Which Canva alternative is best for professionals?

Figma is the best Canva alternative for professional designers in 2026, particularly for UI/UX design, web design, and app design work. At $12/editor/month for the Professional plan, Figma provides industry-standard vector design tools, real-time collaboration with live cursors, and developer handoff features that Canva cannot match. Design teams at companies like Uber, Microsoft, and Airbnb use Figma as their primary design tool because it supports complex design systems and prototyping. Adobe Express is the second-best choice for professionals already using Adobe Creative Cloud, offering seamless integration with Photoshop, Illustrator, and other Adobe tools at $9.99/month. Visme works best for professionals who create data-heavy presentations and infographics, providing advanced data visualization tools at $12.25/month. For marketing professionals managing multiple campaigns, RelayThat offers superior brand consistency and automation at $15/month per user. Choose Figma for design work, Adobe Express for Creative Cloud integration, Visme for presentations, or RelayThat for marketing automation. Avoid Canva Pro at $12.99/month if you need professional-grade features these alternatives provide.

Is Adobe Express better than Canva?

Adobe Express is better than Canva for professional designers who use Adobe Creative Cloud, but Canva is better for beginners and general-purpose design. Adobe Express excels with seamless integration to Photoshop, Illustrator, and Adobe Stock, allowing you to start designs in Express and refine them in professional Adobe tools. The template quality is higher due to Adobe's professional design standards, and you get access to Adobe Fonts and Stock libraries. Canva beats Adobe Express for beginners with a more intuitive interface, larger template library (250K+ vs Express's smaller collection), and better social media features like content calendar and scheduling. Canva also offers more collaboration features and a larger community for inspiration. Price comparison: Adobe Express Premium costs $9.99/month while Canva Pro costs $12.99/month, making Express the more affordable option. Choose Adobe Express if you already use Creative Cloud, need professional quality, or want better value at $9.99/month. Choose Canva if you prioritize ease of use, need extensive templates, or want built-in social media scheduling. Both offer generous free tiers to test before committing to paid plans.

What is the cheapest Canva alternative?

VistaCreate is the cheapest Canva alternative at $10/month when paid annually, offering 170M+ royalty-free media assets and 200K+ premium templates. This undercuts Canva Pro ($12.99/month or $119.99/year) by 23% while providing comparable features including background removal, team collaboration for up to 10 users, and animated design capabilities. The monthly price is $13/month if you prefer not to commit annually. Snappa ties at $10/month (annual) or $15/month (monthly) with access to 5M+ stock photos and unlimited downloads. Visme offers plans starting at $7.50/month in some promotional periods, typically $12.25/month for the Starter plan. Among free options, VistaCreate, Adobe Express, Snappa, and Figma all provide capable free tiers that cost $0/month. For paid plans under $10/month, watch for Visme promotions. For $10/month guaranteed, choose VistaCreate or Snappa. For completely free with good features, use VistaCreate Free (1M+ media), Adobe Express Free (professional templates), or Figma Free (collaboration). All alternatives cost less than Canva Pro while providing sufficient features for most users.

Which tool is best for infographics?

Piktochart is the best tool for creating infographics in 2026, purpose-built to transform data into graphs, charts, and visual information with specialized infographic templates. At $14/month (annual) or $29/month (monthly) for the Pro plan, you get 500 AI credits monthly to automatically generate infographic layouts, unlimited downloads without watermarks, and advanced data visualization tools that Canva lacks. Piktochart excels at business infographics, research presentations, and educational content. Visme is the close second choice at $12.25/month, offering better value with strong infographic capabilities plus presentation and social media tools. While Piktochart specializes purely in infographics and data visualization, Visme provides more versatility if you need multiple content types. Both tools beat Canva for professional infographics because they offer interactive charts, live data connections, and more sophisticated data visualization options. Choose Piktochart for the best infographic-specific features and AI assistance. Choose Visme for better value if you need infographics plus presentations and social graphics. Both provide 10-20x better data visualization tools than Canva, making them worth the investment for data-heavy content. Expect to save 40-60% of design time compared to building infographics in general tools.

Can Figma replace Canva?

Figma can replace Canva for professional design work, particularly UI/UX design, web design, and collaborative projects, but cannot replace Canva for quick social media graphics and marketing materials. Figma excels at complex design tasks with vector-based tools, design systems, prototyping, and real-time collaboration that make it industry-standard for product teams. At $12/editor/month (Professional plan), you get powerful features that Canva cannot match for professional design workflows. Figma cannot replace Canva for casual users who need pre-made templates for Instagram posts, flyers, and presentations. Canva provides 250K+ ready-to-use templates while Figma requires building designs from scratch or using community templates. Figma's learning curve is steeper, taking 2-4 weeks to master versus Canva's instant usability. The free tier supports collaboration, making it viable for teams on a budget. Replace Canva with Figma if you need professional design tools, work on UI/UX projects, collaborate with design teams, or build design systems. Keep Canva if you prioritize speed, need marketing templates, or want instant results without a learning curve. Many professionals use both tools: Figma for design work and Canva for quick marketing graphics.

