Canva vs. Hootsuite

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
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
Hootsuite
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
Hootsuite is a social media management platform for building brand awareness, engaging with customers, and driving business results. Users can schedule posts across multiple social networks (including Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and YouTube ), manage organic and paid social content together, keep track of customer conversations, integrate with over 200+ applications, and gain actionable real-time insights from social media to make critical business decisions from…
$249
per month per user
Pricing
CanvaHootsuite
Editions & Modules
Pro
$12.95
per month
Enterprise
$30.00
Per Month Per User
Standard
$199
per month (billed annually) Starts at 1 user, 10 social accounts
Advanced
$399
per month (billed annually) Starts at 1 user, unlimited social accounts
Enterprise
Custom Pricing
per year
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
CanvaHootsuite
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional DetailsPlans can be paid monthly or annually, with a discount for annual pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
CanvaHootsuite
Considered Both Products
Canva
Chose Canva
Canva is a user-friendly platform that beginners can learn easily. Canva is a fast way to get designs done quickly. The Templates are very good. I found the others were hard to learn, limited in design abilities, or just too expensive. I love other software options but this is …
Chose Canva
I have InDesign but have struggled to become proficient with it. Canva is a more cost-effective and user-friendly alternative. Our designer still works in InDesign and for a designer, it has superior features, but to get some projects completed quickly with higher quality, …
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
As a simple graphic producing app, it works fantastic. If you want to create effects like gradients, drop-shadows, outlines, etc, you'd be better off using Photoshop, however you'd want to be at your computer. It is nice because there a lot of templates and graphic …
Chose Canva
Google Photos is the other editing software we use, and Canva definitely allows a greater depth at actually creating designs than using Google photos. To be honest, Canva is the first and only software that I've used of its kind.
Chose Canva
Far easier to use than Photoshop (although cannot create highly technical images.)
Piktochart is better for designing infographics but has more fonts and templates for flashcard style images available.
Chose Canva
They are both create on their own terms - pixlr is more an image studio, similar to the likes of photoshop/gimp whereas Canva is a great easy to use drag and drop graphics creator.
Chose Canva
DesignBold is similar to Canva but with a much broader photo library and there's a lifetime user cost that is far more competitive.
Chose Canva
I have given Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and Gimp a try in the past.

Both Adobe products are less intuitive than Canva, and for someone without a graphic design background, that is a significant issue. Due to their cost, I wouldn't suggest that they are great …
Hootsuite
Chose Hootsuite
I'll be honest - my predecessor had Hootsuite and I was stuck with it. But I'm glad I've had it, and compared to the other platforms I've used in the past it's miles better.

Granted, I haven't used the top competitors and only know things like Canva and Facebook Business Manager.…
Chose Hootsuite
Metricool has an excellent free plan and a wonderful plethora of features. However, I selected Hootsuite due to being more familiar with the brand overall and its reputation. I also find its interface to be more appealing and consequently more accessible. For any in-house team, …
Chose Hootsuite
We have not used any other tool other than Hootsuite.
Chose Hootsuite
Buffer only has a few basic features available. Meta's interface is extremely difficult to use and keeps hanging, it is too slow as well. Later is a good competitor but does not have long-term planning options such as employee advocacy and social listening options available. …
Chose Hootsuite
I believe Hootsuite is very user-friendly. Not to say the others aren't, but I feel like HS is fairly easy to hit the ground running on content management. I have found Hootsuite's suggestions on content and best times to post are much better than its competitors. I feel like …
Chose Hootsuite
Hootsuite has a much broader reach of social media channels. Hootsuite has kept their product up to date with technology. TweetDeck is just about dead if it isnt already
Chose Hootsuite
Compared to Later, Hootsuite offers greater flexibility in content creation and planning, allowing for more comprehensive and tailored strategies across various social platforms. Additionally, Hootsuite excels in providing a wider array of training resources and detailed …
Chose Hootsuite
Hootsuite offered everything we needed at a much more competitive price.
Chose Hootsuite
Hootsuite is all-encompassing and does not try to hide features behind paywalls. When you do not have a feature based on your chosen plan, it does not present the option like other platforms tend to do.
Chose Hootsuite
HubSpot and SocialPilot suck they're not that easy to use. Later does stack up against Hootsuite with features already mentioned. They also have more color and branding on their website and I know that's a small thing but I'm surprised Hootsuite is all white.
