Canva Alternatives: 12 More Simple Graphic Design Tools

Looking for some Canva alternatives? Canva, the popular free online graphic design tool, is massively popular. And for good reason – it’s a great tool! But as much as that may be the case, there are plenty of other apps that can help you accomplish the same types of tasks.

So if you’re looking for a new approach, or maybe even just some new templates or interface options, the graphic design apps that I’m going to feature in this post are absolutely worth checking out.

For each Canva alternative, I’ll tell you a bit more about it, as well as why you might want to pick it over Canva when push comes to shove. At the end, I’ll also share some recommendations for specific use cases, such as the best alternatives for video, social media, Android, iPhone, and more.

Ready to dig in? Let’s gooooooo.

Note – I updated this list of tools most recently in September 2021.

Best Canva Alternatives for 2021

Like Canva, all of these tools allow you to create gorgeous designs without needing to be a professional designer. That is, no Photoshop skills required!

1. Stencil

canva alternatives stencil

Stencil is a graphic design tool that’s focused on marketing, rather than making graphic design accessible. And beyond marketing, Stencil is specifically focused on social media images.

This “niching down” allows them to offer a hyper-focused tool, though you’ll also lose some flexibility when it comes to templates and stock photos.

The big draw of Stencil is that it’s designed to allow you to push out social media images as quickly as possible. And it’s also stupid simple to use.

Stencil has hundreds of templates, 1,200,00+ CC0 images, 800,000+ icons, 100,000+ quotes, and lots of other nifty features.

They have a free plan that lets you create 10 images per month. But if you really want to use it to boost your social media tools, you’ll need one of the paid plans starting at $9 per month.

Go to Stencil

Psst. I reached out to Stencil after seeing how many people were signing up and they gave me an exclusive coupon good for 10% off any plan. Just enter code NEWCOMER at checkout to get the discount.

2. Snappa

Snappa

Like Canva and DesignBold (next on this list), Snappa is another all-purpose design tool that simplifies graphic design enough to make it accessible to an average person. Quickly create images based on set dimensions or pre-built templates. Then, edit and add effects as needed to create the perfect design.

Snappa offers up 200+ fonts and 3,000+ vectors and shapes to help you create some stunning designs. And what’s really nice is that you can schedule your images to post on social media without leaving the Snappa interface.

That’s definitely handy!

Like Canva and DesignBold (again!), Snappa also has a feature that lets you automatically resize images to convert between different dimensions.

Snappa has a free plan that allows 5 downloads per month. After that, you’ll need to go with the $10 per month pro plan.

Go to Snappa

3. Crello

Crello

Crello is a newer image design tool that comes from the Depositphotos team. It lets you easily spin up a range of images for all different types of use cases, including some great-looking templates.

Crello isn’t just for images, though. It can also handle video, which makes it a solid Canva alternative for video.

If you look in the comments of this post, you’ll see that a lot of people really love Crello’s editor, though I haven’t personally used this tool extensively.

Crello has a free plan that lets you download up to five designs per month. You can also access 200+ million royalty-free stock photos from Depositphotos along with thousands of full HD video clips and animations.

If you want support for unlimited image downloads, Crello’s paid plans start at $7.99 per month with annual billing.

Go to Crello

4. Pixlr (X or E)

Pixlr

Pixlr is one of my favorite free Canva alternatives because it gives you so much flexibility. There are two different versions of Pixlr that you can choose:

  • Pixlr X – this is a stripped-down design tool that best matches what Canva offers.
  • Pixlr E – this is a heavy-duty image editor. Think of it like Adobe Photoshop, but everything happens in your browser and it’s free.

If you go with Pixlr X, you’ll get a bunch of different templates for popular formats such as YouTube thumbnails, Instagram posts, Facebook posts, Twitter, Pinterest, and so on.

Both Pixlr X and Pixlr E have full-featured free versions. But if you pay for the premium plan you’ll get more advanced editing tools and free access to elements such as overlays, icons, decorative texts, and more.

Go to Pixlr

5. DesignBold

DesignBold alternative for Canva

DesignBold is a tool that’s quite similar to Canva. While you’ll feel right at home in DesignBold’s interface if you’re already familiar with Canva, DesignBold does do a couple things well to differentiate itself.

