Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning that at no additional cost to you, I will receive a commission if you click through and make a purchase. For more information, read our full affiliate disclosure here.
Aesthetically pleasing visual content is crucial for any kind of business and marketing in today’s digital world. Many online applications allow even the most inexperienced users to live their graphic design dreams.
The most popular applications are by far Canva and PicMonkey, as they offer the most tools and flexibility in graphic design. If you are curious to know which one you should be using, keep on reading!
In this guide, we will break down the differences and similarities between the two platforms so that you get the most detailed information to make a more informed decision.
What is Canva?
In order to accurately compare Canva vs. PicMonkey, here is a quick overview of Canva. Canva is a popular online graphic design application that makes it easy to create high-quality images and materials. Millions of people use Canva to create social media images, posters, digital invitations, presentations, and physical materials like brochures and business cards.
Unlike high-powered tools, such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, Canva has a low barrier to entry because of its simple intuitive interface. It’s available on the web or as a mobile app for Android and iOS.
Canva offers several pricing plans for individual users, with varying levels of functionality:
What is PicMonkey?
In order to accurately compare Canva vs. PicMonkey, here is a quick overview of PicMonkey. PicMonkey was also launched in 2012 and currently has millions of users who love its tools and functionality. While it features fewer active users than Canva, PicMonkey is still a capable and beloved design application with which you can edit your photos and videos. PicMonkey also has its own app, allowing you to work on both your desktop and your phone.
Canva vs. PicMonkey
Differences Between Canva and PicMonkey
Although Canva and PicMonkey are both popular among designers and offer similar options, a few key differences set them apart. Let’s dive into all the necessary tools and features you might need as a designer to see which application suits you best!
Stock Images
PicMonkey uses iStock and Unsplash for their photo library and Pixaby for their videos. It offers about a million different options you can utilize with a royalty-free license when you’re a premium member. Canva has significantly more stock photos–about 77 million! Additionally, Unsplash (the source of many PicMonkey photos) is already a free tool, that can be accessed by writers , regardless of which graphic design tool they use.
PicMonkey used to surpass Canva in this metric, since Canva charged for a la carte for certain photos, in addition to a premium paid subscription. However, recently Canva changed their photo library structure. If you are a Canva Pro member, you can access any image.
Design Templates
Both applications separate their templates into different categories. PicMonkey is categorized based on purposes, such as creating a video, poster, or banner. Canva, on the other hand, has five categories that organize their hundreds of template types nicely. Canva offers social media, personal, business, marketing, and education categories. Since Canva has so many more types of templates, it is easier to find one that you like. That said, PicMonkey has plenty of useful and creative templates. Canva does have a wider range of template designs.
Photo Editor
PicMonkey offers essential photo editing tools such as cropping, resizing, blurring, or filters. Your images are also autosaved in their cloud storage as you edit and download in a PDF, PNG, or JPG format. Canva features a friendly editing interface that requires hardly any learning to operate. Both applications are pretty similar; however, PicMonkey does offer a few photo editing tools that Canva currently doesn’t offer, such as:
- With PicMonkey, you can curve your text in one click, create and fine-tune drop shadows, and upload as many fonts as you want. You can even make a photo show through the letters of your text! Canva lacks these features and only allows you to upload a few fonts.
- Canva has no touch up capabilities. PicMonkey’s Touch Up tools are both easy to use and super powerful. In a few clicks, you can do things like erase blemishes, whiten teeth, brighten eyes, smooth out lines, and so much more.
- PicMonkey has an extensive array of effects and filters, the ability to add multiple effects to a photo, and nearly unlimited tweaking capabilities.
Video Editor
You can edit videos on Canva and PicMonkey just like you would with pictures. In PicMonkey, though, you can’t add any effects or texture to the videos, which only supports MP4 file formats. Canva allows you to create videos from scratch, add filters, music, and icons, and offers MP4, AVI, WMV, and MKV formats. They’re both standard video editors, but Canva is slightly better given its range of file types.
Logo Maker
PicMonkey features a very intuitive logo maker with thousands of templates. You can change the text, color, size and make it transparent to add as a watermark. Canva also offers a great logo maker, and it happens to be free! The templates are separated into categories, so they are easy to find and customize. Both Canva and PicMonkey offer a high quality logo maker, and there is little difference in this aspect.
Third-Party Platforms
This is where the winner of the Canva vs. PicMonkey battle emerges. PicMonkey is a bit more complicated when it comes to integrating with other platforms. It allows for basic social media ones such as Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube but requires that you have an API key for any other. Canva has many more third-party applications that they feature in their directory, allowing you to use and join them effortlessly. You can utilize Pixelate, Duotone, Flickr, Bitmoji, Moovly, Giphy, etc.!
Mobile Device Apps
Both PicMonkey and Canva have mobile device apps with similar features. You will have to pay extra on PicMonkey’s app, though, for specific tools like paint strokes or additional effects. It’s worth noting that Canva is the more popular app among users, with over 50 million downloads compared to PicMonkey’s 1 million app downloads.
Printing
With PicMonkey, you can print out your designs, but the application provides no internal support. You’ll have to utilize regular printing and correctly convert your graphics from pixels to inches. Canva offers its own printing services to anyone living in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, New Zealand, Australia, and Southeast Asia. You can order printed copies of your work, and they will ship them to you for free!
Pricing
PicMonkey offers a free 7-day trial before offering three pricing plans: Basic, Pro, and Team. The Basic Plan is $7.99 monthly or $72 annually; Pro Plan is $12.99 monthly or $120 annually; the Team Plan is $33.99 monthly or $299.88 annually.
Canva offers a three pricing plans: Free, Pro, and Enterprise. The Free Plan is completely free and there are no monthly or annual charges. The Pro Plan costs $12.99 per month, or $9.99 when billed annually. The Enterprise Plan costs $30 per month per person.
Blogging Guide readers can try Canva Pro for free for 30 days! I highly recommend trying Canva Pro, given the unusually long free trial period being offered.
Conclusion
You only need to look at the millions of users Canva has every month to confirm its popularity and quality. The quantity of its photo and video library is impressive, and it even offers a free account where you still get access to all of its outstanding features. When comparing these features and add-ons, Canva comes out on top!
Canva Pro vs. Free Version of Canva
While Canva Pro is an easy choice for many, I realize that some content creators have extremely limited budgets, or may only utilize one or two of the additional tools available in Canva Pro. If you are interested in learning more about the differences between Canva Pro and the Free Version of Canva, you can read our comprehensive platform comparison.
