Canva vs Photoshop: Differences Every Designer Must Know

Comparing Canva vs Photoshop, I’ve figured out that both programs can be used for a wide range of graphic design tasks. I've tested them on real projects to create online and print materials for Fixthephoto, edit photos, make videos, and even design websites.

Canva is super easy to use and works perfectly when you need simple designs or eye-catching social media posts. However, Photoshop amazes with its advanced features for image editing and creating unique artwork. You can tweak brushes, adjust layers, and work with a bunch of different file formats.

For artists like me who love making intricate and detailed designs, Photoshop's versatility is unmatched.

First and foremost, I choose Canva because it lets me bring my creative ideas to life without getting bogged down by complicated design tools. Plus, Canva offers a completely free version.

Canva boasts an easy-to-use interface and a vast library of templates, images, and fonts, making it a snap to create stunning visuals. Users also like the layering feature, text editor, and image enhancer that allow adding a creative touch to any design. However, if you stick with the free version, your designs may not stand out in the crowd. Many other users are tapping into the same templates and stock assets.

Photoshop is a solid choice for beginners who need to handle basic tasks like cropping, resizing, and tweaking colors. It also offers powerful features like layers, smart objects, and adjustment layers, which are perfect for creating more detailed and complex designs.

The main downside of Photoshop is that it takes a bit more time to learn compared to Canva. It took me a few weeks to get the hang of it and feel comfortable using this powerful photo editing software for PC. The mastering timeframe was a couple of months.

However, once you are a confident Photoshop user, it becomes much easier to bring your creative visions to life. For instance, Canva makes it tough to create custom drop shadows, outline fonts, or wrap text around a shape. In Photoshop, these tasks are easy and quick to complete.

Comparing Photoshop vs Canva in terms of prices, Canva is easier on the wallet. It offers a free version and reasonably priced paid plans. On the other hand, Photoshop can be pricier due to its subscription-based model.

What I love is that when you buy Photoshop, you get access to a constantly evolving ecosystem. As a photographer, I think the “Photoshop Photography Plan” at $19.99 a month is a wonderful offer. I receive both Photoshop and Lightroom and can improve my photos in Lightroom and seamlessly integrate them into my Photoshop projects. It’s a fantastic combo.

Choosing the right design software really boils down to what you’re aiming for. If you want quick and easy graphic design software online with multiple built-in assets, Canva gives you more bang for your buck. But if your goal is to produce professional-quality images, touch up flaws, or produce intricate artwork, Photoshop is likely the better investment.

While Photoshop brags about its robust features, Canva is fantastic for making designs quickly. I actually subscribe to both Photoshop and Canva Pro, and I use each for different reasons. Canva Pro is my favorite when I create social media content or need stock photos.

Photoshop's AI tools, like Generative Fill and Generative Expand, give you a lot of creative leeway and control, especially when tackling intricate digital art projects. I was impressed by how Content-Aware Fill intelligently fills in spaces when I removed objects from my images. Besides, it perfectly blended the surrounding pixels.

On the other hand, Canva offers the Magic Design tool, which is easy to use and perfect for making social media posts. However, it lags behind in terms of customization and artistic exploration compared to Photoshop.

As for the effectiveness of new AI features in Canva and Photoshop, I was impressed with the results from both platforms. They both delivered high-quality AI-generated outputs, and there was little to distinguish between them in terms of overall performance.

The main difference related to templates in the Adobe Photoshop vs Canva comparison is these 2 programs handle them. Canva offers a vast array of templates across all its plans. Even in the free plan, you get access to 250,000 templates, while the paid plans offer over 610,000 options. These templates are readily available within Canva's interface, so you can apply them to your projects in a matter of seconds.

Photoshop stands out with the level of customization. You can achieve unique results no matter whether you're playing with colors, fine-tuning layers, or adding detailed effects. In contrast, Canva is less beneficial in this regard.

Photoshop templates are also favored by users due to their professional quality. They are made by seasoned designers and amaze with a polished, premium aesthetic that suits a wide array of projects. You can use them for marketing materials, captivating social media visuals, and more.

