Adobe Express vs Canva – which is best?

If you're an entrepreneur, marketer, or social media manager, chances are you've either used or at least heard of Canva. This user-friendly graphic design platform has become the go-to solution for non-professional designers. However, while Canva leads the market with millions of users worldwide, it’s not the only option available. Adobe Express, developed by the design experts at Adobe, offers a comparable suite of features and tools. So, which one is the better choice? We’ve tested both platforms and put them head-to-head to help you decide which one comes out on top and allow you compare them to decide which one is best for you.

What is Canva?

Canva, an Australian online and mobile app design platform, has transformed the world of design. Before its launch in 2014, design tools were primarily complex and catered to professionals. Canva changed the game by providing a user-friendly platform that empowers anyone, regardless of design experience, to create on-brand graphics, flyers, advertisements, social media posts, marketing materials, and much more - without needing to hire a professional. Its rapid, unstoppable growth has made Canva an essential tool for millions of entrepreneurs, content creators, and marketers across the globe.

What is Adobe Express?

Much like Canva, Adobe Express offers a user-friendly design platform tailored to non-professional designers. Originally launched as Adobe Spark in May 2016, it was rebranded to Adobe Creative Cloud Express in December 2021, before adopting the simpler name Adobe Express in 2022. Adobe, a company synonymous with design tools, has been a leader in this space for over 40 years, offering staple software for professionals, such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Adobe Express provides users with a vast library of templates, fonts, and stock images, making it a go-to solution for small business owners, students, and content creators seeking professional-quality designs without needing advanced skills. Additionally, it seamlessly integrates with other Adobe products, enhancing the overall creative experience.

Canva vs Adobe Express quick comparison

Let’s take a quick look at how Canva and Adobe Express compare in terms of tools and features:

Both platforms are excellent choices for users looking to create professional-looking designs without needing extensive experience, but Adobe Express has tighter integration with Adobe's suite, while Canva offers a broader range of ready-to-use templates and more available to users in its free version. Next, let’s take a closer look at the differences to help you decide which platform would be best for you.

In-depth comparison

Our team have been testing both platforms, and while we appreciate similarities in the ease of use, layouts and functions of each, there are some areas where one platform outshines the other which are worth considering when deciding which platform is best suited to you. We’ve highlighted below the key areas where these differences stand out.

1. Ease of Use and Target Audience

Canva: Known for its simplicity and highly intuitive interface, Canva is designed for beginners and casual users. Its drag-and-drop system makes it easy to create designs with minimal learning curve, making it ideal for small business owners, social media managers, and content creators.

Adobe Express: While also user-friendly and with a similar drag-and-drop system, Adobe Express is slightly more geared toward users familiar with Adobe's design ecosystem. It's an excellent choice for those who want the power of Adobe's tools without the complexity of Photoshop or Illustrator.

Winner – It's a tie! Both platforms offer intuitive interfaces and user-friendly tools that make simplify the design process for non-professional designers. This accessibility ensures that users can easily navigate and create stunning visuals, no matter their design experience.

2. Templates, Assets & Stock Images

Canva: Offers over 610,000 templates and 100 million stock images, with many templates optimized for various uses like social media, presentations, and marketing materials. Canva is particularly strong in offering a huge variety of quality, pre-designed templates. Canva also offers more stock images than Adobe, and Canva's stock images are included with the free plan.

Adobe Express: Provides access to thousands of templates, but its premium users can also tap into Adobe Stock with 175 million assets. While Adobe Express offers fewer templates, it provides high-quality professional-grade assets, like icons, ideal for users who prioritize polished and premium visuals. We’ve noticed that the quality of templates in Adobe Express tends to be more basic compared to those available in Canva. They also integrate with Adobe Images for stock photos but you have to be on a paid plan to be able to access these.

Winner – Canva. We found Canva to be superior in terms of templates, images and elements available, particularly in their free version.

3. Integration with Other Tools

Canva: Integrates with over 100 apps like Google Drive, Dropbox, and HubSpot, and allows for seamless file exports to various platforms.

Adobe Express: Integrates closely with Adobe's Creative Cloud suite, such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and Lightroom. This tight integration makes it appealing for users who already work within the Adobe ecosystem and want to leverage these tools.

