What is Microsoft Designer?

Microsoft Designer is a free AI graphic design tool that turns a text prompt or a rough idea into finished visuals: social media posts, invitations, digital postcards, stickers and general images. It combines AI image generation with a template-driven layout editor, so you can generate an image and immediately drop it into a designed post with matching text, colors and sizing for the platform you're posting to. Editing tools like background removal and generative erase let you clean up or modify a generated or uploaded image without leaving the app.

Who it is for

Designer is aimed at everyday users, small businesses, students and social media managers who need quick, decent-looking graphics without design skills or a paid subscription. It's a natural fit if you already use a Microsoft account and want something faster than opening a full design tool for a single Instagram post or flyer. It's not aimed at professional designers or teams needing brand-system consistency, precise layout control, or collaborative workflows — for that, dedicated tools with finer control are a better fit.

Key features

Text-to-image generation for creating custom visuals from a prompt
Template library for social posts, invitations, posters, postcards and more, auto-populated from your prompt or image
Generative erase and background removal for quick photo cleanup
Automatic resizing and reformatting of a design across multiple social platform dimensions
Text and caption suggestions matched to the design's theme
Direct integration with a Microsoft account, including saving to OneDrive

Pricing

Microsoft Designer is free to use with a Microsoft account, including its core image generation and template features, with no separate paid tier of its own at the time of writing. Check designer.microsoft.com for the current feature and usage limits, since Microsoft periodically adjusts what's included for free versus tied to a broader Microsoft 365 subscription.

Strengths

Genuinely free, with no credit card required to start generating images and designs
Fast generation and a simple, guided interface that gets a usable social post or graphic out in minutes
Templates cover the most common everyday design needs (social posts, invites, postcards) well enough for non-designers

Weaknesses

Layout control is limited compared to a full design tool — moving beyond the template structure is clunky, so custom or unconventional layouts are hard to achieve
The asset and template library is noticeably smaller than Canva's, so repeat users can start seeing similar-looking templates reused

Getting started

Go to designer.microsoft.com and sign in with a free Microsoft account. Describe what you want to create or upload an image, choose a template style, and Designer generates a first draft you can edit, resize for different platforms, and download or save to OneDrive.

Verdict

Microsoft Designer is a solid free entry point in AI Design & UI Tools for anyone who needs occasional, decent social graphics without paying for a subscription. If you need finer layout control, brand consistency across a team, or a larger asset library, tools like Figma or Framer offer more depth, but for a quick free graphic, Designer is hard to beat on price.