Comparison

Microsoft Designer vs Adobe Firefly

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • AI image generation
  • Custom sticker creation
  • Generative erase tool
  • Background removal
  • Custom wallpaper design
  • Greeting card creation
  • Photo restyling
Read full description

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!

About

Adobe Firefly

This app uses AI to generate images, videos, and sound effects from text prompts. It offers tools for editing, background removal, and animating still images, all optimized for mobile use. Seamlessly integrate your creations with Creative Cloud.

Highlights
  • Generate images from text
  • Create AI videos from text
  • AI background remover
  • Animate still images
  • Generate sound effects
  • Seamless Creative Cloud integration
Read full description

Create AI images and video faster, anywhere inspiration strikes with the all-new Adobe Firefly app for iPhone. Firefly’s AI generation tools help create original content that reflects your style, vision, and voice. Built from the ground up for iPhone, it delivers faster performance, smoother interactions, and an intuitive experience built for instant creativity. Generate images, create AI videos, or use our photo editing tools as an AI background remover. Firefly makes it easy to generate and refine your ideas wherever you are. From turning text into videos, images, and audio - Firefly is designed for professionals and innovators to create content with a high-quality AI editor. Firefly’s AI picture and video generation gives you the speed and flexibility to create on your terms, with the confidence of Adobe’s AI models trained on licensed content. From quickly adding animations and cinematic transitions to your videos to creating high-resolution images from a single text prompt - Firefly is your intuitive AI partner to create AI videos, images, and sound. Our variety of AI partner models, including Adobe, Google, OpenAI, Luma, and Runway, ensure you have the right tools to generate, edit, and refine your content. Download the Adobe Firefly app for iPhone to create AI images and video faster – anywhere inspiration strikes. What can Adobe Firefly do? Generate image from text with AI AI generation for iOS: Create high-resolution AI images from a simple text prompt. AI background remover & image generation tools: Add new details, replace backgrounds, or remove unwanted elements with Generative Fill or Prompt to Edit. Generate AI videos and sound effects Text to video generation: Use top AI models and the Firefly AI video maker to turn a text prompt into video clips right from your phone. Generate images and choose from a range of resolutions and aspect ratios to meet your creative needs. Extend video & animation: Generate video and use top editing tools that add seamless motion and cinematic transitions when you edit and create videos. Image to AI video content: Animate your own still images with dynamic motion and edits. AI editor & sound generator: Generate sound for professional voiceovers and narration to your content. Adobe Firefly, AI Generator: your AI picture and video generator Built from the ground up for iPhone - fast, fluid, and intuitive. Generate studio-quality AI video, images, & audio - in seconds. Seamless Creative Cloud integration - start on mobile, finish anywhere across Photoshop, Premiere, and Express. Intuitive experience lets digital artists, filmmakers, and AI creators learn as they go. Creations automatically sync with your Generation History so you can switch from your phone to the web while working on a project. Choose from the industry’s top AI partner models, all in one place. Who is Adobe Firefly for? Mobile-first content creators: iPhone users looking for fast, fluid creation tools built for mobile. Digital artists, photo editors, and designers: Generate visuals with text-to-image and quick-edit workflows. Video editors and filmmakers: Create AI videos with motion effects with our seamless video editing tools. AI editor for social media content creators and marketers: Create scroll-stopping videos, eye-catching images, and dynamic content. Join the next generation of creators using the Adobe Firefly app for iPhone to generate, refine, and share original content faster than ever — with intuitive AI tools built for instant creativity. Terms & Conditions: Your use of this application is governed by the Adobe General Terms of Use http://www.adobe.com/go/terms_en and the Adobe Privacy Policy http://www.adobe.com/go/privacy_policy_en Do not sell or share my personal information www.adobe.com/go/ca-rights

Screenshots

Microsoft Designer4 screens
Adobe Firefly4 screens

Verdict

The call

Microsoft Designer and Adobe Firefly both sit at 4.5 stars, but that hides the real split: 76% of Microsoft Designer's written reviews are positive against 33% of Adobe Firefly's. Adobe Firefly's advantage is ratings volume (11K vs 557) and chart position (#50 vs #152). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Microsoft Designer sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Adobe Firefly sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Adobe Firefly holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Adobe Firefly has 11K ratings behind it against 557, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 76% of Microsoft Designer's written reviews are positive against 33% of Adobe Firefly's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Microsoft Designer ships an update every 3 weeks, Adobe Firefly fortnightly. Both last shipped on November 10, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
Microsoft Designer versus Adobe Firefly: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMicrosoft DesignerAdobe Firefly
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (557 ratings)4.7 (11K ratings) — better
Positive reviews76.1% of reviews — better32.6% of reviews
Number of ratings55711K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#152#50 — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size76 MB169 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperMicrosoft CorporationAdobe Inc.

Customer experience

Microsoft Designer

All ratings556 ratings
Positive87.9%
Neutral4.0%
Negative8.1%
Written reviews364 reviews
Positive76.1%
Neutral5.8%
Negative18.1%

Adobe Firefly

All ratings11,396 ratings
Positive91.9%
Neutral2.8%
Negative5.3%
Written reviews688 reviews
Positive32.6%
Neutral9.3%
Negative58.1%

User reviews

Microsoft Designer

From 557 App Store ratings

What 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

Adobe Firefly

From 11K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Simple and intuitive experience
  • 🚀 Impressive level of detail and realism
  • 💡 Opened up new creative possibilities

Room to improve

  • 💰 Expensive subscription model with limited credits
  • 🐛 Frequent errors and app instability
  • 🤔 Mediocre features compared to other apps

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

Adobe Firefly

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Error messages when trying to create requests
  • Compatibility issues with older devices

Requested features

2 requests
  • Option to refine or redo projects without using credits
  • Ability to purchase additional credits

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Microsoft Designer

Subscriptions6
  • 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 3 more
  • Microsoft 365 Premium Monthly1 Month trial$19.991 Month
  • Microsoft 365 Personal Yearly1 Month trial$99.991 Year
  • Microsoft 365 Family Yearly1 Month trial$129.991 Year
10 purchases

Adobe Firefly

Subscriptions10
  • Adobe Firefly Mobile Monthly$4.991 Month
  • 500 Credits$4.991 Month
  • 1,500 Credits$14.991 Month
Show 7 more
  • 3,000 Credits$29.991 Month
  • Adobe Firefly Mobile Yearly$49.991 Year
  • 500 Credits$49.991 Year
  • 5,000 Credits$49.991 Month
  • 1,500 Credits$149.991 Year
  • 3,000 Credits$299.991 Year
  • 5,000 Credits$499.991 Year

Questions

Is Microsoft Designer free?
Microsoft Designer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Adobe Firefly free?
Adobe Firefly is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Microsoft Designer or Adobe Firefly?
Adobe Firefly is rated higher. Microsoft Designer averages 4.5 out of 5 from 557 ratings, while Adobe Firefly averages 4.7 from 11K ratings.
Do Microsoft Designer or Adobe Firefly have ads?
Neither Microsoft Designer nor Adobe Firefly shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Microsoft Designer or Adobe Firefly?
Microsoft Designer ships an update every 3 weeks, and Adobe Firefly fortnightly. Most recently, Microsoft Designer was updated on November 10, 2026 and Adobe Firefly on November 10, 2026.
Which is more popular, Microsoft Designer or Adobe Firefly?
Microsoft Designer currently peaks at #152 in the App Store charts, and Adobe Firefly at #50. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

Other comparisons