AI Branding vs. DIY Design: Comparing Canva Pro, Blaze AI, and Looka for Your Business

In 2025, branding tools like Canva Pro, Blaze AI, and Looka have become essential for businesses aiming to create professional designs without hiring expensive agencies. Each tool serves different needs:

• Canva Pro: Best for creating polished marketing materials with its vast template library, AI tools like Magic Write, and team collaboration features. Priced at AU$54.99/month for 5 users, it's ideal for small to medium businesses needing consistent design output.
• Blaze AI: Specialises in video content creation, offering AI-powered animations and real-time video editing. Starting at AU$89/month, it's perfect for businesses relying on regular video marketing.
• Looka: Focuses on AI-driven logo and brand identity creation. Affordable one-time pricing (AU$65 for a premium logo) or an annual subscription (AU$96) makes it a great option for startups needing quick branding solutions.

Quick Comparison

Key takeaway: Canva Pro is versatile for general use, Blaze AI excels in video, and Looka simplifies branding for new businesses. Choose based on your specific needs and content focus.

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Canva Pro: DIY Design with AI Tools

Canva Pro is a user-friendly design platform that blends professional-grade tools with simplicity, making it a go-to solution for businesses looking to create polished marketing materials. Its drag-and-drop interface, paired with advanced AI features, ensures that even those without design experience can produce impressive results.

Main Features and AI Tools

One of Canva Pro's greatest strengths is its massive library of templates - more than 610,000 professionally designed options. These templates cover everything from social media posts to business presentations. For Australian businesses, this includes designs tailored to local preferences and sizing standards for platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

The platform’s AI tools have come a long way. Magic Write, for example, helps generate marketing copy, social media captions, and email subject lines. Over time, it adapts to match your brand’s tone, making it an invaluable time-saver for busy professionals.

Another standout feature is Text-to-Image, which lets users create custom graphics simply by describing what they need. For instance, typing "modern office space with plants and natural lighting" generates multiple AI-crafted images that can be further customised.

Other tools include the Background Remover, which isolates subjects from images in seconds, and Magic Resize, which instantly reformats designs for different platforms. Need to turn an Instagram post into a LinkedIn banner? It’s just one click away.

The Brand Kit feature keeps your marketing materials consistent by storing your company’s colours, fonts, and logos in one place. This ensures that everyone on your team can easily access and use the same branding elements, maintaining a cohesive look across all content.

Pricing and Australian Business Features

Canva Pro is priced at $54.99 per month (including GST) for up to five team members, or $549.99 annually, which offers a 17% saving. Additional team members can be added for $10.99 per month each.

Australian businesses benefit from local payment options, including major banks and PayPal. For larger organisations, invoicing is available to support purchase order workflows. GST-inclusive pricing is displayed automatically, simplifying accounting and expense management.

The platform’s scheduling feature is tailored for Australian time zones, making it easy to plan social media posts for peak engagement times, whether your audience is in Sydney, Brisbane, or Perth. You can schedule content directly to platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest, eliminating the need for separate social media tools.

Collaboration tools are particularly helpful for teams spread across Australia’s vast geography. Real-time editing allows team members in different cities to work on the same project simultaneously, and comment threads streamline feedback and approvals. This is especially useful for distributed teams in cities like Melbourne, Sydney, and Perth.

When to Use Canva Pro

Canva Pro is ideal for small to medium businesses that need professional-looking marketing materials without hiring a dedicated design team.

• Retail businesses can use it to create product catalogues, flyers, and social media content that aligns with their branding.
• Service-based businesses, such as consultancies or real estate agencies, benefit from Canva Pro’s presentation templates and proposal designs, which save time while maintaining a polished look.
• E-commerce businesses can enhance product photography, create social media ads, and design email marketing campaigns. Integration with platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce makes it easier to produce sales-driven promotional materials.

For businesses with high-volume content needs, such as daily social media posts, weekly newsletters, or monthly marketing campaigns, Canva Pro’s templates significantly cut down on production time. However, companies that require specialised design work or unique branding concepts might find its template-based approach somewhat restrictive. Canva Pro is best suited for those who need efficient, professional designs within established frameworks - not entirely bespoke creations.

