PicMonkey and Canva are two of the most popular graphic design and photo editing software that you can use to create stunning designs for your social media or website. The one thing you need to note when comparing PicMonkey vs Canva further is that these tools are fundamentally different in terms of what they were designed to do; PicMonkey is more of a photo editing tool, whereas Canva is used more for graphic design.
Although each has tools across both areas, they are geared to provide a slightly different service and approach to design. If you have been wondering which of these tools is ideal for your needs, this article will help you figure it out. We compared the two across eight different parameters. This PicMonkey vs Canva comparison will outline how the tools are similar and how they are different so you can decide which best fits your application.
| Category | Winner |
|---|---|
| Design Interface | Canva |
| Features | Canva |
| Ease of Use | Canva |
| Templates | Canva |
| Integrations | Canva |
| Image Editing | PicMonkey |
| Pricing | Canva |
| Support | Tie |
| Overall | Canva |
Summary and Overall Winner – Canva
PicMonkey and Canva were created with different use cases in mind. Canva is primarily a design tool that you can use to create digital or print designs. For instance, if you want to create a thumbnail for your YouTube video or a cover photo for your Facebook profile, Canva is the tool that will easily get the job done.
PicMonkey was primarily created for photo editing. If you want to add effects or change the exposure or color temperature of photos from your recent shoot, PicMonkey will do the job.
It's difficult to select an overall winner, but Canva is more versatile than PicMonkey and takes the prize. We chose Canva mainly because of its massive library of templates and easy-to-use interface but also because it provides basic photo editing tools just with PicMonkey.
Canva vs PicMonkey – Design Interface
One of the crucial factors when choosing any design or photo-editing application is to look at its design features. These two platforms are a little different in how they handle design. Let’s discuss the design capabilities of each to see which one comes out on top.
PicMonkey Design Interface
PicMonkey has a drag-and-drop editor that you can use to add different elements to your design. Since it is a photo editing tool by design, it comes with many more editing features than Canva. You will need to take some time to figure out what each tool does. But once you get used to them, it is pretty easy to use any of the tools in this platform’s editor.
All of the editing tools in PicMonkey are on the left side of the editing window. The top menu has a few variable tools that change depending on the task you are doing with the photo that is being edited. The top menu also has buttons for saving, downloading, or sharing the edited files once you are ready.
Canva Design Interface
As we shared earlier, Canva is a design application by structure, so it is no surprise that its interface is more simplified than PicMonkey’s. It has a clean and easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor to add different elements to your design process.
The left menu of the design view has a few tools that enable adding different elements, including photos, music, videos, backgrounds, and text, to your design. It is a very intuitive online graphic design tool that you can use to create stunning designs.
You simply have to click any of these tools, then choose an element and drag it onto the main page of your design. The right menu has a live preview of the outcome of your design that you can look at while designing. The top menu has the share, download, resize, and file management buttons.
Winner: Canva
For this PicMonkey vs Canva comparison, Canva is the clear winner, with which you can create stunning designs much easier than PicMonkey. However, the many tools that PicMonkey has on its interface are there for a reason; to enhance photo editing features, so you will need them to manipulate photos.
Canva vs PicMonkey – Features
Another essential area you need to consider when choosing a photo editing or design application is features. Both PicMonkey and Canva have plenty of features that designers and photo editors can take advantage of to create awesome graphics.
A good number of these features are similar, but there are also unique ones that don’t cross. Let’s compare the two to discover the features each of them has. But first, let’s look at both platforms' features.
Features That Canva and PicMonkey Share
Background Remover
Both Canva and PicMonkey have a background remover tool that uses AI to automatically erase the background from your image. You simply have to upload your image and click the “remove background” option. You have to upgrade to a paid plan to use this feature for both graphic design platforms.
Brand Kit
This feature allows you to create a custom kit for your brand to help you make changes faster every time you are working on a new project. You can add brand colors, fonts, and logos to the brand kit.
Smart Resizing
Both Canva and PicMonkey have a smart resizing feature that will automatically resize your images based on the platform you intend to publish them. For instance, your YouTube thumbnails will have different dimensions compared to the images you intend to publish on Instagram. The app does this resizing automatically once you choose the platform.
Stock Images
Both Canva and PicMonkey provide free stock photos. Canva offers more free images, even in their free plan. These stock photos are better than attempting to use Google images, which may have copyright protection.
Custom Fonts
Both Canva and PicMonkey allow users to upload fonts that may not be available on the platform. These could be your own fonts or fonts acquired from third-party providers like Google.
