Canva vs Evite for Custom Print Invitations

1. Template Library

Canva offers one of the largest invitation template libraries of any design platform — thousands of options spanning weddings, birthdays, baby showers, bridal showers, corporate events, holiday parties, graduations, retirements, and virtually every other occasion you can think of. Templates range from elegant and formal to playful and illustrated, from minimalist modern to richly ornate. Canva also benefits from a large community of designers who contribute templates to the platform, meaning new styles are constantly being added. The quality across the library is generally high, with the best designs sitting comfortably alongside professionally produced stationery.

Evite also maintains a sizeable template library — well-illustrated, colorful, and clearly organized by occasion. Many of Evite's templates are genuinely charming, particularly for casual events and children's parties. However, the library is designed primarily for digital display: templates are formatted for screen rendering and email delivery rather than for print output. The range of styles suited to formal or premium occasions is narrower than Canva's, and the selection of templates that translate convincingly to print is limited.

2. Design Flexibility & Customization

Canva's drag-and-drop design editor is one of the most praised in the industry. Users can freely reposition elements, swap images, change colors, adjust fonts, resize objects, add new design elements from the library, and upload their own photos and graphics. While Canva does have some template constraints — certain elements may be grouped, and the platform occasionally auto-aligns objects — the overall experience is one of genuine creative freedom. Users can produce an invitation that looks significantly different from the original template, reflecting their own taste and occasion.

Evite offers a much more constrained customization experience. Users can edit text content — names, dates, venue, personal messages — and in some cases select from a small range of color options. Structural changes to the layout, font substitutions, background replacements, or repositioning of design elements are not supported in any meaningful way. You are, in effect, filling in a form within a fixed visual frame rather than designing an invitation. For digital invitations where the template itself is attractive and the event is informal, this is acceptable. For print, it is a significant limitation.

3. Typography & Font Control

Canva provides access to a large and diverse font library, including a broad selection of Google Fonts and Canva-exclusive typefaces. For most invitation design needs — from elegant wedding scripts to bold party display fonts — Canva's font library is more than adequate. Users can switch fonts freely across any text element, adjust size, weight, spacing, and alignment, and experiment with font pairings to achieve the right typographic tone. The Pro tier unlocks additional premium fonts that further expand the creative palette.

Evite provides minimal typographic control. Fonts are pre-selected as part of each template's fixed design, and users cannot change typefaces, adjust font sizes meaningfully, or alter typographic spacing. This makes it impossible to achieve the typographic distinction that defines a memorable printed invitation. For screen-based digital invitations, Evite's pre-set typography is perfectly functional — but for print, where typography is a primary design element, the lack of control is a serious drawback.

4. Image & Asset Libraries

Canva includes a large built-in library of photos, illustrations, icons, stickers, frames, and decorative design elements — all accessible directly within the editor. The free tier includes a solid collection; Canva Pro expands this significantly with premium assets. For invitation design, Canva's element library is particularly useful: decorative borders, floral illustrations, geometric patterns, and occasion-specific graphics are plentiful and easy to incorporate. Users can also upload their own images, which Canva integrates cleanly into the design workflow.

Evite does not provide a user-facing asset library. Template illustrations, backgrounds, and decorative elements are pre-set and form part of the fixed template design — they are not assets the user can browse, select, or swap. Users can upload their own photos in limited contexts (typically for a personal photo banner or header), but there is no design asset library available for creative use.

5. Print-Ready Export Quality

Canva supports print-ready PDF export, with the higher-quality "PDF Print" option (which includes crop marks and higher resolution output) available on Canva Pro. Even on the free tier, Canva's PDF export is usable for basic print purposes. The platform is designed with both digital and print outputs in mind, and while Canva's print export doesn't quite match the professional standard of Adobe Express, it is genuinely suitable for ordering prints through online services or delivering files to a local print shop for most standard invitation sizes and formats.

Evite offers printable versions of some templates — but these are optimized for basic home printing on standard inkjet printers rather than for commercial print production. There is no high-resolution PDF export, no crop mark or bleed support, and no professional print file output of any kind. Evite's print output is functional for a quick home-printed reminder card; it is not suitable for professionally printed invitations.

6. Integrated Printing Services

This is one of the categories where Canva's advantage over Evite is most practically significant.