Blaze AI: Real-Time AI for Video Content

Blaze AI is a video-first platform powered by AI, designed to create dynamic video content. Unlike traditional design tools that primarily focus on static graphics, Blaze AI specialises in crafting animated videos and motion-based materials that can adapt in real-time to meet your brand's specific needs.

This platform is ideal for businesses that see video as a vital part of their marketing strategy but lack the technical skills or resources to produce professional-quality videos consistently. Let’s dive into its video and animation features to see how it delivers.

Video and Animation Features

Blaze AI’s standout feature is its ability to generate real-time video content. It transforms text inputs, brand guidelines, and performance data into videos, offering multiple variations for A/B testing or personalised campaigns.

Its animation engine breathes life into static brand elements - like logos, colours, and typography - by converting them into animated visuals perfect for social media and web banners. The AI analyses your brand assets to ensure the motion graphics align with your branding while adding dynamic elements to keep viewers engaged.

The platform also adjusts timing, transitions, and pacing automatically based on the content’s intended length. Whether you’re creating a quick 15-second Instagram story or a more detailed 60-second LinkedIn video, Blaze AI ensures the flow is optimised for the platform and audience.

Blaze AI’s content intelligence feature takes things further by analysing past performance metrics to recommend improvements. It suggests ideal video lengths, colour schemes that resonate with your audience, and animation styles proven to boost engagement.

For businesses juggling multiple campaigns, the batch processing feature is a game-changer. It allows you to create numerous video variations at once, tailored for different platforms or demographics. You can customise messaging, calls-to-action, or visuals and generate a full set of branded videos in just minutes.

Pricing and Access

Blaze AI uses a subscription-based model, with plans starting at $89.00 per month (including GST) for the Professional plan. This tier includes up to 50 video exports per month and access to the full library of templates. For larger needs, the Business plan, priced at $179.00 per month, increases the export limit to 200 videos and introduces team collaboration tools.

Australian businesses can pay using major local banks or digital payment methods, with GST applied to all transactions. The platform also provides invoicing to simplify accounting.

Videos are exported in formats optimised for platforms popular among Australian businesses, such as Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, and YouTube. Blaze AI automatically adjusts video specifications, including aspect ratios and file sizes, to ensure compatibility with each platform’s requirements.

All subscription tiers include storage and bandwidth, with Australian users benefiting from local content delivery networks. This ensures faster upload and download speeds, which is particularly useful for businesses in regional areas where internet performance can vary.

Best Uses for Blaze AI

Blaze AI shines in scenarios where consistent video production is key to business success. Here are some of the industries and use cases where it excels:

• E-commerce businesses: Quickly create product demos, promotional videos, and seasonal campaigns. The platform can integrate product images, pricing, and messaging into polished videos without requiring advanced editing skills.
• Social media agencies and digital marketers: Manage multiple client accounts effortlessly. Blaze AI’s brand management system allows you to store and switch between client guidelines, ensuring all content adheres to specific branding standards.
• Event management and hospitality: Generate promotional content that highlights current offers, seasonal updates, or special events. The ability to quickly update and regenerate videos keeps marketing fresh and relevant.
• Professional services: Accounting, legal, and other service firms can use the platform to create educational videos, client testimonials, or service explanations. Its text-to-video feature is particularly handy for turning written content into engaging visuals.

That said, businesses with highly customised or intricate animation needs might find Blaze AI’s template-driven approach limiting. While the platform is designed for efficiency and consistency, it’s less suited for creating completely bespoke animations or handling complex post-production work. For those needs, additional tools or professional services may be required.

Blaze AI ensures your video content stays on-brand and engaging, helping businesses maintain a cohesive presence across platforms with minimal effort.

Looka: AI Logo and Brand Creation

Looka focuses entirely on AI-driven branding solutions. Instead of offering a wide range of design tools, it hones in on building complete brand identities using artificial intelligence. This makes it a great option for new businesses that need professional branding quickly and at a reasonable cost.

With Looka, you get a full brand package. This includes a custom logo, matching colour palettes, recommended fonts, and detailed brand guidelines to ensure your branding stays consistent across all platforms.

Logo Design Process

The process starts with a short questionnaire about your company name, industry, and preferred style. Based on your input, Looka’s AI generates a variety of logo concepts. Once you pick a design direction, the platform offers automated variations tailored for different uses, such as letterheads, social media profiles, or website icons.

