Piktochart vs Canva 2026: Pricing, Free Plans and Which to Choose

Quick answer: Pick Piktochart if your visuals are mostly infographics, reports and data-heavy one-pagers. Pick Canva if you need a bit of everything, especially social posts, video and scheduling.

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Pick Piktochart if your visuals are mostly infographics, reports and data-heavy one-pagers. Pick Canva if you need a bit of everything, especially social posts, video and scheduling.

Last updated: October 26, 2026

Disclosure: ToolPilot Guide may earn a commission from some links on this site. The Piktochart and Systeme.io links in this post are affiliate links: if you sign up for a paid plan through them, ToolPilot Guide may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. The Canva links are plain links. A commission never changes my verdict. How I researched this: this comparison is documentation-based (untested side by side). I checked both tools' official pricing pages in October 2026. I have not run the same project through Piktochart and Canva head to head. I did test Piktochart's free plan separately, and that test is written up in my Piktochart AI infographic tutorial. Prices change and differ by country, so confirm on the official sites before you buy.

Quick verdict

Piktochart is the focused, cheaper choice for infographics and reports. Canva is the bigger all-rounder for social, video and brand work.

• Choose Piktochart if: you make infographics, reports, timelines or data visuals and want a lower price per seat
• Choose Canva if: you need social posts, short video, a huge template library and built-in scheduling
• Paid plans from: Piktochart Pro $10/member/month billed annually; Canva Pro US$180/year for one person (as listed in October 2026). Verify live

See Piktochart pricing See Canva pricing

If you're a blogger, marketer, teacher or small business owner, you've probably asked the same question: should I use Piktochart or Canva? Both are browser-based design tools. Both have free plans, templates and AI features, and both let non-designers make something presentable in minutes. On paper they look interchangeable.

They aren't. Piktochart grew up as an infographic maker, and it still leans hard into data, reports and "explain this clearly" visuals. Canva grew into a do-everything design platform covering social graphics, video, presentations, print, websites and more. Which one is right depends far more on what you make every week than on which has the longer feature list.

This guide compares the two on the things that actually change your decision: pricing, free-plan limits, AI credits, downloads and file formats, brand controls, team pricing and use cases. If you want the deep dive on Piktochart alone, read my full Piktochart review 2026.

Piktochart vs Canva at a Glance

Here's the short version, based on each tool's official pricing page in October 2026. Canva's prices below are the US-dollar yearly prices shown on its US pricing page. Canva shows different local prices in other countries (for example, its Australian page lists Pro at A$165/year), so check the price for your own region.

Feature	Piktochart	Canva
Best known for	Infographics, reports, data visuals	All-purpose design: social, video, presentations, print
Free plan	$0. 2 PNG downloads, unlimited visual projects, 60 AI credits, free templates only, 1GB storage	$0. 1.6M+ templates, 1 Brand Kit (3 colors), up to 200 Standard AI uses or 20 Premium AI uses, 5GB storage
Entry paid plan	Pro: $10/member/month billed annually, or $15 billed monthly	Pro: US$180/year for one person
Team plan	Business: $17/member/month billed annually, or $20 billed monthly	Business: US$250/year per person
Paid AI allowance	500 AI credits (Pro), 1,000 (Business)	"10x more AI than Free" (Pro), "20x" (Business)
Storage	1GB / 100GB / 250GB	5GB / 100GB / 500GB
PDF and PowerPoint export	Business, Education and Nonprofit plans (Free and Pro are PNG)	Check Canva's current plan comparison
Education / nonprofit	Education $39/member/year; Nonprofit $60/member/year	Separate Education tab; Canva for Nonprofits allows one team of up to 50 members for free (per Canva's help center)

Sources: piktochart.com/pricing and canva.com/pricing, checked October 26, 2026. Plans and prices change. Always confirm before buying.

