From Canva. Without losing your assets.
Canva is a fantastic design tool that millions of creators rely on every day. But when your job is generating high-volume ad creative, social posts, and email campaigns at brand-consistent quality, you need a tool built specifically for that job. Mani picks up where Canva leaves off, turning your brand assets into ready-to-publish marketing content powered by AI. This guide walks you through every step of the migration so you can be up and running before your next coffee break.
| Capability | Canva | Mani |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first ad | 30+ minutes of template browsing, manual layout, and copy writing. You start from a blank canvas or a generic template every time. | Under 90 seconds. Paste your URL, confirm your brand, and Mani generates platform-ready ads immediately. |
| AI-native vs bolted-on | Magic Write and Magic Design are add-ons layered on top of a template engine. AI assists the design process but does not drive it. | AI is the core engine. Every ad, headline, and layout is generated from your brand DNA and audience data from the start. |
| Native ad sizing | Resize tool adapts a single design to new dimensions, but elements often break and require manual adjustment per platform. | Generates natively for each platform. Instagram Story, Facebook Feed, LinkedIn, and TikTok each get purpose-built layouts. |
| Brand consistency | Brand Kit stores colors and fonts, but every team member still applies them manually. Consistency depends on discipline. | Brand DNA is extracted automatically from your website and enforced on every piece of content. No manual policing needed. |
| Mobile approval workflow | Collaboration features let you comment and share links. Approval workflows require Canva Pro and are folder-based. | Swipe-based approval on mobile. Review, approve, or reject ads from your phone in seconds with no app download needed. |
| Output volume | Each creative is hand-assembled. Producing 50 ad variations means 50 rounds of manual editing. | Generate dozens of on-brand variations from a single brief. Scale your ad output without scaling your team. |
| Performance feedback loop | No built-in performance data. You design in Canva, then check results in your ad platform separately. | Mani learns from what you save and discard, improving future generations based on your preferences. |
| Cost efficiency | Canva Pro at $12.99/mo gives you templates and brand kit. Each ad still costs your team's time to build. | Free tier includes 10 ads/month. Paid plans cost a fraction of the designer hours you save per campaign. |
Open Canva and navigate to Brand Kit under your team settings. Download your brand colors (hex codes), fonts, and logo files. If you use Canva Pro, you can export your full brand guidelines as a PDF. Save everything to a single folder on your computer so it is ready for import.
Sign up at Mani and paste your website URL during onboarding. Mani will scan your site automatically and extract your brand colors, typography, tone of voice, and visual style. This takes about 30 seconds and saves you from manually entering every brand detail. Review the extracted brand profile and make any adjustments you want.
Go to the Brand section in Mani and upload the logo files you exported from Canva. Mani accepts PNG, SVG, and JPG formats. If you have multiple logo variations (dark background, light background, icon-only), upload all of them so Mani can choose the right one for each creative.
If you have product photos stored in Canva, download them from your uploads folder. Then drag them into Mani's asset library. Mani will use your actual product images in generated ads rather than relying on stock photography, which keeps your creative authentic and on-brand.
Choose a campaign type (social ad, email header, or display ad) and enter a brief describing your goal. Mani generates multiple variations using your brand assets, colors, and tone. You will see results in under 90 seconds. Compare this to the 30+ minutes it takes to build a single ad from a Canva template.
Share the generated ads with your team using Mani's approval workflow. Team members can swipe through variations on mobile, approve the ones they like, and reject the rest. This feedback trains Mani's AI to match your preferences over time, making future generations even better.
Download approved ads in the exact dimensions your ad platforms require, or push them directly to your connected accounts. Mani handles the formatting for each platform automatically. No more resizing and repositioning elements for every single channel like you had to do in Canva.
Canva stores your uploads, brand kit elements, and finished designs in the cloud. Here is how to export each type and bring them into Mani:
Mani is not a general design tool. For presentations, print materials, or pixel-perfect layouts, keep using Canva. Mani replaces the specific workflow of creating marketing ads, social posts, and email creative at scale. Here is where the line falls:
Many teams use both tools side by side: Canva for brand assets and presentations, Mani for high-volume ad creative. They complement each other well.
For a detailed feature-by-feature breakdown, see our Mani vs Canva comparison.
You can export Canva designs as PNG or JPG files and upload them to Mani as reference images. Mani cannot import Canva's native .canva format, but it can analyze the visual style of your exported designs and use that information to generate new ads that match your established look. This means your past creative work continues to influence your future campaigns.
No. Many teams run both tools simultaneously during the transition period. Use Mani for ad creative generation and keep Canva for presentations, print materials, and any designs that require manual pixel-level control. You can cancel Canva later once you have confirmed that Mani handles your ad workflow completely.
Yes. Mani uses the exact hex codes and font files you provide. If you upload the same fonts and enter the same color values from your Canva Brand Kit, your generated ads will match your existing brand standards exactly. Mani also extracts colors from your website automatically, which often catches subtle brand colors you may not have manually added to Canva.
Most teams complete the migration in under 10 minutes. The longest step is downloading assets from Canva and re-uploading them to Mani. If you have a large asset library with hundreds of images, budget 20 to 30 minutes. The brand setup itself takes about 30 seconds because Mani extracts most information from your website automatically.
Yes. Mani supports team workspaces with role-based access. Invite your designers, marketers, and managers. Unlike Canva where each person builds ads manually, Mani lets your team focus on reviewing and approving AI-generated content rather than creating it from scratch. This often changes the team dynamic from "who has time to design this" to "which of these options do we like best."
Mani exports in PNG, JPG, and WebP for static ads. Each export is sized natively for the target platform (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, and more). Canva offers additional formats like PDF, SVG, and video, which reflect its broader design tool scope. For ad creative specifically, Mani's export options cover every major ad platform.
Your customized Canva templates stay in your Canva account. In Mani, you do not need templates because the AI generates unique layouts for each brief. You can export your favorite Canva designs as images and upload them as style references in Mani. The AI will learn from these references and produce new variations that maintain the same visual direction.
Mani's pricing is structured differently. While Canva Pro charges a flat monthly fee for access to templates and tools, Mani charges based on the volume of creative you generate. For teams that produce high volumes of ad creative, Mani is typically more cost-effective when you factor in the designer hours saved. The free tier gives you 10 ads per month to evaluate before committing.
Mani's web interface is fully responsive and works well on mobile browsers. The approval workflow is specifically designed for mobile use, letting you swipe through generated ads and approve or reject them on the go. You do not need to download a separate app. For creating briefs and managing campaigns, most users prefer the desktop experience, similar to how most Canva power users work on desktop.
Nothing changes in your Canva account. Migration to Mani is a copy process, not a transfer. Your Canva designs, uploads, and brand kit remain exactly where they are. You can continue accessing them at any time. Mani does not connect to Canva's API or modify anything in your Canva workspace.
Paste your website URL and Mani builds your brand profile in 30 seconds. Your first ad is 90 seconds away.
Switch from Canva to Mani