First off, it has a much larger selection of stock photos. SO if you were always disappointed by the stock photos available in Canva, you’ll be happy to know that DesignBold struck a deal with the popular stock photo site DepositPhotos to make all of DepositPhotos’ stock images available inside DesignBold (for a fee of course).

Additionally, DesignBold has a whole new set of templates that you can choose from when you’re creating your designs.

Like Canva, DesignBold has a stellar free plan. Then, if you want more features, you can upgrade to a paid plan to get access to tools like:

  • 15,000+ new pre-made layouts
  • 20MB upload limit (free plan is 2MB)
  • Download transparent PNG
  • Download PDF for Print (in beta)
  • Custom color palettes for your own design info
  • Ability to upload custom fonts
  • Magic resize tool to reuse the same design across different dimensions

The pro plan starts at $7.99 per month.

Go to DesignBold

6. Fotor

Fotor

Fotor is another tool that offers a surprisingly similar interface to Canva. If you enjoy the Canva interface, you’ll feel right at home in Fotor.

Like the others, you select your dimensions and then build your page from a variety of text and shape elements. Or, you can always start from a pre-made template if blank canvases aren’t your thing.

The only downside of Fotor is that, at the time I’m writing this post, their library of elements is not nearly as good as Canva or DesignBold.

Fotor has a free plan that gives you unlimited access to all of the basic features. For more advanced features and more layouts and elements, the paid plans start at $8.99 per month or just $39.99 for an entire year if you pay annually.

Go to Fotor

7. Piktochart

Piktochart is what Canva would look like if it were exclusively focused on infographics and charts and graphs. It’s definitely a niche use, but if you do find yourself needing to create infographics or reports, then Piktochart is a specialized tool for the job.

Piktochart includes a number of infographic templates to make it easy for you to create an infographic even if you’ve never done it before.

While Piktochart does have a free plan, you really need to go with the pro plan if you want access to the best templates and features.

Go to Piktochart

8. PicMonkey

PicMonkey is more focused on photo editing than full-on graphic design like Canva, DesignBold, and Stencil. While you can add text and vectors, most of the tools are on adjusting things like exposure, colors, and more.

It’s a nice tool for photo editing, but if you need something to truly mimic Canva and others, then it might not be the best alternative.

PicMonkey was recently acquired by Shutterstock, so it will be interesting to see how that integration plays out in the future.

Go to PicMonkey

Apps Like Canva for Android and iPhone

Want to take your graphic design mobile? While these apps can’t quite match the versatility of Canva’s desktop version, they do let you take your designing on the go.

9. Desygner

Desygner Canva alternative for Android and iOS

Desygner is an app that’s available for both iPhone and Android that allows you to create all types of designs on your mobile phone. It’s surprisingly powerful. That is, it’s far more than just creating images with text like many other graphic design mobile apps.

With it, you can design:

  • Facebook covers and posts
  • Twitter covers and posts
  • Pinterest graphics
  • Marketing materials
  • Invitations
  • Lots more

For a mobile app, it’s definitely one of your best options for a Canva-like experience on-the-go. There’s also a web app version that’s on the way.

Go to Desigyner

10. Adobe Spark Post

Adobe Spark Post is a mobile design app from the people behind Photoshop. So I think it’s fair to say that Adobe knows a thing or two about making a solid design tool. But while Spark Post does come from Adobe, it’s got nowhere near the learning curve of Photoshop.

Like Canva, it’s graphic design…simplified. With Adobe Spark Post, you can quickly whip up a variety of social media images straight from your phone.

Adobe Spark Post has apps for both iOS and Android.

Go to Adobe Spark Post

11. GoDaddy Studio (Over Edit)

Formerly known as Over Edit, GoDaddy Studio is a popular Canva alternative for iPhone and iPad users that lets you create all types of images from your iOS device. You can use it for social media graphics, logos, flyers and posters, or even just adding some simple text to your images.

GoDaddy Studio also supports video, so you can use it for basic video editing on your device as well.

Go to GoDaddy Studio

12. Kriadl

Kriadl is another great alternative for Android users. Using your Android device, it can help you create social media graphics, posters, greeting cards, flyers, and more.

If you’re familiar with Canva’s interface, you should feel right at home with Kriadl as the basic approach is exactly the same.

Kriadl also offers an iOS app, though it’s not nearly as popular as the Android version.

