Photoroom vs Canva: which tool fits your editing needs?

When it comes to choosing the right design tool for marketing assets, there are many options for business owners and e-commerce sellers. Two popular platforms in this space are Photoroom and Canva. They are both very popular and have many features tailored to different types of users to streamline design processes.

Canva has built a reputation as an all-in-one design platform, providing everything from videos to websites for individuals and teams. Photoroom, on the other hand, specializes in AI-driven image editing in many forms, from removing and changing backgrounds to expanding images with AI to help users create polished professional images with speed and precision.

As someone who uses both every day, I will be comparing both tools in this article. I will break down and compare their features, their pricing (what you get for what you pay), the ease of use, and of course, when to use both.

If you have been struggling with choosing which one is right for you, this article can help you make a more informed decision.

Photoroom vs. Canva: What are these tools and who are they for?

While both Photoroom and Canva are powerful in their own right, they serve different purposes and cater to different types of users.

What is Photoroom?

Photoroom is a specialized design tool, primarily focused on AI-powered image editing. While Canva is a general-purpose design platform, Photoroom was built with AI at its core, with a more focused and efficient experience for users who need specific photo editing tasks done quickly. This simplicity and focus make it an ideal tool for anyone who wants to quickly produce high-quality images without having to navigate a full suite of design tools.

It is designed to help users create professional-quality images without the need for a complex design process. Its standout feature is its highly accurate background removal, which is especially useful for e-commerce sellers, marketers, and content creators who need clean, polished images of products or people. Photoroom is available on mobile and PC.

Who is Photoroom for?

Photoroom is for individuals and small teams that require fast, easy-to-use tools specifically for photo manipulation, and that includes: 

• E-commerce sellers: If you are an online seller on platforms like Amazon, Etsy, or Shopify, creating professional product images is crucial. Photoroom has AI tools for e-commerce sellers to remove backgrounds, enhance lighting, and create clean, marketplace-ready photos in minutes.

• Social media influencers and content creators: Content creation on social media requires creating multiple high-quality images as fast as possible. Photoroom’s ease of use makes it perfect for content creators and influencers who need to remove cluttered backgrounds from their photos, add branding, or enhance their images without spending hours using complicated editing software. 

• Small business owners: Many small businesses, especially those selling physical goods, use Photoroom to create professional-looking product images. They can remove busy or inconsistent backgrounds from their product shots to create a more polished, professional look for their online stores or catalogs.

• Product photographers: For product photographers who need to isolate subjects and adjust backgrounds for portfolio work or client deliverables, Photoroom simplifies the process, allowing for fast, clean edits without compromising on quality.

• Makers: Makers use Photoroom to remove backgrounds from photos of their paintings, sculptures, jewelry, or other crafts, placing them on white or complementary backgrounds to highlight the work itself. For those who sell at craft fairs or art shows, Photoroom can help create attractive promotional materials. Artists can edit photos of their work for use in banners, price tags, or informational displays.

What is Canva?

Canva is an all-in-one design platform that caters to individuals, businesses, educators, and marketers. Its primary appeal is in its user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface and its extensive library of customizable templates for presentations, social media posts, flyers, posters, logos, and more. Unlike Photoroom, Canva is not centralized around AI but has some AI features. It is also available on mobile and web.

Who is Canva for?

• Entrepreneurs: Canva is an invaluable tool for entrepreneurs who need to create professional-looking marketing materials without the budget for a professional designer. They use Canva to design logos, business cards, flyers, social media posts, and even simple websites. The platform's templates and intuitive interface allow these users to maintain a consistent brand identity across various materials.

• Marketing professionals: Marketers in companies of all sizes use Canva to quickly create social media graphics, infographics, presentation slides, and other visual content. The platform's collaboration features make it easy for marketing teams to work together on campaigns, maintain brand consistency, and produce high-volume content efficiently.

• Educators and Students: Teachers often use Canva to create engaging educational materials like posters, worksheets, and presentations. Students, from elementary to university level, use it for school projects, presentations, and even to design resumes. The education-specific templates and ease of use make it accessible to users of all ages.

