Adobe Express vs Microsoft Designer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Adobe Express
Create professional marketing and business materials with ease. This app offers intuitive tools for video editing, photo enhancement, background removal, and QR code generation. Maintain brand consistency with customizable templates and brand kits.
- Video editing with templates, music, and effects
- AI-powered photo editing and object manipulation
- One-tap background removal for photos and videos
- Branded QR code generation
- Brand kit for consistent visuals
- PDF editing and conversion
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Adobe Express is the quick and easy app to create on-brand content that helps your business stand out and make an impact. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned creator, Adobe Express empowers you and your team to make high-quality marketing and business materials while maintaining brand consistency. VIDEO MADE EASY Looking for the best free video editor? Adobe Express makes video editing simple. Use customizable templates, upload clips from your camera roll, trim and combine footage, add text, music, transitions, and sound effects. Automatically add captions, reframe for social channels, and remove background noise -- all in one place. PHOTO EDITING FOR EVERYONE Adobe Express is the best free photo editor for beginners, offering intuitive tools to enhance your images. Use AI to add or remove objects, apply Photoshop-powered filters, and instantly generate stunning photo art with our AI photo generator. BYE-BYE BACKGROUNDS Need the best app to remove photo backgrounds? Adobe Express makes it effortless. With Quick Actions, remove backgrounds from photos or videos in seconds, convert images to GIFs, and resize content with a single tap. QR CODE GENERATION MADE SIMPLE Create stylish, branded QR codes with ease. Adobe Express is your best QR code generator online, offering customizable styles and colors to match your brand. STAYING ON BRAND MADE EASY With brand kits, keep your fonts, colors, and logos ready to drop into any design. Apply your brand across all your content with a tap. Maintain a cohesive look with Generate Similar and refine designs. EDIT PDFs QUICKLY Update content, swap images, refine layouts, or add your brand’s colors, fonts, and visuals, all in just a few clicks. You can even convert files to PDF or export PDFs to share with your team or audience instantly. QUICK ACTION TOOLS · Trim & resize designs for any channel · Crop photos & convert image files · Convert to GIF from images & videos · Animate a character with your voice · Import PDF Some features are not currently supported on all devices, but good things are coming. Support for more devices is rolling out over time. QUESTIONS? Your feedback and engagement will help us make Adobe Express better for everyone. Join our Discord community [https://discord.gg/adobeexpress] to share your thoughts, connect with the community and get involved with creative challenges Visit Uservoice [https://adobeexpress.uservoice.com/forums/951181-adobe-express] to request new features Let us know about any bugs or issues you encounter in our Adobe Community Forum [https://community.adobe.com/t5/adobe-express/ct-p/ct-adobe-express] PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP Your Adobe Express Premium membership unlocks access to Premium features: · Over 200M royalty-free Adobe Stock photos, videos, music tracks, design elements and fonts · 250 generative credits to generate images, videos, templates and more · Remove Video Background, One-click Resize for multiple channels, brand kits and more Use your Adobe Express Premium plan across your desktop browser and mobile phone. Also includes Adobe Photoshop Express on mobile. Please refer to our full terms of service for more details. [http://www.adobe.com/go/terms_linkfree_en] Terms and conditions: Your use of this Adobe application is governed by the Adobe General Terms of Use http://www.adobe.com/go/terms_linkfree_en, and Adobe Privacy Policy http://www.adobe.com/go/privacy_policy_linkfree_en and any successor versions thereto. Do not sell or share my personal information: www.adobe.com/go/ca-rights-linkfree All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Microsoft Designer
Visually create and edit anything imaginable with AI. Generate unique images from text, design personalized cards and wallpapers, and enhance photos by removing distractions or backgrounds.