Pricing and What’s Included

Looka provides several pricing options to suit different budgets and business needs:

• Basic Logo Package: $20 (one-time) – Includes one low-resolution PNG file.
• Premium Logo Package: $65 (one-time) – Offers high-resolution files in multiple formats, colour variations, unlimited updates, full ownership rights, and lifetime support.
• Brand Kit Subscription: $96 per year – Includes unlimited logo updates, high-resolution and vector files, over 300 branded assets, social media templates, business cards, email signatures, letterheads, invoices, brand guidelines, and more.
• Brand Kit Web Subscription: $129 per year – Adds an AI-generated website to all the features of the Brand Kit Subscription.

These pricing tiers give businesses the flexibility to choose what fits their needs while ensuring consistent branding.

When Looka Shines

Looka, much like Canva Pro and Blaze AI, is designed to meet specific branding needs by delivering a complete identity package tailored to your business.

It’s especially useful for startups, solo entrepreneurs, and small teams looking for a fast and affordable way to develop professional branding. Industries like real estate, healthcare, consultancies, and professional services can quickly create cohesive brand identities without needing to piece together elements from different sources or hire external designers.

That said, Looka might not be the best fit for businesses with complex or highly specific branding needs. Larger organisations or those in creative industries with detailed brand guidelines may require a more customised and intricate approach than Looka’s streamlined, template-based system offers.

Side-by-Side Comparison: Features, Pricing, and Fit

Now that we've explored each platform in detail, it's time to see how they stack up against each other. Below is a head-to-head comparison based on features, pricing, and the type of users they best serve.

Feature Comparison Table

Each platform stands out in its own way. Canva Pro offers a well-rounded toolset catering to diverse design needs, Blaze AI shines in video creation, and Looka simplifies branding by automating the process.

Pricing and Value Comparison

Pricing is another key factor that sets these platforms apart. Here's a breakdown of their pricing models and what they offer:

• Canva Pro: Priced at AU$18.95 per month (billed annually), Canva Pro gives users unlimited access to premium templates, AI tools, and team collaboration features. It's a great choice for businesses that need a versatile, all-in-one design tool.
• Blaze AI: Blaze AI uses a credit-based system, starting at AU$20 per month for 20 video credits. Credits are consumed based on the length and complexity of each video. This model is ideal for businesses with steady video production needs, though costs can rise for those with high-volume or irregular projects.
• Looka: Looka offers both one-time purchases and subscription options. The Premium Logo Package costs AU$65, providing everything needed for basic branding. For ongoing access to branded templates and assets, the Brand Kit Subscription is available at AU$96 annually. This structure works well for startups or businesses looking to establish a brand identity without frequent design updates.

The "best value" depends entirely on your needs. Canva Pro is cost-effective for high-volume content creators, Blaze AI suits video marketers despite its per-project costs, and Looka is perfect for occasional branding needs.

Which Tool for Which Job

Based on the feature and pricing analysis, here’s how these platforms align with specific branding and design needs:

• Logo Design: Looka leads the pack with its ability to generate professional logos quickly, offering multiple variations for various applications. Canva Pro can also handle logo creation, but it requires more manual effort. Blaze AI, on the other hand, isn't built for static logo work.
• Marketing Materials: Canva Pro is the go-to option for creating brochures, social media posts, and print materials. Its extensive library of templates and flexible editing tools makes it easy to produce consistent, high-quality assets. While Looka offers some marketing templates as part of its Brand Kit, the selection is more limited.
• Video Content: Blaze AI stands out for video production, using AI to create engaging videos from simple text prompts. This makes it ideal for social media campaigns, product demos, and promotional content. Canva Pro offers basic video editing tools but lacks the automation and advanced capabilities of Blaze AI. Looka doesn't support video content at all.
• Brand Consistency: Looka ensures brand consistency by automating the creation of all brand elements. Canva Pro requires users to manually maintain brand guidelines after setting up a Brand Kit, while Blaze AI focuses more on individual video projects and offers limited tools for overarching brand consistency.

Which Tool to Choose for Your Business

Based on the earlier feature and pricing comparisons, the right choice of branding tool depends heavily on your business stage and the complexity of your design needs. Each platform caters to specific requirements, helping you simplify and strengthen your branding efforts.