• Agencies: Agencies use Canva for a variety of purposes, including creating pitch decks, developing social media content, designing marketing collateral, and producing quick mockups for client presentations. The platform's collaboration features are particularly valuable, allowing agency teams to work together seamlessly on projects and easily share designs with clients for feedback.

Key differences between Canva and Photoroom

There are multiple ways in which Canva and Photoroom are different:

Primary focus: Photoroom’s primary focus is photo editing and manipulation using AI, specifically for product photography. On the other hand, Canva’s primary focus is versatility. It offers users the ability to design virtually any type of visual content they might need for personal or professional use.

User base: Photoroom has a specialized user base centered around product photography. It's particularly popular among e-commerce sellers on platforms like Etsy, eBay, and Amazon, who need to create consistent, professional-looking product images quickly and easily. Canva's user base, by contrast, is very diverse, from individual hobbyists to large corporate teams. Its intuitive interface and wide range of features make it accessible to users with varying levels of design experience. A lot of small teams are switching from Canva to Photoroom because it has features that are more specific to their needs. 

Ease of use: Canva has built its reputation largely on its user-friendly interface and intuitive design process. It uses a drag-and-drop interface that allows users to place and manipulate elements within their designs easily. Photoroom takes a different approach to user-friendliness, focusing on simplifying complex photo editing tasks through AI automation. The app's interface is focused on efficient editing, with a workflow designed around its core functions like background removal and replacement.

Platform availability: Canva’s main platform is a full-featured web application accessible from any modern web browser. There are also mobile apps for both iOS and Android devices, which offer most of the functionality of the desktop version. The mobile apps are quite hard to navigate especially if you don’t know all the features of the web app. There are also desktop apps for Windows and macOS users. 

Photoroom, in contrast, has focused primarily on the mobile experience, with its main offerings being apps for iOS and Android devices. This mobile-first approach aligns well with the needs of many of its core users, such as e-commerce sellers and social media content creators, who often need to edit photos quickly while on the move. Photoroom does offer a desktop version as well.

Photoroom feature breakdown

Photoroom offers a suite of AI-powered tools designed to simplify image creation without compromising quality.

Smart templates

Photoroom's templates are pre-designed layouts for various purposes, categorized to make it easy for users to find what they need. These templates are highly customizable and cover a wide range of use cases. Photoroom keeps its template offerings current by including seasonal categories like Fall Fashion, Halloween, and Black Friday. There's also a "Trending" category to highlight popular designs. 

The templates also cater to various industries and use cases, such as e-commerce (Etsy, eBay, Amazon, Minimal Shop), social media (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Dating Profile, Profile Pics), and marketing (Magazine Covers, Professional Product Imagery). You can use the search bar to find the templates you need. Once a template is selected, you can replace placeholder images and text with your own content. 

Background Removal

Photoroom is globally known for its Remove Background feature, especially because of how highly accurate it is with multiple subjects. This feature allows you to isolate the subject of any photo by removing the background with just one tap. It’s perfect for creating product images, headshots, or assets for social media without dealing with complex editing software.

All you have to do is upload the image into the app. Photoroom's AI analyzes the picture and automatically detects the main subject, removing the surrounding background. The precision of this feature ensures clean edges around the subject, even with complex details like hair or fine objects.

AI Backgrounds

Photoroom's AI Backgrounds tool allows you to generate highly realistic and professional backgrounds for any subject, replacing ordinary or cluttered settings with visually appealing environments. This is fantastic if you want your products or portraits to pop without needing a photo studio. 

It’s a personal favorite because I like how themed the AI-generated backgrounds are. There are florals, marbles, tropics, beaches, tabletops, and much more. And if you don’t like any of the generated backgrounds, you can write specific AI prompts to generate background images. You can also upload an image to “inspire” the AI algorithm for what you want.

AI Images

The AI Images tool is very helpful for those looking to create visuals from scratch. By simply typing in a text description, you can generate high-quality images that fit your needs. It helps reduce the hassle of finding the right stock photo (we’ve all been down this painful road) or setting up a photoshoot.

Simply describe the scene you want to create e.g., "a cozy coffee shop with plants and natural lighting" (check out the result in the image below). The tool processes the prompt and generates an image that matches the description. You can adjust the image by adding or removing elements, changing colors, or refining the composition to suit your brand.

