Start with Canva. For most small businesses it covers the everyday work and the free plan is enough to find out. Add Figma only when clients need to review and comment on designs, Midjourney only when generic stock imagery has become the visible weak point in your work, and a deck tool only when presentations are a recurring deliverable rather than an occasional one: Gamma if you write the content first, Beautiful.ai if you build slide by slide.
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A small business without a designer needs four different things and usually buys one tool hoping it does all four: everyday marketing graphics, something a client can approve, original imagery, and a deck. No tool on this page does all four well.
So the useful question is which of the four is actually blocking you this month.
The picks that stand out
Canva
Extremely easy, a broad template library and a free plan that covers real work. For social graphics, decks and brand assets produced by someone whose job is not design, this is the default.
Figma
Clients can comment without installing anything, and the free Starter plan covers solo client work. It is also the industry standard, so whoever picks the file up next will understand it.
Midjourney
Chosen for image quality and style consistency: its reputation, not something we have tested. It is the only tool here with no free plan, and the prompt learning curve is real, so it earns its place only when image quality is the point.
Gamma
Paste an outline or a scope document and it returns a structured deck you edit down rather than build up, shareable as a link. Its free plan carries starter credits that do not refill, so evaluation is generous once rather than ongoing.
Beautiful.ai
Each slide is a layout that reflows as you add content, so a list does not overflow the way a free-form text box does. It is the one tool on this page with no free plan: a trial that asks for a card.
At a glance
| Criterion | Canva | Figma | Midjourney | Gamma | Beautiful.ai |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Used mainly for | Social graphics, AI image generation | Client mockups and wireframes, design handoff | Image generation, concept art | Client proposals, pitch decks | Presentations, slide decks |
| Entry price | €12.00/mo · Pro | €20.00/mo · Professional | $10.00/mo · Basic Plan | €10.00/mo · Plus | $14.50/mo equivalent · Pro |
| Free plan | ✓Yes | ✓Yes | ✕No | ✓Yes | ✕No |
| Free trial | ✓Yes | ✕No | Not stated | Not stated | ✓Yes |
| Works on | Web, iOS, Android, Desktop | Web, macOS, Windows | Web, Discord | Web, iOS, Android | Web |
| Documented integrations | Google Drive, Slack, Social platforms | Slack, Jira, Notion, GitHub | Discord, Web | PowerPoint export, PDF export, Google Drive, Slack | Google Slides, PowerPoint, Zoom |
| Setup | Easy: minutes | Moderate: 1-2 hr | Moderate: 30 min | Easy: minutes | Easy: 15 min |
| Main limitation | AI features capped on the free plan | Overkill for simple marketing graphics | No free plan | Credits on the free plan are a one-time allowance, with no monthly refill | Less manual layout control |
| Our evidence level | Vendor documented | Vendor documented | Vendor documented | Vendor documented | Vendor documented |
| Try it | Try Canva ↗ | Try Figma ↗ | Try Midjourney ↗ | Try Gamma ↗Partner link | Try Beautiful.ai ↗Partner link |
Every cell comes from the tool's record, built from its official documentation and pricing page. The integrations listed are the ones the vendor documents, not tested by us.
Where each one stops
Canva is not a full professional design suite, its AI features are capped on the free plan and some tools are Pro-only. Figma is overkill for a social graphic or a flyer, its seat model gets complicated once collaborators appear, and real proficiency takes weeks. Midjourney has no free plan, was historically accessed through Discord, and expects you to learn to prompt. These are the reasons to choose carefully, not reasons to avoid any of them.
The overlap that wastes money
Canva and Figma both make things that look like designs, which is why teams buy both and use one. They are not the same job: Canva produces finished assets fast, Figma produces something a client marks up before it is finished. If nobody outside your team ever comments on a design before it ships, you probably do not need Figma.
Print work is the honest gap
None of these is aimed at print-heavy production. Canva is explicitly not for professional print designers needing full Illustrator or Premiere depth, and Figma's own weak spot is print work. If your output is physical rather than screen, this category is not where your budget should go.
