Adobe PhotoShop vs. Canva

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe PhotoShop
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Photoshop is the best known graphics product on the market.
$20
per month
Canva
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Canva is a popular, simple online graphic design tool. Users can import images, use templates to design banners and logos, or pay to use Canva's premium stock images/paid templates (elements starting at $1).
$12.95
per month
Pricing
Adobe PhotoShopCanva
Editions & Modules
Single App
$20.00
per month
Pro
$12.95
per month
Enterprise
$30.00
Per Month Per User
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe PhotoShopCanva
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe PhotoShopCanva
Considered Both Products
Adobe PhotoShop
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Adobe PhotoShop is the mac daddy! These others (Canva, Pixlr, etc.) don't have much on Adobe PhotoShop--the functionalities could take a lifetime or longer to understand every little thing. However I will say that online software like Canva and Pixlr are good for a layperson …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Canva is the most user friendly for sure but not as many capabilities.

I personally prefer Adobe Illustrator to Photoshop as I think it is more intuitive and can do many of the same things, but it is probably because it is the first one I learned. They are best used together.
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Adobe Photoshop is in a nutshell just a more robust program. It really opened up options that the other programs we used or were looking to use could. Upgrading from Canva to Adobe Photoshop has enhanced our final products in every aspect, from the idea phase to the final …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
I have also used other Adobe products in the CC like Lightroom, InDesign, Illustrator. I have also used Canva, which is a great tool for people who are not skilled with Photoshop, since that program does take some training to understand how to use.
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Photoshop is a quality with a number of solid features. For graphic design, Photoshop works incredibly well. As for ease of use, for many Photoshop seems easier to pick up than Illustrator. The bonus of Illustrator is that it works with vectors rather than rasterized images. Can…
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Canva is a great tool for creating infographics and it's free with limited options. Adobe Illustrator CC and Adobe InDesign are much more suited for creating infographics, however, I still selected Adobe PhotoShop primarily because of my familiarity with all of the tools and …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Canva is a graphic editing program, but on a basic level. Adobe Photoshop provides a better alternative than Canva for clients who require complex graphic design because of the software's reach and the tools provided available for customizing the graphic design. Even the user …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
GIMP is one of the free alternatives for Photoshop. Although it has got many features that photoshop offers, it still has a lot of catching up to do. Also GIMP's UI is quite clunky and not as polished as Photoshop's UI making it a bit harder to navigate. Canva on the other hand …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
I've used Canva as a quick alternative for designing brochures or flyers, but it does not meet the functionality of Photoshop whatsoever. It's good for a quick, on-the-go type design, or for someone that does not have a lot of design experience - but Photoshop is truly the only …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Photoshop is definitely way more comprehensive than Canva when it comes to creating complex designs. For simpler design needs, we use Canva's free version
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
I'd say there are different use cases for each tool. PhotoShop is a beast at image editing, I haven't used anything else for this purpose. But with the other tools, they serve different purpose - Canva is good for templated stuff, illustrator is good for anything …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Adobe photoshop is flexible with simple tool. The user interface is not clumpy but very clean. You can customize the canvas to what you like and set your own shortcuts key to keep the software accustom to yourself. Photoshop is unmatched when it comes to images manipulate and …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
I used all of these for different reasons. For a quick job that is a duplicate of previous efforts, Canva can get the job done. For actual illustration, Clip Studio Paint is a better choice for drawing. Adobe PhotoShop is the all-arounder, though, that can accomplish any of the …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
A lot of the newer, younger staff, have worked extensively in Express and/or Canva. Some things in those platforms, like one-button background removal, have made it very easy for them to quickly do mock ups. But if they have to do something a bit more complex, Adobe PhotoShop …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Adobe PhotoShop has so much more functionality and features compared to Canva and Canva Pro. There are so many more options in editing and designing. Many Canva designs can end up being repetitive because of the lack of options and Photoshop opens up a lot more possibilities …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Each adobe tool really is created to stand alone for different purposes. I don't think I can compare Adobe PhotoShop with other tools simply because they do different things. As far as Canva goes, I do enjoy using Canva, but there are at times more complicated things I need to …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
There is no comparison. It’s far more advanced and has higher capabilities.
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Sometimes PhotoShop just gives that extra edge when it comes to functionality when you have to edit a very detailed picture. PhotoShop has a lot more tools and is thus great for creating visuals that you can later use in print settings, for example; we want this tablecloth to …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Every software has its kind of users, and Photoshop is ranked as one of the most competitive softwares and is used mainly by professionals. Figma is great for working in collaboration and designing Ui/Ux interface. Illustrator is great for vector-based work, such as logos and …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
PS is a well-known tool for many years and I have been a user since before they used the CS part.
For the flexibility the tool has and all the functions, I never really "completely" switched to other tools, I use other tools for other things. There are ALOT of assets for …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
I found GIMP much harder to navigate and the features not fully fleshed out. In the end, while a free product is great, I felt like I was wasting my own time instead of just paying for Photoshop where I could get the project completed much more quickly and easily.