Pricing Compared in Detail

Piktochart pricing (October 2026)

Piktochart's pricing page lists five main plans for individuals and businesses, plus education and nonprofit options:

• Free ($0): for 1–4 team members. It includes 2 PNG downloads, unlimited visual projects, 60 AI credits, free templates only and 1GB storage.
• Pro: $10 per member per month billed annually, or $15 per member per month billed monthly. Piktochart says this saves 33%. Pro adds unlimited PNG downloads, 5M+ premium icons, illustrations and 3D graphics, 500 AI credits, premium templates, transparent-background downloads and 100GB storage, for 1–100 members.
• Business: $17 per member per month billed annually, or $20 billed monthly. It adds unlimited PNG, PDF and PowerPoint downloads, a Brand Kit with unlimited brand color schemes, custom fonts and logos, 1,000 AI credits, branded templates and 250GB storage.
• Enterprise: custom pricing for 101+ members, with a dedicated account manager, onboarding training, security review, workspace controls and SSO/SAML.
• Education: $39 per member, billed annually, with a valid educational email. It includes PDF and PowerPoint downloads, a limited Brand Kit and 250 AI credits.
• Nonprofit: $60 per member, billed annually, for registered nonprofits, with similar features to Education.

The big thing to notice: on Piktochart, PDF and PowerPoint export starts at Business, not Pro. If you need to hand clients a PDF report or drop slides into PowerPoint, budget for Business (or the Education or Nonprofit plan if you qualify). I ran into this limit on the free plan in my Piktochart infographic test, where PDF and PowerPoint were marked Business-only.

Canva pricing (October 2026)

Canva's US pricing page lists these plans for individuals and businesses:

• Free (US$0): drag-and-drop editor with 1,000+ design types, 1.6M+ templates, 4.7M+ photos, videos, graphics and audio, 1 Brand Kit (3 colors only), 5GB storage, and up to 200 Standard AI uses or 20 Premium AI uses.
• Pro (US$180/year for one person): premium tools like resize, translate and background removal, 3.6M+ templates, 141M+ premium photos, videos, graphics and audio, 5 Brand Kits, social content scheduling, 100GB storage, and "10x more AI than Canva Free". An extra-cost AI Pass add-on is available.
• Business (US$250/year per person): everything in Pro plus collaboration and team admin tools, 100 Brand Kits with approvals, access to Flourish for interactive data visualization, a 10% print discount, 500GB storage and "20x more AI than Canva Free".
• Enterprise: for larger organizations. Contact Canva for pricing.

Two things to keep in mind. First, Canva Pro is for one person only. Canva's own FAQ says only one person can use a Pro account, and the old Canva Teams plan is closed to new sign-ups and replaced by Business. Second, Canva shows a monthly option as well as yearly, and says yearly saves "from 16%", so the yearly price is usually the better deal if you're committed.

What a year actually costs

Using only the numbers above (US prices, yearly billing):

• Solo creator, entry paid plan: Piktochart Pro is $10 × 12 = $120/year. Canva Pro is US$180/year.
• Solo creator who needs PDF/PowerPoint export from Piktochart: Piktochart Business is $17 × 12 = $204/year.
• Team of 3 on team plans: Piktochart Business is $204 × 3 = $612/year. Canva Business is US$250 × 3 = US$750/year.

So Piktochart is cheaper at every comparable tier, but you're comparing a focused tool against a much broader one. If you'd also need a separate video editor or social scheduler alongside Piktochart, the math can flip.

Free Plan: Which One Lets You Do More?

This is where the two differ most, and it's the question most people searching "Piktochart vs Canva" really want answered.

Piktochart Free lets you create unlimited projects, but you can only download 2 PNGs. That's fine for testing the tool or making one infographic for a blog post. It's not enough to run a weekly content schedule on the free plan. You also only get free templates and 60 AI credits.

Canva Free is far more generous for everyday use. Canva's pricing page lists 1.6M+ templates, millions of free photos and graphics, 5GB storage and a monthly AI allowance on the free plan. Canva doesn't show a small download cap like Piktochart's on its free plan card. Premium elements and tools, such as background removal and magic resize, stay locked behind Pro.

Verdict: if you want to stay free long term, Canva Free is the stronger choice. Piktochart Free is best seen as a trial before you decide on Pro or Business.

AI Features

Both tools now pitch AI heavily, but they measure it differently.

Piktochart uses a clear credit system: 60 credits on Free, 500 on Pro, 1,000 on Business and 250 on Education and Nonprofit. Its product menu lists a long range of AI generators, including an AI infographic maker, AI presentation maker, AI report generator, AI timeline infographic generator, AI graph generator, AI image generator, AI carousel maker and AI YouTube thumbnail generator. Its pricing table also lists a "Preserve Content" option that keeps your uploaded text as it is, which is useful when you already have the copy and only want design help.

