Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Canva VS Tailwind CSS

Compare Canva VS Tailwind CSS and see what are their differences

Canva logo Canva

Canva is a graphic-design platform with a drag-and-drop interface to create print or visual content while providing templates, images, and fonts. Canva makes graphic design more straightforward and accessible regardless of skill level.

Tailwind CSS logo Tailwind CSS

A utility-first CSS framework for rapidly building custom user interfaces.
  • Canva Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-10

Canva is a web-based design platform allowing users to quickly and easily create stunning visuals. With various templates and tools, businesses can create professional designs for social media posts, presentations, flyers, and more. Canva also allows users to save templates and collaborate with other designers, making it great for teams working together on projects. Not only is Canva easy to use, but it is also affordable, making it an excellent option for businesses on a budget. Use Canva Teams to connect with your team members and work on a project from different locations, making tracking progress and managing deadlines easy. You can also upload and store files, assign tasks, and communicate with each other in one centralized place. With Canva Teams, you can quickly and easily create stunning visually pleasing visuals that effectively communicate the project's message.

  • Tailwind CSS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-13

Canva

Website
canva.com
$ Details
freemium $12.99 / Monthly (Pro)
Release Date
2013 August
Startup details
Country
Australia
City
Sydney
Founder(s)
Mel Perkins, Cliff Obrecht, Cameron Adams
Employees
2,000 - 4,999

Canva features and specs

  • Document Creation
    Writing AI
  • Custom Prints
    Over 30 products to pick from
  • Presentations
    magic shortcuts, animations, recording
  • Websites
    Performance Tracking
  • Video Editor
    One-click video background remover, animations
  • Social Media Content Creation
    Resizing options, content planner
  • Whiteboards
    Flowcharts, planning, and brainstorming
  • HEIC to JPG Converter
    Convert HEIC to JPG to easily share images on any platform or device using Canva's HEIC to JPG converter
  • PDF to JPG Converter
    Convert PDF to JPG to easily share images on any platform or device using Canva's PDF to JPG Converter

Tailwind CSS features and specs

  • Utility-First Approach
    Tailwind CSS uses a utility-first approach, promoting the use of small, reusable utility classes to style elements directly in your markup. This can lead to more readable and maintainable HTML.
  • Customization
    The framework is highly customizable. You can easily configure its default theme, add your extensions, and create custom utilities. Tailwind’s config file allows for deep customization of all aspects of the framework.
  • Consistent Design
    Using utility classes ensures design consistency because the same classes will apply the same styles globally.
  • Responsive Design
    Tailwind CSS has excellent built-in support for responsive design. You can easily apply different styles for different screen sizes using responsive utility variants.
  • Performance
    Tailwind purges unused CSS in production, resulting in smaller final output files and improved performance.
  • Integrates Well with Frameworks
    Tailwind CSS integrates smoothly with modern JavaScript frameworks like React, Vue, and Angular.
  • JIT Compiler
    The Just-in-Time (JIT) mode in Tailwind CSS generates styles on-demand, reducing the development build sizes and speeding up the development process.

Possible disadvantages of Tailwind CSS

  • Steep Learning Curve
    For developers coming from traditional CSS or other CSS frameworks, getting used to Tailwind's utility-first approach may take some time.
  • HTML Congestion
    Due to the utility-first approach, HTML files can get filled with numerous utility classes, making it look cluttered and harder to read.
  • Initial Setup
    Setting up Tailwind CSS initially can be complex, especially for beginners. Configuration settings and integrations with build tools can be confusing.
  • Verbosity
    Some developers find the inline utility classes verbose, particularly when complex styles are required, which can lead to bloated template files.
  • Limited Abstractions
    Tailwind doesn't provide higher-level abstractions such as components out of the box, like other frameworks (e.g., Bootstrap) do. Developers need to build and maintain these abstractions themselves.
  • Dependency Tailoring
    While Tailwind aims to be minimalistic, it may enforce some dependencies or build tool integrations that could be unnecessary for very simple projects.