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
PhotoShop is far superior to the other programs out there. If you can dream it, you can create it in PhotoShop. I honestly can't imagine my life without it at this point. If there is ONE program out of the whole Adobe Creative Suite that you need, it is Photoshop, because it …
Canva
Chose Canva
Canva is more intuitive and easier to use than Adobe PhotoShop or Illustrator. I'm not a designer, I work in Marketing so when I needed creatives made I had to outsource to our design team and try to fit my project on their calendar. I tried to learn other programs myself but …
Chose Canva
While less powerful and with fewer features, for our purposes, Canva is more effective than Adobe PhotoShop. It is much easier to use and creates beautiful presentations that meet the needs of our organization. We do not need trained graphics professionals or a large budget to …
Chose Canva
Canva offers the best value for the money graphic software solution. Its costs are exceptionally lower than Adobe PhotoShop and its graphics are much lower in costs compared to Getty Images. Canva does not offer the full extent of graphic tools like Adobe PhotoShop and the …
Chose Canva
There is no doubt that Adobe PhotoShop has great potential. The software can be used to do almost anything, but it requires a lot of practice and mastery. Canva is easy, fast, and creative, and even a beginner can use it without any experience. Adobe PhotoShop requires users to …
Chose Canva
Canva takes the top used features in Adobe PhotoShop, Illustrator, and InDesign and combines them all into an easy to use web based software. What's not to love about that? Sure, you can't do insane photo editing in Canva, but it does have a nice selection of stock photos that …
Chose Canva
Canva is easier to use and requires less experience. Canva is also so easy it makes it significantly faster to produce content than using any Adobe products. Canva allows you to use professional designs and can help even make the most novice designers produce …
Chose Canva
Canva is cost Effective as compared to Adobe Express
Canva does not lag at all while Adobe Express frame rate drops sometimes
Canva has collaboration feature while adobe misses out with this
Chose Canva
User-friendly interface: Canva has a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface that makes it easy to create designs, even for those without design experience.Templates and design elements: Canva offers a large library of templates and design elements, so users can create …
Chose Canva
Other softwares for designing need technical skills and also have high cost. Canva does not need any technical skills and also have a low-cost model with a lot of amazing features. Also other softwares don't have pre-made templates as per category wise as much as Canva has. All …
Chose Canva
Adobe products, well compared to Canva has a wide and long learning curve. Adobe spark almost comes close to Canva but lacks these tiny features that Canva focuses on to make the product irresistible to use. Canva also does a great job organizing and recording the designs in …
Chose Canva
Canva is faster and easy to use. There aren't complex menus like Adobe products and everything is generally intuitive. Menus are mostly open and visible or relatively small. Small changes to the program add to it's usability rather than detract. I also appreciate that Canva …
Chose Canva
Canva is easy to use; it is a SaaS, and you can use it anywhere in the world. It only takes a few minutes to learn how to use it, and it saves me time, energy, and money. Photoshop is complicated and you need to be tech-savvy. You also need to install it and take that …
Chose Canva
I have selected Canva as it is User friendly, no much designing knowledge needed and is very easy for beginners to handle. The exporting option is quite easy compared to others and can be easily shared with the team. Images clips or elements needed for the design is easily …
Chose Canva
The other programs listed above arent better or worse than Canva, they all bring different things to the mix. If you don't want to buy an Adobe license or learn how to use Photoshop or Illustrator than Canva would be right up your alley. Create social posts, fliers, …
Chose Canva
Canva is easier, faster, and less expensive than Adobe. It allows for people who are not graphic artists to create quality professional looking content fast. I have been able to save hundreds of dollars annually with a single Canva pro subscription vs. a full Adobe …
Chose Canva
Photoshop and GIMP are both excellent tools in their own right. However, what I love about Canva in comparison is it's simplicity, user-friendliness, and usability. Canva feels like the graphic tool anyone can use, even if you're a total tech or graphic amateur, while Photoshop …
Chose Canva
Canva has a special niche when it comes to stacking up against the products that I listed above. When it comes to learning curve, with Canva, there is virtually no learning curve; the interface of Canva is easy for any user. Where I reach my limit with Canva is that it …
Chose Canva
Canva is a lot more efficient and easy-to-use for quick things - social media posts, cards, flyers - because the templates are so easily accessible and customizable. Using photoshop, I have to start from scratch, which takes much more time! Photoshop is much better-versed in …
Chose Canva
For rapid turnaround time projects with limited graphic scope, Canva is a great tool and I prefer using it to Photoshop. The ability to quickly create a canvas, drag and drop and rearrange uploaded images and free-to-use graphics is not something that Photoshop does well. If …
Chose Canva
You can just about forget about using Publisher or PowerPoint once you start using Canva! Canva blows them out of the water! PosterMyWall is good for posters, just like it says in its name. If you are not a graphic designer by nature, then Photoshop is not for the …
Chose Canva
Canva’s free version has more than enough to effectively create beautiful graphics. The user interface is more user-friendly, in my opinion. and is able to provide more direction in the way of templates that meet every specific need I can think of in terms of digital and print …
Chose Canva
Canva's ease of use and multifaceted toolkit are the gold standard for me. I can create new content on Canva in minutes with any necessary images, elements, or fonts that I am likely to need. The ability to then collaborate with team members or share to social media makes my …
Chose Canva
Canva is easy to use and offers a free version with basic features. It doesn't take a lot of time to figure out how to create stunning images in a few minutes. We selected Canva as it more free features than the other applications and had sharing feature as well so others could …
Chose Canva
Canva is FREE! That is why this makes Canva the best! You only upgrade for specific fonts and templates. Canva is seriously the most amazing tool out there and has no competition!
TrustRadius Insights
Adobe PhotoShopCanva
Highlights

