Struggling to choose between Canva and Adobe Spark? Within a few moments, you’ll have the answers you need to make an informed decision about what product will work best for you. About nine months ago, someone from my mailing list asked me which one was better -Canva or Adobe Spark- and I didn’t know how to answer him then because I had never seen either before.
So I started exploring them both in-depth, looking at all of their features and differences. Here are some findings that might help you decide:
- Ease of Use
- Templates
- Features
- Pricing
- Integrations
- The Editor Interface
In case you’re short on time or just want a summary, this is my two cents:
Quick Comparison At a Glance
1. Ease of Use: Though both Adobe Spark and Canva are easy-to-use design tools for beginners, Adobe Spark falls short in comparison. This software is sluggish, which degrades the overall experience of using it. Though they’re both good design tools, Adobe Sparkle disappoints in terms of performance when compared to Canva.
2. Templates: Canva provides vastly more and more aesthetically pleasing templates with a wider selection of categories than Adobe Spark does.
3. Features: Canva and Spark are both similar in many ways. Canva, however, has more features than those offered by Spark. Additionally, it contains a greater selection of content than what is found on spark when compared side-by-side.
4. Pricing: Adobe Spark beats Canva because it’s cheaper. Adobe Spark has a cheaper monthly plan at only $9.99 while Canva has the cheapest paid monthly plan at $12.99.
5. Integrations: Adobe Spark can’t even come close to Canva when it comes to integrations. There are hundreds of options for third-party integration with Canva, but there are only a few options available for Adobe Spark users.
6. The Editor Interface: Both Canva and Adobe Spark have a straightforward and user-friendly interface. Likewise, their editors are both well-designed with an identical look and feel.
Canva vs Adobe Spark: Short Verdict
Canva is best suited for graphic design, while Adobe Spark is a great option for website design or video production. In conclusion, Canva is the better choice between these two options because it offers more content and features than Adobe Spark.
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In order to make an informed decision about which product will best suit your needs, we need to compare them in detail. Let’s start with ease of use because it can be one of the most critical factors when choosing what computer purchase is right for you.
Ease of Use
Let’s be very clear about this. Both platforms are extremely easy to use. What I would say though is that Adobe Spark might be better for beginners because it offers drag-and-drop functionality, whereas Canva does not. So if you’re just starting out in graphic design then Adobe might be a good choice, but if you’ve got some experience behind you then I’d recommend going with Canva since it offers more control options and customization features – ultimately giving you greater flexibility for every project type.
Firstly, Let’s discuss the benefits of using Canva.
For over two years now, I’ve had experience using Canva. And from what I can tell, it is an easily optimized and user-friendly interface. Every time I design graphics with this program, nothing seems to slow me down; even when there are tons of layers, animations, pictures, videos, music – you name it! My computer handles everything without a hitch – thanks to Canva.
It’s fuss-free, it’s quick, and in my testing, it scored 4.9 out of 5 for ease of use. While Adobe Spark was just as easy to work with and actually seemed more optimised on different browser versions than Canva was overall; I found its loading time to be slow – especially when opening templates or dragging elements around inside the app. Take a look at this video comparison between the two apps:
You might be wondering, but this won’t be due to a malfunctioning device. I tested Adobe Spark on various laptops and browsers, yet no matter what device or browser I used, it never performed better than Canva when it came down to speed and ease of use. Ultimately, in my tests so far, Adobe Spark scored 4.7 out of 5 for easiness of use – making it just as simple to navigate through as its competitors.
Ease of Use – The Verdict:
This is a difficult one. Both tools are very user-friendly, but Canva beats the other for its optimization and lack of lag time. On the whole though, I’d recommend either for efficiency purposes; my favorite tool would have to be Canva because of how optimized it is without any lagging time.
Which One Has More & Better Looking Templates?
Most people rely on either Canva or Adobe Spark because they both offer templates that are pre-made. And while there are hundreds of thousands of options to choose from, it is worth wondering if one is superior than the other when it comes to quality. This can be answered by discussing what each tool has in store for us when we take a look at some key things – namely quantity.
On this front, Canva seems to edge out Adobe with over 400 thousand options to choose from; whereas Adobe only offers around 40 thousand choices. Yet this number doesn’t tell the whole story about how many templates are good enough for use – so then what separates these two platforms?
Furthermore, Canva offers more categories than Adobe Spark as they offer more templates. Now the question is, which one has better looking templates? After extensive use for years now, I have found that Adobe Spark’s templates are not as attractive as Canva’s Templates. Want to see for yourself? Let me compare these two platforms and their templates – specifically the Facebook Post template category. As an example, let’s compare these two platforms side by side. For this comparison, we will be looking at Canva’s Facebook post Template versus Adobe Sparks’ equivalent Template:
In this tutorial, we will be reviewing the different Facebook post templates available in Adobe Spark:
As you may know, Canva has many more attractive templates than what is offered by Adobe Spark. Although I can’t compare them based on just one category – Facebook Post Templates – (as there are too many factors to consider) I’ve had luck with other designs as well. On average, the designs from Canva seem a bit more polished and professional than those of Adobe Spark. Please visit both template pages for yourself so you can see which design suits you best!
