Kevin JohnsonCanva is an online graphic design platform based in Sydney, Australia. Users can create social media graphics and presentations. The company was founded in Jan 2013 by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht, Buebe Lamaz, and Cameron Adams.
In 2015, the company launched Canva for Work to cater to marketers. Canva became profitable in 2017 and reached an AUS$ 1 billion valuation in January 2018. In Dec 2019, Canva launched Canva for Education. This free product for educational institutions enhances collaboration between students and teachers.
The company launched its AI-powered copywriting assistant, Magic Write, in Dec 2022. In Oct 2023, Canva released Magic Studio with AI-powered design tools. The platform has 16 million paying subscribers and over 150 million users globally. [1]
Canva is a leading web-based design platform. The company has launched new AI-powered tools became profitable like image editing or converting designs into other media formats. In 2023, the company launched dozens of innovative solutions. Users can create instant designs with Magic Design, transform images with Magic Switch, turn ideas into visual content with Magic Media, and translate designs with Canva’s AI-powered translator.
In Oct 2023, the company deployed new AI-powered solutions on Canva for Education to help teachers improve lesson planning. Canva plans to pay $200 million over three years to use designers’ content to train its AI models.
However, Canva faces stiff competition from Adobe, Visme, Fotor, Marq, VistaCreate, Venngage, Prezi, Autodesk, and CorelDRAW. [2]
Here is an in-depth analysis of Canva’s top competitors and alternatives:
1. Adobe
Year founded: 1982
Headquarter: San Jose, California
Adobe is a multinational computer software company. The firm offers Adobe Creative Cloud Express, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. In Jan 2023, Adobe had over 29,200 employees.
Adobe is synonymous with creative design. Its Creative Cloud Express, Photoshop, InDesign, and Photoshop Lightroom have over 4.5 stars each on G2.com. In Sep 2023, Adobe unveiled a new AI-powered Creative Cloud, Adobe Express Premium, and Adobe Firefly web app. Designers can leverage generative AI capabilities across Adobe Creative Cloud in apps like Photoshop and Illustrator. Adobe is the top Canva competitor and alternative. [3]
2. Visme
Year founded: 2013
Headquarter: Rockville, Maryland
Visme is an American software company that offers an intuitive cloud-based tool for creating and presenting stories. Its built-in photo editor allows users to enhance images in their browsers. According to G2, Visme has a 4.5-star rating out of 5, versus 4.7 stars for Canva.
Visme caters to experienced designers, while Canva serves consumers of all skill levels. In Jan 2024, Visme had over 27 million users. The main selling point of Visme is its robust AI-powered tools, including AI-image generator, AI-writer, and AI-TouchUp. Visme is a worthy competitor for Canva. [4]
3. Fotor
Year founded: 2009
Headquarter: Los Angeles, California
Fotor is an all-in-one photo editing tool powered by cutting-edge AI technology. Users can access the software as a web app or through mobile devices and desktops. In Dec 2023, Fotor had over 600 million users in over 190 countries.
Fotor combines editing, design, and AI image-generation tools in a single platform. In Dec 2023, Fotor unveiled AI-powered features to transform users’ holiday experiences. Users can leverage Fotor AI Image Generator, Fotor AI Replacer, and Fotor AI Avatar to edit and create images and graphics quickly and easily. Fotor is one of the best alternatives to Canva. [5]
4. Marq
Year founded: 2013
Headquarter: Salt Lake City, Utah
Marq is a brand-templating platform established as Lucidpress. It helps businesses create and publish on-brand content that converts. In Jul 2022, Lucidpress rebranded to Marq. The move comes about a year after the company was acquired by Charles Thayne Capital (CTC), a growth-oriented and tech-focused investment firm. [6]
Marq is a web-based layout and design software app that uses real-time collaboration. On G2.com, It has 4.4 stars out of 5 from 2076 customer reviews. The company launched its new brand in July 2022 and enhanced its platform. Marq is one of the best alternatives to Canva for businesses.
5. VistaCreate
Year founded: 2016
Headquarter: Limassol, Cyprus
VistaCreate is an online graphic design platform. Users can access a visual editor to create visuals without complex design tools. As of Dec 2022, VistaCreate had over 10 million customers from 192 countries.
