Canva vs PicMonkey – Which Is Better For You?

If you are looking for a graphics editor you might be wondering which is better, Canva vs PicMonkey?

Canva and PicMonkey are easy-to-use online graphic design applications. Both are great tools for novice designers with their user-friendly drag-and-drop editors and their extensive template libraries.

But which one is better?

Well… that depends what you need it for.

Both can be used to create stunning designs in a matter of minutes, but there is a slight difference:

Canva is more suitable for designing text based graphics for print and online use, like posters, flyers, infographics, social media posts etc, and comparable to Adobe Illustrator.

PicMonkey is more suitable for photo editing with its touch up brushes, textures and effects, and is comparable to Adobe Photoshop.

There are a few more differences between Canva and PicMonkey, so keep reading to find out which is better for you.

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Canva vs PicMonkey

Let’s compare Canva with PicMonkey in more detail. If you want to follow along within either app, you can try them for free here:

• Try Canva For Free
• Try PicMonkey For Free

The difference between Canva & PicMonkey

If you want a quick comparison please check the boxes below. If you want more details about features and pricing, keep reading below.

Canva vs PicMonkey – Ease Of Use

One of the first things I notice when using a new app, is how user friendly it is. Let’s compare the Canva and PicMonkey workspace and see which is easier to use.

Canva 

Canva’s workspace is easy to navigate and very intuitive. Everything you need is easy to find. All your design components are on the left and to add an element to your design, you simply click on it or drag it onto your canvas.

To edit something you will have to click on your design to make editing options appear. For example, if you want to edit the text you have to select it and then a text menu will appear in the top bar.

Canva has plenty of design options but not so many that you get sucked into a design vortex and never get anything finished…

PicMonkey

PicMonkey’s workspace is also easy to use but it has a lot more editing options which can make it a bit overwhelming. It also has layers on the right that you have to select before editing, which can be confusing at first but becomes easier once you get used to it.

PicMonkey is great for easy photo editing and creating artistic work, but if you need to whip up a few quick social media posts all the extra options might be overkill and will create unnecessary distractions.

Canva vs PicMonkey – Features

Templates

Both Canva and PicMonkey offer 1000’s of templates for anything you might need designed. Some examples are: posters, brochures, business cards, presentations, invitations, calendars, infographics and social media posts, banners and thumbnails and more…

Fonts

Both Canva and PicMonkey have over 1000 fonts available in their font library and both let you upload your own fonts (only on their Pro plans).

Storage

Canva Pro – 100 GB

PicMonkey – Unlimited

Mockups

Canva has the Smartmockup effect where you can add your own image to a mockup image of a phone, laptop, business card and other items.

PicMonkey does not have a mockup effect.

Filters

Canva has 20 filters and you can adjust them with an intensity slider.

PicMonkey

In PicMonkey the filters are called Effects and there are about 50 of them. You can choose how strong you apply them with a percentage slider and if you click on the brush icon, you can even delete or apply the effect on certain parts of the photo only.

Photo Editing

Canva has very limited photo editing capabilities and won’t let you open a photo in the editor. Besides cropping or flipping an image, Canva offers a range of fun but gimmicky effects, about 20 filters and a few adjustments in brightness, contrast, saturation etc.

PicMonkey is the winner in the photo editing department. Besides the obvious photo editing capabilities like cropping, resizing, rotating, exposure and colours, PicMonkey has an impressive amount of face touch up brushes and a huge range of effects, textures and blending modes. Basically PicMonkey is the more user-friendly cousin of Photoshop and it’s the perfect tool to get creative in.

Try PicMonkey’s photo editing features for free here.

Pro Features on Canva and PicMonkey

Let’s have a look at how similar the Pro plans are. Below features are available on both Canva and PicMonkey’s Pro Plan:

Brand Kit

Both apps help you keep your designs on brand with Brand Kit. Upload your logo and select your brand colours and fonts for easy access.

One-click resize

Do you want to turn your Pinterest pin into a Facebook post? Use the one-click resize function and quickly turn one piece of content into many. This function is also super handy when you accidentally started your design in the wrong size, instead of starting from scratch again, you can simply resize your canvas.

One-click background remover

Removing a cluttered background from a photo used to be tedious work in Photoshop. But not anymore! This one-click function is such a time saver and available in both Canva and PicMonkey.

Huge stock photo library

Both Pro plans allow full access to their impressive stock photo library.

Upload your own fonts

Even though there are plenty of fonts available, it’s good to know that you can upload your own fonts on the Pro plan.

