Canva vs Adobe Express: Which Design Tool Should You Actually Use?

Both Canva and Adobe Express promise to make graphic design easy for non-designers. But they're not the same tool, and picking the wrong one means either overpaying or missing features you actually need.

I've used both extensively. Here's the honest breakdown of what each does well, what sucks, and which one makes sense for different use cases.

Quick Verdict

Choose Canva if you need more templates, better collaboration features, stronger video editing, or work with a team. It's the better all-around tool for most small businesses.

Choose Adobe Express if you're already paying for Creative Cloud (it's included), need to work with Photoshop/Illustrator files, or want access to Adobe's massive stock library and 30,000+ fonts.

Pricing Breakdown

Let's talk actual numbers, because this is where the decision often starts.

Canva Pricing

Note: Canva raised their Teams pricing significantly in late 2024, jumping from around $180/year to $500/year for a 3-person team. They've since offered a 40% discount for the first year to soften the blow, but it's still a substantial increase.

For more details, check out our Canva pricing guide or grab a Canva free trial to test it out.

Adobe Express Pricing

The kicker: Adobe Express Premium is included free if you already have a Creative Cloud subscription (any single-app plan over $20/month or the All Apps plan). If you're paying for Photoshop or Illustrator, you already have it.

Price Winner

Adobe Express is cheaper at $99.99/year vs Canva's $120/year for individual plans. But Canva gives you 10x the storage (1TB vs 100GB) and more templates. For existing Creative Cloud subscribers, Adobe Express is essentially free, making it the obvious value play.

Templates and Design Assets

This is where Canva pulls ahead significantly.

Canva Templates

Canva offers 250,000+ templates on the free plan and over 610,000 on Pro. They cover everything: social media posts, presentations, documents, logos, business cards, YouTube thumbnails, Instagram stories, resumes, invoices, and even products you can print with Canva Print.

The variety is genuinely impressive. Need a pitch deck template? There are thousands. Instagram carousel? Hundreds of options. The templates are also pretty modern - they don't look like they were designed in 2015.

Adobe Express Templates

Adobe Express has around 100,000+ templates on the free plan and over 220,000 on Premium. Fewer options, but the quality is solid. Adobe's templates tend to feel more "polished" and professional, but the variety just isn't there.

Where Adobe shines is the stock asset library. Premium users get access to 200M+ royalty-free Adobe Stock photos, videos, music tracks, and design elements. That's a massive library, and the quality is excellent.

Fonts

Adobe Express wins on fonts: 30,000+ from the Adobe Fonts collection vs Canva's smaller (though still substantial) library. If typography matters to your brand, this is a real advantage.

Template Winner

Canva for quantity and variety. Adobe Express for professional stock assets and fonts.

AI Features Comparison

Both platforms are going hard on AI tools. Here's what you actually get.

Canva AI Tools

Canva's AI feels more integrated into the workflow. The tools are accessible and the results are generally good enough for social media and marketing content.

Adobe Express AI Tools (Powered by Firefly)

Adobe's AI is powered by Firefly, which is trained specifically to be "commercially safe" - meaning you can use the generated content in commercial projects without worrying about copyright issues. That's a meaningful advantage for business use.

The Credits System

Here's where it gets complicated. Adobe uses "generative credits" for AI features:

Most standard AI features use 1 credit per generation. Premium features like video generation use more. If you're doing heavy AI generation, you can burn through these quickly.

Canva also has limits on AI features, but their system feels less restrictive for typical use cases.

AI Winner

Adobe Express for commercial safety and Firefly's quality. Canva for more generous limits and better workflow integration.

Video Editing

Both tools have video editors, but they're not equal.

Canva's video editor is surprisingly capable for a design tool. You can trim clips, add transitions, overlay text, include music, and export in various formats including GIF. It's not replacing Premiere Pro, but it handles social media videos well.

Adobe Express has video editing, but it's more limited. Basic trimming, adding text, and simple effects. For serious video work, Adobe clearly wants you using Premiere Rush or Premiere Pro.

Video Winner

Canva, and it's not close.

Collaboration Features

If you work with a team, this matters a lot.

Canva excels at collaboration. Real-time editing with comments, approval workflows, version history, team folders, and admin controls. You can share designs for feedback, lock elements, and manage who can edit what. It's built for teams.

Adobe Express has collaboration features, but they're less developed. You can share files and get comments, but the team workflow isn't as smooth. The integration with Creative Cloud Libraries is nice if your designers are using Photoshop and Illustrator, but for pure collaboration, Canva is ahead.

Collaboration Winner

Canva, especially for teams without Creative Cloud.

Export Options

Canva offers more export formats: PNG, JPG, PDF, SVG, GIF, MP4, and PPTX. You can also export transparent backgrounds and compress files.

Adobe Express has standard exports plus one advantage: unflattened PDF export. If you need to edit your PDFs later or work with print vendors who need layered files, this matters.

Export Winner

Canva for variety. Adobe Express for unflattened PDFs.

Integration with Other Tools

Adobe Express Integrations

The killer feature of Adobe Express is Creative Cloud integration. If you're already using Photoshop, Illustrator, or InDesign, Express plays nicely with them. Your libraries, fonts, and assets sync automatically. You can import .psd and .ai files directly. Edits in Photoshop sync to Express.

For creative teams already in the Adobe ecosystem, this is huge. No more exporting and re-importing files.

Canva Integrations

Canva integrates with a lot of third-party apps: Google Drive, Dropbox, Slack, Mailchimp, HubSpot, and social platforms for direct publishing. The social media scheduler lets you plan and publish directly to Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn, and more.

But if you're using Adobe tools, the disconnect is real. You'll be exporting and importing constantly.

Integration Winner

Depends on your stack. Adobe Express if you use Creative Cloud. Canva if you don't.

Mobile Apps

Canva's mobile app is excellent - nearly full-featured on both iOS and Android. You can do real work on your phone, which is handy for quick edits or social posting on the go.

Adobe Express has a mobile app, but it's more limited than the desktop version. Adobe has been working on improving it, but Canva's mobile experience is still better.

Mobile Winner

Canva.

Who Should Use What

Choose Canva If:

Choose Adobe Express If:

The Bottom Line

For most small businesses and marketing teams, Canva is the better choice. More templates, better collaboration, stronger video editing, and a more polished overall experience.

But if you're already paying for Creative Cloud, Adobe Express is essentially a free bonus that integrates with your existing workflow. And if you need commercially-safe AI generation or access to Adobe's stock library, Express has real advantages.

Both have free tiers worth trying. Start there, see what fits your workflow, then decide if the paid features are worth it.

Want to learn more about Canva? Check out our full Canva review, how to use Canva guide, or explore Canva alternatives if you're still shopping around.