Canva VS Figma: Which Tool is The Best For Designers?

Hey there, fellow creators! Design tools are not a luxury anymore in the rapidly moving globalized digital world: they are needed to translate ideas into beautiful images that attract people. The appropriate AI design tools can make the difference between efficiency, creativity, and teamwork between developing social media content, creating websites, and sketching apps. That is where Canva and Figma are used. These two giants have transformed the way we design. Canva attracts users who prefer fast and easy solutions, and Figma has taken over the professional world. But which one reigns supreme? We will compare Canva vs Figma in this blog, dissecting their functionality, usage, cost, and usefulness. You will definitely have a good idea of the tool you need in your design process by the end, whether you are a beginner or an expert. Let’s get started!

What is Canva?

If you’re dipping your toes into design for the first time, Canva is the best platform. It is one of the graphic design tools that allows anyone to design professional-qualified motion graphics. It is done by using a simple drag-and-drop system, no matter their level of experience in design.

It has an extensive list of customizable templates and stock images so that users can easily produce anything, including social media graphics and flyers, slideshow creation, and videos.  It has a user-friendly design interface, and thus it is easy to complete your project quickly and get the design elements you want.

A key feature is the Brand Kit. You can add logos and choose the color of your brand as well as fonts so that all your projects are represented with one set of assets within the company.  Canva helps you create professional-looking content without having to worry about complex tools. It also lessens hours spent on learning how to use them, whether you work solo or with a team.

What is Figma?

Figma is a design tool that you can open up in your browser, created specifically to build user interfaces and digital products.

It is quite popular and well known for its high real time collaboration, which makes it a favorite among teams. Teams must design, prototype, and adapt quickly, regardless of distance.

You can use Figma to design anything, whether it is a simple wireframe or a detailed, designed mockup or interactive prototype.  And, it’s cloud-based, so you do not have to download any software. Updates are automatic; therefore, you are always updated.

Canva vs Figma: Key Differences

When it comes to Canva VS Figma, it goes down to accessibility versus advanced capabilities. We are look into many factors like pricing and design capabilities. So, let’s dive deep into these key areas.

1. Ease of Use

Canva is made to be easy to use. The platform is drag and drop, has numerous ready-made templates, and has easy-to-use tools. This makes it the best one to use for a beginner or someone who wants to create high-quality visuals quickly and with minimal effort. Also, it does not need to learn anything about design.

Figma is somewhat more complex. You also take a lot of power with that complexity. The interface was aimed at professional designers who have a high need to control the pixel.  With Figma, users have many creative choices when using layers and components and designing layouts.  You just have to be ready to spend more time learning how to do it.

2. Design Capabilities

Canva provides a library of design templates and premade components like shapes, icons, illustrations, photos, and text holders.  These elements could be easily moved around the canvas by dragging. But they may also be less specific than when using the vector-based design and whiteboarding. Therefore, not so flexible, and not the most appropriate one to be utilized in some design.  In case you need more depth and versatility, the quick design options offered by Canva may not be the right solution.

Figma is a collection of design tools such as drawing, text, vector editing, layout, and alignment, so it is simple to make a visual that is just right. Although this graphic design software does not include an inbuilt library as Canva. But, it does feature lots of graphic elements in its huge community This makes it highly effective when used by non-professional designers.

3. Collaboration & Sharing

Canva allows you to invite anyone to check and change your design. It may even be someone having a Canva account. However, if you wish to work on a file alongside your teammate(s), you must upgrade to a Teams Pro plan.

Figma is well-known for its dynamic collaborative nature.  It allows several contributors to open the same file and live-edit it for free.  However, if you want access to an invite-only environment where you can collaborate privately with your team, you must upgrade to the starting subscription. Additionally, if you wish to conduct audio chats within Figma while working on your design.

4. Pricing Plans

There are two plans these platforms offer. So let us go through the free and paid plans of both the platforms. We will compare pricing plans, which will help you make a decision on which platforms you should opt for.

Free Plan

The Free Plan of Canva offers you access to thousands of ready-to-use templates and a typography collection. Also it offers an easy set of design tools, and a little storage space.  It is very useful when it comes to individual creators or small teams who would like to create simple things such as social media graphics, flyers, presentations, etc.