Templates – The Verdict:
Adobe Spark might seem like the best option for designing at first, but Canva proves to be an even better one. Not only does it provide more options for templates, but these are higher quality too.
Features
Features are the most important factor when deciding between Adobe Spark or Canva because some have more than others. For example, both allow for easily switching colors and backgrounds but only one allows for text customization options. Let’s take a look at all of the features you can use in each app so that you know what’s best for your needs.
Canva vs Adobe Spark – Common Features:
Background remover – Instantly removing the background from an image has never been easier or faster.
Resize designs – Designs can be resized for various content formats. For example, you can use a Twitter design as a thumbnail on YouTube.
Collaboration – Both Canva and Adobe Spark provide you with the ability to collaborate with others on designs. While Canva provides better collaboration tools than Adobe Spark, a quick overview of both of these programs shows that there are many similarities as well.
Custom branding – Set your brand’s default colors, fonts, and logos to produce designs that speak of your essence.
Create folders – Create different folders and subfolders in order to separate your design projects.
Transparent Background – Download your designs with transparent backgrounds so you can use them on other platforms.
Instant animation styles – Canva offers thirteen different animation styles in which you may choose an animation for the entire design, a specific text, or an element. For example, if you wish to animate only your logo on the page Canva gives options such as flipping it around so it stands vertically instead of horizontally. Though Spark also offers thirteen different animation styles (seven for text and six for photo backgrounds), they don’t have an option specifically geared towards animating texts or photos themselves; thus making them less versatile than Canva’s offering.
Supported download file types – Canva supports 7 different file formats for downloading your designs – PNG, JPG, PDF, SVG, MP4, and GIF. However, Adobe Spark only offers four different file formats to download your design – PNG, JPEG, PDF, and MP4.
Upload photos, videos, audio, and fonts – Both allow you to upload your own fonts, photos, videos, and audio files.
Features Canva Has But Spark Doesn’t:
Content planner – With an easy-to-use content planning feature, Canva enables you to share your creations across all of your social media pages simultaneously so you don’t have to worry about remembering when each one of them needs to be posted. All that’s left for you is designing the graphics, adding it to the content planner, setting the date and time – then simply sit back and let Canva do all of the heavy lifting!
Design and comment in real-time – Canva allows you or another user on your team to comment on designs and provides a way for designers to keep up with what others are doing.
Set-download quality – Canva has three different quality levels for downloading designs; High, Medium, and Low.
Download designs as vectors (SVG) – Canva allow you to download your design in SVG format which ensures that the quality of your design will never falter regardless of the screen resolution or size.
Features Spark Has But Canva Doesn’t:
Editor for creating web pages – Adobe Spark has a separate web page creator so you can design stunning pages
Record audio while editing videos – Adobe Spark has an audio recording feature that can be used during video editing.
Content Features:
Templates – Canva offers you over 420,000 pre-made templates for your designing needs. Spark has about 41,000 templates to choose from.
Photos – Canva offers more than 70 million free and premium images, while Spark is integrated with Pixabay and only provides the images that you can find on Pixabay for free. But because Canvas integrates so well with Pixabay, you don’t need to open another tab to get access to all of these pix.
Videos – There are more than two and a half million videos on Canva that you can use in your design without having to pay anything, whereas Spark does not provide any video resources at all.
Fonts – With 3,000 font options available exclusively on Canva and over 80 font choices for you to use in your design, there’s nothing stopping you from designing something beautiful. And when it comes down to audio- Canva provides 25,000+ audio tracks for you to work with while Spark only offers 34+.
Features – The Verdict:
Adobe Spark may have many of the same features as Canva, but it lacks in comparison when it comes to what it provides for its users. In fact, Canva offers so much more – such as robust color palettes and professional fonts which make it easier for you to create designs that are worth posting online or handing out at events.
Pricing
Aside from the price, there are many other factors to take into account when deciding if you want to purchase Canva or Spark. Let’s look at their pricing plans and figure out which plan is most suited for you.
Canva Pricing
Canva has 2 pricing plans:
- Canva Pro: $12.99 per month or $119.99 yearly
- Canva Enterprise: $30 per month
A 30-day free trial is also available to try out the different paid plans without being committed to one. You can cancel your account at any time before the end of this thirty-day period and not be charged. Canva offers a free plan too but it comes with limitations.
Most of the features we discussed above are only accessible through either their pro or enterprise-level account, so if you’re unsure which account will suit your needs best – here are some tips
You Should Choose Canva Pro Plan If:
If you’re an individual or a small business owner looking for professional design options and premium content, then Canva Pro is the perfect plan to choose. I’d highly recommend it!
Choose Canva Enterprise Plan If:
If you have a large business seeking an integral approach to maintaining consistency throughout your company, then the Enterprise plan is what you’re looking for.
Choose Canva Free Plan If:
You’re content with the limitations that accompany the free plan of Canva.
To learn more about the limitations of a free plan, what’s included in each package and more details – go through my comprehensive Canva review.