Chose Hootsuite
Our team had a budget of $1000 annually for a social media management tool. We wanted functionality like Sprout Social but we couldn't afford the price tag. Hootsuite was our next best because we got almost all or similar functions of Sprout Social within our budget and more! …
Chose Hootsuite
Hootsuite offers more platforms and also more control over any of the competitors we evaluated. For our current business and customer needs, Hootsuite was and is a much better fit. We use the pro level, and right now, it has enough options and features to ensure proper …
Chose Hootsuite
Hootsuite is definitely the most cost effective of the bunch for the goals that my clients have. The AI caption generation is also perfect for cutting down on time. Caption creation actually takes up a lot of time in the scheduling process for content and this feature made …
Chose Hootsuite
We previously used Loomly as a social media publisher, it was convenient but we did not like the interface. Overall we found that we liked Hootsuite as a publisher better. Loomy did offer a feature where you could boost your posts right from your portal which was convenient. …
Chose Hootsuite
I use Meta Business Suite to schedule posts for Facebook and Instagram as it is free to use and there is no restriction on how many posts can be scheduled. It also shows analytics of how well posts are doing, optimal posting times and who our audience consists. I do like how I …
Chose Hootsuite
Hootsuite has a few less features than Sprout Social; however, the price point is much more favorable for a small business to utilize.
Chose Hootsuite
In my opinion, Hootsuite is like a social media version of Mailchimp. I have not looked into many alternative software programs, as I've inherited Hootsuite in my role and saw no need to change. Hootsuite does what I need it to do at a reasonable price point. There may be …
Chose Hootsuite
I find Hootsuite better for teams to manage social media posts. It's easy for multi-channel and has link shortening within the software and makes basic reporting and analytics easy to comprehend.
Chose Hootsuite
Sprout Social has a better UI than Hootsuite. It uses a single feed approach compared to the multi-column layout that allows you to check and uncheck filters based on what you'd like to see at a given moment. Overall, Hootsuite was a better choice for our team given the …
Features
CanvaHootsuite
Listening/monitoring
Comparison of Listening/monitoring features of Product A and Product B
Canva
-
Ratings
Hootsuite
6.7
314 Ratings
13% below category average
Boolean keyword searches00 Ratings6.6206 Ratings
Filtering out noise/spam00 Ratings6.2218 Ratings
Sentiment analysis00 Ratings6.5215 Ratings
Broad channel coverage00 Ratings7.7289 Ratings
Publishing
Comparison of Publishing features of Product A and Product B
Canva
-
Ratings
Hootsuite
7.9
434 Ratings
2% below category average
Content planning and scheduling00 Ratings8.9433 Ratings
Audience targeting00 Ratings7.0295 Ratings
Content optimization00 Ratings7.6356 Ratings
Workflow management00 Ratings7.9368 Ratings
Engagement
Comparison of Engagement features of Product A and Product B
Canva
-
Ratings
Hootsuite
7.6
350 Ratings
6% below category average
Automated routing and prioritization00 Ratings7.3254 Ratings
Customer interaction histories00 Ratings7.5272 Ratings
Bulk actions00 Ratings7.9302 Ratings
Marketing
Comparison of Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Canva
-
Ratings
Hootsuite
6.9
329 Ratings
11% below category average
Lead generation00 Ratings6.6202 Ratings
Content marketing00 Ratings7.6296 Ratings
Paid media management00 Ratings6.7201 Ratings
Campaigns and promotions00 Ratings6.6250 Ratings
Channel coverage/integration
Comparison of Channel coverage/integration features of Product A and Product B
Canva
-
Ratings
Hootsuite
8.2
426 Ratings
2% below category average
Twitter00 Ratings7.7384 Ratings
Facebook00 Ratings8.6409 Ratings
LinkedIn00 Ratings8.3356 Ratings
Google+00 Ratings8.960 Ratings
Instagram00 Ratings8.4363 Ratings
Pinterest00 Ratings8.1179 Ratings
YouTube00 Ratings7.7169 Ratings
Reporting/analytics
Comparison of Reporting/analytics features of Product A and Product B
Canva
-
Ratings
Hootsuite
7.8
351 Ratings
1% above category average
Campaign success analytics00 Ratings8.0323 Ratings
Real-time tracking00 Ratings7.5325 Ratings
Competitor analysis00 Ratings7.8225 Ratings
Account management
Comparison of Account management features of Product A and Product B
Canva
-
Ratings
Hootsuite
7.7
358 Ratings
3% below category average
Role-based user permissions & privileges00 Ratings8.0305 Ratings
Mobile access00 Ratings7.4329 Ratings
Best Alternatives
CanvaHootsuite
Small Businesses
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 7.3 out of 10
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
GIMP
GIMP
Score 8.1 out of 10
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 7.3 out of 10
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Score 9.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
CanvaHootsuite
Likelihood to Recommend
9.7
(174 ratings)
8.3
(486 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(7 ratings)
8.7
(89 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(14 ratings)
8.2
(125 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.8
(21 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.8
(19 ratings)
Support Rating
6.9
(15 ratings)
7.0
(263 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
6.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(17 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(2 ratings)
8.0
(39 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
7.2
(3 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
7.6
(2 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(1 ratings)
8.1
(3 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.9
(3 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.3
(18 ratings)
User Testimonials
CanvaHootsuite
Likelihood to Recommend
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
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is well-suited for agencies managing multiple clients or scheduling multiple posts regularly across different channels. It's also appropriate for companies where the review process isn't streamlined or well-defined. But it's not well-suited for small brands that aren't regular on social media or for brands that focus heavily on real-time or trend-driven content, like TikTok or Twitter.
