Comparison
Canva vs Recraft
Canva: Online graphic design with AI: templates and visual content editing. Recraft: Image and SVG vector generator with brand style control.
| Canva | Recraft | |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.5 | 4.4 |
| Price | Freemium Free plan available. Pro from $15/month (billed monthly) or $120/year. Business from $20/month per user. Enterprise on custom pricing. | Freemium Free plan with 50 daily credits (public images, no professional use). Paid from $10/month; Advanced $27, Pro $48. |
| Free plan | ||
| API available | ||
| Open source | ||
| In Spanish | ||
| No watermark | ||
| Platforms | Web · Windows · Mac · iOS · Android | Web |
Canva or Recraft?
They do different jobs. Canva is a design tool with AI built in: you arrive with an idea and leave with the finished piece. Recraft is a specialised generator that produces real SVG vectors and lets you lock a reusable brand style, something Canva does not do and that matters a lot if you generate icons or illustrations that must scale.
Choose Canva if…
You want to lay out and publish fast, with templates and without fighting formats.
Choose Recraft if…
You need scalable vectors, icons or illustrations consistent with a brand identity.
Canva
- Genuinely useful free plan with thousands of templates and elements, watermark-free if you only use free content
- Full Spanish support in the interface and multilingual AI across 16 languages
- APIs (Connect API and Apps SDK) available for integration with external platforms and design automation
- The free plan shows a 'Designed with Canva' mark and premium elements carry a diagonal watermark until you upgrade
- Significant price rises in 2024-2025: Teams moved from flat-rate to per-seat, hitting small teams
Recraft
- Generates real SVG vectors, not just bitmap images
- Reusable brand styles to keep output visually consistent
- Built-in editing: inpainting, background removal, upscaling
- On the free plan images are public and not licensed for professional use
- Less photorealistic quality than Midjourney or Flux
The differences that actually matter
Assembling a piece versus generating the element
Canva composes: you take a template, text and images and publish. Recraft generates illustrations and icons as vectors you will then use elsewhere. They compete less than it seems, and in fact a fairly common flow is generating in Recraft and assembling in Canva.
Your own vectors versus shared templates
Canva's risk is that everybody uses its templates and your pieces end up looking like your competitors'. Recraft generates original illustration with a style you can fix, which gives you an identity of your own at the cost of more assembly work.
What each subscription includes
Canva covers a lot of ground for its price: design, simple video, presentations, post scheduling and a brand kit. Recraft is a specialised tool. If you need one subscription to produce everything, Canva gives you more per euro.
Frequently asked questions
Can they be used together?
Yes, and it is probably the best use of both: generating illustrations or icons with your own style in Recraft and composing the final pieces in Canva. That way you avoid the template look without giving up ease of assembly.
Which is better for social media?
Canva, thanks to templates already sized for each network and the ability to schedule posts from the same tool. Recraft comes earlier in the process, when what you need is an illustration that does not come from a library everyone else uses.