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Ask HN: What open-source alternative is there for Canva?

26 points by nathan_tarbert ↗ HN
I'm a power Canva user but I have a passion for open-source and just like buying local, I try to use open-source whenever I can.

Is there anything out there that stands up to Canva as an alternative?

Thanks in advance!

18 comments

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stevenicr
I am always looking non-subscription options for similar..

playing with affinty designer, similar.. eyeing luminero neo?

Appreciating self hosting AI gen..

Microsoft Designer is really making me happy - but I worry they will subscription paywall it eventually - I would pay a one time fee.

Someone has to have list non-subscription alternatives to all the things.. like photoshop alternatives you can own..

nathan_tarbert
Have you looked at photopea.com for a Photoshop alternative?

It's browser-based and they have a decent free version.

Wish it was open-sourced

stevenicr
yes, and I've used it a good bit the past 6 months. I've almost paid for the premium version several times - but it's subscription to rent online without ads, not pay and own.

I prefer pay and own offline, (no faith in anything cloud being accessible forever).

The learning curve has been steeper with affinity designer and photo - but I feel more secure knowing it will work day after day, no subscription, no internet required.

Much to like about photopea - couldn't stand that video ads would keep running even if I had left that tab/window and been in other tabs for hours - and they have an adblocker-blocker that says you can't use without ads (or paying for premium, which I totally would if it could work offline)

I do think it's good to know how to use, and there are good tutorials for pea and affinity (And corel) on youtube.. so it's a nice tool to know and use in a pinch, best if you save and close the window - which is not my normal method of operation.

nathan_tarbert
I totally understand. There are limitations with the browser-based tool like it being laggy depending on the size of the file and the ads are annoying but it gets the job done in most cases without making a big spend buying photoshop.
xet7
For drawing arrows, I use drawing toolbar of LibreOffice Writer.

For vector graphics, and converting bitmap to vectors, I use Inkscape.

For flowcharts, I use Dia.

For bitmap graphics, I use Gimp, use it for crop and prettifying old photos.

I use OpenClipart SVG images, when I need some image that is already made.

kidfiji
Not necessarily like Canva, but more similar to Figma is Penpot, if it may interest you:

https://penpot.app/

nathan_tarbert
Sorry for the delayed response @kidfiji Nice suggestion! Thanks
evolve2k
Id say Inkscape and Penpot are the closest but none of these (by design) include a big template gallery which is maybe part of your consideration.

On the template gallery you could use an open source chat-gpt like tool to create svgs for you and then load them into the above. Eg “Make an SVG of a smiley face”

mrangle
So, you want something that is equivalent to paid Canva. Not just free Canva.

I suppose that would depend on how you use Canva.

I use it for rapid iterating. I haven't found anything that matches Canva for that. If you just need an editor then there are a variety of alternatives, like Inkscape.

I only found it necessary to pay for Canva once I needed to upload fonts.

nathan_tarbert
Yes @mrangle I'm looking for the equivalent of Canva and I don't mind paying for it. I'm already paying for Canva pro but would prefer an open-source alternative.

I use Canva for website images, GIF creation, blog cover art etc.

brtkdotse
The biggest selling point with Canva is it's myriad of templates. I doubt you're going to find that in a open-source alternative.