AI-generated image of a cozy coffee shop with plants and natural lighting using Photoroom

AI Retouch

Photoroom’s AI Retouch tool is like having your personal digital clean-up assistant. It allows you to remove unwanted objects, imperfections, or distractions from images, ensuring that the subject remains the focus. This makes it easy to fix blemishes, especially when you don’t want to change the background, and still have perfect visuals.  

Once you upload the image you want to retouch, all you have to do is use your fingertips to brush over the areas you want to remove and Photoroom AI will erase it. It will then intelligently fill the erased area with new pixels that blend seamlessly with the rest of the image. 

Multiple AI tools

As Photoroom is an AI-powered platform, there are several AI tools to simplify image editing, automate the parts that usually cause headaches, and give you professional results at the end. Here are some of them:

• AI Expand: It lets you make bigger images by simply expanding your current image. As you expand your image, the AI adds new image pixels that blend perfectly with the existing one.

• AI Fill: It allows you to add specific details to your image that blend naturally using simple text descriptions. 

• AI Shadows: It adds realistic shadows to objects or subjects, making them appear more natural and grounded in their setting.

• AI Upscale: This enhances image resolution, making low-quality images appear sharp and professional. It’s especially useful when working with smaller images or those that have been compressed.

Batch Mode

Batch Mode in Photoroom is a feature that allows users to edit multiple images simultaneously, applying the same modifications across an entire batch. Instead of having to process images one by one, users can select a group of images and let Photoroom’s AI handle the adjustments in bulk. This can include tasks like removing backgrounds, resizing, adding shadows, or even applying specific background styles.

It’s especially valuable for e-commerce sellers who often need to upload dozens or even hundreds of product images that require uniformity and a polished, professional appearance. You can batch edit up to 50 images at once. Simply select a batch of images, and choose the desired edits (e.g., background removal, resizing). Photoroom’s AI will apply these changes to all images in the set, saving you significant time and effort.

P.S.: For larger businesses working with thousands of images, Photoroom API is a much better option for batch processing.

“We tried the Photoroom API, and it was just a much smoother experience. It allowed us to launch in a much shorter time, and we scaled from having one catalog advertised to having seven different catalogs being done all at once, on TikTok, Facebook, and Pinterest." - Hamza Abdou, Customer Success Manager at Smartly

Canva feature breakdown 

Canva has a wide range of features that cater to designers and non-designers alike, and they can be quite overwhelming. These are the ones you should know about to help you decide if Canva is what you need:

Design Templates

Canva's Design Templates are pre-made design layouts that users can customize to fit their needs. There are millions of templates available and they are divided into seven main categories: Business, Social Media, Education, Video, Marketing, Print products, Cards, and invitations.

Users can take a template and customize every aspect of it. This includes changing the colors, fonts, images, and layout. Canva also allows users to add additional elements like icons, charts, and illustrations to personalize templates further using the drag-and-drop editor. 

One thing I like about Canva is that it allows professional designers to design and share templates. So, the template library is always growing and it is never outdated as far as design trends go. Although, it’s important to know that free templates are not allowed for commercial use. 

Elements library

Canva’s Elements Library is a collection of over 100 million design assets, including photos, illustrations, icons, graphics, shapes, and more. It acts as a resource bank where users can find design elements to enhance their projects. Some elements are free, but a lot of the really good ones need a premium subscription.

The library has millions of high-quality stock photos and videos, covering a wide range of topics, from nature and lifestyle to business and technology. It also includes various shapes, lines, illustrations, and icons that can be used to represent ideas, add flair to presentations, or visually communicate information. These can be customized in terms of color, size, and positioning.

One standout feature in Canva’s Elements library is that it includes built-in tools for creating data tables, pie charts, bar graphs, and other visual data representations. Users can input their data, and Canva will generate the corresponding graph, which can then be customized to match the design. 

Brand Kits

The Brand Kit in Canva is a feature designed to help businesses maintain visual consistency across all their designs. It’s particularly useful for teams that need to stick to specific brand guidelines, such as using the correct fonts, colors, and logos across all marketing materials, presentations, and social media posts.