In my own free-plan test (covered in the infographic tutorial), generating an infographic took about 23 seconds, an AI image cost 25 credits, and the AI presentation generator stalled on all three of my attempts. That was one test on one day, so treat it as a single data point, not a verdict.

Canva describes its AI allowance as Standard, Premium and Ultra AI uses. Free gets up to 200 Standard or 20 Premium uses, Pro gets "10x more" and Business "20x more". Its pricing page also lists Canva AI 2.0, Canva AI connectors and Magic Layers, plus an extra-cost AI Pass add-on. I haven't tested Canva's AI features for this post, and Canva doesn't publish credit costs per action in the same simple way, so I can't give a direct credit-for-credit comparison.

Verdict: Piktochart's credits are easier to understand and budget for. Canva's AI covers more content types. Neither has been tested side by side here.

Templates and Design Range

Canva is simply bigger. Its pricing page lists 1.6M+ templates on Free and 3.6M+ on paid plans, across 1,000+ design types, plus 141M+ premium photos, videos, graphics and audio on Pro. If you design Instagram posts on Monday, a flyer on Tuesday and a YouTube thumbnail on Wednesday, Canva probably has a ready-made template for each.

Piktochart's library is narrower but more focused. Its template menu groups templates by brochures, flyers, infographics, newsletters, presentations and resumes, and by use cases such as business infographics, proposals, education, health posters, HR templates and sales presentations. Its "Solutions" menu targets communications, education, eLearning, financial services, healthcare, HR, marketing and nonprofits. That focus shows: it's built for people who need to explain something, such as a process, a report or a set of numbers, rather than people who need eye-catching social content.

Branding and Team Features

For brand consistency, the plans line up like this:

• Piktochart: the full Brand Kit (unlimited brand color schemes, custom fonts, logos) and branded templates arrive on Business. Education and Nonprofit get a limited Brand Kit. Enterprise adds SSO/SAML and workspace controls.
• Canva: Free gets 1 Brand Kit with 3 colors, Pro gets 5 Brand Kits, and Business gets 100 Brand Kits with approvals, plus collaboration and team admin tools.

The key difference is team access. Piktochart Pro supports 1–100 members at a per-member price, so a small team can share a workspace without jumping to the top tier. Canva Pro is one person only, so any team on Canva needs Business.

Data Visualization and Charts

This is Piktochart's home ground. Its menus include a graph maker, diagram maker, flowchart maker, map maker, timeline maker, Venn diagram maker and report maker, plus AI versions of several of these. If your job involves turning survey results, a quarterly report or a process into a one-page visual, Piktochart is designed around exactly that.

Canva has charts too, and its Business plan adds access to Flourish for interactive data visualization, according to Canva's pricing page and help center. So Canva can do data work, but its most advanced option sits on its most expensive self-serve plan.

Video and Social Media

Canva has the edge here. Its pricing page lists premium video and audio content, social content scheduling on Pro, and ad insights with AI ad creation. If you post on social media every day, being able to design and schedule in one place is a real time saver.

Piktochart has added video tools too. Its product menu lists a video editor, screen recorder, social media video maker, video cropper, video-to-text converter and an AI video generator. I haven't tested these, and they aren't the main reason people pick Piktochart. If video is central to your work, a dedicated editor is often a better fit. I've covered options in Filmora vs CapCut for YouTube.

Which Should You Choose? Use Cases

Choose Piktochart if you are…

• A blogger who uses infographics to earn shares and backlinks. A tall infographic summing up a post is Piktochart's sweet spot. My tutorial shows the full workflow: how to make an AI infographic with Piktochart.
• A consultant, analyst or HR team turning reports, processes and numbers into clear one-pagers.
• A teacher or student. The Education plan is $39 per member per year and includes PDF and PowerPoint downloads.
• A small team on a budget. Pro at $10/member/month (annual) is cheaper than Canva Business per seat, and Pro allows multiple members.

