<img class="wp-image-10497 alignright" src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/CANVAvs.jpg" alt="what's the best graphic design tool canva or picmonkey" width="466" height="350" />Canva and PicMonkey are two of the most popular graphic design tools available online. At first, both tools seem to offer the same general abilities and options for creating images, but in reality, there are several small differences that make one of these graphic design tools noticeably better than the other.

We're going to find out what the best graphic design tool is between Canva and PicMonkey. Which tool delivers the best pricing and design options?
<h4>Who uses graphic design tools like Canva or PicMonkey?</h4>
These tools allow people without real graphic design experience to create images that rival a professional's work. That’s important because graphic design was, at one time, a skilled profession that required specific education, experience with photo and image programs like Photoshop, and a natural “eye for design.”

Today, there are still lots of highly skilled and professionally trained graphic designers out there, but something has changed. The internet has made it possible to let people with zero design experience create professional-looking images and logos online in minutes. That's who uses graphic design tools like these.

It’s pretty amazing, especially when you’re a non-designer who needs to create your own images to use online and in print.
<h4>Canva Pricing</h4>
Canva pricing is pretty simple to understand. You can create any design you like for free, and they offer optional design elements you can add to your image for $1 each. This means you can create designs using only their free elements and pay nothing if you'd like.

For anyone who is creating images for a business, Canva for Work is the better option. That pricing structure is a bit different from regular Canva, and offers a 30 day free trial as well.

Canva for Work

<input name="priceOptionPlan" type="radio" /><span class="priceOptionTitle">Yearly – </span><span class="priceOptionPricePerBillingInterval">$119.40 USD/year </span>

<input name="priceOptionPlan" type="radio" /><span class="priceOptionTitle">Monthly – </span><span class="priceOptionPricePerBillingInterval">$12.95 USD/month or </span><span class="priceOptionSummary">$155.40 USD/year</span>
<h4>PicMonkey Pricing</h4>
PicMonkey also offers a free or basic plan that allows you limited access to their tools. You can use PicMonkey for free and get access to the editing tools, basic touch ups, photo effects, and the ability to add textures and overlays to your images.

For advanced features and more designs, they offer PicMonkey Royale. The price is discounted if you purchase annually.

PicMonkey Royale

<input name="priceOptionPlan" type="radio" /><span class="priceOptionTitle">Yearly – </span><span class="priceOptionPricePerBillingInterval">$39.96 USD/year</span>

<input name="priceOptionPlan" type="radio" /><span class="priceOptionTitle">Monthly – </span><span class="priceOptionPricePerBillingInterval">$4.99 USD/month or $59.88 USD/year</span>

PicMonkey’s pricing is lower than Canva’s, but we’ll have to look at their features to make a better decision.
<h4>Canva Design Options</h4>
Personally, I use Canva for most of my image creation and have used most of their design features and options over the last two years. For the most part, Canva offers great options – premade layouts that only require you to customize the text, free images for you to add to your designs, and plenty of font and frame options – but they are noticeably lacking a few options that I consider important.

There is no way to change the color or background of an image, unless you want to superimpose an opaque colored shape over it and adjust the transparency accordingly. This means when you want to add a logo with a white background to an image, there's no way to make the background transparent or blend the colors with the rest of the image - the background must be white. There’s also no way to add overlays or textures to your images with Canva.
<h4>PicMonkey Design Options</h4>
PicMonkey isn't as intuitive to use as Canva, but offers options that are more diverse than Canva. There are tons of different photo effects, image retouch options, overlays, textures, and cool text options that can perfectly contrast your text color against the background it’s on (one problem I face often when creating images).

I was able to add overlays and textures that made the image stand out using PicMonkey. Canva does not offer this functionality or anything close to it, so I had to give PicMonkey the point.
<h2>Overall Winner: PicMonkey</h2>