7 Best Canva AI Alternatives in 2026

TL;DR: Best Canva AI Alternatives Ranked

• Adobe Express — Best all-around alternative with Firefly AI ($9.99/mo)
• Figma — Best for professional design systems and collaboration ($16-20/mo)
• Midjourney — Best AI image quality ($10-60/mo)
• Leonardo AI — Best for AI image generation with fine-tuning ($12-56/mo)
• Kittl — Best for typography and print design ($8.75/mo annual)
• VistaCreate — Best budget social media design tool ($10/mo)
• Piktochart — Best for reports, infographics, and data visualization ($14/mo)

Why Look for Canva AI Alternatives?

Canva Pro at $13/month is excellent for most visual content needs, but it has limitations that push some users toward alternatives:

1. AI generation quality: Canva’s Magic Media produces adequate AI images, but Midjourney and Leonardo AI generate significantly higher-quality visuals for professional use.
2. Design control: Canva’s template-first approach is fast but limiting. For custom design systems, brand consistency at scale, or pixel-level control, Figma and Adobe Express offer deeper capabilities.
3. Adobe ecosystem: If your team uses Photoshop, Illustrator, or Premiere Pro, Adobe Express integrates natively — sharing assets, fonts, and brand kits across the Creative Cloud ecosystem.
4. Specialized needs: Kittl excels at typography and print design. Piktochart handles data visualization and reports. VistaCreate offers a similar experience at lower cost.

Detailed Comparison

Feature	Canva Pro	Adobe Express	Figma	Midjourney	VistaCreate
Price	$13/mo	$9.99/mo	$16-20/mo	$10-60/mo	$10/mo
AI Credits	Included	250/mo	N/A	GPU hours	100 images/mo
Templates	600K+	200K+	Limited	N/A	200K+
AI Image Gen	Magic Media	Firefly + partners	No	Core feature	Basic
Brand Kit	Yes	Yes	Yes (Pro)	No	Yes
Video Editing	Basic	Basic	No	No	Basic
Collaboration	Yes	Yes (Teams)	Excellent	No	Yes
Best For	General content	Adobe ecosystem	Design systems	AI art	Budget social

1. Adobe Express — Best All-Around Alternative

Price: Free (25 AI credits) / $9.99/mo (Premium, 250 AI credits)

Adobe Express Premium is cheaper than Canva Pro ($9.99 vs $13/month) and includes 250 AI credits/month with access to Adobe Firefly, Generative Fill, and partner AI models from Google, OpenAI, and Flux. It generates images, removes backgrounds, creates video content (40 five-second clips/month), and integrates natively with the Adobe Creative Cloud.

Choose Adobe Express over Canva if: You use other Adobe products, want higher-quality AI generation (Firefly), or prefer a lower price point with more AI features.

2. Figma — Best for Professional Design

Price: Free (3 files) / $16-20/mo (Professional) / $45/mo (Organization)

Figma is the professional design platform for interface design, design systems, and prototyping. It’s collaborative by design — multiple team members can edit the same file simultaneously. This is a different category than Canva: Figma is for product design and brand systems, not social media graphics.

Choose Figma over Canva if: You need professional design tools, collaborative design systems, or are building product interfaces — not just marketing content.

3. Midjourney — Best AI Image Quality

Price: $10/mo (Basic) / $30/mo (Standard) / $60/mo (Pro)

Midjourney produces the highest-quality AI-generated images available. For creators, marketers, and brands that need professional-grade AI art — hero images, social media visuals, concept art, product mockups — Midjourney’s output quality is in a different league than Canva’s Magic Media or other embedded AI tools.

Choose Midjourney over Canva if: AI image quality is your primary need. Midjourney doesn’t include design tools (templates, brand kits, layout editors) — pair it with Canva or another design tool for final production.

4. Leonardo AI — Best for Controlled AI Generation

Price: Free (150 tokens/day) / $12/mo (Starter) / $28/mo (Creator) / ~$56/mo (Pro)

Leonardo AI offers more control over AI image generation than Midjourney. Fine-tune models on your own style, iterate faster with real-time generation, and adjust specific elements without regenerating entire images. The Starter plan at $12/month is slightly more expensive than Midjourney Basic ($10/month) but offers more granular control.

Choose Leonardo AI over Canva if: You need fine-tuned AI image generation with style training and iterative control — not just quick template-based designs.

5. Kittl — Best for Typography and Print

Price: Free / $8.75/mo (Pro, annual) / $24/mo (Expert, annual)

Kittl specializes in typography-driven design — logos, T-shirt prints, posters, and merchandise. Its AI features generate typography layouts, illustrations, and design elements. At $8.75/month (annual billing), the Pro plan is the cheapest paid option in this comparison and includes a commercial license for up to 500,000 copies.

Choose Kittl over Canva if: Your primary need is typography, print design, or merchandise graphics. Kittl’s typography tools are specifically stronger than Canva’s.

6. VistaCreate — Best Budget Social Media Tool

Price: Free / $10/mo (Pro, annual)

VistaCreate (formerly Crello) is the most direct Canva competitor — similar template library, similar interface, similar use cases — at a lower price. The Pro plan at $10/month (annual) includes 200,000+ premium templates, 170M+ assets, unlimited storage, unlimited Brand Kits, and 100 AI-generated images per month.

Choose VistaCreate over Canva if: You want essentially the same experience at a 23% lower price ($10 vs $13/month), or you find VistaCreate’s template selection better suits your niche.

7. Piktochart — Best for Reports and Infographics

Price: Free (7 days) / $14/mo (Pro, annual) / $24/mo (Business, annual)

Piktochart specializes in data visualization — infographics, reports, presentations, and charts. While Canva handles infographics as one of many features, Piktochart treats them as the primary use case with specialized templates, data import tools, and chart builders.

Choose Piktochart over Canva if: Your primary design need is data-driven content — reports for clients, infographics for content marketing, or internal dashboards. Piktochart’s data visualization tools are purpose-built for this.

How to Choose the Right Alternative

1. Cheaper general design? → VistaCreate ($10/mo) or Adobe Express ($9.99/mo)
2. Best AI images? → Midjourney ($10/mo) or Leonardo AI ($12/mo)
3. Professional design systems? → Figma ($16-20/mo)
4. Adobe ecosystem? → Adobe Express ($9.99/mo)
5. Typography/print? → Kittl ($8.75/mo annual)
6. Reports/infographics? → Piktochart ($14/mo)

Migration Tips

1. Export your brand kit: Save your logos, fonts, and color codes before switching
2. Download key designs: Export your most-used templates as PNGs or PDFs
3. Check template equivalents: Browse the alternative’s template library for your most common content types
4. Test your workflow: Create 3-4 real assets in the new tool before committing
5. Keep Canva Free: Canva’s free tier is generous enough to use alongside a new tool during transition

Methodology

We tested each alternative over 30 days, creating equivalent designs for social media graphics, presentations, and marketing materials. AI image quality was compared using identical prompts. Pricing was verified from official vendor pages on February 19, 2026.

For related guides: Best AI tools for content creators (full creator stack), How to automate social media with AI (workflow guide), and Best AI tools for solopreneurs (budget stacks).