What you can evaluate without a card
Evaluation cost is uneven here and it decides the order you try things in. Canva, Figma and Gamma all publish a free plan you can reach without payment details, so the everyday work, the client-review workflow and a first deck can each be tested at zero. Midjourney and Beautiful.ai cannot: neither has a permanent free plan, and Beautiful.ai's trial asks for a card up front. Start with the three that cost nothing to judge. Reach the two that require payment only once the free ones have visibly failed at something you need.
Brand consistency is a process, not a feature
Every tool here will hold your colours and fonts, and none of them stops the drift. It happens the same way each time: someone starts from a template instead of your file, an old logo survives in a deck nobody reopened, and six months later three versions of your brand are in circulation. The fix is not a paid tier. It is one place where the current assets live and one person who notices when something ships that did not come from there. Buying a second design tool usually accelerates the drift rather than fixing it.
Pricing side by side
Figma Professional · in euros
Gamma Plus · in euros
Each tool's paid entry plan multiplied by the number of seats, free plan and tax excluded. One currency for all: the bars share a scale and compare directly. Prices read on the official pages (25.10.2026).
| Tool | Verified price | Billing condition | Free | Checked | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canva | €12.00/mo · Pro | for one person, billed monthly; Pro+ is 17 EUR per person a month for teams; annual billing is 110 EUR/year for Pro and 170 EUR/year per person for Pro+ (Canva advertises "save 16% or more") | Yes | 25.10.2026 | Visit ↗ |
| Figma | €20.00/mo · Professional | 20 €/month per Full seat billed monthly; 16 €/month billed annually. Dev seat 15 €, Collab seat 5 € (monthly) | Yes | 25.10.2026 | Visit ↗ |
| Midjourney | $10.00/mo · Basic Plan | billed monthly; yearly billing takes 20% off (Basic $8, Standard $24, Pro $48, Mega $96 per month) | No | 25.10.2026 | Visit ↗ |
| Gamma | €10.00/mo · Plus | €10 per user/month billed monthly; €8 per user/month billed annually (€96 per year) | Yes | 25.10.2026 | Visit ↗Partner link |
| Beautiful.ai | $14.50/mo equivalent · Pro | $14.50/mo billed annually; the Pro card is annual-only, and a separate month-to-month option for one-off projects costs $45/mo | No | 25.10.2026 | Visit ↗Partner link |
Frequently asked questions
Can a small business run on the free plans alone?
Partly. Canva and Figma both have free plans that cover real work for one person, so the everyday graphics and the client-review workflow can both start at zero. Midjourney is the exception on this page: it has no free plan, so any image generation there is a paid decision from the first day.
Do I need Midjourney if Canva already generates images?
Usually not. Canva's AI image generation covers ordinary marketing needs, and its cap only matters at volume. Midjourney is worth its price when image quality is itself the differentiator in your work, not when you need a picture on a blog post.
Which one should a solo freelancer learn first?
Canva, almost always. It is the fastest to become useful in, and its free plan removes the decision. Figma repays weeks of learning with client-facing capability, which is worth it once clients are reviewing your work but not before.
Which of these can I try without payment details?
Canva, Figma and Gamma each publish a free plan, so three of the four jobs on this page can be judged at no cost. Midjourney and Beautiful.ai have no permanent free plan, and Beautiful.ai's trial asks for a card, so trying those two is a paid decision even if you stop afterwards.
Gamma or Beautiful.ai for a client proposal?
Gamma if the thinking already exists as text and you want a deck out of it quickly. Beautiful.ai if you build slide by slide and want the layout to stay tidy without nudging boxes. Gamma is also the cheaper one to evaluate, since it has a free plan and Beautiful.ai does not.
Recently at these tools
Figma: Gemini 4 Argon is rolling out in Figma Make's model picker, on all plans. Source ↗
Figma: The Figma agent leaves beta: it can search Figma files from a chat and take user-set guidelines about design libraries. Source ↗
Gamma: Native iOS and Android apps, and Gamma can be mentioned in Slack to create a deck, document or page from a prompt or from the thread. Source ↗
Beautiful.ai: Beta: start from a Beautiful.ai template and let AI adapt its content to your topic, or use the template as it is. Source ↗
Beautiful.ai: AI presentation creation now adapts to the starting point: questions to clarify a rough idea, direct generation from a finished outline, and the Brand Kit chosen earlier so it guides the content from the start. Source ↗
Read on each vendor's official changelog, not tested by us.