Seamly vs Canva: which is better for Instagram carousels?
Canva is a general design tool with multi-page seamless carousel templates. Seamly is made only for carousels, collages and stories, so the whole carousel is one canvas with every slide’s edge marked. Both work in a browser and on phones and have free plans. Canva Pro costs about $120–$144 a year in the US; Seamly Pro is $29.99 a year.
Last updated: 25 October 2026
At a glance
| Seamly | Canva | |
|---|---|---|
| Works in a web browser | Yes: canvas.seamly.art | Yes |
| iPhone app | Yes: and iPad | Yes: and iPad |
| Android app | Yes | Yes |
| One canvas across every slide | Yes | Partly: Multi-page templates |
| Carousel templates | Yes | Yes |
| Collage and story templates | Yes | Yes |
| Videos in a carousel | Yes: Pro to export | Yes |
| Animated text and motion | Yes: Pro | Yes |
| Photo filters and editing | Yes: Film looks | Yes |
| Background remover | Yes | Yes |
| Brand kit | Yes: Pro | Yes: Pro |
| Free exports without a watermark | Yes | Partly: Premium elements carry one |
| Up to 20 slides | Yes | Not stated |
| Lifetime plan, paid once | Yes: $79.99 on the web | No |
| Free plan | Yes: the editor, free templates and exports with no watermark | Yes: 1.6M+ templates; premium elements carry a watermark |
| Paid plans (US) | Pro: $4.99 a month, $29.99 a year (14-day free trial) or $79.99 once on the web | Canva Pro about $120–$144 a year (App Store and canva.com) |
Yes Partly No Not stated on its store page or sitePro, Premium: on the paid plan
Choose Canva if
- You design many kinds of things, not only carousels: presentations, videos, print.
- You want the largest template library (1.6M+ on the free plan).
- Your team already works in Canva.
Choose Seamly if
- You make seamless carousels often: photos and text run across one canvas, and every slide exports at 1080 pixels wide, in order.
- You want a lower price: Seamly Pro is $29.99 a year, or $79.99 once.
- You want to split a wide photo into slides for free, with no sign-up: the splitter in Seamly’s panorama guide does it in your browser, and the photo never leaves your device.
- You want carousel, collage and story templates in a phone app as well as on the web.
Try it
Seamly is free in your browser at canvas.seamly.art, and the panorama guide has a free splitter that cuts a wide photo into slides with no sign-up.
How we compared
We make Seamly. We checked each app on 25 October 2026 from its App Store and Google Play listings or its maker’s own pages, and the prices are US prices before tax. A feature its listings and site don’t mention is marked “not stated”, not “no”. Apps change their plans often, so check the store before you buy. If something here is out of date, write to us and we’ll fix it.
More comparisons
- The best seamless carousel apps: every app here, side by side.
- Seamly vs SCRL
- Seamly vs SWVY
- How to make a seamless carousel: sizes, steps and posting order.