Collaboration
Both platforms allow inviting other people to collaborate on a design project. They also allow the additional users to make comments about changes so that other team members can easily follow along.
Unlimited Folders
Both Canva and PicMonkey allow users to create as many folders as they wish. Folders are very useful, especially for people who intend to work on multiple projects.
Video Editor
Both platforms have video editing capabilities. With this feature, you can add different effects to your videos, including music tracks, animated graphics, etc. Canva also has templates that you can use to avoid starting from scratch.
PicMonkey Exclusive Features
Photo Editor
PicMonkey is a photo editing app, so this feature is needed to tweak the look of your images. With PicMonkey’s photo editor, you can change the color temperature, exposure, lighting, and grain of your images to make them look better. This is the only tool that is exclusive to PicMonkey.
Canva Exclusive Features
Content Planner
This feature enables you to create graphic designs in Canva and schedule social media content to be published on different social media networking platforms at the appropriate time. It is a handy tool if you regularly post your Canva designs on social media.
Download Quality
With this feature, users can change the download resolution to high, medium, or low depending on the desired file quality of their design. You can also choose file types like PNG, JPG, etc, to save space. PicMonkey doesn’t have this option.
Canva Animator
This graphic design tool allows you to animate your design into different styles by simply clicking a button.
Canva Print
With Canva print, you can design anything, including business cards, flyers, T-shirts, professional templates, and more. Canva will print the design and deliver the final product to your doorstep.
Winner: Canva
Canva wins this PicMonkey Vs Canva category because it offers more features than PicMonkey. Yes, PicMonkey has all the core photo editing capabilities that you need to get your editing projects done. However, Canva goes over and beyond with features such as Canva print, brand kit, social media content planner, and more.
PicMonkey vs Canva – Ease of Use
Simplicity and ease of use are incredibly important aspects of any design tool. Ease of use may not be an issue if you are an experienced designer, but for beginners, it will be easier to get started with a platform that has a relatively shallow learning curve.
Let’s find which of the two platforms is easier to use.
PicMonkey Ease of Use
PicMonkey has a simple interface when compared to mainstream professional image editing apps, such as Photoshop or Lightroom. It is a great alternative to get started with if you want to learn photo editing. It has more photo editing capabilities than Canva, which will take more time to learn.
Some basic tools you will need to familiarize yourself with include overlays, effects, exposure, colors, dodge, erase, brushing, touch-up, etc. These are the same tools you will find in professional photo editing apps like Adobe Photoshop. Once you get used to these tools, and how they are used, the rest of the work is more straightforward.
Canva Ease of Use
Canva has a simple UI with just enough tools needed to create the designs you like. It has a massive design template library, so you won’t have to start each design from scratch. These design templates are available in almost every category, making it easy to create amazing graphic designs.
Canva also gives users the option of creating a graphic design from scratch. For professional graphic designers, starting with a blank canvas is an option they can utilize in order to create a unique graphic design. However, most users will choose Canva because of the design templates.
You also get several logo templates even with Canva's free plan. If you don't want to use logo templates, you can use the intuitive logo maker within Canva to create one from scratch. Additionally, you get more design elements and other cool features with the Canva Enterprise.
Winner: Canva
Canva wins this category. It has just enough tools that make it the better graphic design platform. Their massive library of templates makes it easy for beginners to get started since they don’t have to do everything from scratch.
PicMonkey vs Canva – Templates
One of the reasons people choose a simplified design and editing tool is the fact that they are easier to use than professional tools. The fundamental reason they are simpler to use is that one can start from pre-designed templates instead of a blank canvas.
It is important to look at the templates offered by any online tool before choosing one to use. Let’s see how these two platforms compare as far as templates are concerned.
PicMonkey Templates
PicMonkey has thousands of templates that you can choose from based on the design you want to create. These templates are available in various categories, including announcements, banners, branding, brochures, business cards, business plans, calendars, cards, certificates, checklists, collages, cover letters, etc. There is also the option of choosing a blank template if you want to start your creation from scratch.
Canva Templates
Canva offers over 420,000 professionally designed, ready-made templates that users can choose from depending on the kind of design they want to create. All templates can be edited using the Canva editor. You can remove or add elements to the template based on the kind of design you want to create.
Canva templates are also available for different tasks, including logos, posters, Instagram stories, logos, flyers, presentations, infographics, Instagram posts, resumes, brochures, letterhead, and more. Choosing the right template category will make your design work a lot easier. Canvas's library of clean and modern templates is undoubtedly second to none.