TrustRadius
Research Team Insight
Published

Adobe Photoshop and Canva are both graphic editing software. Adobe Photoshop is the market incumbent, while Canva is a new, more niche offering. Both products are rare among enterprises, but Canva is more concentrated in the small business market due to its robust free package and focus on user-accessibility. 

Adobe Photoshop is positioned as the legacy market incumbent, with advanced features for a range of more intensive editing uses. Canva specializes as an online entry-level editing software particularly well suited for social posts and graphics. 

Features

Both Adobe Photoshop and Canva offer basic graphic editing features, including graphic creation and editing existing content. However, they each provide features tailored to their specializations. 

Adobe Photoshop has invested more heavily in powerful and advanced editing capabilities. This allows Photoshop to provide deeper functionality for most editing and graphic design needs. The range and depth of its capabilities makes Photoshop ideal for frequent or power users. Broadly speaking, Photoshop has set the baseline on which editing software is compared to. 

In contrast, Canva differentiates by being more accessible for more casual or inexperienced users. Canva provides a free version that is fairly sufficient for many basic tasks, and includes a range of prebuilt templates for common use cases, such as social media graphics. It is designed to be extremely user friendly and accessible to users, regardless of prior experience or skill level. 

Limitations

While both Adobe Photoshop and Canva offer strong features, they also have some limitations worth considering. 

Adobe Photoshop’s power also entails greater complexity. The more advanced features and interface often requires a steeper learning curve to become proficient and work efficiently within the tool. Additionally, Photoshop has no free version. This requires more up front investment in the application than freemium products. 

In contrast, Canva is more limited in its functionality. Many of the better or larger graphics and images are paywalled, placing a ceiling on what can be done with the free version of Canva. There are also more limited account management features within the software. The lack of these features is most pertinent to freelancers or contractors, who may manage graphics for multiple clients within the software. 

