The Best Adobe Express Alternatives

Introduction to Adobe Express (Adobe Spark)

Adobe Express is an easy-to-use graphic design tool for online or mobile use. It also provides video editing capabilities. 

Non-professionals use Adobe Express for quick design tasks, such as:

• Social media graphics
• Flyers and posters
• QR Codes
• Memes
• Simple Animations

Pricing and plans

Adobe Express offers a free tier, including:

• Over 1 million Adobe Stock photos and basic templates
• Basic tools for photos and videos
• Removing backgrounds
• Limited fonts, templates, and AI credits.

Adobe Express also integrates with the Adobe ecosystem.  Unique features include editing PDF files and importing PhotoShop and Adobe Illustrator content.  

For $99/year, premium features include:

• Over 200 million Adobe Stock assets
• Additional photo editing tools 
• Additional collaboration and brand management tools
• Access to all templates and fonts and more generative AI credits
  • AI tools include text-to-image
• Tip: The Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps plan includes Adobe Express Premium.

Why look for alternatives to Adobe Express?

Some Adobe Express users have expressed the following concerns:

• Need for professional graphic design tools, e.g., kerning adjustments
• Performance and quality issues related to online use, particularly for video creation
• Desire to create specialized content such as infographics or technical illustrations
• Missing features, such as screen recording
• The desire for more affordable or free alternatives

Adobe Express offers a wide range of capabilities. However, depending on the type of content creation, alternatives may better suit a particular individual.

1. Snagit: Best alternative for screen content and videos

Overview of Snagit

Snagit is a versatile alternative to Adobe Express for image editing, screen capture, screen recording, and video editing.  

Software marketers use Snagit to illustrate technical content. Users love its ability to create high-resolution, high-impact screenshots and to automate step-by-step visuals. 

Training professionals also use it to create customer-facing content, such as onboarding and tutorials. Your organization may already use Snagit widely.

Snagit is the market-leading product for screen capture, video recording, and essential video creation tasks. It also provides advanced image editing with AI features similar to Adobe Express. However, it has fewer graphic design and photo editing features.

Key features of Snagit

Users love Snagit’s easy-to-use screen capture, video creation, and advanced image editing. It excels in screen-based content creation.

• User-friendly interface
• High-quality content capture
  • HDR Images
  • 60 FPS 4K Screen Recordings
• Design elements
  • Wide choice of annotations, stamps, callouts, blur, shadows, and more
• AI editing
  • Text grab (OCR), remove objects, background fill, background removal
  • (optional) AI generative images from a text prompt
• Easy workflows
  • Apply brand themes, mass convert file types, combine images, leverage professionally designed templates, and video from the image.
• Photo editing
  • Rotate, change color, make transparent, grayscale, brighten, crop
• Easy content creation
  • Apply brand themes
  • Create video from images or video
  • GIF creation
  • Video trimming and cutting
  • Advanced video editing with optional integration with highly rated Camtasia video editor 
  • Comprehensive file type options
  • Custom and stock templates
  • Support for printed content
  • Optional AI Speech-to-Text captions, ADA caption editor, and Custom Thumbnails
  • Optional integration with Camtasia for Lottie animation support
• Integrated Assets
  • Stock images and stamps
  • Professionally designed templates
• Optional collaboration support
  • Quick share link
  • Team mark-up and review of images or videos online

Pricing and plans

Snagit includes inexpensive paid plans, free trials, and discounted team licensing options.

• The paid plan is a $39.99/year subscription or a one-time perpetual purchase (v24) at $62.99.

2. Canva: Best for templated marketing content

Overview of Canva

Canva is the most popular and similar alternative to Adobe Express. It provides a user-friendly web interface and a vast library of templates, ideal for quick content creation.  

Marketers, small business owners, and non-designers use Canva to create social media graphics, presentations, and simple marketing materials.

Key features of Canva 

Both Adobe Express and Canva offer:

•  ease of use
• a drag-and-drop interface
• a template library
• collaborative features

Overall, Canva provides better assets and collaboration features, while Adobe provides more advanced graphic editing. 