Canva videos

Canva Review

More videos:

  • Review - Canva Pro | 7 Reasons To Upgrade To Canva Pro

Tailwind CSS videos

Why I Don't Like Tailwind CSS

More videos:

  • Review - Vanilla CSS vs Bootstrap vs Tailwind CSS - Which one should you choose?
  • Review - Get Started with Tailwind CSS in 15 Minutes

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Canva and Tailwind CSS)
Design Tools
56 56%
44% 44
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Graphic Design Software
100 100%
0% 0
Image Editing
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using Canva and Tailwind CSS. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Canva and Tailwind CSS

Canva Reviews

  1. Yansiliang
    · Working at Xspiral ·
    Good

    good

  2. Abizer Izzy
    Best Blog Image Generator

    I consistently use Canva to create featured images for my blog. The free version itself is amazing.

    🏁 Competitors: DesignCap
    👍 Pros:    Free elements|Free templates|Easy logo creation
  3. Arshia Jabbar
    · Marketing intern at PITB Incubation Wing ·
    A app where you make your profile by your own

    User friendly app for beginners, also their features are easy to use, and they have fun features too. Also they have multiple templates whatever you make you have many options. Also they support beginners in start.

    🏁 Competitors: PicMonkey
    👍 Pros:    Variety of graphics|Advanced features
    👎 Cons:    Download music from deezer premium

12 Best Free PosterMyWall Alternatives and Competitors
Canva is a user-friendly tool that helps people create stunning, creative content without any hassle. It’s great for making social site images, posters, videos, websites, and much more. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, Canva can boost your design skills.
Source: mockey.ai
Top 10 Best Animoto Alternatives For Stunning Video Creation
The graphic de­sign king offers more than images now. Canva provide­s video editing capabilities also. Add move­ment to social campaigns. A library of premade vide­o styles awaits within its interface. Making e­ye-catching videos is approachable for all skill le­vels through Canva.
Source: sharetool.net
Top 6 Alternatives to Animoto to Create Videos Online
Are there any Canva alternatives to make an amazing graphic design? Luckily, this post will provide you with the 5 best Canva alternatives. Read this post now!
The 13 Best Free PDF Editors (February 2024)
Unlike most free tools, Canva lets you fully edit text, and you don't need to sign up to do it. Click any text area to change what the text says and to adjust the font type, size, and color. You can also add hyperlinks to text and other objects, and special fonts are available to easily type out your signature.
10 Best AI Background Removers for Flawless Edits in 2023
Canva offers two primary pricing tiers. For the individual, Canva Pro is priced at $14.99 per month or $119.99 for a whole year. Should you need a platform for collaborative work, Canva caters to teams as well. It offers a team package at $29.99 per month - this price covers up to five team members. For an annual option, teams can avail it at $300 per year, good for the...
Source: picofme.io

Tailwind CSS Reviews

  1. Awesome framework

    I use it in all my current projects. It's easy to start and very customisable. Love it so much! I improved the speed of development 2x times by using Tailwind.


22 Best Bootstrap Alternatives & What Each Is Best For
Tailwind CSS comes with features such as responsive design, customizability, hover, focus, and active states out of the box. These enable developers to build sophisticated, interactive interfaces with ease. When it comes to integrations, Tailwind CSS can be integrated with popular front-end frameworks like React, Vue, and Angular, enhancing its utility across different...
Source: thectoclub.com
15 Top Bootstrap Alternatives For Frontend Developers in 2024
If you want to learn the valuable skill of Tailwind CSS, we highly recommend taking the "Tailwind CSS From Scratch" course by Brad Traversy on Udemy. In this introductory course, you will build great-looking layouts quickly and efficiently using Tailwind CSS utility classes.
Source: coursesity.com
10 Best Free React UI Libraries in 2023
TailwindCSS is a utility-first CSS framework designed to build modern and beautiful websites in no time. Here, utility class names define what to do. Each utility class comes with pre-defined CSS properties.
11 Best Material UI Alternatives
Tailwind CSS promotes a modular approach to styling, where devs can combine classes to create unique and responsive designs. It offers utilities for layout, typography, colors, spacing, and more, allowing developers to create consistent and visually appealing interfaces with minimal effort.
Source: www.uxpin.com
Top 10 Best CSS Frameworks for Front-End Developers in 2022
Tailwind enables faster development of the front-end. Instead of a default theme or built-in UI components, you’d get pre-designed widget menus and utility classes to build your website. Tailwind has modular components, and if you make changes in one place, other parts of your code won’t get impacted. Tailwind requires the least amount of learning and is easy to use. You can...
Source: hackr.io

