Although Canva has a variegated list of template offerings, other features offered by the platform are quite restricted. Live-interactive infographics cannot be used in Canva creations. This is an important drawback of the platform.
On the other hand, this is a key offering supported by Piktochart, as it allows users to make creations with real-time, live-interactive infographics. Other important features like video embedding capabilities are also absent from the Canva interface.
Canva vs Piktochart
The main difference between Canva and Piktochart is that while Canva has a limited spread of features to offer, Piktochart offers a more extensive selection of features for its users. Canva’s list of infographic features available to the novice user is quite inadequate when compared to the extensive and diverse infographic selections offered by Piktochart.
Comparison Table Between Canva and Piktochart
| Parameters of Comparison | Canva | Piktochart |
| Features | Canva offers fewer features than Piktochart. | Piktochart offers more features than Canva. |
| Design Templates | The list of design templates offered by Canva is quite varied and extensive. | Piktochart offers fewer design templates than Canva. |
| Ease of Use | Canva’s user interface is not as user-friendly as Piktochart. | Piktochart has a more simplified and easy interface. |
| Price | More cost-effective pricing of the premium plans. | Costly premium subscriptions. |
| Free Trials with the Premium Plans | Canva offers free trials of its premium plans. | Piktochart does not offer free trials of its premium plans. |
| Design School | Design school is an important part of the platform that allows users to work collaboratively. | Piktochart does not have a feature equivalent to the collaborative design school feature offered by Canva. |
| Customer Support | Canva offers support through calls and emails. | Piktochart offers live support. |
What is Canva?
Canva is one of the leading digital designing tools available online. The Australia-based company was established in 2012 and has since then revolutionized the digital infographics domain. The platform is ideal for creating social media graphics, presentations, posters, etc.
The wide range of infographic templates offered by Canva is well-suited for the creation of almost any type of document including flyers, cards, calendars, etc. Other important offerings of the brand include the image cropper feature, speech bubbles, add text to image features. It also allows users to alter the texture of the background images.
Canva’s plans are more reasonably priced. The platform offers a collaborative space for users where they can create infographic designs together or keep their creations open for comments and editing by other expert users. Canva has also been acknowledged for its user-friendly interface and swift technical support provision.
What is Piktochart?
Piktochart is a Malaysia-based graphic design platform that allows novice users to create sophisticated infographic creations. Created in 2011, Piktochart offers users a varied range of features and templates to facilitate greater diversity in the options available to the users. Piktochart is the perfect platform to create presentations, social media graphics, chart building, etc.
Currently catering to over 6 million companies, freelancers, and non-profits, Piktochart is dedicated to helping its users tell compelling visual stories through its user-friendly interface. The platform also offers a free trial for customers to test its offerings and make free creations. It allows users to create interactive maps, SEO-centric graphics, reports, flyers, etc.
Piktochart has certain drawbacks with its free plan. The template options with the free version of the platform are extremely limited. Moreover, it does not have rich media export options. However, if the goal of the user is to create professional-grade infographic designs, Piktochart is the best digital designing tool available on the internet.
Main Differences Between Canva and Piktochart
- The main difference between Canva and Piktochart can be connoted in terms of the list of features each has to offer. Piktochart offers an extensive list of infographic features coupled with impressive video embedding capabilities, that are absent from the Canva interface. Moreover, Canva does not offer live data integration, another seminal feature offered by Piktochart.
- While both Canva and Piktochart offer quite intuitive dashboards and user-friendly interfaces, Piktochart beats Canva by a razor-thin margin.
- Piktochart only offers live support, while Canva offers customer support through the phone and email.
- Canva allows users to avail a free trial of their premium plans before making a permanent paid commitment. On the other hand, Piktochart does not offer such free trails with its premium plans.
- Canva also offers more lucrative premium plans than Piktochart. Piktochart’s two premium packages are more costly than the premium plan Canva offers. Canva’s free plan also has more offerings than its Piktochart counterpart.
- Canva’s design templates are quite varied and numerous when compared to the shorter list of template designs offered by Piktochart. Canva offers template designs for creating calendars, cards, letterheads, logos, planners, menus, etc.
- Canva has a design school, i.e. a community of Canva users and experts who collaborate on designing projects and also review one’s creations. This Design School feature is not available on Piktochart. Piktochart has a collaborative feature, but it is not the same as Canva’s Design School. Moreover, up to 10 people can collaborate on a design in the free version offered by Canva, while the collaborative feature is absent from the free version of Piktochart.
Conclusion
Canva and Piktochart are two of the most renowned and highly rated DIY designing platforms available online. Both share a plethora of similarities including the provision of a free version of their plans for users to test each platform’s interface, list of features, and templates.
Piktochart has a longer list of offerings as compared to Canva, however, Canva does have an extensive list of template designs for its users. Similarly, Canva’s paid subscriptions are more cost-effective than Piktochart’s paid premium plans. Users can also avail of the free trials of these plans with Canva, before committing to either of its premium plans.
With its Design School feature, Canva is best suited for individuals trying to collaborate on creations and seeking a community of experts to review their creations. Conversely, if the goal is to make creations with live-interactive, real-time infographics, and videos, Piktochart may be the wiser choice.
References
- https://ir.library.louisville.edu/faculty/386/
- https://heinonline.org/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/auslwlib25§ion=11