PicsArt vs Snapseed: Choosing the Best Photo and Video Editing App

Photography and video editing with pro editing tools can be fun, right? PicsArt and Snapseed are both great photo and video editing apps that can satisfy you.
Each of which provides a rich set of features to heighten the quality of your visual content. But PicsArt and Snapseed are different in that they serve dissimilar user needs and use cases with their own approach.
I will summarize the most important factors that distinguish PicsArt from Snapseed in terms of features, interface, workflow and the whole user experience.

PicsArt and Snapseed Overview

Hovhannes Avoyan founded PicsArt in 2011 as a full-deck creative platform for editing photos & videos. The app gained popularity quickly because of its user-friendly tools and multi-layer features like compositing, rendering finishes, creating collages and many more.

Snapseed started in 2011 by Nik Software as a photography software company and it was bought by Google in 2012. The application is designed to be a professional tool thus offering tools for various photo editing such as masking, which used to be a feature that only professionals used and many more.

Comparing the Ease of Use and Interface

For most users, the experience of actually using an app is just as important as the features it provides. We’ll examine how the interfaces and overall usability of PicsArt and Snapseed measure up.

PicsArt’s Intuitive Interface for Creativity

PicsArt features a more complex interface than Snapseed, but one that is thoughtfully designed and intuitive. The neatly organized dashboard provides easy access to the plethora of editing tools, creative assets, and community features.

Snapseed’s Minimalist Interface for Efficiency

In contrast to PicsArt, Snapseed employs a pared down interface containing only the core photo editing tools. The app uses tap-based gestures and slider controls optimized for quickly fine-tuning images. There are no complex menus or navigational elements getting in the way.

The Verdict: Exploration vs Efficiency

Neither interface is inherently better—they simply cater to different user preferences. PicsArt is ideal for those who value creative exploration and enjoy having many options at their fingertips. The learning curve is steeper but pays off for artistic projects.

On the other hand, Snapseed will appeal to those looking for fast, focused editing in a no-frills package. While less robust, the interface is extremely beginner-friendly for quick enhancements.

Comparing Editing Tools and Features

PicsArt and Snapseed have significant overlaps but also key differences depending on your intended use case.

PicsArt for Artistic Creations

The editing options of PicsArt are the main point of the application since they help people to be creative. You are endowed with usual devices like cropping, rotating, resizing, cutouts, and filters. Despite the availability of such tools, artists get the real crux when it comes to their more expansive toolkit which is specially made for everyone in graphic designs, social media marketers and casual creators.

Some of the standout features include:

• Drawing tools: Add freehand drawings to your images with brushes, pens, and more.
• Text: Easily add stylized text and captions to your photos.
• Stickers: Choose from thousands of free stickers to liven up any image.
• Overlays: Apply creative overlays like textures, light leaks, shapes, and frames.
• Collages: Combine multiple photos into eye-catching collage designs.
• Remix chat images: Turn screenshots into memes and imagery.

For truly taking your edits to the next level, you can use layers to composite multiple elements together non-destructively. This makes the workflow incredibly flexible compared to Snapseed’s singular image approach.

Snapseed for Professional Photography

As its pared down interface indicates, Snapseed focuses on more professional photographic editing capabilities:

• Color and exposure: Manually adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, ambiance, and more with granular control.
• Curves: Fine-tune tonal ranges throughout the image for accuracy.
• Selective edits: Apply adjustments to specific areas of interest.
• Perspective: Correct skewed lines and horizons.
• Lens blur: Emulate depth of field and bokeh effects.
• Healing: Remove unwanted blemishes and imperfections.

While you won’t find the creative embellishments of PicsArt, Snapseed provides powerful utilities for color grading, retouching, and general photography enhancements. The non-destructive workflow ensures you can tweak to your heart’s content.

PicsArt’s Video Editing Capabilities

One major advantage PicsArt has over Snapseed is robust video editing capabilities built right into the app:

• Trim and cut: Remove unwanted sections of footage.
• Filters: Instantly apply unique filter styles.
• Text: Overlay stylized text animations.
• Stickers: Enhance footage with moving stickers.
• Drawing: Scribble on your videos with the drawing tools.
• Frame grab: Extract clear still frames from video.
• Collages: Combine video clips into a collage sequence.