- AI image generation
- Custom sticker creation
- Generative erase tool
- Background removal
- Custom wallpaper design
- Greeting card creation
- Photo restyling
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Unleash your creativity — visually create, design, and edit just about anything you can imagine with AI. Use the power of generative AI to create eye-catching images with your words, craft next-level designs that pop like personalized birthday cards, holiday cards, wallpapers for your phone, and even use AI to edit photos like an expert - removing backgrounds and erasing distractions from photos. Create what you want, when and where you need it. Key capabilities: • Images: Create any image you can imagine. Sci-fi art, surreal scenes, funny images? Dream it, describe it, and create it with AI. Your imagination is limitless! • Stickers: Create something that sticks. Make custom stickers that help you stick out on messaging apps, social, and more. • Edit with AI: make your photos and images picture perfect with AI. o Generative erase: Erase distractions to make objects you don’t want in your image disappear. o Remove background: Say bye-bye to bad backgrounds. Easily remove unwanted image backgrounds in one step. o Blur background: Bring what’s most important into focus. Blur the background of any image to make your subject pop. o Add filters, adjust brightness, resize: Customize to fit your creative vision, including resizing to turn your creations into a square or custom size that fits just right. • Wallpapers/Backgrounds: Put it all on display. Create custom wallpaper or background to fit your current mood, make a statement, or to keep a special occasion front and center on your phone screen. • Greeting cards: Craft the perfect greeting for any occasion. From birthday cards to holiday cards and beyond, create a thoughtful greeting card with personalized messages and images even if you’re at a loss for words. • Restyle image: Transform photos into a work of art—like turning portraits, landscapes, and pet photos into artwork. • Monograms: Make your mark. Add some personal pop to your everyday life or for a special occasion like a wedding with custom crafted monograms that use letters and more to define your mark. • Invitations: Create invitations that wow. Customize your invitations for every occasion and any event like birthdays, weddings, and anything else big or small. • Social posts: Stand out online. Elevate and craft your next social post with Designer to create the perfect image and text to share online. • Icons: Express yourself visually. Create icons to easily communicate your vision and decorate your designs. • Emojis: Express yourself! Have the perfect reaction on hand with custom crafted emojis to fit any mood. • Coloring book pages: Color it in and get in your flow. Create custom coloring book pages to make coloring more exciting. Great for all ages. • Frame image: Turn your photos into a customized framed memory that you can share everywhere. • Collages: Bring your favorite photos, styles, and descriptions together create a custom collage from your favorite memories. • Banners: Create banners for newsletter headers, social profiles, and more to grab attention and stand out. Microsoft Designer is available for free with a Microsoft account. Your Microsoft account provides 5 GB of free cloud storage that you can use to save your designs, files, and photos across your devices. Additional information about terms of use can be found here: https://designer.microsoft.com/consumerTermsOfUse/en-US/consumerTermsOfUse.pdf Download Designer and create something new today!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: Adobe Express at 367K against Microsoft Designer's 552. Adobe Express also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.5) and chart position (#10 vs #131). Microsoft Designer's advantage is review sentiment (77% vs 58%). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Adobe Express sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Microsoft Designer sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Adobe Express holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Adobe Express has 367K ratings behind it against 552, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 58% of Adobe Express's written reviews are positive against 77% of Microsoft Designer's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Adobe Express | Microsoft Designer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (367K ratings) — better | 4.5 (552 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 58.0% of reviews | 76.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 367K — better | 552 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #10 — better | #131 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 188 MB | 75 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Adobe Inc. | Microsoft Corporation |
Customer experience
Adobe Express
Microsoft Designer
User reviews
Adobe Express
From 367K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🚀 Quick and efficient
- 💡 Vast collection of templates and design options
- 👍 Intuitive interface
- 🚀 Seamless cross-platform sync
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🔒 Subscription model limits free features
- 🔒 Watermark issues with free version
- 🐛 Syncing and file management problems
- 👎 Cluttered and confusing UI after recent update
Microsoft Designer
From 552 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Seamless integration with Microsoft 365
- 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
- 🎨 Powerful AI-powered design capabilities
- 💡 Versatile and creative features
- 🎉 Fun and enjoyable to use
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
- 🔒 Strict content guidelines
- 💰 Subscription-based model with limited free usage
- 📱 Limited functionality on iPad devices
Bugs and requests
Adobe Express
Reported bugs
4 issues- Crashes and freezes when using certain features
- Disappearing fonts and design elements
- Issues with exporting high-quality images
- Inconsistent behavior across mobile and desktop versions
Requested features
5 requests- Add more customization options for text, shapes, and layouts
- Improve alignment and resizing tools
- Introduce a search function for templates and design elements
- Allow offline editing and local file storage
- Provide better organization and management of projects and assets
Microsoft Designer
Reported bugs
3 issues- Inconsistent performance and loading issues
- Inability to view or manage past designs on mobile
- Unexpected content restrictions and rejections
Requested features
4 requests- AI-powered video editing capabilities
- More advanced image editing tools
- Improved handling of diverse character designs
- Better organization and navigation of past projects
In-app purchases
Adobe Express
- Adobe Express Mobile14 Days trial$4.991 Month
- Express Subscription - Monthly$9.991 Month
- Adobe Express Monthly14 Days trial$9.991 Month
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- Adobe Express Monthly$9.991 Month
- Adobe Design Mobile : Monthly1 Month trial$14.991 Month
- Adobe Express Mobile - Yearly14 Days trial$49.991 Year
- Adobe Express - Yearly14 Days trial$99.991 Year
- Adobe Express Yearly14 Days trial$99.991 Year
- Adobe Express Premium - Annual$99.991 Month
- Adobe Design Mobile: Yearly1 Month trial$149.991 Year
Microsoft Designer
- Microsoft 365 Basic Monthly$1.991 Month
- Microsoft 365 Personal Monthly1 Month trial$9.991 Month
- Microsoft 365 Family Monthly1 Month trial$12.991 Month
Show 4 moreShow fewer
- Microsoft 365 Premium Monthly1 Month trial$19.991 Month
- Microsoft Copilot Pro$20.001 Month
- Microsoft 365 Personal Yearly1 Month trial$99.991 Year
- Microsoft 365 Family Yearly1 Month trial$129.991 Year
Questions
Is Adobe Express free?
Is Microsoft Designer free?
Which has better reviews, Adobe Express or Microsoft Designer?
Do Adobe Express or Microsoft Designer have ads?
Which is updated more often, Adobe Express or Microsoft Designer?
Which is more popular, Adobe Express or Microsoft Designer?
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