Crello Review
What Is Crello?
Crello is a graphic design tool that allows you to create visual content of all kinds. From logos and social media posts to videos and animations.
Today, communication is all about images. Having impactful visuals is the key to getting the attention you need in cyberspace. This is why it is so important to choose reliable graphic design software for your everyday content.
It is the perfect ally for commercial businesses, social media managers, influencers, graphic designers, and small entrepreneurs.
In fact, Crello is so straightforward that you don’t need any skills to put it to good use. You don’t need to be a graphic designer to achieve professional-looking results.
The best part about Crello is that it offers a free version, so you don’t even need to spend money unless you want to unlock the premium features.
This Crello review will go over some of this software’s best features, such as cool templates, free stock photos, instant access to a huge collection of visual assets and animated designs, and explain what makes Crello a great tool.
MY RECOMMENDATION
Canva is the easiest to use, robust, affordable, and professional editor. We love it at our agency and you can’t go wrong giving it a try.
How Does Crello Work?
Step 1: Choose Your Format
Browse over dozens of different options. There’s one for every need!
Crello adapts to all social media formats. Instagram stories, Facebook banners, Youtube thumbnails, and Pinterest graphics, among others.
It also covers printables, such as posters, birthday cards, wedding invitations, and flyers.
If your needs are more business-oriented, Crello allows you to create logos, work presentations, newsletters, menus, coupons, and certificates.
But Crello is also great for individuals and anyone who wants to incorporate some creativity into their everyday lives. You will find some pretty cool schedule planners, photo albums, resumes, mood boards, and even T-shirts!
Step 2: Find the Perfect Template
Once you know what you want to design, it’s time to select a suitable template.
Crello offers no less than 30,000 designs. You can type keywords on the search box to find exactly the one you’re looking for. There are themes of all kinds: different color palettes, aesthetics, and trends.
Let’s try an example. Say you want to post a story on Instagram announcing your next event. All you have to do is select the Instagram Story format and type something like ‘event’ on the search box.
Crello will show you tons of different ideas for you to bring your design to life.
Even though they are generic and available for anyone to use, all templates are fully customizable and have the potential to look exactly the way you pictured them in your head. With a bit of imagination, you can make them look unique!
Not just the text, but also the background, the colors, the style, and any other element. Don’t hesitate to go for the one that feels right just because it’s not quite the result you’re going for.
But if you’re feeling creative, you can always select a blank page and start your design from scratch. You will have everything you will need to take it from zero to fabulous.
Step 3: Customize Your Creation
Add your text, adjust the size, and choose your own fonts and colors. Then move on to your background. Leave it as it is or use the background removal feature and explore a neverending library of royalty-free stock images. Upload your own pictures if you want.
Crello also features an impressive collection of visual assets of all kinds. Illustrations, stickers, shapes, and animations.
Step 4: Add Animations
And speaking of animations, it is also possible to add a little bit of movement to your design to make it more dynamic and visually attractive.
Under the animations tag, you will find an endless variety of GIF-like graphics. If you’re not sure how to use them, you can start by replacing one of the existing elements in your design with one of these animations.
For example, if there’s a butterfly picture, try typing butterfly on the search box and choose one that’s flapping its wings.
Keep in mind that you should download your creation as MP4 or GIF to keep it dynamic. Otherwise, it will become a regular image.
Step 5: Download and Share
Congratulations! You are now done with your little project and you’re ready to download it and save it or share it with your contacts on your social media. What now?
Just click on the download button in the upper-right corner and select a format. JPG, PNG, and PDF are still images, while GIF and MP4 are animated.
Crello supports pretty much every social media you’ll ever need, so sharing your design in your profile shouldn’t be a problem.
Crello Best Features
Background Remover
Your days removing the background of an image manually are finally over. Crello’s background remover does all the work for you in a matter of seconds.
At first glance, this doesn’t really look like a major game-changer.
This feature is a must if you’re working on a logo. Logos should always have a transparent background to fit any context properly.
Replacing the background from the pictures of your products with a white background is another excellent use for this feature. It will make your pictures look more professional and increase your sales. Not to mention it will make the product stand out!
Influencers also appreciate this functionality when it comes to editing their social media images. It allows them to remove unnecessary objects from the background and isolate those elements we want to highlight.
Tricks like these are what make social media posts impressive!
Last but not least, the background removing feature allows you to give your images an artsy touch. Go crazy! The sky’s the limit. Crello’s media library should give you a few ideas.
Photo Editor
Like other similar tools, Crello includes quite a decent photo editor that allows you to add filters, crop, resize, and adjust your images.
Its capabilities are pretty basic, but they do the trick. They are good enough to enhance your pictures and achieve an aesthetic that matches your vision.
Changing the colors of your photos will make them express different moods and emotions. Merging them in collages will make your design look artsier. You can even go crazy and use a Warhol-style filter.
Brand Kit
Having a solid brand kit is a must to keep your brand consistent and save time.
