Avnac

New

The free alternative toCanva Pro

🟢 Beginner⏱️ ~5 min to installYou save €12/mo

Avnac is a Canva-style visual editor, but open and lightweight: you go to avnac.design, click “Open editor”, and you are in the editor. No account, no email, nothing to install. You place text, shapes, images, vectors, align, rotate, add shadows, crop, even generate a QR code, and export to PNG, JPG or WebP. Your projects are saved in your browser's local storage, so on your machine, not with them. It is a React app with a small server behind it, which you can also run locally or on your VPS, and a desktop fork, Avnac Studio, exists for Windows, macOS and Linux. The project is young: AGPL-3.0 licensed, about 1,500 stars, built for desktop (blocked on phones), and its main repo has not moved since May 2026. No template or photo library like Canva: you start from a blank canvas.

1.6kView on GitHub ↗

Versus Canva Pro: the match

Price
Avnac
€0, in the browser
Canva Pro
€12 a month, €110 yearly
Account
Avnac
None, you open the page and create
Canva Pro
Required
Where your files live
Avnac
In your browser, on your machine
Canva Pro
With them

Canva Pro ↗

VS	Avnac	Canva Pro ↗
Price	€0, in the browser	€12 a month, €110 yearly
Account	None, you open the page and create	Required
Where your files live	In your browser, on your machine	With them
Templates and stock images	None, blank canvas	Millions, that is their strength
Export	PNG, JPG, WebP, transparent background included	Transparent background is Pro only
On a phone	No, desktop only	Yes, mobile app

How to install it (even from zero)

Nothing to install: the editor is online, no account. The prompt below is only for when you want your own copy on your server, for instance for your team.

1
Open the editor, that is all
Go to avnac.design/editor. No account: you create, you export. Your projects stay in your browser, remember to export what matters.

If you want your own copy, paste this prompt into Claude

It fetches the official project and runs it on your machine or your server, interface and small backend included:

Installe Avnac (l'éditeur de visuels open source façon Canva, repo GitHub xt42io/avnac) sur ma machine, en suivant le README du dépôt. Pars de zéro : vérifie que Git et Node.js (version 20 ou plus) sont installés, sinon installe-les. Clone le dépôt, puis dans le dossier backend fais npm install, copie .env.example en .env et lance npm run dev (port 3001) ; dans le dossier frontend fais npm install et lance npm run dev (port 3300). Ouvre http://localhost:3300 et vérifie qu'on peut créer un visuel avec un texte et une forme, puis l'exporter en PNG. Si je veux le mettre sur mon serveur pour mon équipe, construis le frontend avec npm run build, sers-le derrière un reverse proxy Caddy en HTTPS avec le backend, et explique-moi comment le mettre à jour. Explique chaque étape simplement, je débute.

Review the GitHub repository and check whether it is safe to install given my machine and my infrastructure. Ask me as many questions as possible, using widgets, to clarify my request and be as precise as you can.

What you actually do with it

A thumbnail, a story, a poster, right now

You open the tab, place your title and image, export. No login, no “upgrade” at export time.

Visuals with clean text and sharp vectors

Text hierarchy, alignment, shadows, vector shapes that stay sharp when zoomed. For a cover or a carousel, it is enough.

A QR code on your flyer, without a third-party site

The QR code generator is built in: paste your link, place it on the visual, export.

Project health, at a glance

Before installing an open-source tool, one question matters: is the project alive? These scores are computed from public GitHub data. They are not made up.

27/100

Watch closely

Low-activity project: fine to try, don’t build your house on it.

Activity: 0
Maintenance: 40
Community: 54
Maturity: 40
Momentum: 0

The repo in numbers

GitHub stars: 1.6k
Forks: 201
Contributors: 8
Commits: 696
Project age: 0.4 yrs
Last commit: 129 d ago
Size: 1.1 MB
License: AGPL-3.0

Built with

TypeScript 96.3%
CSS 3.1%

Scores computed automatically from the GitHub API (last-30-days activity, update freshness, community size, project age). Refreshed daily.

Loucash’s take

6/10

Avnac's real argument is zero friction: you click a link and you are creating, no account, nothing to install, and your files do not leave your machine. For a title on an image, a story, a simple poster, it is faster than opening Canva. But let us be honest about what it is not. You mostly pay Canva for its templates and its image and photo library. Avnac has none: you start from a blank canvas with your own images. No mobile app either, and the project is young, 1,500 stars, run by one person, with a main repo that has not moved since May 2026. A desktop fork, Avnac Studio, takes over for those who want a native app. My take: if you pay Canva for visuals you build yourself, Avnac gives you the subscription back. If you pay it for the templates, keep Canva, or look at Penpot for more advanced design.

It’s for you if: You make your own visuals, on a desktop, with your own images, and you want an open editor without an account rather than a subscription.