Features that Canva has but PicMonkey doesn’t

Share designs as template

The Canva Pro plan has the “Share a link to use as template” feature. This feature lets you share your designs and is perfect if you want to sell Canva templates like Pinterest pin templates, ebook templates or  any other templates.

When a buyer clicks on the link, a copy of the template opens in their own Canva account, making sure your original file won’t be altered.

Canva Content Planner/Social Media Scheduler

Canva has just added a content planner to their Pro plans. This means you can now schedule your social media posts straight from Canva!

You can schedule posts to:

• Twitter
• Pinterest
• LinkedIn Page
• LinkedIn Profile
• Facebook Pages
• Facebook Groups
• Slack
• Tumblr

Instagram is not available yet, but will be added soon.

Choose your download quality

Canva lets you set the download quality of your designs so you can download your designs in low, medium, or high resolution.

Video Editor

I’ve been using Canva for a while now and I didn’t even know it had a video editor! Spicing up your social media post with video has just become super easy!

Canva Print

Canva offers a printing service that lets you print out your designs on business cards, T-shirt, stickers, mugs, flyers and much more.

Features that PicMonkey has but Canva doesn’t

More photo editing capabilities

Fine tune your photos with advanced like: clone, dodge, burn, levels and curves. You can also choose one colour in your photo and replace it with another colour with the colour changer tool.

Face retouch brushes

If you edit a lot of photos with people in it, the face retouch brushes will be priceless. You can smooth skin tones with the airbrush and skin smoother brushes,  and you can whiten teeth, fix blemishes and even add makeup.

Textures and effects

Enhance your design with about 50 effects and tons of textures. Textures include: gradients, film warps, dust & scratches, paint, watercolour, paper, textiles, gold, water, bokeh and more. Here’s a handful of textures as example.

Canva vs PicMonkey – Free plans

You can try both Canva and PicMonkey for free.

PicMonkey’s free plan allows you to use all basic functionality but you won’t be able to download your design. So this free plan is only good for trying it out and deciding if you like it enough to sign up to a paid plan.

PicMonkey also has a 7 day free trial, this free trial allows you to try all the Pro plan functions and download your designs. Try PicMonkey Pro For Free Here.

Canva has a full blown Forever Free Plan  which has quite a lot of functionality and lets you download your design in many different file types.

Canva also has a 30 day free trial for the Canva Pro plan, this allows you to try out functions such as:

• Share your designs as templates
• Full stock photo library access
• Brand kit
• One-click resize
• Background remover
• and more

Try Canva Pro for free here.

To learn more about Canva Pro read my full Canva Pro review here:

Is Canva Pro Worth It? – A Canva Pro Review

Canva vs PicMonkey – Pricing

It’s great to know you can try both Canva and PicMonkey for free but how do the pricing plans stack up to each other?

Have a look below for all the details, as you will see Canva’s and PicMonkey’s Pro plans are very similar.

How much does Canva cost?

When you upgrade to Canva Pro you have the following pricing options:

• The Canva Pro Monthly Plan costs $12.95 USD per month. This is billed monthly and can be cancelled at any time.
• The Canva Pro Annual Plan costs $9.95 per month and is billed annually at $119.40.
• If you have a large team you can sign up for Canva Enterprise for $30 per month.
• If you are a nonprofit, student or teacher you can apply for Canva Pro for free

>>Try Canva Pro For 30 Days For Free Here

Check Out Canva’s Pricing Plans Here

How much does PicMonkey cost?

PicMonkey has a very affordable Basic plan for just $7.99USD per month, or you can save 25%  when you pay $72 annually. This plan doesn’t give you all the functionality however, and this plan is comparable to Canva’s free plan (but without the photo editing capabilities of course).

The next plan up is the Pro Plan for $12.99 per month (or $120 annually). This plan is very similar to the Canva Pro plan.

This plan gives you extras like:

• Unlimited storage
• Smart Resize function
• Brand Kit
• Animate your designs
• One-click background remover
• More stock photos
• Upload your own fonts
• Priority email support

If you want to use PicMonkey with  3 or more people you’ll need the Team Plan. This plan costs $33.99 per month or you can save 26% and pay $300 for a year.

Try PicMonkey’s Pro Plan For Free For 7 Days

PicMonkey Pricing

Check Out PicMonkey’s Plans Here

Canva vs PicMonkey – conclusion

I hope this Canva vs PicMonkey review has given you all the information you need to be able to decide which tool is best for you.

Personally I love Canva for creating quick Pinterest pins as I don’t have a need to edit photos. But if you’re into editing photos and creating collages and photo based designs, I highly recommend you try PicMonkey because it’s a super fun tool to work with.

Please share this post and let me know in the comments below what your tool of choice is and what you love most about it!