Canva and VistaCreate provide user-friendly dashboards with a search box to help users find template designs quickly and easily. Both are online graphic design software offering a menu for in-depth editing and a drag-and-drop feature.
However, Canva has three pricing plans, and VistaCreate has two paid options. Consumers can save 23% by using VistaCreate instead of Canva. VistaCreate is one of the best alternatives to Canva. [7]
6. Venngage
Year founded: 2012
Headquarter: Toronto, Canada
Venngage is an easy-to-use design tool. The platform helps individuals and organizations generate stunning visual content. According to G2, Venngage has a 4.7-star rating out of 5 from 124 customer reviews.
Venngage is a pioneer in the design platform industry. In Nov 2023, the company introduced its latest app version with over 40,000 accessible design examples. Users can leverage Instant Alt-Text Generation, AI-driven Chart Interpretation, and Accessibility Checker to simplify their design processes. Venngage is a worthy competitor for Canva. [8]
7. Prezi
Year founded: 2009
Headquarter: San Francisco, California
Prezi is a visual and video communications software company. Designers can use Prezi’s content design, presentation, and video tools to create engaging and impactful visuals. As of Jan 2023, Prezi had over 300 employees.
Prezi helps businesses enhance communication with the target audience. As of Sep 2023, Prezi Video served over 200,000 companies and organizations. This presentation software allows virtual meeting participants to share feedback, answer questions, and edit charts. Prezi is one of Canva’s top competitors. [9]
8. Autodesk, Inc.
Year founded: 1982
Headquarter: San Francisco, California
Autodesk is a multinational software corporation offering software products and services for the architecture, construction, manufacturing, engineering, media, and education industries. AutoCAD is a computer-aided design (CAD) solution. In 2023, Autodesk had over 13,700 employees.
AutoCAD helps artists and architects develop and modify 2D and 3D digital models and images. In Mar 2022, Autodesk released AutoCAD 2023 with new features, tools, and enhancements. This 37th version has been upgraded with markup import, My Insights Macro Advisor, and AutoCAD web APIs. Autodesk is a formidable competitor for Canva. [10]
9. CorelDRAW
Year founded: 1985
Headquarter: Ottawa, Canada
CorelDRAW is a graphic design toolkit offered by Alludo, a Canadian software company. It provides vector illustration, layout, photo editing, typography, and real-time collaboration.
As of Sep 2023, Alludo had around 1,200 employees and over 2.5 million paying customers.
CorelDRAW is a professional design solution. In Sep 2023, Alludo updated CorelDRAW Graphics Suite with productivity-powered features and enhancements to boost creativity and simplify the graphic design workflow. Designers can use the focus mode to visualize and merge related objects. CorelDRAW is one of Canva’s top competitors. [11]
10. Pixlr
Year founded: 2008
Headquarter: Singapore, Singapore
Pixlr is a leading photo-editing software company acquired by Autodesk in 2011. Autodesk sold Pixlr to 123RF in 2017. As of Nov 2023, Pixlr’s mobile apps had been downloaded over 130 million times. The platform serves around 10 million users monthly.
Pixlr’s cloud-based platform provides photo editors and a photo-sharing service. In Nov 2023, the company released Pixlr 2024 with AI-powered tools. Users can access new filters and effects, AI generative fill, AI backdrop, and AI super scale. These AI-driven features reduce tedious manual adjustments and time-consuming trial and error. Pixlr is an innovative competitor for Canva. [12]
11. PicMonkey
Year founded: 2012
Headquarter: Seattle, Washington
PicMonkey is a leading online image editing and graphic design platform. Creators of any skill level can use PicMonkey to design high-quality presentations, adverts, logos, business cards, and banners. In Sep 2021, Shutterstock, Inc. acquired PicMonkey.
PicMonkey is a design tool for creating visual assets for digital marketing, advertising, and social media posts. The platform offers a drag-and-drop editor and thousands of templates, graphics, and fonts to help creators produce sophisticated visual content quickly and easily. As of March 2024, on TrustRadius.com, PicMonkey has a 9.0-star rating out of 10 from 14 votes. PicMonkey is an emerging competitor for Canva. [13]
12. Movavi
Year founded: 2004
Headquarter: Limassol, Cyprus
Movavi is a software company specializing in visual content creation solutions. It offers Movavi Video Editor, a comprehensive video editing tool with robust features. According to Trustpilot, Movavi Video Editor has 4.7 stars out of 5.