Go to Kriadl

Which Is the Best Canva Alternative?

And that just about wraps up my list of alternatives to Canva! As I come across more great graphic design tools, I’ll be sure to add them to the list.

To help you decide, I’ll go through my recommendations for different use cases.

Best Canva Alternative for Social Media Images

If you’re specifically looking for a design tool to help you with social media images, then I think Stencil is probably the best option.

Best Canva Alternative for Video

If you’re specifically looking for a Canva alternative for video, I think that Crello is a great option. Crello has had video support from day one, so it’s definitely not an afterthought feature.

Best App Like Canva for Android Users

If you’re looking for an Android app for design, consider GoDaddy Studio.

Best App Like Canva for iPhone Users

If you’re looking for an iPhone app for design, I also think that GoDaddy Studio can be a good option.

And that wraps up the list! If you come across any tools similar to Canva that you think are worth sharing, I’d love if you left a comment so I can add them to the list.

71 thoughts on “Canva Alternatives: 12 More Simple Graphic Design Tools”

  1. Hey Colin!

    I would love for you to check out Easil.com and see what you think 🙂

    Maybe next time we will make your list of tools – especially as we have a bunch of new stuff coming that I think you and your audience will love! More than happy to answer any questions if you happen to have the time to check it out! We are a very small team and fairly new – so any feedback you have is appreciated!

    Kind Regards,
    Annette McDonald

    Reply
      • Hi Colin!

        Our main points of difference:

        • All designs are all inclusive as you seen them, on your particular subscription. So if you’re on a free subscription, if you can access a template, there are not any hidden paid elements included. As you go up to paid tiers, the number of templates included is much greater

        • We have a focus on providing commercially ready artwork templates. All of our qualified graphic designers have worked in commercial environments, and prepare the templates in a thoughtful manner – including appropriate calls to action etc, so a lot of the thought has already been done, as well as the design!

        • We have a graphic design support team online as well – even if it’s just to ask a design question, they are available! We have many clients that come to us for services from logo design to brand creation, and having bespoke suites of design elements created for them. We really enjoy helping people on their journey – not everyone is ready to DIY immediately without a helping hand.

        • We offer print services from foiled business cards, through to large format posters and banners.

        • Support is available via in-app chat, email or even… the phone! We love hearing from our customers!

        • Many of our editing tools are different too, and we’re continually evolving. As mentioned last message we’re only a small team – but super passionate, so take on board all feedback.

        Would love to hear your thoughts once you’ve had a play!

        Thanks 🙂 Annette

        Reply
  2. Hello Colin, Great thanks for this amazing tutorial! I just started blogging and would love to use some images for my post but could not find an easy one for a starter. I will definitely try Snappa’s starter plan. ????????

    ___Lisa

    Reply
  3. Great article! I was just wondering if any of these alternatives to Canva are able to let you share your images with the public so other people can edit what you originally created without the original images getting edited. We tried in Canva but they don’t have that option. You can only share within a team and we want to share our designs with anybody. Let me know if you know a workaround for this or another tool to check out. Thanks.

    Reply
    • Hey Daniel,

      DesignBold has a sharing feature that’s similar to Google Docs. You can generate a link and share it with others so that they can create a copy and further edit it if needed. They don’t even need to be designbold users – anyone with the link can do it.

      You can learn more about it here.

      I haven’t personally used that exact feature, but my girlfriend works there and that’s what she told me 🙂 Maybe worth checking out!

      Reply
  4. Hi! Working for a school district, I create flyers, brochures and social media posts with pictures. In order to be ADA compliant we are now adding “alt text” to all of our electronic images. We love how easy Canva is to create these docs, but as you know, when you save them to post to the web, they are .pdf files and that doesn’t allow for adding the “alt text” to the individual images within the document. We are looking for something similar to canva that will allow this feature and allow us to stay clear of the MS office stuff… (publisher works but we don’t have that on our systems at this time).

    Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
    ~Jennifer

    Reply
    • Jennifer,

      I use Canva graphics on my Wordpress.org blog all the time. I save them as PNG files. I have the option of adding “alt txt” to all of my Canva creations.

      Reply
      • I thought she was referencing embedding alt text into PDF documents or something.

        But yeah, if you just want to add alt text to images on a website, you can do that with any of these tools as all it takes is adding HTML.

