Canva Vs PowerPoint (2024): Which One Wins?

Have you thought that PowerPoint has everything you need, but it takes a long time to find its features?

Whereas Canva has some features that are easy to find, they don’t seem to have as many great functions as PowerPoint has.

Ready to discover what works best? Is it Canva better than PowerPoint? Let’s dive in!

Key Difference between Canva And PowerPoint

Having used both Canva and PowerPoint (PPT) for more than a decade, I would say, the key difference between Canva and PPT is the availability of tools.

PowerPoint is the best app to use if you need more gradient designs and vector tools to draw freeform or to curve objects.

You can do more customized shapes by using PowerPoint features like Autoshapes and Merge Shapes. These are tools that are not available in Canva.

However, Canva is more like a graphic design platform that includes presentation functions too.

I would say it is the best presentation design app if you want a deck in the shortest time possible with better quality design templates without having to start from scratch.

PowerPoint provides free templates as well, but their design quality is inferior to those from Canva. 

In-depth Comparison — With Ratings

In this section, you will explore the design capabilities, templates, and ease of use for both of these popular design tools.

Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting your design journey, understanding the features that both Canva and PowerPoint bring to the table will illuminate your path.

The question remains: Which one aligns with your specific needs and preferences? Let’s dive in and discover what sets them apart, so you can make an informed decision that matches your graphic design aspirations.

1. Design Capabilities

Design capabilities refer to the set of features, tools, and functions that enable the creation, manipulation, and customization of visual content. These capabilities empower users to craft designs that fulfill specific purposes, whether for personal projects or professional applications.

Canva Design Capabilities — 9/10

Canva is emerging as a strong competitor with its professional design tools. Canva’s drag-and-drop interface allows for beautiful visual content creation for all levels of users. 

But Canva design functions are more focused on social media content and graphic design rather than presentations.

PowerPoint Design Capabilities — 5/10

Microsoft PowerPoint has long been a staple as a presentation tool to create professional-looking presentations. It also offers more traditional and robust tools but comes with a steeper learning curve than Canva. 

Its comprehensive range of features allows users to make complex presentations with a high degree of customization.

2. Templates

Canva templates are pre-designed layouts that offer a head start in creating professional-looking presentations, social media posts, graphics, seating charts, bar charts and other design projects. These ready-made templates come with various elements like text, images, and graphics that can be customized.

Canva Templates — 10/10

Canva has an extensive library that offers tons of templates, both free templates and premium templates. Whether it’s social media posts, business presentations, or personal projects, there are templates tailored to your needs. 

These templates provide a great starting point, saving you time and allowing for endless customization.

PowerPoint Templates — 3/10

PowerPoint comes with a variety of ready-made presentation templates, suitable for professional-looking decks. Whether it’s a corporate meeting or an academic lecture, you can find a template that aligns with your theme.

However, the design quality of PowerPoint templates is not as high-quality or well-thought-out as those in Canva.

3. Ease Of Use

Ease of use refers to how simple and intuitive a product, system, or tool is to use, especially if you may not have prior experience or familiarity with it. It’s a crucial aspect in the design of software, gadgets, applications, or any user-centered product, as it impacts your overall experience and satisfaction.

In the context of design tools like Canva or PowerPoint, ease of use means that whether you are a professional designer or just someone looking to create a simple presentation, the platform is designed to assist you in achieving your goals without frustration or confusion. 

It’s about finding that sweet spot where functionality meets simplicity, where powerful features don’t become a barrier, but instead, enable creativity and productivity. In essence, ease of use is what makes a tool not just usable, but truly user-friendly.

Canva Ease Of Use — 7/10

Canva’s ease of use is a great feature for beginners in graphic design. The main menu has only the necessary tools that you will most likely use so it’s not cluttered with other unused tools. In this way, I give it a high rating for ease of use because you can easily find the tools and features you need very quickly.

Plus, you don’t need to download your presentation to present it. Simply click on the Present button, and you can start your presentation directly from Canva. You can even present offline if you have the Canva desktop app.

You can even zoom in and out of your presentation while presenting in Canva.

One huge downside of Canva is that you must have an active internet connection. You can’t use many of the features offline.

PowerPoint Ease Of Use — 5/10

PowerPoint offers advanced features, and creating new slides may require more design experience. I find that PowerPoint is not as easy to use as Canva. They may have many tools, but that may make it harder to find what you need.

One point goes to PowerPoint when it comes to offline usage, you can use it without an active internet and save your work even while you are on the go.

