Microsoft Designer vs Ideogram AI
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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!
Ideogram AI
Transform text prompts into realistic images, artwork, and sophisticated layouts. Refine your creations with an AI editor to adjust details, extend scenes, or remove backgrounds. Generate custom logos, polished headshots, and face swaps with ease.
- AI image generation from text prompts
- AI image editing tools
- Custom logo creation
- AI-generated headshots
- AI face swap functionality
- Curated style presets
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Turn your imagination into stunning images with Ideogram AI, the AI image app loved by millions of creators worldwide. Whether you're crafting creative designs, professional logos, polished headshots, or marketing assets, Ideogram makes it easy to bring your ideas to life in seconds. Start with a simple text prompt to generate realistic images, bold artwork, and sophisticated layouts. Then refine your results with our AI image editor to adjust details, extend scenes, or remove backgrounds. Need visual consistency? Upload a single photo and create endless variations with striking fidelity. Perfect for storybooks, comics, and ads. Download Ideogram AI today and start creating today for free. Upgrade anytime to unlock more creative capabilities. Why you'll love Ideogram: -Free to Use: Get started with free weekly credits. -AI Image Generator: Generate stunning visuals with beautiful, stylized text and precise composition, bringing new possibilities to graphic design, marketing, and advertising projects. -AI Image Editor: Use generative fill, expand into new aspect ratios, or remove backgrounds in one tap. -Custom Logo Maker: Design unique logos for personal or business projects. -AI Headshot Photos: Turn one photo into polished portraits. -AI Face Swap: Insert your character into any existing image instantly. -Curated Styles: Use style presets to turn basic prompts into sophisticated aesthetics. https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Microsoft Designer at 77% against Ideogram AI's 52%. Ideogram AI's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.5) and ratings volume (2.6K vs 552). 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. Microsoft Designer sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Ideogram AI sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $11.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Ideogram AI holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 552 and 2.6K respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 77% of Microsoft Designer's written reviews are positive against 52% of Ideogram AI's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Microsoft Designer ships an update every 3 weeks, Ideogram AI monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Microsoft Designer | Ideogram AI |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (552 ratings) | 4.8 (2.6K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 76.5% of reviews — better | 51.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 552 | 2.6K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #148 | #104 — better |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 16.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 75 MB | 36 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Microsoft Corporation | Ideogram |
Customer experience
Microsoft Designer
Ideogram AI
User reviews
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
Ideogram AI
From 2.6K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Transforms ideas into stunning visuals
- 👍 User-friendly interface for all skill levels
- 💡 Variety of styles to choose from
- 👍 Frequent updates with new features
- 👍 Ability to edit and refine images
Room to improve
- 🐛 Paid version not working as expected
- 🔒 Difficulty deleting account
- 🔒 Paid account not accessible through app
- 🐛 Pasting functionality no longer working
- 💰 Expensive subscription cost
Bugs and requests
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
Ideogram AI
Reported bugs
3 issues- Not working on iPhones
- Unable to access page or app
- Paid desktop account not accessible through app
Requested features
3 requests- Pinch-to-zoom on generated images
- Ability to copy and paste from other sources
- Restore previous 25 credits per day
In-app purchases
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
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- 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
Ideogram AI
- Basic Monthly$11.991 Month
- Plus Monthly$28.991 Month
- Pro Monthly$85.991 Month
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- Basic Annual$119.991 Year
- Plus Annual$274.991 Year
- Pro Annual$829.991 Year
Questions
Is Microsoft Designer free?
Is Ideogram AI free?
Which has better reviews, Microsoft Designer or Ideogram AI?
Do Microsoft Designer or Ideogram AI have ads?
Which is updated more often, Microsoft Designer or Ideogram AI?
Which is more popular, Microsoft Designer or Ideogram AI?
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