Free Infographic Tools: Canva vs. Infogram

Who's up for a showdown? It's Canva vs. Infogram in this matchup of free infographics tools.

Of course, we take pride in custom-made infographics here at Lemonly. Strong content and strong design go hand-in-hand to comprise visuals that garner results, like generating leads, informing stakeholders, or meeting whichever specific goals your company sets.

But we know that not every project needs the artisanal touch. Perhaps you need a small infographic to support a fun holiday blog post, or you're looking to send a quick roundup of details the day after a big fundraising event.

For those types of projects, there are many online tools, including Venngage, Piktochart, and Visme. In this post, we're reviewing two: Canva vs. Infogram.

To illustrate the differences between the free infographics tools, I'll be recreating this infographic Lemonly created, which covers the third-biggest film production city in North America: Vancouver, Canada.

Infogram

Time 9/10

It took about an hour to create the infographic above on Infogram. I found a template with a similar color palette and fonts, and the template's simpler layout enabled me to put this one together quickly. If you need an infographic right away, Infogram is for you.

Interface 6/10

The editing interface was easy to understand but not as nimble when it came to layout. With the template I chose, I was able to lay out elements in only one or two columns. Moving elements up and down was also not as intuitive.

One advantage, though, is the ability to add media like YouTube or Vimeo embeds.

Graphics 6/10

I was able to find a photo of a Canadian city in the free library. All in all, it seemed like Infogram's free photo library was ample, but it was harder to find illustrations that fit the aesthetic I was looking for.

You can upload your own images, but are limited to only 10 in your library.

Fonts 3/10

After choosing a template that was close to the original infographic, I was constrained to just two fonts: PT Sans Narrow and PT Sans.

Charts 9/10

The heat map feature allows for interactive maps of a handful of regions, which works pretty well for this infographic. It's also an added feature to include any type of interactivity easily.

While there was a doughnut chart option, it didn't make sense to include since I wasn't able to give it less prominence than a half column. This is more of a layout concern, though. Charts are where Infogram excels.

Sharing 7/10

You can embed your infographic like I did above. You can also export the infographic as a PNG/JPG or print it.

Canva

Time 7/10

With more precise tools for layout and without templates that were close to the original infographic, it took a little longer to put this version together.

Overall, it took about two hours.

Interface 8/10

Canva offers a very smooth and intuitive interface that allows for precise layout and easy element adds. Subtle animations make the experience more fun, and features such as the predefined header text selector and grids help guide a novice designer toward a better infographic.

The one downside I found for the free plan of Canva is that the dimensions of your infographic will be set in stone from the time you start the piece. So if you don't have a layout in mind before beginning, you might have extra space at the bottom or run out of room as I did (I wasn't able to add sources at the bottom).

Graphics 7/10

On the free side, photos were a bit hard to find. There were images of Vancouver available for $1, but since this infographic was more illustrated, I opted instead for an illustration of a cityscape. I loved being able to change the colors of the illustration.

I found it funny that there were no free images of "cash," but I did find one of "money." I could layer elements to recreate some of the more complex design pieces such as the money bar chart for tax percentages.

Overall, the illustration styles were well-done, and seemed plentiful, which is a major plus among the free infographics tools out there.

Fonts 9/10

Canva offered a large selection of fonts, and of course, with a paid plan, you can enable many more. I found a couple that were close to the original infographic.

Charts 6/10

Charts are marked as a new feature in Canva, and the biggest difference here is that there aren't interactive maps. In this case, I was able to find a graphic of the U.S., and the related content wasn't too overwhelming to not fit.

I did include a doughnut chart and layered a film reel on top. But I was only able to set one primary color, so the preset secondary purple color does stick out. I couldn't delete the numbers either, so those turned out far too small to be adequately legible.

Sharing 9/10

You can share an infographic directly to Facebook or Twitter. You're able to download as a JPG, PNG, or PDF for printing. And you can grab an embed code as I did here.

Free Infographic Tools Roundup

So which one wins? It depends on your needs.

If you have a good amount of data that needs to be visualized in a chart, go with Infogram. Based on this review, I'd opt for Canva in other cases.

One thing's for sure: My recreations are poor facsimiles of the original. When you need the best, go with Lemonly. Contact us if so.