What is the best Canva alternative for teams?

VistaCreate is the best Canva alternative for teams in 2026, offering collaboration for up to 10 users included in the Pro plan at $10/month (annual) or $13/month (monthly). This beats Canva Teams at $10/month per user by allowing 10 team members for a single subscription price, saving teams $90/month compared to Canva's pricing model. VistaCreate includes shared workspaces, brand kits, and 170M+ royalty-free assets accessible to all team members. RelayThat is the second-best choice for marketing teams needing brand consistency and automation. At $15/month per user (Pro) or $25/month for 2 users (Pro+), it provides advanced workflow automation, 5-20 workspaces depending on plan, and one-click resize/remix tools that save teams hours on campaign work. Figma offers the best collaboration features with real-time editing and live cursors at $12/editor/month, ideal for design teams. Choose VistaCreate for the best team value under $15/month total. Choose RelayThat for marketing teams managing multiple campaigns. Choose Figma for design teams needing real-time collaboration. All three alternatives provide better team features than Canva Teams while costing significantly less for most team sizes.

Are Canva alternatives as easy to use?

Most Canva alternatives are slightly less easy to use than Canva initially, but VistaCreate, Adobe Express, and Snappa come closest to matching Canva's intuitive interface. Canva sets the industry standard for ease of use with drag-and-drop simplicity, helpful onboarding, and an interface designed for non-designers. However, the gap is smaller than you might expect in 2026 as competitors have improved significantly. VistaCreate matches Canva's ease of use for social media graphics with similar drag-and-drop functionality and template discovery. Adobe Express provides comparable simplicity focused on quick design tasks, though the interface feels more professional than playful. Snappa prioritizes speed over features, making it even simpler than Canva for basic social graphics. Figma requires 2-4 weeks to learn due to professional-grade features, making it unsuitable for casual users. Piktochart and Visme have steeper learning curves for data visualization tools. Most users adapt to VistaCreate, Adobe Express, or Snappa within 1-2 hours. Expect 90-95% of Canva's ease of use in these three alternatives. The learning investment pays off through lower costs and specialized features. Start with free tiers to test usability before committing to paid plans.

Canva Alternatives: Top 8 Options for 2026 [Free & Paid]

Find the best Canva alternatives for your design needs in 2026. Compare 8 top design tools including free options like Adobe Express, Figma, and VistaCreate. Get detailed pricing, features, and expert recommendations to choose the perfect alternative for professionals, beginners, or marketing teams.

Amara

•Updated: 2025-11-08•18 min read

Detailed Tool Reviews

Adobe Express

★4.7

Adobe Express (formerly Adobe Spark) is a professional-grade design tool from Adobe that offers quick graphic design capabilities with access to Adobe's vast template library. It integrates seamlessly with Adobe Creative Cloud, making it ideal for users already in the Adobe ecosystem who want professional quality output without the complexity of Photoshop or Illustrator.

Key Features:

✓Robust professional templates from Adobe
✓Integration with Adobe Creative Cloud apps
✓Quick graphic design with drag-and-drop interface
✓Mobile and desktop apps for on-the-go editing
✓Adobe Fonts and Stock integration
✓Brand kit with custom fonts and colors

Pricing:

Free plan available, Premium at $9.99/month

Pros:

+ Professional Adobe quality templates
+ Seamless Creative Cloud integration
+ Free tier is generous
+ Fast and responsive interface
+ Excellent mobile apps

Cons:

- Less beginner-friendly than Canva
- Premium features require subscription
- Smaller template library than Canva

Best For:

Adobe users, professional designers, content creators needing professional quality output, and teams already using Adobe Creative Cloud.

Try Adobe Express →

Figma

★4.8

Figma is a cloud-based vector design tool that excels at UI/UX design and real-time collaboration. Unlike traditional design tools, Figma enables entire teams to work on the same file simultaneously, making it the go-to choice for web designers, app designers, and product teams who need collaborative design workflows.

Key Features:

✓Real-time collaboration with live cursors
✓Cloud-based design tool (no software installation)
✓Vector-based graphics editor
✓Prototyping tools for web and mobile apps
✓Design systems and component libraries
✓Developer handoff with inspect mode

Pricing:

Free plan available, Professional at $12/editor/month

Pros:

+ Unbeatable for UI/UX design work
+ Best-in-class real-time collaboration
+ Works in browser on any platform
+ Excellent for design systems
+ Free tier supports collaboration

Cons:

- Steeper learning curve than Canva
- Not ideal for quick social media graphics
- Requires internet connection

Best For:

Web designers, app designers, UI/UX designers, design teams, professionals needing collaboration, and product teams building digital products.