Canva Print is a fully integrated print ordering service embedded within the Canva platform. Once you've finished designing your invitation, you can select your paper stock, finish (matte, gloss, premium), quantity, and delivery timeframe, and place your order directly — without downloading a file, opening a new browser tab, or navigating a separate website. Canva handles the printing and ships your finished invitations to your door. This end-to-end convenience is a genuine differentiator and makes Canva a true one-stop solution for custom print invitations.

Evite does not offer an integrated print ordering service. The platform's business model is built around digital delivery, and there is no mechanism for ordering physical printed invitations through Evite itself. Users who want physical prints from an Evite design must download whatever printable file is available and arrange printing independently — and as noted above, the quality of that file limits the results achievable.

7. Digital Invitation Features

Here, the tables turn — and it's worth giving Evite the full credit it deserves in its area of genuine excellence.

Evite is purpose-built for digital invitation management, and its feature set in this area is outstanding. Once you've sent an Evite, the platform manages everything: automated RSVP collection, real-time guest list tracking, event reminders sent to non-responding guests, a hosted messaging thread between host and attendees, and post-event communication tools. For hosts coordinating a large guest list entirely digitally, Evite's event management infrastructure saves significant time and eliminates the need for manual follow-up. This is what Evite was built for, and it does it exceptionally well.

Canva is a design platform, not an event management system. It does not offer RSVP tracking, automated guest reminders, digital sending workflows, or any of the event coordination tools that Evite provides. A Canva invitation is a designed asset — beautiful and printable — but guest management must be handled through other means.

8. Ease of Use

Both Canva and Evite are widely praised for their ease of use — but in different ways.

Evite's workflow is linear and completely guided: select a template, enter event details in clearly labelled fields, add your guest list, and send. There are no design decisions to make and no creative choices beyond the initial template selection. It is as close to zero-friction as any invitation tool gets. For users who want an invitation sent with minimal time investment, Evite is genuinely the fastest path from intention to delivery.

Canva is also exceptionally accessible — regularly cited as one of the most beginner-friendly design tools available. The drag-and-drop interface is intuitive, the template-first workflow is logical, and the platform provides helpful design suggestions throughout. However, because Canva offers genuine creative control, there are more options available and marginally more decisions to make than in Evite's stripped-back interface. For casual users who want to invest even a few extra minutes in making their invitation look distinctive, that creative engagement is rewarding.

9. Collaboration Features

Canva provides strong collaboration tools: shared design links, real-time co-editing, commenting, and team management features on paid plans. For anyone designing an invitation collaboratively — a couple working on wedding stationery, an event planner designing with a client, or a team planning a corporate event — Canva's collaboration workflow is practical and well-implemented.

Evite supports co-hosting: you can share management of an event with another person, allowing them to view the guest list and send communications. However, this is event management co-hosting, not design collaboration. There is no mechanism for two people to co-design an Evite invitation together, and the customization limitations mean collaborative design is largely a moot point in any case.

10. Mobile Experience

Canva's mobile app is widely considered one of the best design apps available on iOS and Android. It mirrors the desktop experience closely, providing access to the full template library, design tools, and asset library from a smartphone or tablet. Canva's mobile app is fast, polished, and regularly updated — earning consistently high ratings and praise from mobile users.

Evite's mobile app is also well-regarded — and for Evite's core use case of sending and managing digital invitations, the app is excellent. Creating an invitation, tracking RSVPs, messaging guests, and sending reminders from a phone are all fast and intuitive. For digital event management on the go, Evite's mobile experience is strong.

11. Pricing & Value

Canva offers a generous free tier that includes access to thousands of templates, the core design editor, and a substantial asset library. Canva Pro unlocks premium templates, expanded assets, background removal, brand kits, and the higher-quality PDF Print export — at a competitive monthly or annual price. Canva Print pricing is reasonable for small and medium print runs, and the convenience of ordering directly within the platform adds value that is difficult to quantify. For users who want both design capability and integrated printing, Canva's pricing model represents strong value.

Evite is free for basic digital invitations, with ads displayed to guests on the free tier. Evite Premium removes ads and unlocks additional design options and features at a modest subscription price. For digital invitations, Evite's pricing is very fair. However, for print-focused users, Evite's value proposition is inherently limited by its constrained print capabilities — there is simply less to pay for in the context of print invitation production.