Currently, there are numerous free and paid platforms to easily create visual content, but in this blog, we’ll weigh the pros of two huge design apps—Canva & VistaCreate.
We’ll start by reviewing the history, pricing, and features of both tools to determine which is best, especially for non-designers or those without graphic design experience. Plus a third FREE tool that’s better than both, read on to find out!
History of VistaCreate
VistaCreate (formerly Crello) was developed in 2016 and released in 2017 as a browser-based design application that allows anyone to create professional-looking visuals without design skills.
History of Canva
Canva is slightly older, being launched in 2012. The company’s design template platform has become one of the most popular and successful in the market.
Related: 11 Best Canva Alternatives for Graphic Design [Free & Paid]
Comparing Canva vs VistaCreate [Crello] + a FREE tool Simplified
Whether you’re a seasoned graphic designer or a beginner, you have to weigh your options when it comes to choosing a graphic design tool. Find out in this side-by-side comparison of two of the most popular graphic design applications.
1. Pricing
Canva has a free plan. Their paid plans start at $18/month for individual users to $250/year for individual and team- . VistaCreate offers two pricing options: a free plan and a single paid plan called Pro, which costs $10 per month.
Simplified all in one AI has five plans: Free Forever, for Small Team, Business, Growth, and Enterprise (Contact Simplified’s sales team for your own price). Here, you have more options that depend on how small or big your business is. For pricing you can checkout Simplified pricing to get full details.
Features on Free Plans:
Canva’s free plan offers:
- 1 million+ free templates
- 1000+ design types (social media posts, presentations, letters, and more)
- Millions of free photos and graphics
- Invite members to your team
- Collaborate and comment in real-time
- 5GB of cloud storage
- Basic editing and export capabilities (PNG, JPG, PDF formats)
📌 Important Notes on Free Plan Limitations
- Not all templates are available for free; premium content and many popular templates require a Pro upgrade
- Collaboration in the Free plan may be limited (e.g., viewer sharing rather than full real-time co-editing)
- Some AI-based tools and advanced design automations are restricted to Pro tiers
VistaCreate’s [Crello] free plan includes the following features:
- 100K+ design templates
- 1M+ creative assets
- Brand Kit with colors, logos, and fonts
- 85K+ design objects and animations
- Thousands of backgrounds, stickers, and music tracks
- 760+ free fonts and text styles
- 10GB storage for files and projects
- Scheduling and posting to social media
Simplified’s Free Forever Plan:
- Unlimited design projects
- Thousands of free templates
- Millions of free stock photos & icons (from free stock libraries)
- Unlimited font access
- Export in PNG/JPG
- Basic drag-and-drop editor
- AI text-to-image (Stable Diffusion model)
- 500 MB–1 GB of cloud storage
- Guest collaboration & basic scheduling
- Free audio and GIF libraries
- Connect up to 3 social accounts
- 24/7 basic support (in-app/email)
2. Templates and Assets:
With the free plan, you have access to over 1 million+ templates in Canva. There are over 1000 different design types to choose from. While only a few animations are included, users can still explore thousands of visuals and photos.
With VistaCreate, there are over 100,000 free templates across different design types, available in both static and animated formats. In terms of assets, VistaCreate offers over one million photos, vectors, and video clips, along with 85K+ objects and animations. It’s an excellent choice if you need a lot of movement in your designs.
With Simplified, there are over thousands of ready-made templates of varying types available. Simply use the search bar to look for the specific platform you’re making content for or use a custom size.
3. Integrations:
From file hosting services to email marketing software, Canva is integrated with hundreds of third-party platforms and apps. VistaCreate, on the other hand, offers custom API solutions that allow users to seamlessly embed a design editor, a stock content library, or AI-powered design tools directly within their products or services.
For more integrations, Simplified offers hundreds, including Google Drive, Storyblocks, Unsplash, Pixabay, Giphy, and Zapier, as well as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, and more.
4. Interface and Ease of Use:
Canva’s interface has been organized to make it easy for people who don’t want to spend hours looking for the perfect design, as well as those who just want to browse and see what works.
The template tools are all available on the left in a convenient sidebar with both icons and text. Selecting any of them will bring up a slightly wider sidebar showing the different options.
Once you’ve completed a design, the top bar of the interface contains everything you’ll need for the final export preparations. You may share, download, or publish your finished design using the options on the right.
VistaCreate’s interface is nearly identical to Canva’s. Most of the toolbars and workspaces are in the same locations and perform the same functions. At the same time, VistaCreate’s editor feels slightly simpler and more streamlined, focusing on core design tasks and avoiding unnecessary clutter.
VistaCreate groups related tools more clearly, which may seem less cumbersome if you don’t need tons of features.
The workspace is the most important aspect of the interface, which is why Simplified uses only one workspace for all design tasks. To the left, everything you need to edit (assets, templates, text, media, visuals, and AI images), and at the bottom, your artboards. Then, the top bar has the settings to share and publish your design.
Related: The 10 Best AI Graphic Design Tools You Need To Know About
5. Customer Support:
- Canva features a whole “Learn” section dedicated to substantial tools for learning the platform. Courses will lead you to a wealth of information on how to use Canva for everything from personal branding to graphic design.
- There are additional tutorials available in a variety of formats. But Canva has several limitations when it comes to technical help. All inquiries and concerns point to an FAQ area, as well as some articles on common issues and problems with the platform.
- Crello is far more limited in terms of support. The only resources you’ll find are in the template area, and they all seem to be related to specific projects.
- Crello also features a help section that essentially duplicates Canva’s tutorial pages. They appear to have an advantage in terms of their easy-to-find contact form, which allows consumers to communicate with developers.
- Simplified has a Help Centre for all your FAQs and even advice on how to navigate through the tool.
- There’s also Simplified Academy where you can find step-by-step tutorials and informational videos about social media.
Final Thoughts
In comparing and contrasting Canva vs Crello, both are exceptional design applications, making it tough to choose since they’re so similar. Both of them feature the easy-to-use functionality of dragging and dropping elements for a rapid and simple design. Based on what you need, you can easily call the shots.
But there are other apps better than Canva, imagine a tool that has both Canva’s and Crello’s features in one. Luckily, there’s already one called Simplified. It’s cheaper (with a free version), has more features, and is more flexible. You can create, edit, collaborate, and publish in just one workspace.
You can maximize Simplified’s potential by using its AI copywriting tools, video editing features, text-to-image generator, and automated social media posting. Simplified has everything you need (and didn’t know you needed).
Simplified makes content creation, sooo simple. It’s easy, free, and made for everyone.