Try Figma →

Visme

★4.5

Visme specializes in data visualization, infographics, and presentations. While Canva excels at social media graphics, Visme is purpose-built for transforming complex data into engaging visual formats. It's the ideal choice for marketing professionals, educators, and business presenters who need to communicate data-heavy information clearly.

Key Features:

✓Advanced data visualization tools
✓Extensive infographic templates
✓Presentation builder with animations
✓Interactive content creation
✓Charts and graphs with live data
✓Brand kit for consistency

Pricing:

Free plan available, Starter at $12.25/month

Pros:

+ Excellent for data visualization
+ Professional presentation templates
+ Interactive content capabilities
+ Good value for price
+ Strong analytics features

Cons:

- Interface less intuitive than Canva
- Free tier has watermarks
- Fewer social media templates

Best For:

Marketing professionals, educators, business presenters, data analysts, and anyone who needs to present complex information in engaging visual formats.

Try Visme →

VistaCreate

★4.6

VistaCreate (formerly Crello) is a design platform that excels at creating animated social media graphics and video content. With access to 170M+ royalty-free media assets on the Pro plan and powerful animation tools, it's the best Canva alternative for social media managers and content creators who want to add motion to their designs.

Key Features:

✓170M+ royalty-free stock photos, vectors, videos (Pro plan)
✓200K+ premium design templates
✓Background Remover and Sticker Maker
✓Team collaboration (up to 10 users)
✓Animated design capabilities
✓Video editing tools

Pricing:

Free Starter plan, Pro at $10/month (annual) or $13/month (monthly)

Pros:

+ Most generous free tier (1M+ media, 100K templates)
+ Excellent for animated graphics
+ Affordable pricing
+ Great video creation tools
+ Team collaboration included

Cons:

- Fewer advanced features than Canva Pro
- Interface can feel cluttered
- Learning curve for animation features

Best For:

Social media managers, content creators, marketers, teams, and anyone who needs animated social media content and video graphics.

Try VistaCreate →

Piktochart

★4.4

Piktochart is specialized software for creating infographics, presentations, and reports. It transforms data into graphs, charts, and maps with ease, making it perfect for business professionals, marketers, and educators who need to visualize information and create data-driven content that engages audiences.

Key Features:

✓Transform data into graphs, charts, maps
✓Presentation and social media graphics
✓500 AI credits monthly (Pro plan)
✓Unlimited downloads without watermarks
✓Brand asset kits
✓Interactive maps and charts

Pricing:

Free 7-day access, Pro at $14/month (annual) or $29/month (monthly), Business at $24/month (annual)

Pros:

+ Best-in-class infographic tools
+ Excellent data visualization
+ AI-powered design assistance
+ Good template variety
+ Brand kit features

Cons:

- Free tier is limited (7 days)
- More expensive than some alternatives
- Less suitable for general graphics

Best For:

Business professionals, marketers, educators, researchers, and anyone who needs to transform complex data into visual infographics and reports.

Try Piktochart →

Snappa

★4.6

Snappa prioritizes speed and simplicity for creating social media graphics. With pre-set image dimensions for every social platform and access to 5 million high-resolution stock photos, Snappa helps social media managers, bloggers, and small businesses create professional graphics quickly without getting bogged down in complex features.

Key Features:

✓Pre-set image dimensions for social platforms
✓5,000,000+ high-resolution stock photos
✓Thousands of pre-made templates
✓Drag-and-drop interface
✓Royalty-free photo library
✓One-click background removal

Pricing:

Free plan available, Pro at $10/month (annual) or $15/month (monthly), Team at $20/month (annual)

Pros:

+ Extremely fast and easy to use
+ Huge stock photo library
+ Affordable pricing
+ Perfect social media sizes
+ Great for beginners

Cons:

- Fewer advanced features
- Limited animation capabilities
- Smaller template library than Canva

Best For:

Social media managers, bloggers, small businesses, beginners, and anyone who values speed and simplicity over advanced features.

Try Snappa →

RelayThat

★4.2

RelayThat focuses on marketing automation and brand consistency. Unlike general design tools, RelayThat specializes in helping marketing teams maintain consistent branding across hundreds of designs with one-click resize and remix features. It's built for agencies and brands running multiple campaigns who need to produce high volumes of on-brand graphics efficiently.