The Starter Plan at Figma is ideal as a Professional. It allows you to have up to 3 Figma files per project, unlimited personal files and real-time collaboration with 2 editors. You also have access to necessary design tools, prototyping capabilities and plugins. The plan is particularly helpful when a freelancer or a small product design team is in its infancy phase of development.

Paid Plans

Canva has 3 paid options: Pro, Teams, and Enterprise:

• Canva Pro begins at approximately 12.99/month per user and includes brand kits, high-quality templates and images, background elimination tools, and increased storage of designs.
• Canva team is a product tailored to small and mid-sized teams and has all the functions of Pro, as well as team templates, workflow applications, and billing centralization.
• Canva Enterprise is made for big organizations and can easily grow with the number of users. It provides all the enterprise-level collaboration features in groups. Furthermore, it upgrades with sophisticated brand management, SSO, user and administration management.

Figma has 3 paid versions: Professional, Organization, and Enterprise.

• Figma Professional begins at about 15/month per dev seat and includes unlimited version history, team libraries and enhanced sharing access.
• Figma Organization costs approximately 45/month and includes SSO, advanced security, analytics, and design system tools in large team setups.
• Figma Enterprise (custom pricing) is more suitable with large organizations, and also provides further control, custom integrations and audit capabilities.

5. Integrations & Plugins

Canva is a useful design application that supports other applications such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and Slack, and it is easy to share files. You are able to post directly to social media and enjoy functionality such as Bitmoji and QR code creators. It works well with other campaign tools as well like HubSpot and Mailchimp.

Conversely, Figma has been created with design teams in mind and is compatible with other productivity tools, such as Slack, Notion, and Jira. It supports GitHub developers and gives creatives an exciting ecosystem, including Unsplash and LottieFiles.

Which Tool Should You Choose?

Choosing between Canva VS Figma depends on your role and needs. But we will simplify this for you in this section.

If you’re working solo or use marketing visuals every so often, Canva would work adequately in most situations. There are templates and ready-to-use assets available for social media content, flyers, and presentations. It is built for speed, usability, and accessibility.

If you work on digital products and collaborate with several different teams, or if you are creating wireframes and prototypes, Figma is the best platform for you. The paid one will be more expensive than Canva. But Figma’s more complex functions, like real-time collaboration, might easily add value to your process. Lastly, it can also help you create creatives faster.

Canva VS Figma: Pros and Cons

Every tool has its advantages and disadvantages. The same is true of Canva and Figma.Let’s go into their pros and cons separately.

Canva Pros:

• Easy-to-use teamwork tools – collaborate in real time.
• Browse through thousands of pre-made templates to any of your purposes, including flyers or Instagram posts.
• There are stock images, video and design elements.
• Perfect pricing that work well in small groups and among individuals.
• Ideal to promote and share via social media.

Canva Cons:

• Comparatively limited customization in comparison with professional design packages.
• Not an ideal option to web or app design.
• Neither interactive prototyping nor interactive handover to graphic designer.
• It may seem somewhat restrictive to more experienced people.

Figma Pros:

• Simple teamwork tools – work together in real time.
• Best used to design user interfaces, wireframe, and interactive prototypes.
• Simple handover of developers to ready exports and inspection tools.
• Extremely flexible and can be customized to numerous different designs and using different plugins.

Figma Cons:

• It may be somewhat difficult to study, especially when one is not a designer.
• It might be excessive in terms of basic marketing.
• Some of the features will be offered in a costlier plan only.
• When offline, you cannot get access to it.

Final Verdict: Canva or Figma?

Perspective Canva VS Figma does not have a single winner. It depends on your needs. Canva is the one that beginners, marketers, and small businesses choose when they need innovative designs quickly. It is easy to use and won’t be a headache to you. Instead, Figma is selected by professional designers and the teams that create complex digital products. Canva is easy and inexpensive to use, which is difficult to contest, especially when you are a solo creator or do not have any design skills. Power and flexibility are the supreme forces of Figma to UX/UI designers or teams working on it. Try them at first (they are free) to find which one is the best design app for your work.

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