Sketch is a professional vector design tool built for UI/UX designers with advanced prototyping capabilities, while Canva is a user-friendly graphic design platform for non-designers to create social media, marketing, and print materials quickly. Sketch costs $120/year for professionals; Canva offers a freemium model starting at $0, scaling to $180/year for premium features.
Sketch vs Canva — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Choose Sketch if you're a UI/UX designer or product team needing professional-grade vector design, advanced prototyping, and robust team collaboration with lower annual cost. Choose Canva if you're a small business owner, marketer, or content creator who needs to produce polished graphics fast without design expertise, with access to massive template libraries.
Mac-native design tool specializing in UI/UX design with robust plugin support.
Web-based design platform with drag-and-drop templates for non-designers to create marketing materials.
Structured comparison data for Sketch vs Canva with 211 attributes.
Cloud Storage Included (Free Plan/Trial)
Market Share Among UI/UX Designers (2024)
Monthly Subscription Cost (Professional Plan)
Market Share Among Professional Designers
Performance on Large Files (100+ Artboards)
Sketch vs Canva — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Sketch vs Canva.
Sketch is Mac-only for the desktop application. A web version exists but has significantly limited features. Windows users typically switch to Figma or Adobe XD instead.
Is Canva good for professional UI design?
Canva is not designed for professional UI/UX work. It lacks advanced vector tools, prototyping, and design system features that UI designers need. Use Canva for marketing graphics, social media, and presentations; use Sketch for product design.
Which tool has better team collaboration?
Sketch offers superior team collaboration with real-time multiplayer editing, live cursors, and detailed change history. Canva's collaboration is more limited, with share links and restricted editing permissions. For design teams, Sketch is the stronger choice.
How much do Sketch and Canva cost for teams?
Sketch costs $120/year per user (or $10/month billed annually). Canva Pro is $180/year, and Canva for Teams starts at $300/year for up to 5 team members. For larger teams, both offer custom enterprise pricing.
Canva supports basic animations (entrance effects, transitions) for presentations and videos, but these are pre-built animations applied to elements. Interactive prototyping with custom animations is only available in Sketch for UI design.