napkin AI is currently in its beta version, it does have some limitations. The number of available templates is restricted, and users should exercise caution when inputting sensitive information. However, despite these limitations, the tool's core functionality remains robust and effective, delivering high-quality visuals that enhance your communication efforts. Looking ahead, Napkin AI is expected to expand its template library and feature set, providing users with even more options and flexibility. Regular users may benefit from preferred pricing and early access to new features, making it a worthwhile investment for those who frequently create visual content. Napkin AI simplifies the process of creating visual graphics from text, making it an invaluable tool for business communication and presentations. Its ability to quickly generate customizable visuals enhances the clarity and impact of your messages, ensuring your audience remains engaged and informed. By using the power of AI, Napkin AI saves you time and effort while delivering professional-quality results. Whether you're a marketer, educator, or business professional, Napkin AI is a must-have tool in your arsenal, empowering you to create stunning visuals that effectively convey your ideas and captivate your audience.

In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, AI-generated graphics are fundamentally changing the way you create visual content for presentations and reports. Tools like Napkin AI are at the forefront of this transformation, allowing you to convert text into visuals and charts with unprecedented speed and ease. This technological advancement is not just a time-saver; it's a fantastic option for professionals across industries who need to communicate complex information effectively. Also during its beta development stage Napkin is offering both its starter plan and professional plan for free, allowing you to test out its skills without parting with your hardened cash. Imagine you're preparing for a big presentation, the kind that could make or break your project. You've got all the data, the insights, and the compelling narrative, but there's one thing missing: those eye-catching visuals that can transform your information into something truly memorable. Enter Napkin AI, a tool that's here to transform how you create graphics and charts, turning your text into stunning visuals in mere seconds. It's like having a professional designer at your fingertips, ready to bring your ideas to life without the usual hassle and time investment. The beauty of Napkin AI lies in its simplicity and power. You don't need to be a design expert to use it; all you need is your content. With just a few clicks, you can generate polished, professional-grade visuals that are tailored to your specific needs. This tool doesn't just save you time -- it improves your entire presentation, making complex data more accessible and engaging for your audience. Napkin AI can transform your approach to visual content creation. Whether you're a busy professional, a researcher, or an educator, Napkin AI promises to be your secret weapon in crafting presentations that not only inform but also captivate. Napkin AI stands out as a powerful tool in the AI-generated graphics arena. Its advanced text-to-visual technology allows you to input data and receive polished, professional-grade visuals almost instantaneously. This capability is particularly valuable for: The tool excels at interpreting intricate data and transforming it into easily digestible visuals. This process not only saves time but also enhances the clarity and impact of your presentations. By automating the visualization process, Napkin AI allows you to focus on content strategy rather than getting bogged down in design technicalities. Explore further guides from our vast library that you may find relevant to your interests. The influence of AI in software development extends far beyond graphic creation. Tools like Napkin AI are part of a broader trend of AI-driven development assistance. These technologies: By taking over routine tasks, AI allows developers to channel their energy into solving complex problems and innovating. The customization capabilities of AI-driven tools also enable you to tailor graphics to specific project requirements without extensive manual intervention. AI's role in content creation goes beyond visuals. Advanced language models like ChatGPT are transforming text expansion, a crucial step in developing comprehensive visual content. These tools help you: By using AI for text expansion, you create a solid foundation for your visuals, making sure that the graphics generated accurately reflect your intended message and resonate with your audience. Creating visualizations with Napkin AI involves a straightforward yet powerful process: 1. Input your text data into the platform 2. Review the automatically generated visual options 3. Select your preferred base visualization 4. Customize elements such as colors, fonts, and layouts 5. Fine-tune details to align with your brand or presentation style This process combines the efficiency of AI with the flexibility of human creativity, allowing you to produce visuals that are both informative and aesthetically pleasing. The intuitive interface of Napkin AI makes this process accessible even to those without extensive design experience. When comparing AI-generated graphics to traditional design methods, several advantages become apparent: While traditional graphic design often requires specialized skills and software, AI tools provide widespread access to the creation process. This shift allows a wider range of professionals to produce high-quality visuals, fostering creativity and innovation across various fields. After creating your visuals with Napkin AI, the platform offers versatile export options to suit various presentation needs: This flexibility ensures that your graphics maintain their impact across different mediums, from boardroom presentations to digital marketing campaigns. The ability to quickly generate and export professional-grade visuals enables you to adapt to various presentation scenarios with ease. Napkin AI, is reshaping the landscape of visual content creation. By offering efficient, customizable, and high-quality visual solutions, these AI tools empower you to communicate complex information effectively and effortlessly. For more information jump over to the official Napkin website.