The similarity of tools between the photo and video editors makes it easy to apply effects consistently across media types. Snapseed simply does not provide anywhere near the same level of video editing.

AI-Powered Tools

Modern photo and video editors now integrate AI to assist creators in streamlining workflows. Both PicsArt and Snapseed offer AI-enabled functionalities with slightly different approaches.

In PicsArt, the AI is geared towards more flashy, instantly transformative effects like:

• Cutouts: Instantly remove photo backgrounds.
• Face editing: Adjust facial features and apply makeup.
• Sky replacement: Swap out skies in your photos.
• Photo enhancement: One-touch improvement of image quality.

Snapseed takes a more subtle approach to integrating AI that enhances rather than replaces manual editing:

• Selective adjustment: AI identifies areas to adjust based on color, tone, etc.
• Perspectives: AI guides horizontal/vertical perspective corrections.
• Healing: Identifies imperfections to remove automatically.

The AI implementation matches the overall ethos of maximizing creativity versus optimizing photography. Both can be advantageous depending on your goals.

The Verdict: Versatility Wins for PicsArt

When it comes to editing tools and capabilities, PicsArt is simply more versatile, robust, and extensive compared to the more specialized Snapseed.

PicsArt is the Swiss Army knife of photo and video editing, packed with tools for every creative need. Snapseed serves best as an efficient utility for making images look their absolute best from a photography perspective.

Are Templates and Design Assets Useful?

An often-overlooked aspect of photo and video editing apps is the inclusion of templates, fonts, stickers, and design assets you can use to embellish your creations. This can be tremendously useful for beginners and non-designers.

PicsArt Comes Prepared with Assets

One of PicsArt’s biggest advantages is its library of templates and creative assets available for free. For social media marketers, content creators, bloggers, and others producing visual content, these resources are invaluable:

• Templates: Professionally designed templates for instant customization for social posts, ads, thumbnails, and more.
• Fonts: An extensive collection of stylish fonts to make text pop.
• Stickers: 1000s of stickers in every style imaginable.
• Overlays: Textures, borders, light leaks, and shapes to layer onto images.

Having these assets ready to go saves you time and effort in graphics creation. You can achieve professional effects and cohesive branding without advanced design skills.

Snapseed Focuses Only on Editing

On the other hand, Snapseed sticks to being a pure photo editing utility without any included templates or design resources beyond core graphics functionality.

This minimalism has its advantages for experienced photographers and creatives with their own branding assets. But for beginners seeking to easily enhance their visual content, PicsArt has the clear edge here.

Pricing and Platform Differences

Let’s examine the pricing models and platform availability for PicsArt and Snapseed. The costs and accessibility of each app can play a major role in your choice.

PicsArt Comes Freemium

Here’s a table of the pricing plans for PicsArt:

Snapseed Is Free on Mobile

As a Google product, Snapseed is entirely free without any paid tiers or limits. All functionality is available without ads or watermarks.

The Pros and Cons of Each App

To summarize the key strengths and weaknesses of PicsArt and Snapseed, here is an overview of the main pros and cons based on our detailed comparison.

Each App Has Its Strengths

The pros and cons make it clear that both PicsArt and Snapseed are excellent choices with different specialties.

PicsArt shines for creative types seeking a wide range of expressive tools. Snapseed hits the spot for photography buffs who value specialized editing controls.

Should You Choose PicsArt or Snapseed?

When choosing between PicsArt vs Snapseed, your intended use case and personal preferences should guide your decision.

PicsArt is ideal for social media influencers, marketers, bloggers, students, and anyone seeking to create graphics and video content for public sharing online.

Snapseed is purpose-built for photography buffs who want to polish shots from their smartphone or DSLR camera. The streamlined workflow and advanced tools like selective editing, lens correction, and RAW support make Snapseed the go-to option.

Final Words