Key Features:

✓5 workspaces (Pro), 20 workspaces (Pro+)
✓3 million+ images
✓Headline generator
✓2000+ SmartLayouts
✓One-click resize/remix for brand consistency
✓Automated design consistency across campaigns

Pricing:

Pro at $15/month per user, Pro+ at $25/month for 2 users, Enterprise custom pricing

Pros:

+ Excellent brand consistency tools
+ Time-saving automation features
+ Good for agencies
+ Strong workflow automation
+ Multiple workspace support

Cons:

- No free plan
- Learning curve for automation features
- More expensive than basic tools

Best For:

Marketing professionals, agencies, brands with multiple campaigns, and teams that need to maintain brand consistency across large volumes of marketing materials.

Try RelayThat →

Stencil

★4.5

Stencil is built for speed and includes social media scheduling integration. With access to 5 million photos and 3.1 million icons, plus a Chrome extension for instant design creation, Stencil helps marketers and bloggers create and schedule graphics in one streamlined workflow without switching between multiple tools.

Key Features:

✓5,000,000+ photos
✓3,100,000+ icons
✓Social media scheduling integration
✓Chrome extension for instant design
✓Lightweight and fast interface
✓Quick template customization

Pricing:

Free plan available, Pro at $15/month

Pros:

+ Extremely fast workflow
+ Social scheduling included
+ Helpful Chrome extension
+ Large icon library
+ Great for speed

Cons:

- Fewer design features than Canva
- Limited animation options
- Basic editing capabilities

Best For:

Marketers, bloggers, social media managers who value speed, and anyone who wants design and social scheduling in one tool.

Try Stencil →

Real-World Use Cases

For Beginners

Users new to design need intuitive interfaces and helpful templates without overwhelming complexity.

Recommended Tool: VistaCreateAdobe ExpressSnappa

For Professionals

Professional designers need advanced features, collaboration tools, and high-quality output.

Recommended Tool: FigmaAdobe ExpressVisme

For Marketing Teams

Marketing teams need collaboration features, brand consistency tools, and automation capabilities.

Recommended Tool: RelayThatVistaCreateStencil

For Data/Presentations

Business presenters need tools to transform complex data into engaging visual formats.

Recommended Tool: VismePiktochart

For Social Media

Social media managers need fast graphic creation and platform-specific dimensions.

Recommended Tool: VistaCreateSnappaStencil

Frequently Asked Questions

VistaCreate offers the best free Canva alternative in 2026 with the most generous free tier providing access to 1M+ royalty-free media assets and 100K+ templates. Unlike Canva Free which limits you to 250K+ templates, VistaCreate Starter gives you significantly more resources without requiring a paid upgrade. The free plan includes basic design tools, animation capabilities, and enough features for casual users and beginners. Adobe Express also provides an excellent free alternative with professional-quality templates from Adobe, though the template library is smaller. Snappa offers a capable free tier perfect for quick social media graphics with pre-set dimensions. Figma provides the most powerful free option for UI/UX designers with real-time collaboration, but requires a steeper learning curve. If you need professional quality without paying, Adobe Express is ideal. For ease of use with generous resources, choose VistaCreate. For quick social graphics, try Snappa. For collaborative design work, use Figma. All four free alternatives avoid Canva's pricing while maintaining good functionality for most users.

Choose Your Canva Alternative

Canva alternatives provide compelling options across all price points and use cases in 2026. For free alternatives, VistaCreate offers the most generous free tier with 1M+ media assets and 100K+ templates, while Adobe Express provides professional quality and Figma excels for collaborative design work. For paid plans under $15/month, VistaCreate at $10/month (annual) and Snappa at $10/month deliver the best value with comprehensive features. Professional designers should choose Figma ($12/month) for UI/UX work or Adobe Express ($9.99/month) for Creative Cloud integration. Marketing teams benefit from RelayThat's automation at $15/month while business presenters need Visme ($12.25/month) or Piktochart ($14/month) for data visualization. Start by identifying your primary use case: social media managers choose VistaCreate or Snappa, professional designers choose Figma or Adobe Express, data presenters choose Visme or Piktochart, and marketing teams choose RelayThat or VistaCreate. Most alternatives offer free trials or free tiers, allowing you to test before committing. The best strategy involves testing 2-3 alternatives for 7-14 days on real projects to determine which workflow fits your needs. For detailed tool comparisons, see our <a href="/guides/best-ai-tools-for/design">best AI design tools guide</a> and <a href="/guides/ai-tools-comparison">AI tools comparison</a>. Users typically save 20-40% on costs while gaining specialized features by switching from Canva Pro to purpose-built alternatives.

Explore all design tools →

About the Author

Amara

Amara is an AI tools expert who has tested over 1,800 AI tools since 2022. She specializes in helping businesses and individuals discover the right AI solutions for text generation, image creation, video production, and automation. Her reviews are based on hands-on testing and real-world use cases, ensuring honest and practical recommendations.

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