Design tools have split into two camps. There’s the “make it yourself” camp and the “start with something good” camp. Canva and Envato Elements sit on opposite sides of this divide, and which one makes sense for your business depends on what kind of design work you’re doing.

Understanding what each platform does

Canva built its name on making design accessible. You don’t need to know what kerning is or how layer masks work. You pick a template, swap out the text and images, maybe change some colors, and you’re done. For social media posts, quick presentations, or basic marketing materials, this approach works. Envato Elements takes a different route. Instead of building designs from scratch, you’re downloading professional assets, templates, graphics, fonts, stock photos, video footage. It’s less about creating and more about assembling. You grab a Premiere Pro template for your video intro, a Photoshop mockup for your product shot, and a set of icons for your presentation. The workflows are different enough that comparing them side-by-side feels a bit off. Canva is for making things. Envato is for getting things. But both solve the same problem: businesses need design work done, and hiring a full-time designer isn’t always the answer.

Who should use what

If your team is mostly non-designers who need to create branded content regularly, Canva makes sense. Marketing coordinators, social media managers, HR folks making internal presentations, they can all jump in without training. The brand kit feature keeps everything consistent, which matters when you have multiple people creating materials. Envato works better when someone on your team knows their way around Adobe Creative Suite or similar tools. You’re not getting finished designs, you’re getting building blocks. A designer or someone comfortable with Photoshop can take those templates and customize them properly. The quality ceiling is higher, but so is the skill requirement.

Pricing that makes sense

Canva Pro costs around $120 per year for individuals. For teams, pricing scales with the number of users. You get access to premium templates, the brand kit, background remover, and a bunch of other features that the free version locks. The investment pays off if your team is cranking out content daily. Envato Elements runs about $16.50 per month with an annual subscription. For that, you get unlimited downloads from millions of assets. One person can download what the whole team needs, which makes it cheaper if you’re working on multiple projects. But remember, you need the software to use most of these assets.

The template situation

The template situation deserves attention. Canva’s templates are designed for Canva. They’re finished products that you customize. Envato’s templates are raw files, PSD, AI, INDD, AEP files that you need the right software to open. A Canva template gets you to done in twenty minutes. An Envato template gets you to 60% done, and you finish the rest in whatever design software you use.

Best for startups vs agencies

For startups and small businesses just getting their visual identity together, Canva is usually the smarter starting point. You can create a decent-looking brand without hiring a designer or learning complex software. The results won’t win awards, but they’ll look professional enough to get your business moving. Agencies and design teams lean toward Envato because the asset library is massive and the quality is consistently high. When you’re working on client projects and need specific graphics, animations, or templates, having unlimited downloads means you’re not nickel-and-dimed for every asset you try.

How AI is changing things

The AI features are changing things. Canva added AI image generation, text-to-image, and smart editing tools. These aren’t perfect, but they’re getting better fast. For quick design work, being able to generate a custom image or remove backgrounds without switching tools saves time. Envato hasn’t gone as deep into AI, but its library includes AI-generated assets you can download. The focus is still on human-created professional templates and graphics. If you value that handcrafted quality over convenience, Envato’s approach might appeal more.

The skill transfer question

One thing that doesn’t get mentioned enough: the learning curve isn’t just about the tool. With Canva, your team learns Canva. That’s useful for as long as you use Canva. With Envato, your team learns design software, skills that transfer anywhere. If design is core to your business, that matters.

Using both together

Some businesses use both. Canva for the day-to-day social posts and internal documents. Envato for the bigger projects where quality matters more, brand launches, client presentations, marketing campaigns. The combined cost is still less than a designer’s salary, and you get flexibility. The question isn’t which tool is better. It’s what your team needs to produce and who’s producing it. If it’s quick content from non-designers, go with Canva. If it’s high-end work from people comfortable with design software, go with Envato. And if you’re somewhere in between, maybe the answer is both.