Pricing

Adobe Photoshop is sold individually for $20.99/month. It can also be bundled with Adobe Lightroom for $9.99/month. 

Canva has 3 pricing tiers. The free version provides 8,000+ templates, 100+ design types, and many free images and graphics. The Pro version additionally offers a Brand Kit for white labeling, more free templates, premium images, and custom templates. The Enterprise version includes multiple Brand Kits, team management, workflows, and additional security features and support.

Best Alternatives
Adobe PhotoShopCanva
Small Businesses
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 7.2 out of 10
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 7.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
GIMP
GIMP
Score 8.2 out of 10
GIMP
GIMP
Score 8.2 out of 10
Enterprises
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 7.2 out of 10
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 7.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe PhotoShopCanva
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(194 ratings)
9.6
(174 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(31 ratings)
8.0
(7 ratings)
Usability
7.7
(19 ratings)
10.0
(14 ratings)
Availability
9.0
(3 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(3 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(54 ratings)
6.9
(15 ratings)
In-Person Training
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(6 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Configurability
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
4.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe PhotoShopCanva
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
Photoshop is a useful tool for everything from creating social media graphics to editing and sizing photos. There is a bit of a learning curve, so you need to have a bit of experience to master it and use it for a variety of tasks. You also need to have a good sense of file organization so you can find files quickly without losing track of them.
Read full review
Canva
They are suited to serve the non-profit space, offering premium features at no charge for up to 50 users. They provide tools for non-graphic designers that help to create appealing and attractive pieces. For those who are unsure about where to start with a project, Canva offers templates that can be edited to suit the current need.
Read full review
Pros
Adobe
  • The fact is that you may quickly pick things up on your own by spending time without using any other resources.
  • It is the program that brings the phrase "to make PhotoShop" to almost all languages. It's not just a photo editing program.
  • Practical and beautiful results are filtered by filtering the desired work without drowning in details.
Read full review
Canva
  • It helps you find the right design and helps you start with the right template
  • It helps in creating for all platforms, basically you need to create the design only once and Canva takes care of the rest by resizing the design for whichever platform you want to publish it to.
  • It also comes with a content planner which is extremely helpful for obvious reasons. It relieves you from the hassle of posting when the right time hits.
  • There's a Brand feature which is also extremely fascinating as it helps you store all your brand information (even color) at the same place.
Read full review
Cons
Adobe
  • The effect applying time could be faster.
  • There could be a smarter way to make mockups using smart objects, maybe by directly selecting an area, and generative AI can automate a few steps.
  • If Photoshop can suggest the right stock imagery in case the generative AI doesn't get the right answer.
Read full review
Canva
  • I have a hard time coming up with any improvements, perhaps increase the number of free elements to use in design.
  • Maybe, Canva should check if you start editing a previous document to see if you want to change the current design or create a new one as a clone of the current document (design).
  • I'm sorry, I really can't think of a 3rd. Overall, I really like working in Canva.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
We get a lot of use out of this software. It's vital for work with production in our industry and has a lot of cross-functionality - creating social media images, retouching photos, editing photos, creating gradients, and more. It's pretty fuss-free in that we haven't had to reach out to support and the program hasn't crashed on us. We are trained on the software (so again, this isn't for beginners), but for detail-oriented designers and creatives like ourselves - it's a no-brainer.
Read full review
Canva
The ease of use makes Canva a powerful tool for manipulating images, creating original content, and testing ideas without requiring the involvement of graphic design or more time-intensive image editing software such as Photoshop. While it doesn't have the full functionality of a mature software, such as Photoshop, The speed and simplicity of Canva makes it a necessity in a business of any size
Read full review
Usability
Adobe
Adobe PhotoShop is a professional-grade tool that requires months/years to get a grasp of how to use it well. Even then, after over a decade of using Adobe PhotoShop both casually and professionally, I feel like I'm still unfamiliar with a large percentage of the available tools. Without a dedicated training program, it can be extremely overwhelming and/or you may not get good use out of it. That being said, once you do get comfortable with it, the layout and workspace are excellent with myriad shortcuts that speed up your workflow exponentially. Put in the time to learn it, and you'll love it.