        Reply
  5. I would add Crello to the list. It’s another Canva clone, but unlike others on this list, you can download transparency for free. 🙂

    Reply
    • This is the new one from DepositPhotos, right? I caught it on ProductHunt. Looks interesting (though pretty “cloney” indeed) but I haven’t had a chance to play around with it yet.

      Thanks for sharing!

      Reply
      • That would be the one. Comes in handy if one’s Canva subscription has expired, and you need to be able to download an image with a transparent background — and being pretty darn “cloney,” it doesn’t take long to figure it out.

        Reply
  6. Colin,

    I work for a public library and I can’t use a credit card for subscription services — we can do invoice payment. Do you know if any of these options offer this method of payment? Canva does not. Thx!

    Reply
    • Hey Jackie,

      Sorry but I’ve never had to use invoice payments so I don’t know. Maybe if you contact their support they’d be willing to work something out for you, though! I imagine they’d be game – especially if you were willing to pay yearly.

      Reply
  7. Thanks for the info, Colin! I have a few new things to check out.

    Do you have any recommendations for someone who is wanting to make printables (I sell them on Etsy)? My major frustration with Canva is they don’t have any option for making columns and tables which is a pretty basic design element to me. I like the professional templates but it doesn’t feel geared to my type of design. Any suggestions? Thanks!! 🙂

    Reply
    • Hey Bethany, I’m not really sure as I’ve never done printables. I know DesignBold offers a PDF for print option, but I’m not sure its print quality is as high as Canva’s.

      So maybe worth a try, but no promises that it will actually be an upgrade with respect to that 🙂

      Reply
  8. Hi!

    This list is really brilliant. And super-helpful.
    The Q&A makes me want to try out Easil too.

    But what I’m after is a solution that allows for CMYK print files. And not a RGB converted to CMYK.

    Any pointers in that direction?

    Pradeep

    Reply
    • Hi Pradeep, same here. I’ve emailed support of 3 of these recommended platform and will let you know if any of them allows for CMYK color mode creation. Canva told me a month ago that they may develop this capacity in the near future…

      Reply
  9. Hi Colin,
    Thank you so much for those canva alternative collections!
    I Really love Snappa so much. I am working on Snappa for 5 months, its amazing! I like another tool you shared which is Piktochart ????????

    Reply
  10. Thanks Colin for sharing with us these tools, I already used Canva and Spak adobe. I’m going to try some of them. One platform I find it easy to use is Crello.com. It is another platform like canva, spark adobe, but here anyone can create stunning graphic designs and also animated videos.

    Reply
  11. Thanks for sharing! I’ve bookmarked a few of these. I’m also looking for new ones for when I’m too lazy to open PhotoShop. One that’s not listed is FotoJet. Like Fotor, they don’t have too many templates and it’s impossible to resize images but they do have some unique templates also the free version is even more limited. I love Crello too.

    Reply
  12. Hi there!
    Was wondering if there is an app i can buy for my computer that is a one-time fee instead of the each month payment, I really like the idea of having the software on my computer. Cheers!

    Reply
  13. Hi

    I use Canva quite a lot and like it. The one thing I am missing is the ability to create a clickable link in a PNG file. Do you know of a similar tool that would allow me to do this?

    Reply
  14. Great info.. Which one would you recommend for designing a book cover, I have used Canva but there are just a few things I’d like to change that I can’t on Canva.. Thanks in advance..

    Reply
  15. Thank you! Canva revolutionised my work. I work as a PR & marketing manager in hospitality and I don’t have a big marketing budget, so Canva is perfect for me. 1$ for picture is not so much but I can create some nice offers for our clients. Here you have an example of my work. It’s a nice alternative for Shutterstock etc. Fonts are beautiful, it is very creative thinking to learn how to mix them. I use it also on my personal blog

    Reply
  16. Hi, I was wondering if you had a suggestion for making t shirt designs. I’m looking for an app or website where I can make png images with a transparent background, that can be saved on my cpu.

    Reply
    • Definitely – WordSwag is a good lightweight one if you just want to churn out some basic social media graphics. I wouldn’t put it up as a full alternative to Canva though unless they’ve expanded.

      Reply
  17. Thank you for the splendid list, Colin.

