If you’ve read my latest blog traffic and income report, you know that every month for about a year, I’ve been paying for Canva for Work.  Using this resource, I created some pretty Pinterest perfect images quickly and easily, like this lil’ baby and this one right here.  But, dear friends, I have something to tell ya.  Me and Canva?  We’re through.  Kaput, finito, over.  Don’t you worry about me, though.  I’m moving along to something bettah: Photoshop.  Canva versus Photoshop?  Sorry, Canva for Work.  Photoshop wins, hands down!  Keep on reading for the 3 surprising reasons I dumped Canva for Work and moved along into the arms of Photoshop.  (And as a very polite heads up, I like Photoshop so much I tagged some links with affiliate posts so you can jump to the site to learn more.  #score!)

Canva Versus Photoshop Switch Reason #1: I wanted to pay less.

Hold onto your feet, folks, ’cause this might knock your socks off: Photoshop is about 20% cheaper than Canva for Work per month.  I was actually really surprised by this!  Canva for Work currently costs $12.95 per month, while Photoshop costs $9.99 per month.  (Plus, Photoshop has a sweet free 7 day trial if you want to test it out.)  Funny enough, I guess I just assumed that Photoshop would cost more because it’s world class software.  Who knew?

Now, before I get too far ahead of myself, I should mention that there’s a really free and awesome version of Canva.  About three months into blogging, though, I decided to upgrade from the free version to the paid version for one very important reason: this little button in the top left that says resize.

At the time, creating graphics for social media was eating up ALL my free time.  I’d create one amazing graphic for Pinterest, then realize that if I wanted to share it on Facebook or Instagram, I’d need to use totally different dimensions.  The resize button quickly adjusted the size of my images so I could share them across platforms without being all wonky.  Plus, I had my brand’s colors and fonts saved in my Canva for Work account, so creating images was easy peasy … right?  Um, no, keep on reading.

Canva Versus Photoshop Switch Reason #2: I wanted greater functionality resizing images.

I learned that the magic resize button really didn’t help a ton.  Sometimes it did, but often it didn’t.  How does the resize button work?  It scales your image down so that the largest side of original images is adjusted to fit the new size.

Trouble occurs, though, when creating an image that’s big and vertical and shifting to dimensions that are small and horizontal.  Like if you create a pin in Pinterest and want to make it work in Twitter. 

Canva versus Photoshop Switch Reason #3: I wanted to edit my photos while I was designing my social posts.

In Canva, you’re able to create some ah-mazing designs either with templates or own your own.  And you can use their stock photos or upload your own photos to their site.  But unless you take magazine quality pics right out of your camera (ahem, which I do NOT), you’re going to want to edit your pics.  Now, Canva does have minimal editing tools available on their interface.  Truth be told, though, I really didn’t like using them.  I found the controls to be far too heavy-handed (like, WHOA filters, even when adjusted down).

Even more annoying, the tool windows would get in the way so I couldn’t preview the images as I tried to make changes.   See what I mean above?  Why would the tool window go there?  WHY?

In Photoshop, I can edit my photos and design my social posts easily.  And I love, love, love the power that I have to really edit photos. 

Now I’m not saying that Canva claims to be a photo editing program.  But having the ability to edit photos while designing social posts has made my workflow a lot smoother.  That’s particularly true now that I’m making awesome images with transparent backgrounds, like this one.  When using Canva for Work, I’d first have to take the backgrounds out with another program then upload them into Canva for Work.  With Photoshop, it’s easy to do both steps more efficiently.  (Want to know how?  Leave a comment below.)

So yep, it’s official.  I’ve made the switch over to Photoshop and am excited to share with you tutorials and explanations of all the cool things I’m learning to do with the program.  Also, if you want to try it fo’ free, they have a great week-long trial period that you can nab by clicking over here.