Whatever industry you’re in, captivating audiences with graphics is a foolproof way to gain brand recognition. Graphic design is essential in all phases of business creation and operations. Graphic design takes center stage, from honing your branding assets to creating marketing materials. Business owners can DIY graphics or download stock images as a quicker solution. But are you in a pickle on which graphic design platform to use? People have been deliberating about two platforms. Canva vs Freepik: So which online tool should brands use?

Canva Overview

One of the most popular design tools online, Canva, spearheads the game when it comes to DIY design. Launched in 2013, this online design and visual communication tool aims to empower everyone. The platform lets users create any design that their hearts desire and publish it anywhere. 

To date, Canva has created more than 15 billion designs in over 190 countries. Canva’s interface is easy to use, allowing everyone without graphic design skills to use the platform easily. Canva’s free version is sufficient to create your brand’s branding and marketing materials with ready-to-use templates. On top of that, Canva offers many features new and experienced designers will enjoy.

Canva’s Top Features

Let’s dive right into Canva’s features that we’ll classify into five categories:

Video

Create a better storyline for your tutorial and marketing clips through Canva’s robust video trimmer and cutter tool. Here are the rest of Canva’s video tools:

  • Video to MP4 converter
  • Free stock videos
  • Online screen recorder
  • Video resizer
  • Video to GIF converter
  • Images to video tool
  • Remove audio feature
  • Rotate video feature
  • Free video transitions
  • Add text to videos
  • Crop and merge videos

Photo

Create better images through Canva’s Photo Enhancer. You can use this tool for free to fix oversaturated or blurry photos. Here are some of the platform’s features to enhance your photos:

  • Circle crop for more creative photo framing
  • Crop images
  • Photo blur for depth and focus
  • Free photo effects
  • Add text to photo
  • Free stock photos
  • Photo borders for a striking effect
  • Photo straightener
  • B&W image filter

Style

Amp up your graphic by using Canva’s style enhancement features:

  • Text animations for a more dynamic messaging
  • Design and photo grids
  • Free icons
  • Texture
  • Thousands of free stickers
  • Speech bubbles
  • Clipart

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Office and Business

You can even use Canva for your office and business documents. Convert PPTX, DOCX, and JPG files to PDF in seconds. Check out this list of features for your business:

  • Free PDF to JPG converter
  • PDF to PPT converter
  • Sticky notes
  • Text summarizer
  • Fast and easy translator
  • Canva Live for presentations
  • Brand kit creation
  • Content management for easier team collaboration
  • Magic Switch to automatically resize designs for any platform
  • Team templates
  • Content planner

Apps and Integrations

Aside from using Canva’s user-friendly interface, you can even use the tool to integrate with apps you’re already using. Here are some app and integration features:

  • Generate realistic images and art through Canva’s AI-powered tool
  • Add Google Drive assets to designs
  • Upscale any image up 1000% with AI
  • Get Canva certification and collaborate on Slack
  • Turn text into amazing photorealistic AI images
  • Bend, warp, and twist text in your designs
  • Search and add YouTube videos instantly to your designs
  • Generate QR code in seconds
  • Product mockup generator
  • Import images from Google photos

How to use Canva

If you’re using the free version, it’s straightforward to use. You can specify a custom size for your design or choose from Canva’s list of design sizes. This example is a Facebook cover page.

Then, you can choose from the templates shown or type a particular design in your mind. 

Click the design on the template to edit texts, shapes, colors, etc. 

Pricing:

  • Canva Free
  • Canva Pro ($9.99/user/month)
  • Canva Teams ($25/user/month)

Freepik Overview

Freepik is another graphic design tool that offers an all-in-one solution for all your brand graphics and content ideas. They are a team of global creatives who inspire creativity and work in a helpful and fun environment. 

The Freepik creative team transforms excellent ideas into fantastic designs with ease and speed. The platform uses AI technology that business owners, marketers, content creators, educators, and designers worldwide enjoy. 

Freepik is a design tool that was founded in 2010. It has earned accolades from the Financial Times as one of the fastest-growing companies in Europe. The platform has more than 21,000 collaborators in over 100 countries. It’s also a parent brand of five other creative platforms, namely:

  • Flaticon
  • Slidesgo
  • Storyset
  • Wepik
  • Videvo
  • EyeEm

Freepik is more of a platform for getting ready-made stock images, videos, icons, and vectors. This is beneficial to use on your website and doesn’t require the financial responsibilities of hiring web designers.