Adobe Spark Pricing
Adobe Spark offer 2 pricing plan:
- Adobe Spark Individual: $9.99 per month or $99.99 yearly
- Adobe Spark Team: $19.99 per month or 99.99 per year
Like Canva, they also offer a trial period of thirty days on their individual plan. It expires after thirty days unless you upgrade to another package. To sign up for the free trial visit this page.
When it comes to the differences between Spark Wireless Plans, there are several things you need to know:
Spark Free plan (starter plan) includes:
- Watermark on designs
- Background remover
- Resize designs
- Download royalty-free designs with transparent backgrounds
- Invite others
- Create web pages, edit videos, designs
- Create folders
- Get access to free-of-charge fonts and templates (not access to all 41,000+ templates).
- Choose from thousands of high-quality, professional-grade images for your business needs.
- Upload photos, videos, audio files, and fonts
Spark Individual plan includes, everything free plan has plus:
- All the features I mentioned in the Features Section are good
- It’s easy to invite others to contribute to your projects and make edits with them when you are using brands.
- Get rid of Adobe Spark’s watermark for good
Spark Team plan includes, everything Individual plan has plus:
- Having the capability to combine ownership and billing for multiple individual licenses
- You are able to reassign software licenses at any point in time.
- Access round-the-clock technical phone support, email, chat service and forum access.
To learn more about the cost of Adobe Spark, please visit this page.
Pricing – The Verdict:
Adobe Spark offers the best value for money when it comes to pricing. With its low starting price at $12 per month, there is barely any difference in price between Adobe Spark and Canva which starts at around $14 per month.
Integrations & Apps
With hundreds of third-party integrations Canva allows for seamless integration between design and a variety of other apps. From social media networks to file hosting services, email marketing tools, CRM, photo editing extensions, embeds and many more – every aspect can be managed through one single source. To see what else can be done with Canva’s integrations just follow this link to the page detailing them all.
Accessing Integrations on Canva is very easy, all you’ve to do is scroll down the left side of the tool bar and click on more from Canva’s editor; then follow the instructions. You can integrate with different third-party applications or services after clicking this button.
Unlike Adobe Spark, which did not offer any sort of inside app integration options other than Google Drive, Dropbox and Google Photos. But it does give you the opportunity to share your designs on Facebook, Twitter or through Microsoft Teams.
Integrations – The Verdict:
Canva triumphs over Adobe Spark because they offer many connections and apps while being easy to use. It only takes one click for an individual to integrate such programs as opposed to Adobe Spark which doesn’t come close in terms of integration opportunities or ease of use.
The Editor Interface
No matter whether you choose Adobe Spark or Canva, you will spend most of your time in the editing section, right? Let’s compare both in terms of editor interface and layout starting with Canva. On the left hand side of the screen within the Canva design editor are all its main tools for creating your designs while on the right hand side of your screen there is a live preview window which shows what your edits look like when applied to an image.
Besides, you can either download your design, publish it through several social media channels or allow others to access it by clicking the top right button.
On one hand, we have Adobe Spark which is great for editing videos.
The editor interface and functions of Adobe Spark are quite similar to Canva. All the editing tools can be found on the left side, but there are also some on the right. In contrast to how Canva handles its own editor, it shows you what you’re making in real time – so you know if it’s too big or too small for a thumbnail or your Instagram feed!
And just like Adobe Spark, you can either download, share, or invite someone to edit or view your designs from the top right corner of the editor. As you have seen above, they both use a visually clean and user-friendly interface; which is what sets them apart from other graphic design software that you might know well.
The Editor Interface – Verdict:
It’s a tie! Though the interfaces are different, both Canva and Adobe Spark offer very similar editing options.
FAQs About Adobe Spark VS Canva
Is Adobe Spark Similar to Canva?
One of the main reasons for Adobe Spark’s popularity is its connection to other Adobe products. If you’re already using these programs, then you’ll find it easy to switch over to this program. On top of that, Adobe offers a wide range of templates so all users have something they will enjoy and use.
Why Is Adobe Better Than Canva?
Adobe is better than Canva in many ways. For starters, it has more advanced features that enable higher quality design work. Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign are industry standard tools which offer designers a wider range of options when it comes to precision and detail.
Is Adobe Better Than Canva?
Adobe and Canva are two of the most popular design software programs available. Adobe is widely known for having an extensive feature list while Canva also offers a wide variety that appeals to designers of all skill levels. However, when it comes down to which one is better, there isn’t really much difference between them in terms of quality – they’re just different enough so people can find what they need.
Is Canva the Same as Adobe Spark?
The two tools are quite different. Canva is for making designs, but Adobe Spark can make stories. Canva is an easy to use design tool – you just drag and drop things where you want them.
Conclusion
While each platform has its own strengths and weaknesses, it’s important to know what features are available for use before deciding which one suits your needs best. Canva is best for collaboration but struggles with video content, whereas Spark excels at producing high-quality videos- but struggles with collaboration. As far as interactivity goes though, both platforms are lacking.
In order to stand out in the crowded world of social media while still meeting all of your business objectives – interactive animations are the key. Visme stands out due to its ability to create animations easily and make anything else interactive such as graphs or data visualization tools.