Adobe Express vs. Canva Features

Feature	Canva	Adobe Express
Design Assets and Templates	250,000 free templates; 3.2 million free stock photos, icons, and illustrations; fewer usage restrictions	155,000 free templates; 0.5 million free stock photos
Ease of Use	More straightforward for beginners	Familiar interface for Creative Cloud users
Graphics Design	Offers ‘Magic Studio’ and ‘Smartmockups’	Advanced features such as layer management integration to Photoshop available
Photo Editing	Paid background removal; unique ‘copy style’ feature	Free background removal; basic editing features
Screen Capture, Recording, and Video Creation	Basic video editing plus webcam capture	Basic video editing without screen or webcam capture
Other Considerations	Content planner for social media scheduling; brand kits for consistent branding; richer collaboration with granular permissions and whiteboarding	Social media scheduling, Collaboration features

Pricing and plans

Canva’s free version offers templates and design elements:

• Limited templates, photos, graphics and videos
• Design tools
• Collaboration
• 5 GB of cloud storage
• Export options (such as PNG, JPEG, and PDF)
• Limited AI features

Canva’s Pro plan costs about $155.88/year for unlimited assets. It also includes additional real-time collaboration features:

• Team-only links
• Approval workflows
• Admin controls
• Task assignment
• Version history

3. Affinity Designer: Best for professional graphic design

Overview of Affinity Designer

Affinity Designer offers professional-grade graphic design tools at a one-time cost.

Tip: Canva has acquired Affinity Designer.

Key features of Affinity Designer

Professional designers love Affinity Designer for its advanced vector editing tools and affordable one-time cost. However, it has a steeper learning curve than other products. 

Graphic designers use Affinity Designer to create vector graphics, UI/UX designs, and illustrations. Affinity Designer lacks collaborative features like those in Adobe Express. It doesn’t have an asset library but can integrate with third-party options.

However, Affinity does have more graphic design features.

Affinity Designer vs. Adobe Express for graphic design

Feature Category	Affinity Designer	Adobe Express
Vector Tools	Advanced vector tools: custom pens, nodes, brushes, and pencils	Basic vector editing capabilities
Color Support	16-bits per pixel color depth and various color modes (CMYK, Lab, Greyscale, RGB)	Standard color editing tools
Layer Management	Advanced layer management with non-destructive adjustment and clipping within layers	Basic layer management integrates with Photoshop for advanced needs
Typography Tools	Comprehensive typography panel with support for variable fonts	Basic text editing features enhanced with generative AI
Design Aids	Grid patterns, isometric grids, and snapping controls \	Templates and basic design aids; less focus on precision design aids
Pixel-Based Design	Options for nearest neighbor, bilinear, bicubic, and Lanczos 3-pixel scaling	Primarily vector-focused with basic pixel editing capabilities.

Pricing and plans

Affinity offers this tool at a one-time cost of $69.99.

4. Inkscape: Best for free graphics design

Overview of Inkscape

Inkscape is a vector graphics editor with powerful features similar to Adobe Illustrator.

Graphic designers, hobbyists, and professionals use Inkscape to create vector graphics, including logos, illustrations, technical drawings, and UI design. As free, open-source software, it attracts a wide range of users.

Key features of Inkscape

Users praise Inkscape for its ability to create sharp vector graphics. Favorite features include:

• Bezier tool
• Node editing
• SVG support

Inkscape is less robust than other options, especially for printed graphics. Inkscape lacks onboarding materials and formal support. Common issues include stability and performance.

Pricing and plans

Inkscape is a free, open-source product. 

5. Crello (VistaCreate): Best for animated social media posts

Overview of Crello (VistaCreate)

Crello offers easy-to-use graphic design tools and a large library of templates.

Small business marketers and social media managers use Crello to create marketing materials, social media content, and ad graphics.

Key features of Crello (VistaCreate)

Crello creates graphics, animations, and short videos from professional templates and a rich library of design elements. Like Snagit, it supports high-quality HD video creation.

Users like Crello because it creates engaging social media animations quickly. Its “Animation Maker” turns static designs into animated ones without requiring much design skill. 

Crello supports scheduling social posts on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. It also offers collaboration features and a background removal tool. However, Adobe Express provides more content and features for complex designs.

