Canva, Corjl, Templett and JetTemplate are the 4 of the most popular tools for Etsy sellers when creating digital products and editable templates.
I have design experience with all 4 tools, but I’ve spent the most time with Canva and Corjl. The Growing Your Craft Etsy shop is built with Corjl.
In this article, I’ll take an in-depth look and compare them in 11 important categories for Etsy sellers to help you pick the right one for your Etsy shop.
Let’s get started.
It may be hard to compare the prices with different monthly prices and transaction fees. To make it easier to compare, let's use an example of a shop slling5 designs a day for an average of $8. So in total 150 listings sold in a month.
For Canva, technically you can pay $0, and they don’t charge any transaction fees. If you choose to have a Canva Pro subscription, then your fee would be US$14.99.
For Corjl, the Grow plan would be the best option in terms of lowest fees. The total would be $19.99 base fee (monthly pricing) + $0.45 per listing sold. So in total, the fee would be $87.49
For Templett, the Essential plan would be the best option for 150 listings sold, and the total would be $29 base fee + $0.49 per listing sold. So the total would be $102.5
For JetTemplate, they charge a flat $0.3 per listing sold, and there’s no base fee. So the total would be $45
Some other things to keep in mind: Corjl provides a 15-day free trial while Templett provides a 7-day free trial. The other two options are free to start with.
Also, as Templett hides the pricing on the signup page which makes it hard for Etsy sellers to compare the prices, here is a screenshot of the pricing table:
Overall, Templett is the most expensive option, and Canva is the cheapest. But considering important features for template sellers on Etsy (demo editor and design protection) and the $0 base fee, I’ll give a share win for JetTemplate as well.
Win: Canva and JetTemplate
Corjl, Templett and JetTemplate all integrate directly with your Etsy shop. You’ll be able to link your designs with listings from your shop. And then after customers bought your listings, an email will be sent to their Etsy account email address to create an account to access the template.
For Canva, as there’s no direct integration, you’ll need to put the template link in a PDF that you create yourself, and then attach the PDF to the corresponding Etsy listing.
Win: Corjl, Templett and JetTemplate
For Canva, you have access to a wide variety of graphics, photos, shapes, photo frames, etc. Be careful if you are selling templates that are intended to be editable by customers, you should only use free graphic elements in your design. And only Canva Pro account has the ability to filter elements based on Free vs Pro elements.
The other 3 options are a lot more limited in terms to access to design elements. If you decide to use them, you would need to be either be creative with simpler shapes, colours and fonts, or upload your own design graphics.
You can choose to create your own graphics or purchase from marketplaces like Creative Market. If you are comfortable using AI image generators like Midjourney or Dall-E, consider using them to create unique and high quality elements that you can upload to Corjl, Templett or JetTemplate.
Win: Canva
Canva provides about 1,700 free fonts, and the fonts are organised in categories which makes it easier to find.
Corjl has over 600 free fonts, and you have the option to access additional fonts from Creative Fabrica for an extra $9.99 per month. Templett and JetTemplate both have over 800 fonts. However, all of their font libraries are either not organised or with poor categorisations, making it hard to find the right font without tediously going through a long list of fonts.
Win: Canva
One of the biggest drawbacks for Canva is that anyone with the template link can access the design without buying. Although from my experience, it’s not a major concern for items that are relatively cheap.
For the other 3 options, the access is linked to the customer account and the Etsy listing, which means that the customer need to buy the design before able to access it.
Win: Corjl, Templett and JetTemplate
Demo editor lets potential customers try out a design before buying. And Corjl, Templett and JetTemplate provide this feature, but not Canva.
From my experience, demo editor is a valuable tool for customers to try out the designs and control before they decide to buy. You can include the link to the demo editor in your Etsy listing description.
Win: Corjl, Templett and JetTemplate
The easier it is to use, the less resistance it is to create new designs for your Etsy shop.
As Canva has a more intuitive interface with a large library of graphics and fonts, I find it easier and more fun to design in Canva:
The speed of all of the tools are similar in terms of making simple changes like editing text, adding shapes and changing background colours. But as mentioned in previous section, when there are a lot of elements or layers in the design, Canva pulls ahead of the other 3 editors.
It’s important to mention that Templett provides a number of stock templates that you can start designing from, like thank you card, wedding invitation, etc. Editing from them could save you a bit of time:
For JetTemplate, even though most of the features are the same as Corjl and Templett, there are some basic feature missing. At the time of writing, it’s not possible to change the thickness of a line, or rounding the corners of a rectangle. I hope they would be able to add these basic functionalities in the near future.
Win: Canva
For customers buying a Canva template, they usually access the template by downloading the order attachment PDF which contains the Canva template link. Given that the customer already has a Canva account, the design will be copied to their account and they will then have full control to edit and download the design.
For Corjl, Templett and JetTemplate, your customer will get a email directly from the design service. The email will be sent to the same email address as the one from the customer’s Etsy account. For customers who checked out using a guest account or chose ‘hide my email’ with Apple Pay, you’d have to contact them directly to get an email address to resend the email.
After getting the email, the customer can create a free account on the design service. The design they purchased will be automatically linked to their newly created account. And if the customer has purchased from you before, they will see the design after logging in.
For editing the design, most customers prefer Canva because of how intuitive it is to use the editor. Even though I use Corjl for my Growing Your Craft shop, a few customers have mentioned that they hoped the design was available on Canva as well. That being said, most of my customers are happy with their user experience with Corjl.
Customers using editors from Corjl, Templett and JetTemplate can experience some slow down or lag if there are a lot of elements or large images in the design.
One other thing to mention is that customers are able to download a PDF with multiple designs in Corjl, Templett and JetTemplate. This is convenient for customers for printing.
Win: Canva
You can help your customers edit their design in Corjl, Templett and JetTemplate by making direct changes to the designs they purchased. You’re not able to do that on Canva.
Ability to edit templates for the customers is valuable because it’s a value-add service that I can charge extra for it. It also helps my customers and makes their lives easier.
However, for JetTemplate, the process is a bit more clunky as you will be logged in as the customer. After editing, you’ll need to log out of the customer account, and log back in your own designer account.
Win: Corjl and Templett
Canva has by far the best mobile editor. It has basically all the features and functionalities of their desktop editor., including access to graphics, advanced editing, and even AI image generator:
All the other 3 have very basic mobile editors. Out of the 3, Templett’s one is the best with the ability to do some simple editing like editing text, change font, change colour, add text. But some functions are missing like changing background colour. And it’s a bit buggy: can’t resize or move or rotate easily.
The mobile editors of Corjl and JetTemplate are barely useable with only the ability to edit text and move objects around.
Win: Canva
Canva is one of the most prominent design tools available on the market with new features added consistently. Recently, they have integrated a number of AI-powered tools including a Magic Write (writing assistant), Magic Design (generate editable templates from a few words or a photo) and Magic Eraser (delete distracting elements).
Corjl, Templett and JetTemplate have largely remained unchanged over the years except a few small upgrades, but one notable change is Corjl’s integration with printing service Prints of Love. You can potentially earn extra affiliate income if your customer decides to print your Corjl design with Prints of Love.
Win: Canva
With these comparisons, you should be able to make a more informed decision when choosing your design tool. Ultimately, your decision should depend on the feature that you care the most about.
Choosing your deign tool is only the first step of creating your digital product Etsy shop. If you want to open your digital product Etsy shop in just a few days, check out my GYC Etsy Academy 2.0. You’ll learn how to create sellable designs, choose profitable niches and set up your shop for success.
