Foundations
Advertising creative tools: how Adobe, Canva and Figma business models compare
Advertising creative tools business models compared across Adobe, Canva and Figma using dated first-party records, consistent criteria and clear limits.
What to take away
- Adobe charges per licence, Canva Pro is listed at £10.99 a month or £99.99 a year for one person, and Figma prices seats in US dollars.
- Canva has the lowest entry price for most small English teams, but its business tier is charged per person and Enterprise is quote only.
- Adobe's individual prices include VAT while team licences usually exclude it, so a like-for-like seat can look cheaper than it is.
- Figma's Full, Dev and Collab seats make the bill depend on permission design, so ask for a dated total-cost schedule before signing.
How each supplier charges
Adobe sells licences, Canva sells plans per person and Figma sells seat types. The table names the tiers and the listed rates shown on UK-facing pages in September 2026.
Charging unit
- Adobe Creative Cloud Single App
- One licence per person
- Adobe All Apps
- One licence per person
- Canva Pro
- One person
- Canva Business
- Per person
- Figma Professional
- Full, Dev and Collab seats
- Figma Organisation and Enterprise
- Seats, annual billing only
Listed rate
- Adobe Creative Cloud Single App
- About £22.98 a month, VAT included
- Adobe All Apps
- About £56.98 a month, VAT included
- Canva Pro
- £10.99 a month or £99.99 a year
- Canva Business
- Priced per person on the UK page
- Figma Professional
- Full seat about $16 a month, or about $12 billed annually
- Figma Organisation and Enterprise
- Full seats around $45 per editor a month at Organisation
What moves the bill
- Adobe Creative Cloud Single App
- App choice; annual prepay lowers the monthly rate but fixes the term
- Adobe All Apps
- Team licences are quoted per licence and usually exclude VAT
- Canva Pro
- Adding people moves the account to a per-person business rate
- Canva Business
- Admin controls and approval features sit above Pro
- Figma Professional
- Seat mix and billing term
- Figma Organisation and Enterprise
- Term length, admin options, dollar conversion
Supplier comparison criteria
Adobe
- Free entry
- No permanent tier
- Paid unit
- Individual or team
- Currency and tax
- GBP; VAT varies
- Larger org route
- Consultation or phone
Canva
- Free entry
- Free plan one person
- Paid unit
- Pro one; Business per person
- Currency and tax
- GBP; no universal tax
- Larger org route
- Sales and demo
Figma
- Free entry
- Starter free limited
- Paid unit
- Full, Dev, Collab seats
- Currency and tax
- USD; annual for higher
- Larger org route
- Contact sales
Canva's UK pricing page lists the free plan and the paid tiers in pounds, which makes it the simplest of the three to budget for.
Seat counts and usage metering behave differently at scale, so read the pricing-model comparison before you fix a seat count.
Example: what three seats cost
A three-person English studio, all making artwork, is the simplest case to model. Annual billing is assumed and the exchange rate is indicative.
What three seats cost
- Canva Pro, three people billed yearly3 x £99.99, so £299.97 a year at the listed rate.
- Adobe All Apps, three individual licences3 x £56.98 x 12, so about £2,051 a year with VAT included.
- Figma Professional, three Full seats billed annually3 x $12 x 12, so $432, around £340 at £1 to $1.27.
Team licences and VAT move the Adobe figure most. That rate is quoted per licence and excludes VAT, so add 20% to compare like with like. Figma adds VAT to UK invoices and your card issuer sets the rate you actually pay.
The dollar list and the sterling question
Figma publishes no sterling price list. UK buyers pay in US dollars, so the same seat costs different amounts in different months. A few pence on the rate shifts a ten-seat annual bill by tens of pounds.
Budget with a buffer and fix the rate on the quote date. Ask the supplier to confirm the sterling amount and VAT on the invoice. The government support finder lists funded advisory and digital adoption schemes that can offset setup costs for small firms.
Role-based seats change the bill
Figma charges different rates for Full, Dev and Collab seats. A designer who builds files needs a Full seat. A developer inspecting them can sit on a cheaper Dev seat, and a colleague who only comments may need a Collab seat.
Seat type is a permission decision. Moving one approver from Full to Collab changes the monthly bill without changing the team.
If AI features in these tools process personal data, read the ICO guidance on AI and data protection before you commit, because the lawful basis belongs to your business.
What to check before committing
- Confirm whether each quote includes or excludes VAT.
- Fix the currency and the rate date for any dollar-priced seat.
- List which roles need Full, Dev or occasional access.
- Ask what happens to files and brand assets at downgrade.
Write the roles and approval path first, then request a dated schedule. The budget template shows how to separate tax, currency, minimum term and exit. Without that layout the three suppliers cannot be compared honestly.
Common questions
Which supplier is cheapest for a small English team?
Canva is usually the cheapest entry, because £99.99 a year for one person on Pro undercuts Adobe's individual All Apps rate and Figma's paid seats. The gap narrows once you add admin features or a designer who needs Adobe file formats.
How much does Adobe cost for a team?
Adobe quotes team licences per licence and usually excludes VAT, so the individual figures above understate a business bill. Ask for the team rate in writing and add VAT before comparing it with Canva or Figma.
What should I settle before signing?
Fix the seat mix, billing term and tax basis first. Then the contract clauses worth reading twice will make more sense, because price protections and exit terms usually sit outside the public pricing page.