Read full review
Pros
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
Hootsuite
  • Reporting. We are able to pull accurate and concise data points on our channels.
  • Planning and calendaring. We love that we are able to have our teams plan out content across months so that we are never feeling behind schedule on getting content out there.
  • Creating content natively in the platform!
Read full review
Cons
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
Hootsuite
  • TikTok is an area for improvement as it's newer to Hootsuite. It would be beneficial to be able to link non-business profiles on TikTok to Hootsuite as many businesses use personal accounts to access TikTok's expansive music library.
  • Hootsuite does have room to improve the analytics capabilities. There could be more ways to customize each aspect of their reports. There isn't much manipulation of data in each type of data set.
  • Simplicity is an area of improvement for Hootsuite. The streams are one example of an area that is super cluttered and difficult to view. Their platform could really use an aesthetic overhaul to make things look more pleasing.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
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
Hootsuite
At this time we are satisfied that Hootsuite offers the most of what we are looking for at the most reasonable price point. As the social media landscape and monitoring/scheduling software changes, so do our needs. We re-evaluate our tools semi-annually or as new tools emerge onto the market. If we find at any point that we aren't gaining an advantage, then we are open to switching products.
Read full review
Usability
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
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is straightforward and does a great job of onboarding new users directly within the platform. Connecting social media accounts, regardless of whether you are managing multiple profiles on one platform, is easy enough. You can also easily toggle between platforms to see interactive dashboards showing how people are engaging with your posts.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
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
Hootsuite
Gliches have made it a bit of a bind, particularly when you just want to 'click and send' a web article after you have read it - and then you have to deal with support (a great team but not always able to solve the problems with the gliches). Gliches with it loading properly, gliches with 'double ups in FB on the posts (the personal page and the business page if both clicked will lead to 2 lots of postings to each page!)
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Performance
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
Hootsuite
HootSuite does everything it is designed to do very well: the product's performance is very reliable and efficient. Like other tools, there is always a room for new developments and updates, and the HootSuite team recognizes this and focuses on new development as well.
Read full review
Support Rating
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
Hootsuite
I can manage all of my accounts on one site! It's absolutely amazing!
The dashboard is helpful to see how you are doing as well. Still
getting to understand the analytics and may need to reach out for help
on this
Read full review
In-Person Training
Canva
No answers on this topic
Hootsuite
Very easy to teach and learn
Read full review
Online Training
Canva
No answers on this topic
Hootsuite
The online training is decent; however, it takes a lot more time to search for answers to my questions. Having a training session with a live person was much more effective as they were able to quickly address the business needs I have.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
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
Hootsuite
Simple and easy to use, and have never had any issues. We like how it saves me time and allows me to plan in advance. I plan on using this for as long as I can and will encourage others to use it too. If you haven't tried it you should. I hope my review is helpful to everyone.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
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
Hootsuite
Metricool is free and we can shedule up to 50 posts per month, however Hootsuite allows us to do just a little bit more. For the price Agorapulse and Hootsuite are in tight competition but we prefer the Hootsuite format, although some chamber partners do find it a bit on the older school side we do not. We like the Hootsuite system
Read full review
Scalability
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
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Hootsuite
We are only using in marketing and have been able to scale.
Read full review
Return on Investment
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
Hootsuite
  • For our organization, all ROI was on time saved and efficiency: for creating posts, for scheduling and publishing, for interacting with users, and for analyzing performances. It all comes in one place and this makes a very huge difference in your workflows. We would say that Hootsuite went beyond our expectations on this front, for example with the dynamics UTMs and the media library. Saving time was the main reason why we wanted to purchase the platform and it did not disappoint at all.
  • The ROI in time was also fast to get. The learning curse is very short and this is also an important element. Benefiting from the platform did not take long to be experienced.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Hootsuite Screenshots

Screenshot of Monitoring: Monitors social media profiles and tracks the topics that matter to the brand.Screenshot of Publishing: Create, publish and schedule engaging posts across social channels.Screenshot of Customer Engagement: A consolidated stream of messages across networks that can be triaged and assigned to respond to customers faster. Provides optional chatbot handover for automated responses.Screenshot of Scheduling: Social content can be planned as a team with a shared calendar that features collaborative post drafts and built-in approval workflows.Screenshot of Analytics & Reporting: Measures the effectiveness of a social media strategy to help turn strategy into execution with meaningful and actionable insights. Reports can be customized and shared according to unique business goals and objectives.