Winner: Canva
Canva is the clear winner in this PicMonkey vs Canva comparison category. This graphic design platform has over 420,000 professionally designed templates that users can choose from.
PicMonkey vs Canva – Integrations
Integrations are another important consideration when selecting a design or graphics tool. You don't want to have to purchase additional tools if the app integrates with the ones you already use.
It is usually best to choose a platform that can import and export to the rest of the web applications you are using. Let’s compare the two to find out which has the most integrations.
PicMonkey Integrations
PicMonkey integrates with most of the popular platforms for importing and exporting content. Some of the popular platforms that PicMonkey integrates with include the following:
Google Drive: This enables users to import and export photos to and from Google Drive. You will have access to all photos backed up on Google Drive.
Buffer: You can use Buffer to schedule your PicMonkey projects to be published on social media.
Social Media Networks: This platform integrates with most of the popular social media platforms, including Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube, and Tumblr. You can easily share your designs on any of these platforms.
Canva Integrations
Canva offers integration with more platforms than PicMonkey. Here are some of the popular platforms that seamlessly integrate with Canva.
Social Media Platforms: Canva integrates with all social media platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and more. You can seamlessly share your designs created from Canva on any of these platforms.
Pexels and Pixabay: Users can choose from millions of photos on these platforms to integrate them into their designs.
Cloud Storage: Canva also integrates with most cloud storage platforms, including Google Drive, Dropbox, and more.
Embeds: This integration makes embedding web links into your designs possible. So, you can embed a YouTube video or Tweet into your design by simply using a link.
Mailchimp: Canva also integrates with Mailchimp – one of the most popular email marketing platforms. Your designs are directly integrated into Mailchimp and can be used for your next email marketing campaign.
HubSpot: Canva also integrates with HubSpot – one of the leading sales and marketing automation platforms. You can create designs and publish them on your favorite channel using HubSpot.
Canva integrates with several other platforms besides the ones we have covered above. Some of these include Slack, Microsoft PowerPoint, Asana, Hootsuite, Google Maps, etc.
Winner: Canva
Canva is the clear winner in this PicMonkey vs Canva category. Chances are high that the online business apps you are using will seamlessly work with Canva. Yes, PicMonkey integrates with some useful platforms; however, its list of integrations is small when compared to Canva.
PicMonkey vs Canva – Image Editing
If you intend to use these apps to edit photos, it is important to know the editing capabilities of each so that you make the right choice. Let’s look at the editing capabilities that each tool comes with.
PicMonkey Image Editing
By design, PicMonkey is an editing application, so you should expect it to have the core editing tools needed to manipulate a photo in various ways. Some of the editing options that PicMonkey includes are effects, filters, touch-ups, brushes, shadows and outlines, fade, crop, erase, adjust fade and blend, etc.
With these tools, you can do almost anything with an image to manipulate how it looks. You can use the above tools to make interesting changes to your photos, including face swap, sketch, blur, turn images into illustrations, clone, remove image backgrounds, etc. All these changes can be done with just a few clicks.
PicMonkey also gives users the option to save the image they have edited in a format of their choice. The supported formats include PDF, PNG, and JPG.
Canva Image Editing
Canva may not be built for editing, but it has some tools you can use to do basic photo editing. It has filters and adjustments that you can use to change the color temperature of your photos. It also comes with tools that you can use to crop, trim, apply textures, add text with speech bubbles, straighten images, or add stickers, frames, and icons to your design.
If you are doing basic edits, these tools will usually get the job done. However, you can’t do any significant manipulations to the image as you would with a tool that was primarily created for editing photos.
Winner: PicMonkey
PicMonkey is the clear winner in this category. It has many more tools for editing photos when compared to Canva. So, if editing photos is all you want to do, PicMonkey will always do a better job.
PicMonkey vs Canva – Pricing
Both apps have a free plan or trial version that you can use to do basic editing and design tasks. However, you will need to subscribe to their premium plans if you want access to all features. Let’s review the pricing plans each of these platforms offers and the features you will get for each plan.
PicMonkey Pricing
PicMonkey has three premium plans that you can choose from depending on your budget and the features you want. Let’s look at the price for each of these plans and the core features.
Basic: $72/year or $7.99/month
- 1GB of cloud storage
- Download images in JPG or PNG file
- Add and trim videos
- An Expansive Library of top-tier fonts
- Primo effects
- Templates
- Touch-up tools
- Email customer support
Pro: $120/year or $12.99/month
This plan comes with all the Basic Plan features, plus:
- Unlimited cloud storage
- Download images in JPG, PNG, or PDF formats
- Instantly reformat to multiple sizes with Smart Resize
- One-click background remover
- One brand kit
- Animate one or all elements of your design
- Premium stock photo library
- Priority email support
- Option to upload your fonts.