Choose Canva if you are…

• A social media manager or creator posting daily across platforms and wanting built-in scheduling.
• A small business owner who needs flyers, menus, social posts, presentations and print in one tool.
• Someone who wants to stay on a free plan long term with lots of templates and stock content.
• A brand team that needs many Brand Kits and approval workflows (Canva Business).

Or use both

Plenty of creators use Canva Free for day-to-day social graphics and pay for Piktochart only when they need infographics and reports. Because Canva's free plan is generous and Piktochart Pro is relatively cheap, that combination can cost less than upgrading one tool to its team tier.

Try before you pay

Both tools have free plans. Run the same real brief through each, like one infographic and one social post, and keep the one that gets you to "publish" faster.

Piktochart plans Canva plans

How to Decide in 30 Minutes

1. List what you made last month. Count the infographics and reports against the social posts and videos. The bigger pile points to your tool.
2. Check the export you need. If you need PDF or PowerPoint from Piktochart, price in Business, not Pro.
3. Count the people. One person: compare Piktochart Pro ($120/year) with Canva Pro (US$180/year). A team: compare Piktochart Pro or Business per member with Canva Business at US$250 per person per year.
4. Run one real brief on both free plans. Remember that Piktochart Free only allows 2 PNG downloads, so save them for the final versions.
5. Check your local price. Both tools show different prices by currency or region.

Where These Visuals Fit in Your Content Workflow

A design tool is only one part of a content system. If you're building a blog or newsletter around your visuals, these guides may help:

• Best AI writing tools for bloggers and marketers (2026): for drafting the copy that goes into your infographics.
• Best website builders for beginners (2026): if you still need somewhere to publish.
• Hostinger review 2026: pricing and renewals: if you're self-hosting a blog.
• If you want to turn visuals into an email list or sales funnel, Systeme.io (affiliate link) has a free plan for landing pages and email.

Final Verdict

Piktochart is the better pick when your work is about explaining things clearly, like infographics, reports, timelines and data-heavy one-pagers, and when you want a lower price per seat. Just remember the free plan's 2-download limit and that PDF and PowerPoint exports start at Business.

Canva is the better pick when you need range: social posts, video, presentations, print and scheduling in one place, with a free plan you can actually live on. Teams pay more because Pro is single-user.

If you're still unsure, start with both free plans, run one real project through each, and upgrade only the one you keep reaching for. For more on Piktochart on its own, read my full Piktochart review.

FAQ

Is Piktochart better than Canva for infographics?

Piktochart is built around infographics, reports and data visuals, with dedicated makers for graphs, timelines, flowcharts and maps. Canva can make infographics too and has many more templates overall. This comparison is documentation-based and not a side-by-side test, so try both on the same brief.

Is Piktochart cheaper than Canva?

At listed US prices in October 2026, yes. Piktochart Pro is $10/member/month billed annually ($120/year) against Canva Pro at US$180/year, and Piktochart Business is $17/member/month billed annually ($204/year) against Canva Business at US$250/year per person. Check your local prices.

Is Piktochart free?

Yes, there's a free plan with unlimited visual projects, 60 AI credits, free templates and 1GB storage, but only 2 PNG downloads.

Can I download a PDF from Piktochart Pro?

According to Piktochart's pricing page, Pro includes unlimited PNG downloads, while PDF and PowerPoint downloads are listed on Business, Education and Nonprofit.

Can a team share Canva Pro?

No. Canva says only one person can use a Pro account. Teams need Canva Business, and the old Canva Teams plan is closed to new sign-ups.

Does Piktochart have a discount for teachers or nonprofits?

Yes. Piktochart lists an Education plan at $39 per member per year (valid educational email required) and a Nonprofit plan at $60 per member per year.

Which has more AI?

They measure it differently. Piktochart gives fixed credits (500 on Pro, 1,000 on Business). Canva describes "10x" and "20x" more AI than its free plan, with an optional AI Pass add-on. There's no clean like-for-like comparison.

Did you test both tools for this comparison?

No. This comparison is based on official documentation and pricing pages. I tested Piktochart's free plan separately, and those results are in my Piktochart infographic tutorial. I haven't tested Canva for this post.

Romans Mutih Alvuh
Independent software reviewer based in Cameroon. I test creator and business tools hands-on and write up what actually works. More about me