4. Collaboration And Sharing

Collaboration and sharing are two intertwined concepts often used in the context of working together on a project, especially in the digital environment. They refer to the process of multiple individuals or groups working together and sharing resources, ideas, and information to achieve a common goal.

Canva Collaboration and Sharing Tools — 8/10

Canva’s share button enables instant online sharing, including social media content. 

Share a Link: Canva allows you to generate a shareable link to your project. Anyone with the link can join the collaboration.

Email Invitations: You can directly send email invitations to your team members, granting them access to your design.

View Only: This access level allows team members to see the design but not make changes.

Edit Access: Team members with edit access can modify the design, add elements, and give creative inputs.

Synchronized Editing: Changes made by one user are immediately visible to all other collaborators. This real-time syncing ensures everyone is on the same page.

Adding Comments: Team members can add comments to specific parts of the design, making feedback more precise and actionable.

Team members can collaborate efficiently on Canva Pro with social media post design, while PowerPoint presentations allow for in-depth collaboration among business users.

PowerPoint Collaboration and Sharing Options — 7/10

PowerPoint’s Microsoft product software integration and PowerPoint online allow you to share in a similar way as Google Slides.

Saving to the Cloud: To use real-time collaboration, the PowerPoint file must be saved on OneDrive or SharePoint.

Sharing the File: You can then share the file with collaborators by sending them a link or inviting them through their email.

Simultaneous Editing: Collaborators can make changes to slides, and these changes are seen by others in real-time.

Commenting and Feedback: Users can leave comments on specific parts of the slides to give context-specific feedback.

5. Pricing

How do you decide which tool offers the best value for your money? What are the key differences between their pricing structures? And most importantly, which platform will meet your specific needs without breaking the bank?

This section will provide an in-depth comparison of Canva and PowerPoint’s pricing models, exploring various aspects such as free plans, premium templates, team members’ access, and more.

Canva Pricing: Free Version And Premium — 9/10

Canva’s free version and free plan cater to a wide range of users such as content creators and small businesses.

You can access:

• Thousands of free templates
• Basic design elements
• Simple designs and layouts
• Limited stock photos and illustrations
• You can try Canva Pro for 30 days for free to explore its full capabilities.

While the free version is robust, it has some limitations:

• Limited access to premium images
• No access to advanced features like brand kits
• Limited collaboration with team members

Canva’s premium plans, including the free version of Canva Pro, offer premium images and high-quality designs. 

Canva Pro takes the design experience to the next level, offering:

• Access to 60+ million premium stock photos
• Advanced design tools and capabilities
• Collaboration with unlimited team members
• Premium templates for a more professional design
• New features like a content planner and brand kits
• Integration with Google Drive and other apps
• Priority customer support
• You can try Canva Pro for 30 days for free to explore its full capabilities.
• Canva Pro is available at $12.99 per month or $119.99 per year.

Canva Enterprise offers all the features of Canva Pro, plus:

• Project management tools
• Advanced team collaboration
• High-quality designs with more control over branding
• Dedicated customer service support
• Pricing for Canva Enterprise is tailored to specific needs and must be requested directly from Canva.

Special pricing is available for students, educators, and nonprofits.

PowerPoint: Free And Premium — 6/10

If you were to download Microsoft PowerPoint software to your computer, the PowerPoint’s free trial in the Microsoft Office suite focuses on basic presentation slides.

The free version of PowerPoint allows you to:

• Create simple presentation slides
• Use basic templates and design elements
• Access PowerPoint via mobile app and online

The free version does have limitations:

• Limited access to advanced features
• Restricted editing capabilities
• Lack of integrations with other Microsoft products

You can access the free version of PowerPoint online or through the PowerPoint mobile app, without an Office 365 subscription.

PowerPoint is available as a one-time purchase or part of Microsoft Office. Subscribing to Microsoft Office 365 unlocks the following:

• Full access to PowerPoint’s advanced features
• Ability to create beautiful presentations with new slides and designs
• Integration with other Microsoft products like Word and Excel
• Collaborative features for working with team members
• High-quality designs with different options and customization options

Microsoft Office 365 offers different pricing tiers:

• Personal: $69.99/year or $6.99/month
• Home: $99.99/year or $9.99/month (up to 6 users)
• Business: Plans start at $8.25/user/month

You can try Microsoft Office 365 free for one month to explore its full capabilities, including premium PowerPoint features.

Special pricing is available for students, educators, and nonprofits.