Winner – It’s a draw! Both platforms provide integration with apps and tools, making them suitable for various purposes. However, Adobe may have the advantage if you’re already familiar with their suite of tools, as it enables you to leverage those resources more effectively.

4. Social Media and Marketing Tools

Canva: Has built-in social media scheduling in its Pro plan, making it a good choice for marketers managing multiple platforms. Canva’s tools are also optimized for creating social media graphics, videos, and animations.

Adobe Express: Similarly offers social media scheduling in its premium version, with robust templates for marketing. However, we have noted its scheduling capabilities are newer and less mature than Canva’s so possibly not as suitable for more experienced social media marketers.

Winner – Canva. While only available to Pro users, Canva pips Adobe Express to the post on this one with its robust scheduling feature.

5. Design Features and AI Tools

Canva: Offers advanced animation tools, Magic Resize, and AI features like Text-to-Image generation, which allows users to convert text prompts into images. These features make it highly versatile for various design types and quick tasks.

Adobe Express: Offers AI-powered Quick Actions, such as background removal, video trimming, and PDF conversions. Adobe's AI tools, powered by Adobe Sensei, are designed to streamline specific design actions, though they are more focused on image and video editing rather than generative AI. In our testing, we fount that Adobe’s AI image generation gave better results for both illustrations and images compared to Canva, and it does so at a much faster pace. In contrast, Canva’s AI Magic tool took longer and produced images that lack the same level of detail and realism.

Winner – Adobe Express. While Canva offers a great variety of AI tools, Adobe Express has the edge when it comes to quality, speed and efficiency in AI-generated imagery.

6. Video Editing

Canva: Provides more advanced video creation and animation tools, making it a better choice for users focused on producing animated social media content or presentations.

Adobe Express: Includes video creation features but with basic editing capabilities, aimed at those needing quick and simple video solutions rather than intricate edits.

Winner – Canva. Canva’s video tools are more advanced than Adobe Express although in our experience, most marketers prefer to use dedicated video editing apps like InShot and VideoLeap to edit their video content.

7. Pricing

Canva: Free version offers a lot of functionality with access to many templates and assets. Canva Pro costs $12.99/month and provides additional features like more templates, advanced tools, and social media scheduling.

Adobe Express: Free plan available with core features, while the premium plan starts at $9.99/month. Adobe Express offers access to Adobe Stock assets in the premium version, which adds value for users looking for professional-grade media.

Winner – Adobe Express. Adobe’s tool is cheaper when you move to a paid version however it should be noted that we found that Canva offers more features on its free version than Adobe Express. Additionally, Canva has announced significant price increases for its Teams plans, effective December 2024, which is another factor to consider when evaluating your options.

8. Collaboration Features

Canva: Allows multiple team members to collaborate in real time, making it a strong platform for teamwork. Canva's focus on team-based design, along with features like Brand Kits, helps maintain consistency.

Adobe Express: Also supports collaboration and offers many similar collaboration tools such as real-time collaboration, comment tagg. It might more suited to teams already familiar with Adobe products and those who need integration across different Adobe apps.

Winner: Canva (just!). Canva is generally considered better for collaboration, particularly for teams focused on ease of use and real-time interaction. Its intuitive design and robust commenting and sharing features make it a favorite for collaborative projects. Adobe Express, while offering solid collaboration tools, may be more beneficial for teams already using the Adobe suite, thanks to its integration capabilities and detailed version history.

Our Summary

We, like millions of others, love Canva, but have to admit we are being drawn more and more to Adobe Express and its affordability and AI capabilities. While Canva is probably better for quick, creative projects with minimal experience, especially for social media, marketing, and non-designers, Adobe Express is ideal for users who want a lightweight, accessible version of Adobe’s professional tools. It's perfect for those who may occasionally use more advanced Adobe programs and want seamless integration.

If you're unsure which tool is right for you, we recommend trying both to see which one aligns better with your needs! With both platforms offering free versions and trials of their premium plans, there’s really nothing to lose. Ultimately, your choice may depend on personal preferences, the specific tasks you plan to accomplish, and your budget. Regardless of which option you prefer, it's clear that these user-friendly design tools will quickly become essential additions to your toolkit!

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