Which Is A Better Graphic Design Platform? Canva vs. Crello

With Crello back on AppSumo, we can bring up the debate between Crello and Canva again. 😅

Now I use Canva for creating graphics, and I think it’s awesome.

But I was wondering if I was missing out on Crello, and that’s why I’ve decided to compare both in this mini review!

❗️NOTE: (some stuff I think that’s worth mentioning)

• I use Canva Pro and only got to use the free plan for Crello
• Because of this, won’t touch up on the background remover
• I use a different tool for making videos so I won’t talk about videos, audio, animation

Finding the Templates

because honestly, who likes starting from scratch?

Canva

Canva has different templates for different sizes. You have the option to use a keyword to search for templates and I entered “cat” for the FB post and FB cover sizes and they gave me a different set of templates

Templates show up in different categories and apart from the option to use keywords when searching for templates, you can use the colors and language filter too to narrow down your choices.

Crello

Like Canva, Crello also has a different set of templates for different sizes. Searched “cat” too, and got loads of templates for each.

Crello also has template categories like food, sale & promo, photo, text, etc. But it doesn’t have filters for colors or languages like Canva.

» So for me, finding templates is easier on Canva than on Crello.

The Templates

I’m not going to dive deep into this because it’s all just a matter of preference, but I like Crello’s templates more purely from an aesthetic standpoint.

But a lot of Crello’s templates are photo-heavy and I can imagine them working for designs where you plan to add photos. Otherwise, removing the photos from the template gives you a lot of blank space to fill in.

Canva also has some photo-heavy templates, but most of their templates are great for texts only. This saves me time from filling in blank spaces after deleting the picture on a template.

» I like Crello’s templates more, but tweaking Canva’s templates is easier for me to do.

The Graphics

Canva

Canva has graphics under “elements” along with photos, videos, audio, etc. (mildly annoys me because then I’d have to click more times just to get to the graphics).

What I like about Canva is their Magic Recommendations, which saves me a lot of time when searching for graphics to choose. Whenever I select a graphic, the Magic Recommendation pops up in the sidebar to show me similar graphics of the same style. Pretty neat!

Also, when you search for a keyword for graphics, Canva automatically gives you alternate keywords to save you time.

Canva has a great collection of graphics with diverse styles, so you’ll find one that fits the look you’re going for.

Crello

Crello has a more straightforward approach to finding graphics, oh, I mean objects. I can access them from the left sidebar with one click. Yay!

I have to admit, I like Crello’s objects more too (again, just a preference). A lot of their graphics are on the doodley side, more fun and cute. Makes Canva’s graphics look outdated (but then again, preference!!)

~

So I searched for “coffee” on both tools, to check what graphics pop up. As expected, Crello’s objects appeal more to me but Canva definitely has more styles for the coffee graphic.

» Crello’s objects are cute, but may not fit every occasion. Canva’s graphics have a lot more diversity in style.

Altering the Graphics

Both have the usual crop, flip, animate, position, remove background, transparency tools. So let’s cover the differences:

Canva

Canva has a “copy style” tool where you can select a graphic, copy its color scheme, and apply it to different graphics. This helps you have a consistent color scheme among your elements.

Crello

What Crello can do that Canva can’t is to add filters to objects. Canva can add filters, but only for photos.

» Can’t think of who wins, they’re both pretty much the same. Although Canva has the copy style function, I don’t use it anyway.

Hotkeys

Now, this is something that matters to me.

When you’re designing graphics, there’s a lot of alterations to be done. Hotkeys are your best friends as they save you so much time from clicking around.

I just want to point out that I only use the basic hotkeys (undo, redo, copy, paste, delete).

When I started with Canva, the usual ctrl/cmd + z/c/v/x worked well, no learning curve. Redo requires me to press an additional key though (ctrl/cmd + shift + z) but that’s fine.

But when I first played around with Crello,

I got frustrated with their hotkeys. They have the usual ctrl/cmd + z/c/v too, but to delete an element I have to press ctrl/cmd + delete/back. I might be nitpicking here, but these keys are far, FAR away from each other. What I could’ve done with one hand, I now have to do with two (smol hands, big probs).

Also Crello’s hotkeys are a hit or miss. Sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t. But that’s my experience, and you may not have this problem.

Plus points to Canva for having hotkeys to bring elements forward/backward, too. Pressing ctrl/cmd + [ for backward and ctrl/cmd + ] for forward saves me so much time and headache. Searched for the Crello counterpart to no avail.

Canva has more hotkeys, but I don’t have the time to memorize them all. I’m okay with the basics.

» No brainer, Canva takes the crown for this.

UI/UX

Not much to say, they look pretty similar. But something I want to highlight is that Canva lets you work on multiple pages much easier.

With Canva, you can access all pages of a project easily, just scroll up or down. And each page in a project has options on top where you can move the page up or down, duplicate, delete, or add a page.

Everything’s in front of you! (They’re spoiling me)

But with Crello, you can view only one page at a time and to access all pages, you have to go to the right sidebar (additional clicks are the bane of my existence). And from the right sidebar, you can duplicate or delete pages too.

» Canva for me, everything’s in front of you. Less time to look around. The fact that you can view all pages in a project by scrolling up or down is great to check if all pages have a cohesive design.

Downloading Your Finished Product

Not much to say, both let you download in PNG, JPG, PDF Standard, PDF Print, MP4, and GIF.

Canva lets you download in SVG, too.
Crello has a PNG transparent format, but you can tick the “transparent background” option in Canva.

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That’s it for me! Will Crello’s templates and graphics push me to migrate? Nope, not enough (darn hotkeys!).

Where do you stand in the Canva vs Crello debate? I’d love to know if you’re for #TeamCanva or #TeamCrello! 

Written by Clio Ria

This mini-review of Canva vs. Crello is written by Clio, our social media manager.