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With a growing number of design software available to anyone who has access to a computer and internet, it can be overwhelming to know which is best to useespecially if you must part with cash to find out.

Adobe has been the community leader in graphic design and digital art software for decades, but how does Canva measure up to Adobe Creative Cloud? Which is better for designers?

Adobe Creative Cloud and Canva have each been around since 2013; however, Adobe itself provided digital art solutions long before it released Creative Cloud.

Canva is available as a browser-based app, accessible by anyone who has internet from a computer, phone, or tablet. For the latter two, you can download a standalone Canva app.

Canvas software is only one program, but it has many tools built into it. If you can access Canva, you have access to all its tools. All you need is a Canva account, which just requires an e-mail address.

Since Adobe formed Creative Cloud, it made all its software available via the cloud. Unfortunately, though, you cant just access Creative Cloud through a browser like Canva.

You must sign up for an Adobe account, but to access the software, youll need to download and install Adobe Creative Cloud to your computer. From theredepending on your Adobe planyou can install individual programs, such as Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and many more, to your system. An All Apps plan gives you access to around 20 individual programs.

You can also access some of Adobes software as apps for your tablet or phone, although these are often for a separate price point and provide lesser features than the computer versions.

Price plays a big part in whether we choose to use a service. Your choices may be influenced by the actual prices, subscription options, free trials, or ease of cancelation.

Anyone can use Canva for free. Its main free software contains access to most features, with limits only affecting use of premium graphic elements, Canvas brand kit feature, and certain save options.

Canva offers a 30-day free trial for Canva Pro. This is plenty long enough to explore the Canva Pro features you miss out on with the free version. Canvas free version does plenty, though, and you can create many things without a Pro subscription.

Canva Pro is $12.99 per month or $119.99 for an annual subscription. With a monthly subscription, its easy to cancel if you need tobut impossible to cancel an annual subscription.

Adobe offers a 14-day free trial for any of its software plans. Since you can subscribe to individual programs, you do not have to get a trial for all programs at once. You can stagger the trial to discover which programs would be best for you.

There are many different price plans for Adobe Creative Cloud subscriptions. For example, you can subscribe to All Apps for access to everything. Alternatively, you can choose individual subscription plans or smaller bundleslike the Photography plan which includes Photoshop and Lightroom. Each plan has a different price.

A full Creative Cloud plan is $54.99 per month. However, you can find cheaper plans for students, along with deals on Black Friday or other discount days. Even though the Creative Cloud plan is billed monthly, its an annual subscription, thus making it difficult to cancel mid-plan without a large fee.

How do you store the software, and how does the software let you store your files?

Since Canva is a browser-based software, you dont need to download it. There is no storage required for the software itself. If you use the tablet or phone app, it only needs around 90MB to store the app.

Canva uses a cloud system to store your projects, so you can access them anytime from any device if you log in to your account. To save designs to use elsewhere, you can download them locally at different sizes or formats.

Storage for the Creative Cloud software might be obvious, given its name. You can store the Adobe Creative Cloud software in the cloud when not in use. This means if you have the All-Apps plan but only use a few of the programs, you dont need to slow your computer down by installing all of them at once. You can easily download any software from the cloud if and when needed. You can uninstall software from your computer, too, and easily get it back again later.

To store your files, you have the choice between cloud storage or local storage. Using the Adobe Cloud makes it easy to transfer files to teammates or clients, access files on other devices, or transfer files between your own softwarefor example, if you created an element in Illustrator but want to add it to a Photoshop project, you can transfer it using the Adobe Assets library. You can also save any projects or elements locally if you prefer.

Each software has a lot to offer, but do they directly compare to one another in their capabilities?

Canva is first and foremost a template-based design software. It offers pre-made templates for all major social media types, as well as non-digital design uses like invitations or posters. This is a huge time saver if your focus is on output rather than input design. You can create your own Canva templates to share if you want to design from scratch but allow others to use Canva's template feature.

You can use Canva for animating, making videos, or adding motion to your posts, but it isnt focused on being a video or animation tool. You should only use the animation or video functions for basic movements, although its good to have the option.

While not strictly a UX/UI tool, you can use Canva to create basic webpagesbut you wont get very far when creating an entire website. Aside from basic logo design and the brand kit feature, Canva isnt most designers go-to for brand design, either. You can get the basics done, but its not an in-depth tool.

In 2023, Canva released many new tools, including a bunch of AI tools under the Magic label. Using Canvas Magic features, you can recolor, add or remove parts of images, write text, and many other things. Canvas AI tools are helpful and work successfully.

Since Adobe is a long-held design leader, it would be a correct assumption to say using Creative Cloud is best for designing from scratch. Across much of its software, youll find an abundance of tools to let you create, edit, or combine images, videos, layouts, and more. With the inclusion of Adobe Express, or Adobe Stock, you can create and use templates too.

Creative Cloud has designated video and animation softwarePremiere Pro and After Effectsas well as the inclusion of animation tools in other programs like Photoshop. Adobes motion design software is high-standard and used by many videographers and animators.

You can easily create full branding designs with Illustrator, InDesign, and other tools. Adobe does offer its own UX/UI tool: Adobe XD. However, it isnt the leading UX/UI tool across the market.

For AI tools, Creative Cloud has many built-in features to aid your designs without the acknowledgment of using AI. Adobes Sensei feature is built into most products, allowing content-aware fill, photo restoration, and faster features across the board. Theres also the introduction of Adobe Firefly, introduced as a beta model in 2023, which has a handful of AI tools like vector recoloring and AI font generation. You can discover various AI font generation ideas in Firefly in a separate guide.

The choice is up to you as a digital designer or artist. If you have the money to invest in yourself, then Adobe Creative Cloud likely has every tool you could ever need. Its pricey, and since it has lots of tools, it may take a while to learn. Canva is a much more cost-efficient tool with hardly any learning curve.

If youre less bothered about how to create designs and more bothered about showing off great designs, then Canva is better for you. But if youre a process lover, then Adobe will keep you learning and pushing your boundaries.

Excerpt from:
Canva vs. Adobe Creative Cloud: Which Is Better for Designers? - MUO - MakeUseOf