Canva vs Gamma

Canva

• People without design training who build slides from templates
• Teams that make presentations, social posts and video in one tool
• Teachers and students: Canva for Education is free for eligible K-12 users

Gamma

• Turning a topic, notes or an existing file into a first-draft deck
• People who would rather describe changes than arrange slides by hand
• Teams automating deck creation through the API, Zapier, Make or n8n

Canva

• Prices here are in-app purchase amounts from the US App Store listing, which shows several for Canva Pro; prices on Canva's own website may differ.
• Scheduler, Brand Hub, one-click Background Remover and Magic Resize are listed as Canva Pro features, not part of the free account.
• Cloud storage on the free account is 5 GB.
• The download page lists apps for Mac, Windows 10 and later, iOS, Android and Chromebook; no Linux desktop app is listed.

Gamma

• Plus, Pro and Ultra prices are shown only on Gamma's pricing page; its help center gives the Business price, $40 per member per month billed annually.
• Free-plan AI credits do not refresh: accounts start with 400 and earn 200 more per referral. Paid plans get monthly credits, from 1,000 on Plus to 20,000 on Ultra.
• API keys, detailed viewer analytics, password protection and custom domains start at the Pro plan, and Ultra is sold on monthly billing only.
• The mobile apps are in early access, limited to the US and Canada, and edit only through the agent, with no manual editing.

Canva

Presentation templates

Presentations and slideshows start from professionally designed templates, each of which can be adapted to a brand and style.

Presenter notes

Presenter notes can be written with custom AI prompts and track speaking time for each slide.

Magic design tools

Magic Design builds designs from an uploaded image, Magic Edit swaps or adds objects in a picture, Magic Eraser removes them, and Translate converts a design into more than 100 languages.

AI image and video generation

A text-to-image generator creates pictures from a prompt, and Veo 3 generates video clips with sound from a text description.

Real-time collaboration

Team members can work on the same design at once, share it and collect feedback from wherever they are.

Developer platform

The Canva Developers SDK covers apps that run inside the editor, REST APIs for connecting other platforms, and an MCP server that lets AI assistants create, edit and export designs.

Gamma

Generate, paste or import

Three ways to start: generate a draft from a topic, paste existing text for Gamma to lay out, or import a PowerPoint, Word or PDF file or a URL to be restyled.

Agent

The agent asks about goal and audience, shows a plan to approve, then researches, writes, designs and adds images. Changes are requested in plain language in the same chat.

Present mode

Decks are presented full screen or in a tab, with a presenter view for private speaker notes, a spotlight mode that highlights the current block, and a follow link viewers can use to keep pace.

Export and import

Exports to PDF, PNG and PowerPoint, with tables kept editable in PPTX. Imports accept PowerPoint and Word files up to 200 MB and PDFs up to 100 MB.

Sites and custom domains

A gamma can be published as a website. Pro can publish up to 10 multi-page sites to custom domains, and Ultra and Business up to 100.

API and connectors

A REST API, generally available since November 2025, creates gammas from text or templates on Pro and higher plans. ChatGPT, Claude and Slack connectors work on every plan.

Canva

• Canva Free$0

  Templates, a free library of images, video and audio, photo and video editing, real-time collaboration and 5 GB of cloud storage.

• Canva Pro$14.99 to $18.00

  per month on the US App Store; $119.99 to $143.99 per year

  Premium templates and stock media, one-click Background Remover, Magic Resize, Brand Hub and post scheduling. The store lists several amounts for this plan.

• Canva Business$25.00

  per month on the US App Store; seat basis not shown

  Canva's site lists Business alongside its Pro and Enterprise plans. The App Store listing gives a monthly price but not what the plan adds over Pro.

Gamma

Pricing could not be confirmed. See gamma.app.

Canva

• Annual discount

  Yearly Canva Pro costs less than paying monthly

  The US App Store lists Canva Pro at $119.99 to $143.99 per year against $14.99 to $18.00 per month, so a year paid up front is cheaper than 12 monthly payments at any of the listed amounts.

• Education

  Canva for Education free for K-12

  Canva's App Store listing describes Canva for Education, a school- and district-managed version, as free for eligible K-12 teachers and students.

Gamma

• Annual discount

  28% off with annual billing

  Gamma's help center says annual plans include the same monthly credits as monthly subscriptions at a 28% discount. Ultra is offered on monthly billing only.