6. Integrations

In the modern digital workspace, integrations between different tools and platforms are essential. They allow for a more seamless workflow, connecting various aspects of your work, from design to presentations to project management. 

Both Canva and PowerPoint offer a range of integrations that can greatly enhance your design experience, but they do so in different ways.

Canva Integrations — 7/10

You can connect your Canva designs to various platforms of other brands.

Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter: Canva allows you to connect directly with major social media platforms, enabling you to create and post social media content effortlessly. From beautiful posts to engaging stories, Canva’s integration with these platforms makes your social media management a breeze.

LinkedIn and Pinterest: Professional design for your LinkedIn profile or eye-catching pins for Pinterest can be crafted easily with Canva, and the integration ensures that posting is just a click away.

Google Drive: You can link your Google Drive to Canva, allowing for seamless access to your files. Import images, documents, or other assets directly from Google Drive to use in your Canva designs.

Dropbox: The integration with Dropbox offers the same ease of access as Google Drive, enabling you to pull files directly into your Canva workspace.

Adobe Illustrator and QR Code Generators: Canva’s design capabilities are further extended by integrating tools like Adobe Illustrator and QR Code generators, providing a wide range of features and customization options.

Premium Images and Stock Photos: Access a wide range of premium images and stock photos through integration with various image repositories like Unsplash, Pixabay, Pexels and more. 

Slack: Canva allows you to integrate with Slack for real-time collaboration with team members, which can be an essential tool for business users and project management.

Trello and Asana: Plan, organize, and track your design projects by integrating Canva with popular project management tools like Trello and Asana.

Etsy and Shopify: If you are a content creator in the e-commerce space, Canva’s integration with platforms like Etsy and Shopify enables you to create and manage professional-looking presentations and designs for your online store.

PowerPoint Integrations — 7/10

PowerPoint’s integration is with both Microsoft products and other brands.

Word and Excel: PowerPoint seamlessly integrates with other Microsoft products like Word and Excel. You can import data, charts, and text from these platforms to enhance your presentations.

Microsoft Teams: With Teams integration, you can easily share your PowerPoint presentations during virtual meetings, fostering collaboration and real-time discussion.

LinkedIn: PowerPoint integrates with LinkedIn, allowing you to publish and share your presentations with your professional network directly.

OneDrive: Microsoft’s OneDrive is perfectly integrated with PowerPoint, facilitating cloud storage, sharing, and collaboration with your files and presentations.

SharePoint: SharePoint integration allows you to collaborate on presentations within your organization, providing team members access to edit, comment, or review.

Adobe Creative Cloud: Connect PowerPoint with Adobe Creative Cloud to bring in high-quality designs and images, bridging the gap between basic presentation tools and professional design elements.

Various Plugins and Add-ons: PowerPoint supports integration with a wide variety of plugins and add-ons, allowing you to expand its functionality with new features, content libraries, and customization options.

Power BI: Power BI integration allows you to embed interactive reports and analytics into your PowerPoint presentations, making your data come alive.

PowerPoint Mobile App: PowerPoint’s mobile app ensures that you have access to your presentations on the go, allowing editing and presenting directly from your mobile devices.

Slack and Project Management Tools: Integrate PowerPoint with collaboration and project management tools to improve team communication and workflow efficiency in creating presentations.

7. File Formats

Both Canva and PowerPoint have their limitations, hence, you may have to switch platforms at times to accomplish certain design tasks. For example, if I need to add highly customized vector artwork to my Canva designs, I can rely on Adobe Illustrator to create and export them, then upload them to Canva for placement. 

Here are the differences in file format compatibility between Canva vs PPT.

Canva File Formats — 7/10

For file formats, Canva mainly focuses on popular design elements.

JPEG (JPG): A popular image format known for its high quality and small file size. It’s ideal for photos and detailed designs where file size matters.

PNG: PNG is a high-quality image format that supports transparency, making it perfect for designs with no background or for overlaying images.

GIF: The GIF format supports animated designs and is typically used for simple animations and web graphics.

PDF: Canva offers PDF export for both standard documents and print-ready files with crop marks. It’s perfect for printing flyers, posters, or business cards.

MS Word (DOCX): Exporting to DOCX allows you to edit your designs further in Microsoft Word or share them easily with team members. You can also import Word Doc into Canva Doc to enhance your document design.

PowerPoint (PPTX): You can export Canva to PowerPoint format, making it easier to present or edit in Microsoft PowerPoint and also compatible with Google Slides.