    I’ve tried canva but don’t really like it personally, but since everyone’s recommending it and it’s free. I gave it a shot.

    I think I’ll be using “stencil” instead. Looks good to me, not sure about designbold. Hopefully it’s just as good as canva and stencil.

    Tried fotor but it seems like the ratings are not as good as canva and stencil.

    Reply
  18. Thanks for the article, but seems like none of the competition listed is not worse Canva’s 10% , especially Stencil and PickMonkey, nothing special at all. I am wondering why there is no Crello on the list, it also has good staff and helps to create animation, this is why it is my fav, especially for Instagram video stories

    Reply
  19. Very useful! I’m in digital media and tired of Canva. It stopped letting me edit images on my iPhone for 1.. and it has really limited templates for Instagram. Which is the best one for Instagram content? 🙂

    Reply
  20. Hello Colin,
    Thanks for sharing this nice article with us. It is really helpful and informative. Keep posting new updates on your blog.

    Can you suggest any free animated video making tool online???

    Reply
  21. I was using Canva, till the time its images its fine however when i wanted to work with text it became cumbersome , also it was freaking slow , i thought it might be bandwidth at my office however when i tried the same at my home which has an amazing wifi connection it was still slow-CANVA IS TOO SLOW,

    Thanks for these alternative lists i used Snappa & Designbold both are great however i personally like Designbold maybe because it reminds me of Canva which i miss and would have used if it was not slow

    Seeing a lot of reference for Crello ,will try and let you know however right now for me its Designbold 🙂

    Reply
  22. Since we are talking about alternatives, Pixteller is a very good one. Performance wise, I would say better than Canva with similar features. And their design animation editor is way more useful to me than what Canva offers.

    Reply
  23. Hey! Nice list 🙂

    Can you please check this new design tool, Media Modifier?

    It’s pretty much template oriented, but we are releasing a page, where you can start from scratch also!

    And for the bonus, the same subscription is site-wide, meaning that all other premium services are also included in it.

    Reply
  24. Hi Colin, can you please take a look at MockoFun? It’s a new online graphic design tool with lots of cool features. If you like it maybe you can add it to your list 🙂 Thank you!

    Reply
  25. i’m surprised no one mentioned Over. Maybe its because as of now there is no option to use it on a computer- it is a phone app-specific tool, but I think it is better than Canva, except for the frustration it causes when I want to see my designs larger, or when I’m sharing to multiple sites..I have to e-mail to myself, download to my computer, go from there. But they have better templates and a ton of other super cool elements, as well as a similar ‘design school’ tool that gives amazingly simple tips for creating all sorts of different designs for different purposes.

    Reply
  26. It’s hard to come by experienced people about this subject, but you seem like you know what you’re talking about! Thanks

    Reply
  27. This is greatly helpful for a beginner like me who need to do graphic design. Of Course Canva is one of the popular graphic design tool, but by reading your list of other tools, I was simply amazed. Excellent one and really helped me!!!

    Reply
  28. Hello Colin Newcomer,
    Thanks for sharing this information. I am currently using Canva but I have been unable to upload a font that I purchased from myfonts.com. Do you know which of these other programs would allow for a font upload? Thanks!

    Reply
  29. Hi Colin,

    We are currently working on a new tool named prettysmart.co.

    It’s different than the others you listed in the following ways.

    1. It works with your brand. You uploads the logo, font, and colors once and then you automatically get all your designs following your brand guidelines.

    2. Instead of starting with a template, you enter the text and the tool designs it for you. This gives you a much faster and fun experience. (There is an editor too, so that you can mess around with the designs you get.)

    As of now we are beta testing

    Check out Prettysmart.co and I would love to hear your comments.

    Thanks

    Rachel S.
    Prettysmart.co

    Reply
  30. Thank you Colin for sharing the Canva alternatives. Canva is a great tool however knowing what other tools can offer like free resizing is good way to specifically design for social media or infographics.

    Reply
  31. Hi Colin,

    Thanks for the informative and well researched piece. As an everyday Canva user, I must admit I never knew such alternatives exists. Canva is such a powerful and intuitive creative tool and the pro version is extremely affordable for the value it gives. I must admit I am extremely biased since Canva is all I have been using for years and has served my needs adequately. Its nice to know other options exists and thanks for telling us about them.

    Reply

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