Facts about Canva below come only from Canva’s own seating chart page, checked on 2 November 2026. We couldn’t load Canva’s pricing page from our checker, so we don’t quote prices. Check the sources before deciding.
At a glance
| Canva | SeatFinch | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Drag-and-drop graphic design editor | Seating planner with rule-based auto-seating |
| Starting point | Ready-made seating chart templates | Your guest list and table layout |
| Deciding who sits where | You type names into the design | Auto-seat from rules, then drag to fine-tune |
| Design freedom | Very high: fonts, colours, photos, graphics | Three print styles |
| Output | Your design, sized as you choose | PDF, PNG, escort list PDF/CSV, floor plan PNG, by-table CSV |
What Canva offers
Canva’s seating chart page calls it a “Free Seating Chart Maker” and describes an easy drag-and-drop editor, “3M+ free stock photos and graphics”, designing from any device, and inviting others to design together. You start from ready-made templates by Canva’s designers, add labels for chairs or tables, colour-code groups, and choose from “over a hundred free and beautiful fonts”. Canva suggests that large seating charts “can be as big as 24 x 36 inches”.
The page is about designing the chart. It doesn’t describe importing a guest list, checking table capacity, or assigning guests automatically.
Plan the seats in SeatFinch, then design the sign wherever you like.
Start planning freeAbout SeatFinch
SeatFinch is a seating chart maker built around one idea: you write the rules, it does the first draft. You import a guest list (CSV with name, household, meal and tags), add round or rectangular tables and venue objects (dance floor, bar, stage, DJ, cake), and write rules — “must sit together”, “must not sit together” and “keep households together”. Auto-seat then fills every table while keeping every rule, and tells you which rules conflict if they can’t all be kept. You fine-tune by dragging guests; manual moves respect table capacity, and rules are re-checked whenever you run Auto-seat.
Creating an event with unlimited guests, tables and rules, the floor plan and auto-seating are free for one saved chart, with a watermarked PNG export. A one-time unlock of $19 per event (launch price $14 until Feb 3, 2027) removes the watermark and adds the exports: a seating chart PDF (US Letter) or PNG in three print styles, an escort list (PDF and CSV), a floor plan image and a by-table CSV with meals. SeatFinch does not collect RSVPs, build wedding websites or sell stationery.
Which to choose
Canva may suit you better if you already know who sits where and want full creative control over a sign that matches your stationery, or if several people want to design it together.
SeatFinch may suit you better if you haven’t decided the seating yet, have a lot of guests and constraints, or want the escort list and caterer list to come from the same plan.
Using both: plan in SeatFinch, export the by-table or escort CSV, and paste the names into a Canva template for a fully custom sign.
Sources
- Canva — Free Seating Chart Maker (checked 2 November 2026)
Last updated 2026-11-02