Business: $228/year or $23/month
This plan comes with all the Pro Plan features, plus:
- Multiple brand kits
- Premium email support
- Keep brand colors, fonts, and logos in multiple brand kits
- Manage files with searchable tags
- Real-time co-editing with teams of 2 or more people
- Get feedback in-editor by comments
- Folders for sharing work with two or more users
- Seat and permission management for two or more users.
Free Trial: Each of the above plans comes with a 7-day trial that you can use to evaluate before deciding whether to subscribe or not.
Canva Pricing
Canva has a free basic plan and two premium plans that you can opt-in for to get extra features. Let’s look at the features you will get with each of these plans.
Free
- Up to 250,000 templates
- More than 100 design types
- Free photos
- 5G of cloud storage
- Basic collaboration features
Pro: $119.99/year or $12.99/month
This plan comes with all the free features plus:
- More than 100 million stock photos & videos
- 610,000 templates
- Up to 100 brand kits
- Background remover
- Magic resize
- Up to 100GB of cloud storage
- Save designs as templates
- Schedule social media posts for up to 8 platforms
Teams: $149.90/year for up to 5 users with 2 users paid for
Everything Pro has, plus:
- Multiple brand kits
- Control your team's access to apps, graphics, colors, logos, and fonts with brand controls
- Control team uploads into Canva
- Built-in workflows to get approval on your designs
- Chose the elements your team can edit
- Unlimited cloud storage
- 24/7 premium customer support
- Single sign-on
Winner: Canva
Canva wins the pricing category mainly because it has the free plan option. Their paid plans also have more features than PicMonkey. Overall, you will get more value for your money with Canva.
PicMonkey vs Canva – Support
Customer support is another critical element you need to consider when choosing between these platforms. Let’s see how these platforms compare.
PicMonkey Customer Support
PicMonkey has email support available 24/7 to take care of all customer-related issues. However, the promptness of the reply depends on the plan you are subscribed to. Users of the more expensive plans are given priority. PicMonkey also has articles and an FAQ section that answers most of the questions users have about their platform.
PicMonkey has good reviews for its customer support services. It has an average rating of 4.3 stars on review platforms, including G2 and Capterra.
Canva Customer Support
Canva also has 24/7 email support. The quality of the support you will get also depends on the pricing plan you are subscribed to. Users subscribed to the Pro and Teams plans are always given priority over those on the Free plan.
Canva also has other informational resources, including articles and their design school, that you can use to learn more about the platform and how best you can utilize the different tools in the app.
Canvas's average rating for customer support is around 4.4 stars on most of the popular review platforms. So, it is safe to say that most Canva users are pretty happy with the platform’s customer support.
Winner: TIE
It’s a tie for this PicMonkey vs Canva comparison category. Both platforms have reliable customer support and offer enough resources to help users to learn how to use the different tools. These two platforms also have good ratings on the most popular review sites.
When to Choose PicMonkey
As stated earlier, PicMonkey is a tool created for photo editors. If your workflow involves editing photos and basic videos, then PicMonkey is a better choice than Canva.
You can also create Canva-like designs using PicMonkey because it has templates and a number of tools to assist. However, the strength of this platform lies in photo editing capabilities. You can view it as a beginner-friendly version of Photoshop.
When to Choose Canva
By design, Canva is a tool that was created for digital and print graphics. It has over 420,000 professionally designed templates that you can use to create any design you wish without starting from scratch. Canva can also be used for some basic photo editing tasks, such as adding filters.
If you want to automate scheduling your social media posts, Canva is a great choice. With the content planner, you can automate your Instagram, Pinterest, and other social media posts making it very easy to do personal branding.
However, it can’t handle more complex editing projects at the level of PicMonkey. Canva also integrates with more apps than PicMonkey. It is easier to export or import files between different web apps using Canva. You can also easily share or schedule your designs to post on various social media sites.
PicMonkey vs Canva Wrap-up
Both Canva and PicMonkey are great photo editing and design tools. Your choice between the two will mainly depend on the kinds of tasks you intend to use the tools for. Canva will do a better job if you are working on a print or digital graphic project. PicMonkey will suit your photo editing needs well.
If you are looking for the overall best choice for both tasks, go with Canva. It has more features and capabilities than PicMonkey. It also has a relatively shallow learning curve, making it ideal for beginners.
