A Canva Alternative for Arabic Design: An Honest Comparison

Where Canva wins

• It runs on the web, desktop, Android, and iPhone, with your designs everywhere.
• A huge library for everything: presentations, CVs, documents, video, and social designs.
• Team collaboration on the same design, with comments.
• Good modern Arabic fonts such as Cairo and Tajawal.

If you're making a presentation or a video, or working with a team on a computer, Canva is an excellent choice and Tiraz doesn't replace it.

Where Tiraz wins

• Calligraphic Arabic: Thuluth, Diwani, Diwani Jali, Nastaliq, Ruqaa, and Kufic among 230+ font families.
• Calligrapher-style kashida: stretching drawn from the font itself in the right place, from a table tested for each font on every letter. In Canva you type a tatweel by hand and get a straight line.
• Gulf-style templates: nikah, wedding, engagement, condolence, Jumu'ah, and adhkar, with correct Arabic wording.
• Occasion tools: automatic Hijri and Gregorian dates, QR codes, and an invitation link with RSVP and entry tickets.
• Calligrapher's elements: vowel marks, letter marks, and script flourishes to place over letters, plus ready occasion lettering.
• Your photos stay on your device: background removal (Gold) runs on the phone, so photos aren't uploaded.

Tiraz's limits, honestly

• iPhone only for now, with no Android or desktop; a web version is being prepared.
• No video, presentations, or team editing of the same design.
• A smaller template library focused on occasions and Arabic content.
• Some templates and fonts, longer kashida and its styles, the print PDF, 4K, and transparent backgrounds are part of Tiraz Gold.

Point by point

• Platforms: Canva everywhere; Tiraz on iPhone for now.
• Calligraphic Arabic: limited in Canva, the core of Tiraz.
• Kashida: manual tatweel in Canva; font-drawn stretching in Tiraz.
• Hijri dates: typed by hand in Canva; written automatically by Tiraz.
• Invitation link and RSVP: built into Tiraz; Canva needs another tool.
• Video, presentations, and teamwork: in Canva, not in Tiraz.
• Price: both start free with an optional subscription; Tiraz Gold starts with a 3-day trial.

Which should you choose?

• Choose Canva for presentations, video, or company work with a team, mostly in modern fonts.
• Choose Tiraz to design an invitation, greeting card, lettering, or religious post in Arabic calligraphy from your phone, with Arabic that looks hand-lettered.
• Or use both: design the lettering in Tiraz, export a transparent PNG with Gold, and drop it into your Canva design.

If your design is already in Canva

Tiraz doesn't import Canva files directly, but the route is simple: export the background or images from Canva without the text, add them in Tiraz as images, and write the Arabic text over them with calligraphic fonts and kashida. You keep your design and gain proper Arabic lettering.

Questions to ask before choosing

• Are most of your designs in calligraphic Arabic or modern fonts?
• Do you design on a phone or a computer?
• Do you need invitations with RSVP and Hijri dates?
• Do you work alone or with a team on the same design?
• Do you need video or presentations?

If most of your answers are calligraphic Arabic, phone, and invitations, Tiraz fits you better. If they're computer, team, and video, Canva suits you more, and there's nothing wrong with using both.

Get started in Tiraz in five minutes

1. Start a new design

   Download Tiraz from the App Store, tap the gold + at the bottom, and choose Blank and a size, or From Photo to start with your picture. Ready sizes include post, story, square, and video, and All Sizes holds the print formats. Start at the size you'll publish in so you don't have to rearrange the design later.

   

2. Open the Jumu'ah Mubarak templates

   Download Tiraz from the App Store, then on Home tap the title of the Jumu'ah Mubarak shelf to see all its templates; you can also browse them first in Jumu'ah Mubarak templates. Templates with a crown are part of Tiraz Gold, the rest open for free. Pick the design closest to your taste, since every text and color in it can change afterward.

   

3. Choose the font

   With the text selected, open Fonts, switch to the Diwani tab and try fonts while seeing your own word in each one. Fonts with a crown are part of Tiraz Gold, and a font downloads the first time you use it. Keep to two fonts: a calligraphic one for names and a clear one for details.

   

4. Decorate with lettering and elements

   Tap graphics in the toolbar to open Elements, then the Stickers tab, and pick a sticker or gold touch. The element lands on the design, where you can scale, move, and recolor it to match; elements with a crown are part of Gold. One or two are enough, since too much decoration buries the names.

   

5. Export or share the design

   Tap the gold share button at the top of the editor to open Export: a full-size PNG for free, and a print PDF, 4K, and transparent backgrounds with Gold. Tap Share to send it straight to WhatsApp, or Save to keep it in Photos. For a print shop always choose PDF; a phone image prints soft.

   

Jumu'ah Mubarak Templates

14 templatesView All →

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Jumu'ah Mubarak — White Minaret & Teal Band

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Jumu'ah Mubarak — Virtues of Blessings on the Prophet

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Jumu'ah Mubarak — The Letterhead

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Jumu'ah Mubarak — Send Abundant Blessings

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Jumu'ah Mubarak — Domes & Bougainvillea

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Jumu'ah Mubarak — Turquoise Dome & Minaret

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Jumu'ah Mubarak — The Lit Minaret

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Jumu'ah Mubarak — Ottoman Mosque Circle

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Jumu'ah Mubarak — Corner of the Kaaba

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Jumu'ah Mubarak — Pencil Mosque, Patience

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Jumu'ah Mubarak — Pencil Mosque, Mercy

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Jumu'ah Mubarak — Blush Leaves

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Jumu'ah Mubarak — Bouquet & Frame

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Jumu'ah Mubarak — Turquoise Medallion

If you also use Photoshop, read the article on Arabic fonts for Photoshop.

Common Questions