Canva has been a crowd favorite in the design space for years. While it's a powerful tool, it received a major price hike, making Canva unviable for small teams and freelancers working on a tight budget. What if I told you there is a powerful, AI-driven alternative that delivers stunning visuals without breaking the bank? Enter Microsoft Designer. It's not just another graphics design tool for slapping text on images. Designer is a full-fledged creative powerhouse with neat AI tricks. I have been exploring Designer on my Android phone, and I am here to tell you why it's a must-have solution for anyone who wants to create compelling visuals without sacrificing budget. Related What is Microsoft Designer? Microsoft's graphic design tool with an AI touch is ready to take on Adobe and Canva Posts Why did I ditch Canva? Canva started as a graphic design tool, but I feel the Australian startup is getting distracted. Instead of focusing on and improving fundamentals, Canvas has added Docs, Whiteboards, Presentations, and the ability to create websites. As a result, it received a steep price hike (around 300%). This is where I decided to ditch Canva and explore alternatives on Android and desktop. Microsoft Designer was off to a rocky start. The templates library was slim, the results based on text prompts were average, and it lacked some essential editing tools. However, Microsoft has done a solid job by adding new features and simplifying the user interface. Related 8 Adobe tools you probably didn't know are on Android Android Adobe apps to spark creativity on the move Posts A respectable template library While Microsoft Designer's template library might not boast the volume of options found in Canva, it's good enough for most. It offers a curated collection of professionally designed templates that cover a range of common graphic design needs. Think social media posts, presentations, invitations, flyers, and more. It should be sufficient for most everyday design tasks, such as creating engaging social media content, crafting eye-catching marketing materials, or putting together simple presentations. The best part is how Microsoft offers text prompts for each template. You can hover the cursor over any image and check out its text prompt. It gives you an idea of how to use different text prompts to generate images with a single click. Create your designs with an AI Here is where Microsoft Designer hits it out of the park. Let's say you need a banner for a summer sale. Instead of hunting for stock images and fiddling with design elements, type: A bright, playful banner with a beach scene, featuring the text "Summer Blowout Sale - 50% Off! in bold, wavy letters. Designer's AI generates multiple banner options, each with different layouts, color palettes, and font choices. Similarly, you can create unique backgrounds for social media posts by prompting a minimalist background with abstract geometric shapes in pastel colors or generate fun stickers by describing a cute cartoon avocado wearing sunglasses. The results depend on your text prompts. So, be as elaborative as possible with your text prompts. Free Microsoft accounts receive 15 AI credits monthly, Microsoft 365 subscribers get 60, and Copilot subscribers have an extensive number of credits. Handy AI editing tools Microsoft Designer isn't only about generating new designs. It packs a punch when it comes to refining existing images. You can erase photobombers without leaving a trace, move objects, tweak focus on an image, color pop a specific part, and more. The Background Blur tool lets you achieve that stylish effect in seconds. Select the image, click the tool, and the Designer's AI intelligently separates the subject and applies a smooth, natural-looking blur to the background. Other editing goodies include selective editing, auto enhancement, and markup tools. Designer saves your generated designs to your OneDrive account and makes them accessible on all your devices. You shouldn't have a hard time editing your images and getting attention-worthy results. Frame your photos This is my favorite addition to Microsoft Designer. I can upload an image, add objects or themes to my frame, pick a style, and generate a cool-looking frame with minimal effort. I upload my image, add elements like party, balloons, neon theme, cake, and see results. I can pick any framed image and refine it with the built-in editor. I use it all the time to create personalized birthday greetings and unique travel memories. My design workflow just changed Is Microsoft Designer perfect? Absolutely not. I would love to see more templates and a better stock media library with illustrations, icons, and more. The brand kit, which was available earlier, is missing. There is a learning curve with Designer. However, after you get comfortable with text prompts, the results are truly mesmerizing. It's clear Microsoft put serious thought into making design accessible to everyone. Aside from Designer, Loop is another Microsoft tool worth exploring. I gave it a shot, and here is why I'm not going back to other productivity tools anytime soon.