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Tailwind CSS should be more popular than Canva. It has been mentiond 1015 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Canva mentions (226)

  • Here's how to build a Canva like UI using Reactjs
    Chances are, you’ve used Canva — maybe to whip up a poster, design an Instagram story, or create something that just looks good without breaking being a professional designer. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • The Best 100 Free UI/UX Resources for Every Designer & Developer
    Canva Canva.com Drag-and-drop design platform with free templates for social media, presentations, and more. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • CSS is Emotional: z-index and the Hierarchy of Needs
    Imagine shuffling papers on a desk. Even though the desk is flat, papers stack in layers—some on top, others below. That's exactly what z-index does on websites. If you're familiar with tools like Canva, PowerPoint, Photoshop, or Figma, you know this feature as "Send to Back" or more accurately, "Arrange" or "Position". - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • My tech stack for startups in 2025
    I'm continuing to use Adobe's Creative Cloud. Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere Pro are tools that I already know my way around so I'm keeping those close. I know that many people love how quick and easy it is to get something done with tools like Canva or Figma. I think whatever you are comfortable with and enables you to move fast you should keep using. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • How I promoted my open source repo to 6k stars in 6 months
    Now, I’m not a designer, so for the promo images I just used Canva templates to create the promotional images in a style that seemed to fit. I think they came out good enough. What I was mostly going for was consistency. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
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Tailwind CSS mentions (1015)

  • How to add markdown to a Next.js project
    This article assumes the reader is a developer that knows their way around Markdown, TypeScript, React.js, and [Next.js] https://nextjs.org/). Familiarity with Tailwind-css would also be useful. - Source: dev.to / 6 days ago
  • SonicScan - A Music Fingerprinting and Identification App
    Then I learned Tauri and used my favourite frontend framework SolidJS with TailwindCSS and DaisyUI to build the UI with MotionOne to add animations and Tauri to build the desktop/web/android/ios app. - Source: dev.to / 8 days ago
  • Top 5 Free React UI Libraries to Use in 2025
    Shadcn/ui contains a set of beautifully designed and accessible components, and it works seamlessly with major React frameworks. It’s open-source and has amassed 85.5k (and counting) GitHub stars. It’s built on the shoulders of giants — Radix UI and Tailwind CSS, making it one of the best to work with. Unlike many other UI libraries, the components are not just installed as npm modules, they’re downloaded into... - Source: dev.to / 29 days ago
  • Tailwind vs Linaria: Performance Investigation
    We're going to investigate the difference in performance between Tailwind and Linaria. Tailwind, you already know. And Linaria has been getting quite a lot of traction since styled components went into maintenance mode recently. We'll cover why Linaria is a good choice for this comparison a bit further. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • How to Integrate Tailwind with 11ty – With Code Examples
    It is a well-known fact that Tailwind CSS is a utility-first CSS framework. It lets you style elements directly within your HTML, thanks to pre-defined classes. Unlike other CSS frameworks that offer pre-built components, Tailwind offers these low-level utility classes that let you create your own design system. Thus, this makes crafting unique responsive designs effortless as there is not much to do with custom CSS. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Canva and Tailwind CSS, you can also consider the following products

Piktochart - Piktochart for Business Storytelling

Bootstrap - Simple and flexible HTML, CSS, and JS for popular UI components and interactions

PicMonkey - PicMonkey is a feature-rich online photo editor that works right in your browser; no downloads...

Bulma - Bulma is an open source CSS framework based on Flexbox and built with Sass. It's 100% responsive, fully modular, and available for free.

Adobe Photoshop - Adobe Photoshop is a webtop application for editing images and photos online.

React - A JavaScript library for building user interfaces