Read full review
Canva
It is super easy to use, but it could be limiting if you're on a small device. It is easier on a bigger device because you can resize graphics and text easier than with your fingers on a small device. I do think it's perfect and easy for non-designers who don't have any training. As long as you have a good eye for visuals, Canva is a wonderful substitute for graphics programs on-the-go.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Adobe
Adobe Photoshop is very reliable, but is never 100%. There have been times when Adobe Photoshop has had trouble opening, but nothing a little computer restart couldn't fix. I use Adobe Photoshop on a Mac for both work and at home on a daily basis, and I would be lost without it.
Read full review
Canva
I have yet to encounter Canva being offline in at least 6 years of using it regularly. They also announce well in advance if there may be upgrades to the code and the hours during which there may be issues accessing the service.
Read full review
Performance
Adobe
Speed can be an issue when you are dealing with large files for large format printing or billboards. When working on web images, speed is not an issue.
Read full review
Canva
I haven't ever had issues with a slow-loading site and there haven't been any lag issues within the software. There have been maybe a handful of times over the past six years where I have tried to upload a large image and it will slow down as it loads the last megabyte, but I have yet to have the system time out or require any interference by me
Read full review
Support Rating
Adobe
While I never contacted Adobe directly, there is so much content out there in the form of YouTube videos, Lynda/LinkedIn learning that almost any issue, including bugs, can be worked around (and this method is generally faster as there's no turnaround time involved).
Read full review
Canva
Overall, Canva is easy to use, easy to train others to use, allows for creativity with a professional look without enormous associated costs. The mobile apps works almost as easily, but at a minimum allows for easy review and downloading in a pinch. Really, anyone can learn to use Canva quickly and will immediately benefit from the results.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Adobe
So, I received the training at the HQ and it was train the trainer training. A good time, I spent a week at their campus
Read full review
Canva
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Adobe
I took a course so it really helped. I didn’t take the course until much later after beginning to use it, so I wish work would have sent me right off the bat. It would have alleviated a lot of frustratinon
Read full review
Canva
Remember to download the mobile app onto your phone for easy image manipulation on the go. Adding company colors, logos, and typefaces to your company account is an easy process. When images are uploaded, these can also be shared between accounts within a company, as can canvases you've created for easy editing among teams.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Adobe
[Adobe] Photoshop offers the best photo editing as well as content creation. The layer-by-layer approach of [Adobe] Photoshop helps to work between two apps or even two PCs of entirely different Creative Cloud apps seamlessly. The stability and the speed of the tools in photoshop make it even better to make a canvas of creativity.
Read full review
Canva
Canva is faster and easy to use. There aren't complex menus like Adobe products and everything is generally intuitive. Menus are mostly open and visible or relatively small. Small changes to the program add to it's usability rather than detract. I also appreciate that Canva helps the user become more creative through use. By giving you editable examples through templates you can choose to re-design something ir create something from scratch w/ a similar concept or feel. Canva often gives me ideas that I can implement into my design or into the entire project even. I also like how Canva is intuitive in it's approach. The program gives you suggestions when it comes to graphics, etc. without getting in your way if you know what you already want
Read full review
Scalability
Adobe
It seems expensive compared to the free/cheap programs now available
Read full review
Canva
Very easy to add accounts and share content between them. Collaboration is also easy to manage and can be done on a project-by-project basis. The cloud-based software means it is incredibly fast to add a coworker and have them editing images within minutes. A live internet connection is required to access Canva so this is something to consider if expecting to use the software while on journeys without access to wifi etc
Read full review
Return on Investment
Adobe
  • Adobe PhotoShop in general is a great time saver.
  • It does take a long time for the program to start up, however
  • The most difficult task is onboarding new employees into Adobe PhotoShop who don't have experience with it. It's an investment for their future so we see value in it.
Read full review
Canva
  • As far as ROI is concerned, Canva has proven itself time and time again as having a positive impact for business.
  • Just yesterday, I had to prepare an hour-long presentation on the fly; the great reviews of the presentation and the materials (all made in Canva) only served to advertise for Canva and it proves that Canva is a smart investment.
  • I don't think in the time that I have been a Canva pro user that I can say that my ROI has been negatively impacted. Highest recommendation. The software more the casually pays for itself time and time again.
Read full review
ScreenShots