This comes up constantly with clients and junior designers I work with. The honest answer isn’t “InDesign is always better” - it’s context dependent.
Where Canva is genuinely sufficient: social media templates, simple one-page flyers, basic presentations, quick client mockups where speed matters more than precision. For a small business owner who needs a menu or Instagram post, Canva is the correct tool. Telling them to learn InDesign is bad advice.
Where InDesign is non-negotiable: multi-page documents with consistent master pages and paragraph styles. Books, catalogs, annual reports, magazines. Anything with complex typography requirements (optical margin alignment, baseline grids, proper hyphenation control). Anything going to professional print with bleeds, crop marks, and color management requirements.
The gray zone where it depends: brochures, single-page print pieces, simple brand collateral. Canva can technically do these. InDesign does them better. The question is whether “better” justifies the learning curve and subscription cost for the person making the decision.
What I tell freelancers: if you’re doing editorial, publishing, or high-end print work, InDesign is a core skill. If you’re doing social media and digital marketing collateral, Canva with a Pro subscription covers 80% of needs. Know both, charge for the one the project requires.
Where do you draw the line between “Canva is fine” and “this needs InDesign”?