It basically consists of a package where you can store your exact color palettes, fonts, and logos. Imagine trying to recreate one specific aesthetic without knowing exactly which elements were used to create it in the first place.
Crello had that covered. Building your brand’s identity has never been easier. This is exactly what makes Crello a great choice for businesses.
Other tools offer similar features included in the pro version, but there are a few differences.
Crello’s brand kit allows you to work with previous material. There is no need to start from scratch, especially if you have already spent quite a while building your brand’s image. You can easily upload your own elements and save them in the editor for future reference.
But if you’re new and lacking ideas, you can borrow some from Crello’s free templates.
Last but not least, it is perfectly possible to work with your team and have all of your elements in one place. This will smooth the path when it comes to making decisions and improving productivity.
Objects, Stickers, and Animations
Right at the middle of the navigation bar on the left, you will find this label. When I say objects, I mean absolutely anything.
Arrows, shapes, shadows, frames, lines, emojis, and icons. You name it.
You can change the size, color, and position. Some can even be reshaped, like the geometric figures and lines, but others, like emojis, can only be changed proportionally by dragging one of the corners.
The animations are right above the objects and have a similar variety. Just type whatever you want on the search box, and Crello will find what you’re looking for.
All animations can be flipped and enlarged, and it is also possible to edit the transparency and the delay.
Music
Did you know Crello has a built-in library with thousands of tracks? Honestly, what other graphic design tool offers such a thing?
If you already have a song in mind, you can also upload your own sounds to make it more personal. Needless to say, you can fully customize this part as well. Set things like duration, crop the audio, overlay two different sounds, etc.
MY RECOMMENDATION
Canva is the easiest to use, robust, affordable, and professional editor. We love it at our agency and you can’t go wrong giving it a try.
Disadvantages of Crello
Free Version Only Allows 5 Downloads Per Month
Coming up with the perfect design only to realize that you have already used your 5 free downloads is just unacceptable beyond annoying.
Those are the rules, and you probably knew them beforehand, but you can’t help feeling a deep disappointment. As a user, I’d immediately switch to the nearest competitor.
Responsiveness Could Be Better
Users have reported this repeatedly. Crello has minor glitches with certain browsers. It is slow at times and not as responsive as you would expect it to be.
These are the kind of problems that make a tool unreliable, and it is definitely not good for Crello’s reputation. Fortunately, this can be solved with updated versions. A few adjustments here and there. It is usually not definite, but it certainly does affect our overall perception.
It Is Still Canva’s Pepsi
Even though we must admit Crello is quite a worthy competitor, many users still prefer to stick to the old reliable.
They both offer pretty much the same features. I even dare to say it wouldn’t take long to recreate a replica of a Canva design on Crello, and vice-versa.
But people are just more familiar with Canva’s interface, and comfort is too hard to compete against. And honestly, I don’t see why anyone would bother switching from Canva to Crello.
So unless Crello comes up with some jaw-dropping updates that somehow make our lives easier, it will always live in Canva’s shadow.
Crello Pricing
Unlike its competitors, Crello only offers two plans: the free Starter plan and the Pro plan.
While offering a free version is always a big plus and attracts lots of users that are not willing to spend money, Crello’s Starter plan might be a bit too limited.
If you’re an individual, you will probably go for the free version for a while until you get tired of not having access to the features you want the most, and you will end up subscribing to the Pro version eventually.
But if you have a business going on or need to work with a team, you must choose the paid subscription.
The Pro plan includes several business essentials, such as the possibility to invite team members, having priority support, and being able to remove backgrounds, which is necessary to create a logo. Plus, if you’re going to make a profit out of it, you might as well make a small investment.
Now for the actual numbers. Crello accepts credit and debit cards and PayPal. There are two ways to do this: monthly or yearly.
If you choose to pay yearly, you will end up saving 20%. But the difference per month is rather insignificant: $9.99 with the monthly subscription vs. 7.99 per month paying yearly.
If you’re not sure whether you’ll want to stick to Crello after a while, you might want to go for the monthly plan.
Worst case scenario, you will only have wasted 10 bucks.
Is Crello Pro Worth the Cost?
Well, it depends on your needs.
If you only plan on using it occasionally for school projects or little personal creations, the Pro subscription is not worth paying for. You don’t need it.
The Pro plan is ideal for users who will rely on Crello to improve their brands, businesses, or careers, even amateurs who want to make the most out of it and exploit this tool’s potential.
Let’s keep in mind that the pricing plans are quite affordable anyway, so it’s not such a hard decision to make.
Final Thoughts
In this Crello review, we went over the reasons why you should give this tool an opportunity.
Modern problems call for modern solutions, and Crello has them. It is user-friendly and easy to use, and it offers all kinds of resources to bring your vision to life.
Even though it is true that it has too many similarities with its competitors, you might be surprised to find those subtle differences that make it worth paying attention to.