MP4: Canva supports video creation and export in MP4 format, suitable for sharing on social media or embedding in websites.

SVG: For more advanced design work, SVG format is available, allowing for scalable vector graphics that maintain quality at any size.

Multi-Page PDF: With Canva Pro, you can export multi-page documents as a PDF, perfect for creating e-books, manuals, or detailed reports.

PowerPoint File Formats — 7/10

PowerPoint supports different versions of file formats.

PPTX: The PPTX file format is PowerPoint’s default. It is a part of the Office Open XML specification, and it allows for the integration of images, text, charts, and more.

PPT: This is the legacy format used in older versions of PowerPoint (prior to 2007). It’s less common today but still usable. The key difference from PPTX is the lack of some advanced features and less compression.

PDF: Or Portable Document Format. PowerPoint enables users to export presentations to PDF, ensuring that the file looks the same across all platforms, regardless of whether PowerPoint is installed.

POTX: This is the template format utilized to create templates that can be used across different PowerPoint presentations, aiding in maintaining a consistent design and color scheme.

MP4 and WMV: These are video formats. You can save your PowerPoint slides as video files, either MP4 or WMV, making it easy to share your presentation across social media or embed it in websites.

PNG, JPEG, GIF: PowerPoint allows the saving of individual slides or objects as image files, supporting various formats like PNG, JPEG, and GIF. This feature is a great way to use elements from your presentation in other media.

RTF and TXT: You can export the text from your slides into simple text files (TXT) or Rich Text Format (RTF), ensuring content accessibility outside of PowerPoint.

ODP: Or OpenDocument Presentation Format 

For better compatibility with different versions of PowerPoint and other presentation apps, you can use the ODP format, which is an open standard.

Final Verdict: Is Canva Better Than PowerPoint?

For me, I choose Canva over PowerPoint, the reason is that I don’t need the fancy tools that PowerPoint has. There are too many tools in PowerPoint that I don’t use and their presence makes the interface too confusing for me to know which tool to use for my presentations.

This leads me to take more time to complete a deck than I truly need. Canva has more well-thought-out designed elements, fonts, templates, and graphics than the ones PowerPoint provides.

Your decision between Canva and PowerPoint depends on your personal preferences and specific needs. Your best way to the right choice depends on factors like ease of use, free account availability, the use of your own images, desktop app requirements, internet connection, the creation process, and new features.

The best option for you will depend on whether you need simple designs or a wide range of features.

FAQ

You can also download your Canva presentation in PowerPoint format if you want to present it using PowerPoint’s software.

Canva, on the other hand, is a multipurpose design platform that allows for creating not only presentations but also social media content, posters, and more. Canva provides a more intuitive and user-friendly interface, while PowerPoint offers more advanced features and integrations with other Microsoft Office products.

It offers a user-friendly interface with drag-and-drop capabilities, making it accessible for those without design experience. If you’re looking for a quick and aesthetically pleasing way to create presentations, Canva could be the right choice for you.

1. Open your Canva presentation.
2. Click on the Share button at the top right corner.
3. Click the Download option in the dropdown panel.
4. Select “Microsoft PowerPoint” as the file type.
5. Click Download.

This process will create a PowerPoint file that retains the design and formatting of the original Canva presentation. Make sure to review it in PowerPoint to ensure that all elements are as you intended.

Canva Vs PPT

Google Slides focuses more on collaboration and real-time editing, integrating seamlessly with other Google Drive products.

If design and creativity are your priorities, Canva might be the better option. If collaboration and simplicity are more important, Google Slides could be the better choice.

1. Open the Canva presentation you want to present.
2. Click the Present button located at the top-right corner.
3. Select the desired presentation mode (standard, autoplay, presenter view, etc.).
4. Your presentation will begin, and you can navigate through slides using your keyboard or on-screen controls.

1. Open the Canva design you want to convert.
2. Click on the Share button at the top right corner.
3. Click the Download option in the dropdown panel.
4. Select “Microsoft PowerPoint” as the file type.
5. Click Download, and your Canva design will be converted to a PowerPoint file.

With Canva Pro, business users can access premium templates, advanced collaboration features, and additional design capabilities suitable for professional use.

1. Open the Canva presentation you want to present.
2. Open Zoom, go to the bottom, and click on the Share Screen button.
3. Select your Canva slides and click Share at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.
4. Click the Present button located at the top-right corner.
5. Select the Standard Type view and click the Present button.
6. Your Canva presentation now goes to full-screen mode for you to Zoom while presenting in Canva.