Movavi offers easy-to-use photo-editing and video-editing software. The platform has a built-in audio editor, over 150 filter presets, and customization options. In Oct 2023, the company updated its Movavi Video Suite with new features, including a revamped timeline, frame-precise cuts in a click, pro-quality color correction, AI motion tracking, and perfect-match overlay effects. Movavi is one of Canva’s top competitors. [14]
13. Wondershare
Year founded: 2003
Headquarter: Shenzhen, China
Wondershare is a global leader in creativity and productivity solutions. The company offers AI-powered video editing tools under the Wondershare Filmora brand. As of Sep 2023, Wondershare served over 100 million users across 150 countries.
Wondershare Filmora has an intuitive UX and UI design, advanced AI functions, over 2,000 media resources, 3D LUTs, effects, royalty-free music, and preset templates. In Sep 2023, Wondershare Filmora demonstrated how its AI-powered tools transform video editing at Intel’s Innovation Conference. Wondershare is a formidable competitor for Canva. [15]
14. ClickUp
Year founded: 2017
Headquarter: San Diego, California
ClickUp is a team collaboration and project management platform. It helps organizations manage projects, track tasks and progress, share data, and set goals. In Jan 2023, ClickUp had over 8 million users across 1.6 million teams.
ClickUp is not a graphic design platform like Canva. However, ClickUp Whiteboards offers several advantages over Canva Whiteboards. ClickUp Whiteboards features integration with project management, customizable templates, and real-time collaboration. In March 2023, Fast Company named ClickUp on its Most Innovative Companies list. ClickUp is one of Canva’s top competitors. [16]
15. Design Wizard
Year founded: 2016
Headquarter: Cork, Ireland
Design Wizard is an online graphic design software offered by Wavebreak Media Ltd. Users can create visual content for social media posts, emails, flyers, posters, and invitations. According to G2, Design Wizard has a 4.3-star rating out of 5 from 23 customer reviews.
Design Wizard is a versatile design tool that helps small businesses with limited ad budgets to create professional-looking graphics. As of May 2023, Design Wizard offered over one million copyright images and over 15,000 templates. Its features simplify content creation for social media marketing and advertising. Design Wizard is one of the user-friendly alternatives to Canva. [17]
16. Easil
Year founded: 2015
Headquarter: Brisbane, Australia
Easil is an online graphic design tool. It helps marketers create beautiful graphics quickly and easily with professionally designed and customizable templates. According to Product Hunt, Easil has five stars out of 5 from 24 reviews. [18]
Easil and Canva offer graphic design solutions. However, Easil is a drag-and-drop design tool that streamlines marketing campaign creation. The platform provides thousands of templates to help users create social media visuals and blog-related graphics. Easil is a worthy alternative to Canva.
17. Snappa
Year founded: 2015
Headquarter: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Snappa is an intuitive, web-based graphic design platform. The software helps users create professional-quality graphics for social media posts, blogs, and ads. According to G2, Snappa has 4.6 stars out of 5 from 37 customer reviews.
Snappa offers a drag-and-drop feature, team collaboration tools, and an extensive library of customizable templates. However, the main selling point of Snappa is its Buffer integration for social media scheduling. This feature makes Snappa the go-to Canva alternative for social media marketers and bloggers. [19]
18. Figma
Year founded: 2012
Headquarter: San Francisco, California
Figma is a cloud-based design and prototyping platform. Teams can collaborate to improve user interface and user experience in real-time for product development. In Nov 2023, Figma integrated AI into FigJam to help users visualize ideas and plans, suggest best practices, and automate tedious tasks. The company has around 1300 employees. [20]
Figma and Canva are design platforms. However, Figma also offers robust prototyping and team collaboration tools. Adobe agreed to acquire Figma in Sep 2022 for $20 billion. However, the proposed purchase was criticized on antitrust grounds. In Dec 2023, Adobe terminated its $20 billion Figma deal due to regulatory roadblocks. Figma is one of the best alternatives to Canva for product development teams. [21]
19. Typito
Year founded: 2015
Headquarter: Bengaluru, India
Typito is an Indian software company offering a web-based video editing tool. Users can create engaging videos with beautiful typography, images, and brand layouts. According to G2, Typito has a 4.7-star rating out of 5 from 90 customer reviews.