Pricing and plans

Crello provides a free version with access to 100,000 design templates, over 1 million assets, and 10 GB of storage. 

Premium plans start at $120/year and include:

• 70 million photos, videos, and vectors
• Background removal tool, resize feature, and sticker maker
• Team collaboration
• Unlimited storage 
• Multiple brand kits
• Priority support

6. Piktochart: Best for data visuals and infographics

Overview of Piktochart

Piktochart is a design platform specializing in data visualization and infographic creation.

Educators and marketers use Piktochart to create professional-looking infographics, presentations, and reports.  

Key features of Piktochart

Piktochart excels at creating infographics with an easy-to-use interface. Beyond data graphics, it’s more limited than Adobe Express.

It integrates with various tools to import data. It focuses on turning complex data into engaging visuals:

• charts 
• graphs
• interactive maps

Users love their pre-designed templates and support for a variety of presentation formats. The drag-and-drop editor makes it simple to create and customize templates.

Pricing and plans

Piktochart’s free plan provides basic infographic creation features, collaboration, and 100MB of storage with limited volumes. Its premium plans start at $168/year and include:

• Unlimited active projects
• Unlimited downloads and HD and transparent background formats
• 5 million icons, illustrations, and 3D graphics
• 100GB of storage
• Enhanced collaboration (10 team members)
• Brand assets

7. Stencil: Best for easy blog images

Overview of Stencil

Stencil is a simple design tool that creates quick graphics using an extensive library of templates and stock images. 

Social media managers and marketers use Stencil to create social media graphics and blog post images.

Key features of Stencil

Like others on this list, Stencil lacks advanced graphic design features in Adobe Express.

Stencil makes it easy to produce professional-looking content using a large collection of design assets, including:

• royalty-free photos
• icons
• ready-made templates 

Its integration with social media platforms allows for quick sharing and includes scheduling Instagram SMS messages.

Pricing and plans

Stencil’s free plan provides access to a limited number of images and templates.  Stella offers a $108/year pro or $144 unlimited plan.  The lower-cost pro plan includes:

• 5 million stock photos
• Over 1350 templates
• Almost 5000 Google fonts
• 50 image downloads/month
• Priority support

8. Fotor: Best for photos

Overview of Fotor

Fotor is a beginner-friendly tool for photo editing. It offers an alternative for users who want a simple, easy-to-use tool.

Hobbyists, photographers, and marketers use Fotor to edit photos, create graphic designs, and create visual content for social media.

Key features of Fotor

Users love Fotor for its simplicity and photo editing tools. Fotor offers many features, from basic cropping and resizing to adding filters and design effects. Beyond photo editing, it lacks the capabilities of Adobe Express.

• Its cloud-based design platform allows users to access and edit their projects from anywhere. 
• Its collage maker allows users to combine multiple images into professional designs for social media, blogs, and marketing materials. 

Pricing and plans

Fotor’s free version provides basic editing tools, and its premium plans, $107.88/year, unlock advanced editing features and additional design templates.

Conclusion: Alternatives to Adobe Express

Choosing a suitable alternative depends on your needs.

Adobe Express excels as an easy-to-use, advanced graphic design tool. It also offers free background removal.

• Overall, Canva is the most similar alternative, providing diverse templates and assets. 
• Like Adobe Express, Canva and Crello offer social media scheduling and collaboration.  Stencil offers Instagram scheduling.

Adobe Express users seek choices for a wide range of reasons. Consider the following:

• Affinity Designer or Inkscape is best for professional graphic design tools; however, both have a learning curve. 
• Snagit supports high-quality image and video creation in a local environment.
• Consider the type of content you create and pick:
  • Snagit for illustrating technical content
  • Piktochart for infographics and data visuals
  • Fotor for photo editing
  • Stencil for easy blog images
  • Crello for animations
• Consider Snagit for the features Adobe Express forgot:
  • screen capture
  • screen recording
  • advanced video editing
• Consider Inkscape, Affinity, or Snagit for free or less expensive alternatives.

Based on all these considerations, Snagit is a solid alternative to Adobe Express. It provides many features similar to Adobe Express and offers additional capabilities.