Users can upload and save their brand’s official logos, custom fonts, and color codes (HEX, RGB, etc.) within the Brand Kit. This makes it easy to apply brand colors to any design without needing to manually input the codes each time and ensures that every piece of content aligns with the brand's image. Canva Pro and Enterprise users can also create brand templates within the Brand Kit. These templates ensure that team members always use the right design framework when creating new content. This is especially useful for social media posts, email headers, and other recurring design needs.

Magic Studio

Canva’s Magic Studio is a collection of AI-powered features that they recently introduced to make designing easier by automating certain tasks. A lot of the features in the Magic Studio are available only to premium subscribers, except Magic Write which helps users create content drafts for their designs. 

The key Magic Studio features are:

• Magic Resize:  to adapt a design to different dimensions with a single click. For instance, if you create an Instagram post but need to turn it into a Facebook banner or a Twitter post, Magic Resize automatically resizes the design, adjusting elements to fit the new layout. 

• Background Remover: to automatically remove the background from images or make a background transparent.

• Magic Media: to create AI-generated videos, images, and graphics using text prompts

• Magic Animate: to automatically apply transitions and animations to your design elements for a better presentation.

• Highlights: to generate quick clips from your footage when editing videos in Canva. 

Others include Magic Expand, Magic Grab, and Magic Eraser for automating image editing processes. It’s important to note though that a lot of these features are still very experimental and are not very accurate. See this example with Magic Media using the same prompt I used with Photoroom. The tables and chairs are distorted and not neatly arranged like in Photoroom’s.

AI-generated image of a cozy coffee shop with plants and natural lighting using Canva

Canva Print

While Canva is predominantly a digital platform, it also offers printing services. Users can create designs and have them professionally printed and delivered directly to their door. This service provides professional printing options for a wide variety of products, such as business cards, posters, invitations, flyers, and more. Once a design is finalized, you can select the “Print” option and be guided through a straightforward process that includes choosing the product type, size, finish, and quantity. Canva Print handles everything from production to shipping.

Canva Print offers shipping to various countries, making it accessible to users worldwide. Shipping options may vary based on location, but the platform ensures that users get their orders within a reasonable time frame. 

When should you use Canva or Photoroom?

While Canva has established itself as a comprehensive design platform for virtually any project, Photoroom has focused on delivering high-quality, purpose-driven tools, specifically excelling in image editing for e-commerce sellers, content creators, and marketers. I will highlight some common use cases here to help you decide which of these tools you need based on the scenario you mostly find yourself in.

Creating product photos for an e-commerce store - Photoroom

Imagine you own a small online boutique selling handmade jewelry. You also list your products on platforms like Etsy so your images need to stand out in a crowded marketplace like Etsy. You've taken some photos of your latest collection, but the backgrounds are cluttered, making your products look unprofessional. You want crisp, clean product images that draw attention to the jewelry, without distractions. You also need to edit images quickly and consistently to match platform standards and don’t want to constantly crop images manually to match the sizing requirement for all the platforms you post your product on. 

In this scenario, you need Photoroom, and here’s why:

• With Photoroom’s powerful AI background removal, you can remove messy backgrounds in seconds. The app will detect the outline of your jewelry and cut it out cleanly.

• After removing the background, you can add a neutral color, gradient, or a simple, elegant background that complements your brand aesthetic. You can choose from Photoroom’s themed backgrounds like florals, wood, tropical, etc.

• You can select a platform-specific sizing and Photoroom automatically crops your images to match the platform size requirement. 

• You can adjust the lighting and add realistic shadows in Photoroom to make your jewelry appear more three-dimensional and visually appealing.

• You can apply these changes to up to 50 images at once using Batch mode so the design is consistent and cohesive. 

In minutes, you will have high-quality product images that highlight the beauty of your jewelry and look professional and cohesive across your website and social media platforms.

Designing multiple marketing campaign materials - Canva

Imagine you are a marketing manager for a small health and wellness brand, launching a new line of supplements. You need to create a complete suite of promotional materials: social media posts, email headers, print flyers, a landing page, and even some presentation decks for upcoming meetings with partners. You want everything to follow a cohesive brand aesthetic across multiple platforms and formats.

In this situation, Canva is a better choice for you, and here’s why:

• Canva’s Brand Kit feature allows you to customize their templates with your brand colors, fonts, and logos to achieve cohesiveness across all the design materials for the marketing campaign.

