Canva vs Smartly
Zero of fourteen models named Canva first on the direct prompt; two named Smartly. Canva was named by fourteen of the fourteen models and Smartly by thirteen and Canva carries 31 labels and Smartly 40, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Australia, founded 2013. Named in nine categories this edition.
Named in three categories this edition.
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the creative automation platforms page.
By framing
CanvaFirst choices, of fourteen modelsSmartly
Across every category in the October 2026 Edition, Canva and Smartly were named in the same answer thirty-three times, of the 151 answers naming Canva and the 174 naming Smartly. In those answers Smartly took the first choice zero times and Canva nine.
Every model, every framing
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | | |||
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | | |||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | | ||
| Perplexity Sonar | | | ||||
| Grok 4.1 Fast | | | | |||
| Mistral Small | | | | | ||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | | | |
| Llama 4 Maverick | | | ||||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | | |||
| Kimi K2 | | | | | ||
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | ||||
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | | | ||
| GPT-6 Luna | | | | | | |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | | |
Canva Smartly first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Canva on the left and Smartly on the right.The direct prompt
Smartly first, Canva not the choice
2 of 14 modelsCanva was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Neither was the first choice, one was named
4 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Neither was named
8 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
Canva24%#1 of 12Smartly0%#12 of 12Smartly13%#2 of 9Canva8%#3 of 9What the models said about Canva
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of six in this category shown.
“Why to avoid for CA: While excellent for individual marketers making one-off assets, they lack the engine to automate "one-to-many" production.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · negative prompt · hard negative
“It is not a creative automation platform." ... "Canva is great for humans. It's terrible for automation."” Muse Glimmer 30B · negative prompt · hard negative
“Avoid entry-level (e.g., Canva) for lacking ad-scale automation” Grok 4.1 Fast · direct prompt · hard negative
“For most companies with limited budgets, Canva Pro or Creatopy offer the best balance of affordability, ease of use, and functionality” Claude Haiku 4.5 · budget prompt · first choice
“I recommend starting with Canva Enterprise. It has the lowest friction, covers the widest variety of use cases” Qwen 3.7 Flash · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“If you need primarily design/graphical work: Canva (from $15/mo) - most affordable for creative tasks” MiniMax M2.5 · budget prompt · first choice
What the models said about Smartly
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of six in this category shown.
“immediately bypass heavy enterprise creative automation platforms like Celtra, Storyteq, Smartly, or Rocketium” Gemini 3.5 Flash · budget prompt · hard negative
“Overkill and overpriced unless you're a large enterprise with massive ad spend.” Kimi K2 · negative prompt · hard negative
“Avoid: Enterprise platforms like Celtra, Smartly.io, or Storyteq” Kimi K2 · budget prompt · hard negative
“If your focus is on creative automation for paid social ads and you have the budget, Smartly.io is the top choice.” Mistral Small · direct prompt · first choice
“I'd recommend Smartly.io as the top choice for a mid-sized B2B company” MiniMax M2.5 · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Need creative plus paid-media operations? Start with Smartly.” GPT-6 Luna · comparative prompt · first choice
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.