Tool Recommendations by Business Type

• Startups and New Businesses
  If you're just starting out and need quick, budget-friendly branding, Looka's AI-powered platform is a great option. It can create essential branding elements like logos and basic design assets in no time.
• Content-Heavy Businesses
  For businesses like digital marketing agencies, e-commerce stores, or social media influencers that rely on regular content, Canva Pro is a strong contender. Its vast library of templates and collaboration features make it ideal for creating marketing materials. However, maintaining brand consistency across projects will require diligent oversight.
• Video-Focused Businesses
  If your business revolves around video content - think fitness coaches, product demonstrations, or social commerce brands - AI video tools like Blaze AI can be a game-changer. With 42% of Australians making purchases directly via social media each month, engaging video content can significantly boost conversions.
• Established Businesses with Complex Branding Needs
  For companies with more intricate branding requirements, automated tools alone may fall short. Established businesses often need expert guidance to develop a comprehensive brand strategy and ensure a cohesive presence across all platforms.

Once you've chosen a tool, the next step is to ensure your branding remains consistent across all channels and assets.

Keeping Your Brand Consistent

As your business expands, maintaining a uniform brand identity can become a challenge, and each tool offers its own way of addressing this. For instance, Looka provides a cohesive set of brand assets based on your initial logo, which is helpful for consistency but may feel restrictive as your brand evolves. Canva Pro allows you to create a Brand Kit with your colours, fonts, and logos, but it requires ongoing attention to ensure alignment. On the other hand, video tools like Blaze AI are better suited to individual projects, so it's wise to develop separate brand guidelines for video content that complement your overall branding.

"Research shows that 58% of marketers reported burnout in 2025, underscoring the need to balance automated design tools with strategic oversight and regular brand audits to maintain authentic engagement".

For projects that go beyond the scope of these tools, expert support becomes indispensable.

DIY and AI tools are excellent for handling routine design tasks, but as businesses grow, they often face more complex challenges - like creating a detailed brand strategy, custom illustrations, or advanced design guidelines. That’s where Talentblocks steps in. This platform connects businesses with skilled designers who specialise in creative and strategic branding. With features like thorough skill validation and flexible booking options, Talentblocks makes it easy to find the right expert for tasks like custom template creation or aligning brand assets.

Many Australian businesses have found success with a hybrid approach, combining the efficiency of AI and DIY tools with the expertise of professional designers. This balanced strategy not only supports consistent growth but also helps create a brand identity that truly stands out in the market.

FAQs

Which tool should I choose for my business: Canva Pro, Blaze AI, or Looka?

Choosing the right tool comes down to what your business values most. If you're after a DIY platform to craft eye-catching visuals while keeping your brand consistent, Canva Pro is a fantastic choice. Its extensive library of templates and simple interface make creating professional designs a breeze. On the other hand, Blaze AI shines when it comes to automating content creation and simplifying marketing tasks. With its AI-driven suggestions, it’s perfect for saving time and improving workflow. Meanwhile, Looka is your best bet for fast, AI-powered logo and branding asset creation, delivering polished results in no time.

Whether your priority is creative flexibility, efficiency through automation, or speedy branding solutions, pick the tool that best matches your goals.

What are the key benefits of using AI tools like Blaze AI for creating video content compared to traditional methods?

AI tools, such as Blaze AI, bring some clear benefits compared to traditional methods of video creation. By automating repetitive tasks, they simplify the workflow, cutting down production time and freeing up teams to concentrate on the creative and strategic aspects of their projects.

Another standout feature is their ability to personalise content effortlessly. These tools make it easier to tailor videos for specific audiences, helping businesses build stronger connections with their target market. On top of that, they boost efficiency, allowing small teams to craft engaging, high-quality videos without overloading their workload or demanding additional resources.

Is Looka's AI-powered branding suitable for Australian businesses with growing and changing brand needs?

Looka’s AI-driven branding tools provide an excellent starting point for small to medium-sized businesses aiming to craft a professional logo and establish a basic brand identity. With its intuitive interface and straightforward solutions, Looka is particularly suited for businesses in the early stages of their branding journey.

That said, as your business expands and your branding needs grow - like handling multiple design assets or ensuring consistent branding across diverse platforms - Looka might not have the advanced capabilities to keep up. For businesses facing more complex branding challenges, exploring more robust tools or custom solutions could be essential to maintain a cohesive and scalable brand presence.