• Since you're coordinating with a team, Canva allows for easy collaboration. You can share designs, get feedback, and even assign tasks to team members directly on the platform. This makes it easier to stay aligned with your marketing team or external partners, who may need to access and modify designs in real-time.

• For your social media channels, you can use Canva’s built-in video tools to create promotional videos or animations that highlight your new product. This includes adding transitions, text overlays, and music to create compelling, professional-looking video ads without requiring dedicated video editing software.

• Canva also provides print templates, allowing you to design professional flyers, brochures, or business cards for distribution at physical events or health expos. Canva will even manage the printing process for you, delivering high-quality printed materials directly to your door.

Creating UGC/sponsored posts as an influencer - Photoroom

You’re a skincare influencer who regularly posts on Instagram and TikTok. You need high-quality, clean images to showcase the latest products from your sponsors. However, you don’t have access to a professional photography studio, and most of your photos are taken on the go. What you need is an easy, fast way to clean up your photos and remove distracting backgrounds without spending hours in front of complex design software.

Photoroom lets you remove the background from any image in seconds. Whether you’re at home or out in a busy city, you can remove the background clutter, leaving just the product. You can replace it with a neutral backdrop or a themed background matching the sponsor’s style. With Photoroom, you can ensure all your images share a uniform look, whether it's using the same background, shadowing, or lighting settings. This keeps your feed looking cohesive and professional.

Designing a business presentation or proposal - Canva

Let’s say you’re a startup founder preparing for a major pitch to investors. You need to design a visually compelling presentation that clearly communicates your business model, market research, and growth potential. Beyond that, you also need to create a logo and some basic branding elements for your startup’s website and social media pages.

You can probably already guess that Canva is your ideal choice for this. Canva has a lot of professional presentation and proposal templates that you can easily plug your content into. The templates are properly structured to help you arrange your talking points properly. They can also be customized to match your brand’s colors and fonts. 

They also come with pre-designed slides for charts, infographics, timelines, and other business essentials, which are very useful when presenting data in meetings. You can display financial forecasts, market trends, and growth strategies in a visually appealing way, without needing advanced design skills.

Photo shoot for a product launch in your small business - Photoroom

Let’s assume you’re the owner of a small organic skincare brand that sells handmade soaps, lotions, and essential oils. You want to launch a new product line and you need professional-looking product photos for your website, social media ads, and promotional materials. However, hiring a professional photographer is beyond your budget, and you need a way to edit product photos quickly without spending hours on each image.

As a small business owner, you might not have a dedicated studio space for product photography. But, you can take pictures in your home or workspace and still get clean, professional images that focus solely on your products. Photoroom allows you to replace your product photos with a consistent, branded backdrop that suits your product's aesthetic. For instance, if you want to convey a natural, organic feel, you can add backgrounds with earthy textures like wood, bamboo, or neutral, soft colors. 

You can also create mockups to show how your lotion bottles would look on a bathroom counter or how your soap bars appear in a gift basket. These images will give you a consistent and professional look across your website, social media, and promotional materials.

How much is Photoroom and what do you get per plan?

Photoroom has four different pricing plans with weekly, monthly, or yearly subscriptions: Free, Pro, Teams, and Enterprise. With the yearly plan, you can save 47% compared to the monthly and weekly subscriptions. As I mentioned earlier, Photoroom has an API for large-scale image processing. There are three pricing plans for the API: Basic, Plus, and Enterprise. To use the API, you need a minimum of 1,000 images.

• Photoroom Free: Starting an account in Photoroom costs nothing, and as a new user, you are automatically on the free plan. The free plan gives you access to Photoroom’s background removal and you can save up to 250 photos without watermarks. However, the free plan does not give you access to the other AI tools. You also cannot batch-edit pictures or save your photos in higher resolutions.

• Photoroom Pro: The Photoroom Pro plan costs $4.99/week or $12.99/month. If you want to pay annually, it costs $89.99/year. The Pro plan gives you access to all of Photoroom’s AI tools. You can also batch edit up to 50 images at once and export them in high resolutions.