Freepik’s Top Features

Whether looking for photographs, illustrations, or icons, you’ll find the most suitable assets on Freepik.

Here’s why you need to use Freepik for your content:

  • High-quality stock content
  • Thousands of ready-to-use assets
  • Guaranteed search results
  • Fresh content that is updated daily

What is the Freepik API?

An API or Application Programming Interface is an ecosystem where you collaborate and communicate with the Freepik platform to complete design tasks. 

Freepik’s API is useful to integrate the platform into your website and mobile applications. It also allows you to create a better workflow by letting your team members access Freepik content via a centralized route. 

Why choose Freepik’s API? 

  • Offers an all-in-one assets solution with millions of high-quality resources
  • Designed to provide a user-friendly integration experience, following the standards of OpenAPI
  • Advanced search features are available in over 10 languages
  • Offers a quick access to a broad range of resource formats, including PNG, AI, and SVG
  • Flexible and scalable pricing for any project size

Sell designs on the Freepik platform! 

Creatives can also earn money by selling their designs on the platform. You can become a Freepik contributor, which offers a stable income, worldwide visibility, and personalized support and guidance throughout the process. 

How to use Freepik

The Freepik dashboard is simple to use. You select the type of content you want from the drop-down menu or the categories below the text field. 

For this example, I chose AI-generated images with the specific keyword “dog.” Once I hit enter, it shows multiple dog designs. 

Choose which image you prefer, and you can download the image in different sizes. You may save it to your collection, share it, or edit it online. 

Here’s how the Freepik online editor looks.

Pricing:

Freepik offers two Premium subscriptions:

  • One-month Premium Plan (15 EUR/month)
  • 12-month Premium Plan (9 EUR/month)

Canva vs Freepik: Which is better?

Both graphic design platforms are reliable and have been popular among many content creators, marketers, and graphic designers. However, specific nuances make people choose one over the other. 

For instance, if you’re looking for a design platform that can DIY designs, Canva is a better option. It has more options for editing images using its free version. Imagine what the Premium Plan can do!

If you’re looking for more specific, ready-to-use stock images, vectors, icons, templates, and videos, go for Freepik. It’s fast and efficient in getting designs whenever you need them ASAP.

Is DIYing branding and marketing designs worth it?

If you’re a new business, doing the designs yourself could seem more cost-efficient. However, this could hurt your brand in the long run. A lot of techniques and psychology go into branding and marketing design creation. You need an expert eye to craft persuasive, impactful designs that achieve your goals.

Custom designs are still recommended, especially if you’re a new brand. Integrating your personality by curating shapes, designs, icons, fonts, and colors relevant to your branding will go a long way. However, new and small businesses find getting custom designs from professional graphic designers expensive. 

Want an affordable solution for unlimited designs? 

Graphic design doesn’t have to break the bank. Penji is an affordable graphic design company that provides unlimited designs and revisions. The plans start at $499 monthly, and you get the first draft within 24 hours! 

How Penji works

Choose a plan and log in to Penji’s custom design platform to access your dashboard. 

First, create a project and choose the type of design for your project. You can choose from more than 120 design categories. 

Then, type a name for the project. Choose a brand kit if you’ve created one so the designer will choose your brand’s fonts and colors carefully. 

Write your creative brief and upload some designs for inspiration.

Choose the format/s you prefer. 

Select a style preference to be on the same page with the assigned designer. You may also skip this step.

Wait 24 to 48 hours for the first draft and request revisions as needed. 

Check out this demo on Penji’s seamless design process!

Do a trial run with Penji

Choosing Penji as your design partner is similar to working with a design agency. Once you submit your project, you will be assigned one to two designers and an account manager. Penji’s bespoke, user-friendly design platform will be your primary design collaboration and communication tool.

Here are some of the reasons why choosing Penji means a hassle-free design process:

  • Pay a flat monthly rate with no additional or surprise costs
  • Get unlimited designs and revisions monthly
  • Enjoy a fast 24 to 48-hour turnaround
  • Work with designs with versatile skills
  • Get high-quality designs
  • Save and organize designs on your dashboard
  • Save as many brand guidelines as possible for faster collaboration
  • Request your preferred designer
  • Cancel anytime with no cancellation fee
  • Resubscribe anytime

Watch a quick demo and see how you can get all your design needs met in one place!