# Canva 27 Hacker News commenters recommended Canva and 21 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 11 of 13 months. **Verdict:** People recommend Canva for its template library and simple visual editor, which non-designers find easy. Critics say it is limited for serious design work. ## Why people recommend it - Large template library and simple editor (2 comments): "Canva.com has been an absolute lifesaver. Its massive library of templates and its simple, visual editor are brilliant." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45927187)) "You can make something in canva for example in minutes from free templates." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49772882)) - Easy for non-designers and kids (2 comments): "One of my favorite products as a non designer." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47807485)) "it's intuitive to use even for kids" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47142809)) - Preferred over Microsoft, Adobe, InDesign (2 comments): "Canva is a go to over Microsoft and Adobe for a huge crowd of people" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46192906)) "it worked and staff preferred that mess over InDesign" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46240641)) - Strong ecosystem and interoperability (2 comments): "A lot of what makes Canva stand out comes from its IP coupled to their ecosystem/product" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50051221)) "Being the most interoperable platform creates mutually better products" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47809966)) ## What people warn about - Limited for serious design work (3 comments): "Canva is a nice tool for light work only" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45921634)) "these tools have quite a low ceiling" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47813508)) "it is not a tool of choice for any serious design work" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45923694)) - Long-standing bugs not fixed (2 comments): "they refuse to fix fundamental issues and keep blaming the customers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47040723)) "bizarre amounts of long standing critical showstopper bugs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50051588)) - Distrust of company practices (2 comments): "I have 0 faith that Canva will be good stewards of Affinitys original mission" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50049736)) "predatory "pay to print, or free for guantlet" for my daughter to use it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48626008)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Penpot](https://hackerapproved.com/p/penpot.md): 23 recommend - [Sketch](https://hackerapproved.com/p/sketch.md): 12 recommend - [Lunacy](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lunacy.md): 5 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.canva.com/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Canva", https://hackerapproved.com/p/canva/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).