Typito is like Canva but for videos. Users can create and publish videos on social media with a user-friendly drag-and-drop tool. As of Oct 2023, the platform offered over 200 motion graphic templates. It also provides an intuitive user interface, automated text styling options, and a library of over one million royalty-free images, music files, videos, and fonts. Typito is a worthy alternative to Canva. [22]
20. Placeit
Year founded: 2012
Headquarter: Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
Placeit is a graphic design platform owned by Envato. Its library offers over 150 templates built with artificial intelligence (AI). In 2023, Placeit had over 180,000 active subscribers.
Placeit helps users create customized products, including t-shirts, mugs, brand kits, sweatshirts, business cards, and digital content for social media posts and promotions. It uses AI to generate mock-up models. As of Feb 2023, consumers had downloaded Placeit 20 million times. Placeit is one of the best alternatives to Canva. [23]
References & more information
- Weatherbed, J. (2023, Oct 4). Canva’s new AI tools automate labor-intensive design tasks. The Verge
- Canva Staff (2023, Dec 20). 10 game-changing Canva products launched in 2023. Canva.com
- Adobe Inc. (2023, Sep 13). Adobe Announces All New AI-Powered Creative Cloud Release. Adobe.com
- Melvin, J. (2023, Nov 21). Visme vs. Canva: Which is better in 2023? Wyzowl.com
- Fotor (2023, Dec 18). Fotor Unwraps Festive Delights: AI-Powered Christmas Event Set to Illuminate the Season. TMC.net
- Marq (2022, Jul 27). Lucidpress Rebrands as “Marq,” Signaling the Marq of a New Era for Their Platform and Customers. PRNewswire
- Jocelin, B. (2023, Jul 25). VistaCreate vs. Canva: Which One Is Better? Movie Maker
- Newsfile Corp. (2023, Nov 28). Venngage is Transforming design with new Groundbreaking AI-Powered Accessibility Features. Yahoo Finance
- Anghel, I. (2023, Sep 28). Prezi CEO Is Betting Remote Meetings Will Be Better Than In-Person. Bloomberg
- Coffee Break (2023). Unleashing the Full Potential of AutoCAD 2023: Tips and Techniques for Optimal Performance. Arch2o.com
- Alludo (2023, Sep 19). CorelDRAW Graphics Suite Unveils Updates to Boost Creativity and Productivity. Globe Newswire
- Newsfile Corp. (2023, Nov 30) Pixlr 2024 Is Once Again Disrupting the Space with Powerful AI Photo Editing Tools. Yahoo Finance
- TR Reviews (2023, Jun 22). What is PicMonkey? TrustRadius.com
- Movavi Staff (2023, Oct 11). What’s new in Movavi Video Suite? Movavi.com
- Wondershare (2023, Sep 20). Wondershare Filmora Takes Centre Stage at Intel Innovation Conference 2023, Demonstrating AI-Powered Features in Video Editing. Yahoo Finance
- ClickUp (2023, Mar 2). ClickUp Named to Fast Company’s Annual List of the Most Innovative Companies for 2023. ClickUp.com
- TrustRadius Insights (2023, May 12). What is Design Wizard? TrustRadius.com
- Product Hunt (2023, Jun 1). What is Easil? ProductHunt.com
- SR Editor (2023, Oct 29). Snappa: Your Ultimate Graphic Design Solution in 2023. Sofiane Reviews
- Ayres, C. (2023, Nov 7). Introducing AI to FigJam. Figma.com
- Sriram, A. (2023, Dec 18). Adobe shelves $20 billion Figma deal after hitting regulatory roadblocks. Reuters
- G2 (2023, Oct 17). What is Typito? G2.com
- Scott, D. (2023, Feb 28). How Placeit Is Using AI to Improve Design Mastery. Envato
- Canva (2023, Aug 25) The Canva timeline: 10 years of empowering world to design. Canva
- Fotor (2024, March 27) About Us | Fotor – Free Online Photo Editor. Fotor
- Featured image by Faizur Rehman.
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