• Photoroom Teams: Photoroom also has a Teams plan that costs €69.99 per year. It gives you access to 3 seats, meaning you and two other people can use Photoroom’s pro features with team templates and collaborate on designs together. Soon, you’ll be able to create your brand kit as well. Adding more users to the team will cost an extra $69.99/year each. If you already have a Pro plan, you can convert it into a team plan by creating a team in your Photoroom app. You'll get 2 additional seats for free.

• Photoroom Enterprise: This is custom pricing for large organizations needing multiple access outside of the usual plans.

For users who need Photoroom’s API, there are different pricing plans. Photoroom API Basic costs $0.02/image (2 cents) and you need a minimum of 1,000 images to start with. So the API Basic costs a minimum of $20/month. This plan gives you access to the Remove Background API that allows you to remove and color backgrounds, and also crop or resize multiple images at once.

The Photoroom API Plus costs $0.10/image (10 cents). You also need a minimum of 1,000 images so the plan costs a minimum of $100/month. This plan gives you access to both the Remove Background API and the Image Editing API for AI Backgrounds, AI Shadows, and other GenAI capabilities. The Photoroom API Enterprise is a custom pricing plan that requires an annual commitment and 100,000 images minimum.

How much is Canva and what do you get per plan?

Canva has four different pricing plans with monthly or yearly subscriptions: Canva Free, Canva Pro, Canva Teams, and Canva Enterprise. The yearly subscriptions allow you to save a minimum of 16% compared to monthly subscriptions. They also have specialized free plans for K-12 education and nonprofits. 

• Canva Free: Setting up a free Canva account comes with some restrictions. With the free account, you get access to 5GB cloud storage, 1 million templates, 1000+ design types, Canva Print, limited AI generation, and 3 million stock photos, videos, and graphics. You cannot access a lot of other things such as Brand Kits, premium templates, license to use audio, any of the Magic Tools, and no online customer support.

• Canva Pro: Canva’s Pro plan costs $15/month or $120 if you want to pay yearly. This plan gives you access to all of Canva’s templates, about 5 million of them. You also get access to Canva’s Magic Tools (their AI features) and over 100 million media files including photos, videos, graphics, and audio. You can also use the content planner to schedule designs across your social media platforms.

• Canva Teams: The Teams plan costs $100/year per person and you need a minimum of three users to form a team on Canva. So if you are considering Canva Teams, you need a minimum of $300 to start with. The Teams plan gives you access to everything in Canva Pro alongside team reports and admin controls.

• Canva Enterprise: Canva Enterprise is a custom pricing plan that provides large businesses with tools to manage design processes.

Canva also has special pricing plans such as Canva for Nonprofits to grant Pro access to eligible nonprofit organizations, and Canva for Education that provides access for teachers and students to premium features with specialized features like integrations with learning management systems, safe-for-school content, district-wide accessibility, etc.

Which is better, Canva or Photoroom?

The question of whether Canva or Photoroom is "better" isn't straightforward, as they are different tools designed for different purposes. Canva excels as a versatile graphic design platform for creating a wide range of visual content, while Photoroom specializes in photo editing, particularly background removal and manipulation.

However, for users who need quick, professional-looking photo edits without blowing your budget, Photoroom's specialized features can make a significant difference in efficiency and output quality. You don’t have to compromise efficiency for quality and vice versa. Its mobile-first approach also means you can create and edit stunning images wherever you are, without being tied to a desk.

If you're looking to streamline your photo editing process with Photoroom, start by downloading the mobile app on Google Play or the App Store, or create a free account on the web app to get started.

Photoroom vs. Canva FAQs

Can I use both Photoroom and Canva together?

Yes, you can absolutely use both platforms together. For instance, you might use Photoroom to quickly edit product photos by removing backgrounds and enhancing images, and then use Canva to incorporate those images into broader design projects, such as social media posts, presentations, or marketing materials.

Is Photoroom only for background removal?

No, while Photoroom is best known for its highly accurate background removal feature, it also offers a variety of other tools for editing and enhancing images. This includes features like background replacement, adding shadows, adjusting colors, and applying effects.

Which platform is better for beginners, Canva or Photoroom?

Both Canva and Photoroom are beginner-friendly, but they serve different needs. However, there are a lot more elements to learn in Canva than Photoroom and that can take a while to get used to.