Photoshop boasts robust vector tools, text effects, shapes, and artistic brushes. It is an excellent choice for making top-notch custom logos. I've also worked on logos in Canva and can say that its capabilities are rather basic.

If you're seeking more advanced design capabilities, Photoshop offers lots of options. For instance, using the tools in this logo maker, I could transform text into various shapes, write along paths, and apply drop shadows and gradients.

Canva doesn't offer advanced typography features such as adjusting letter spacing (kerning) and the spacing between lines of text (tracking). When designing a logo with text, it is impossible to adjust the letter spacing. So, you may end up with an unbalanced look.

Canva can handle basic tasks like cropping, scaling photos, and making simple color adjustments, but it's limited beyond that. If you need to retouch or repair photos, get rid of imperfections, adjust colors accurately, or apply professional styling, Canva isn't the right tool for the job.

I've been using Photoshop for years, and I can say that with this program it is possible to achieve almost any desired look. For instance, I can remove unwanted objects from photos, replace backgrounds, apply various effects, adjust colors and tones in pictures.

The software offers a variety of retouching tools. Here, you can find the Healing Brush, Patch Tool, and Clone Stamp, to remove imperfections, restore damaged photos, and enhance details. Moreover, Photoshop contains features for advanced color grading, adjusting curves and levels, and selective color adjustments.

Both background removal software are highly efficient and fast at removing backgrounds. Based on my tests, Photoshop removes backgrounds almost instantly, whereas Canva takes a few seconds to complete the task.

After you've removed the background, Photoshop offers a plethora of options for fine-tuning your images, far surpassing what Canva provides.

Canva offers a restore brush tool to add background back into your cut-out. However, Photoshop provides more tools for meticulous adjustments through its 'select and mask' settings. These tools are capable of smoothing, feathering, and precisely refining the edges of your cut-out.

It is hard to dwell on the Canva vs Adobe Photoshop competition in terms of video editing, because they aren’t dedicated video editors like Adobe Premiere. Still, they both offer a range of features for making short videos. The programs make it easy to split and trim videos and create transitions like cross dissolves and fades between clips.

Photoshop surpasses Canva in technical video editing capabilities. It allows adjusting video frame rate and individual clip playback speed. Canva lacks such functionalities.

If you use the “Canva for Teams” plan, you can share project folders with your teammates. They, in turn, can access and work on any files inside these folders. Team admins can customize permissions for each user, so team members can view, edit, or comment on designs as per their assigned access levels.

In Photoshop, your folders are stored in your Adobe 'Cloud Library'. To share a file with a collaborator, you must first save your Photoshop project to this library before you can manage the sharing settings. In the Photoshop trial version, you may have restricted access to Adobe Creative Cloud storage, which is necessary for saving and synchronizing files across different devices.

I also frequently use the 'Share for review' feature in Photoshop. This way, I can generate a link for sharing with collaborators to gather their comments and feedback on my designs.

Both Canva and Photoshop offer photo editing apps for iOS and Android. Therefore, users can improve photos on the go.

Canva’s mobile app is incredibly user-friendly. It comes loaded with a variety of ready-to-use templates. Thus, you can prepare social media posts, flyers, and other visual content in a jiffy. I just had to choose a template, make a few tweaks, and share it. However, it may not be the best choice for handling intricate designs.

Photoshop Express offers many powerful editing features. I was able to perform advanced photo editing, tweak layers, and make precise corrections. Although it doesn’t include all the features found in the desktop version, it still comes with robust tools such as the healing brush, blemish removal, and multiple filters and effects.

After comparing Canva vs Photoshop, I’m pretty sure that Photoshop is ideal for more complex image editing and manipulation. It is particularly suitable for people who treat digital artwork and design as a source of income.

On the other hand, Canva is excellent for quick and straightforward design projects, especially useful for social media posts and marketing materials. For my needs, Photoshop is a better fit. I've used it to make unique graphics for social media that set me apart from my competitors.