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Canva vs Adobe Illustrator: Which is a better fit?

Updated on January 17th, 2025
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Summary
Key features rated by users
Features selected based on 13,187 reviews from Graphic Design users.
% Fit
Missing features
Feature ratings
Content Import/Export
4.7
Image Editing
4.5
Drag & Drop Editor
NA
Design Templates
4.7
Pattern, Color & Art Storage
4.6
% Fit
Missing features
Feature ratings
Content Import/Export
NA
Image Editing
4.0
Drag & Drop Editor
NA
Design Templates
4.4
Pattern, Color & Art Storage
NA
User satisfaction
4.7
User reviews12,339
Ease of use
4.7
Functionality
4.5
Value for money
4.6
Customer support
4.4
4.8
User reviews8,654
Ease of use
4.0
Functionality
4.7
Value for money
4.3
Customer support
4.3
Price starts from
/user
Monthly subscription
Free version
Free trial
Monthly subscription
Free version
Free trial
Best for

Designed for anyone who needs to create. Canva has solutions for individuals, small businesses, enterprise, not-for-profit organizations, teachers and students.

Not provided by vendor

User reviews
pros & cons
1 / 4
View Reviews
1 / 4
View Reviews
Video reviews
video-127629c3-5098-4b38-64e7-08dc116f1ea4
Faith P
Student Interpreter
4.0

Faith: My name is Faith. I'm a graphic designer and my company is Just Me. And my one to five rating for Canva is probably a four. I was using Adobe Photoshop before I used Canva, and it was just taking me a long time to boot up and it was super expensive and several of the tools were just very clunky and more in depth than I needed for what I do. I chose Canva because I really like it. It's easy. I can send things to other people to collaborate on. It's a very click and drag format, and it does a lot of the spacing for me, and it has amazing templates that I can customize to whatever I'm doing. Getting started with Canva was super easy. I just put in my name and email, signed up for an account and got to work. I highly recommend Canva, especially if you do social media content or anything like that because you can have it on your phone and your computer and sync changes between both of those, depending on if you're posting on social media from your phone or if you need a more heavy duty on your computer to post a flyer, that kind of thing.

How Capterra sources reviews
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Isabel S
Portrait Artist
5.0

Isabel S.: Hi, I'm Isabel. I work as a portrait artist. I am giving a number five out of five review for Adobe Illustrator. For more reviews like, this click below. Before Illustrator, I was using Paint and it was awful. I am not the best at drawing and I needed help with it. I just felt like, "Oh, my gosh, I'm going to have to spend hours and hours and hours getting better at drawing just to get better at Paint." Then, I discovered Illustrator and all of its quirks and features and greatness. I was like, "Oh, my gosh. I am going to stick with this." With all the problems that I was having with Paint and then the quick things that I needed to make, when I discovered that Adobe Illustrator goes and helps you to create those graphics to look nice, I was like, "Oh, my gosh, this is just a total game changer. It makes my life so much easier." I was just like, "I'm using this for the rest of my life, because this is easy." For me, it was really easy to get started with Adobe Illustrator. I'm really familiar with Photoshop. Illustrator works really similar to Photoshop. It just has a little bit of different tools to help you more purposely with drawing. Photoshop, you end up painting and you play with different levels and different colorations that are in there. You can do those same type of things with Illustrator, it's just Illustrator has really been made to help you with drawing that thing out and getting it to look good, and especially if you're a graphic designer or something like that, it's much better for that than Photoshop is. Yeah, for me, it was easy. There was a small learning curve, but because I already knew Photoshop, it really wasn't too bad. If you're considering Adobe Illustrator and you're doing things like graphic design, a lot of things that are simple to print or that's going to be on the internet, Illustrator is definitely the way to go. It seems to be the industry standard. It's simple to use, especially if you've been used to the Adobe Suite. When you open it up, and if you've been playing with any of the other Adobe programs that are there, it's going to feel familiar. Yes, I would definitely suggest going ahead and getting it over other methods if you're not the greatest illustrator on the planet, because it will definitely help you with all of those things, give you more options than you ever even knew were possible.

How Capterra sources reviews
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User interface
168956 video thumbnail}
1 Video
227125 video thumbnail}
1 Video
168956
5 screenshots
227125
3 screenshots
Do these products fit your needs?

Prioritize real-user-identified key features according to your needs to find your best fit.

Logo Img
--%
Logo Img
--%
3D Digital Asset Management
207
Important
API
388
Important

Canva

Top Features
23/34
  • 3D Digital Asset Management
  • API
  • Commenting/Notes
  • Custom Brushes
  • Data Storage Management
  • Drag & Drop Editor
  • Engagement Tracking
  • Interactive Content
  • Multi-Language
  • Secure Data Storage
  • Third-Party Integrations
  • CAD Tools
  • Collaboration Tools
  • Content Import/Export
  • Content Library
  • Content Management
  • Custom Fonts
  • Customizable Branding
  • Data Visualization
  • Design Management
  • Design Templates
  • Image Editing
  • Mobile App
  • Pattern, Color & Art Storage
  • Presentation Tools
  • Preview Functionality
  • Print Management
  • Search/Filter
  • Social Media Integration
  • Text Editing
  • Version Control
  • Video Editing
  • Watermarking
  • Workflow Management
See All features
Hide Graphic Design Software Features -

Adobe Illustrator

10/34
Show Graphic Design Software Features +
Canva
Deployment
  • Cloud, SaaS, Web-Based
  • Desktop - Mac
  • Desktop - Windows
  • Desktop - Linux
  • Desktop - Chromebook
  • On-Premise - Windows
  • On-Premise - Linux
  • Mobile - Android
  • Mobile - iPhone
  • Mobile - iPad
Support
  • Email/Help Desk
  • FAQs/Forum
  • Knowledge Base
  • Phone Support
  • 24/7 (Live rep)
  • Chat
Training
  • In Person
  • Live Online
  • Webinars
  • Documentation
  • Videos
Adobe Illustrator
Deployment
  • Cloud, SaaS, Web-Based
  • Desktop - Mac
  • Desktop - Windows
  • Desktop - Linux
  • Desktop - Chromebook
  • On-Premise - Windows
  • On-Premise - Linux
  • Mobile - Android
  • Mobile - iPhone
  • Mobile - iPad
Support
  • Email/Help Desk
  • FAQs/Forum
  • Knowledge Base
  • Phone Support
  • 24/7 (Live rep)
  • Chat
Training
  • In Person
  • Live Online
  • Webinars
  • Documentation
  • Videos
Canva
  • By Canva
  • Located in Australia
  • Founded in 2012
Adobe Illustrator
  • By Adobe
  • Located in United States
  • Founded in 1982
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