Canva alternative

The Canva alternative built for bulk ID cards

Canva is great for designing one card. The moment you need a hundred from a spreadsheet, each with the right photo, it fights you. StencilID is built for exactly that: design once, upload your list, and get a print-ready PDF of everyone.

Start free, no card required

Where Canva Bulk Create struggles with ID cards

None of this is a knock on Canva. It is a general design tool, not an ID-card generator. The bulk-and-print step is simply not what it was built for.

Canva Bulk Create vs StencilID

Task Canva Bulk Create StencilID
Match photos to people Paste a photo into every spreadsheet cell by hand Drop a folder of photos, matched by filename automatically
Rows per run Capped at 300 rows Hundreds per batch, no cell-pasting
Card size Set 85.6 x 54 mm (CR80) by hand CR80 preset built in
Print-ready output Pages, no cut lines or bleed A4 PDF with cut lines, plus a 300-DPI ZIP
Double-sided Line up backs for duplex yourself Front and back, duplex-ready
QR codes / barcodes Not a first-class bulk step Per person, built in
Cost Bulk Create needs a paid plan Free to start

How StencilID does it

  1. 1

    Design one card at the correct CR80 size, with a photo slot, name, role and a QR code. That becomes your template.

  2. 2

    Upload your CSV and a folder of photos. Map each column to the card. Photos are matched by filename, so no pasting into cells and no hosting.

  3. 3

    Generate everyone at once. You get a print-ready A4 PDF with cut lines, plus a ZIP of images, single or double-sided.

A personalized card for every row, in about 15 seconds.

Questions, answered

Can Canva make ID cards in bulk? +

Yes, Canva has a Bulk Create feature, but for ID cards specifically it gets fiddly. You have to embed a photo into every spreadsheet cell rather than matching by filename, it is capped at 300 rows, and the output is pages rather than a print-ready sheet with cut lines.

What is the best Canva alternative for bulk ID cards? +

StencilID is purpose-built for the job Canva does badly: design one card, upload a CSV, drop in a folder of photos matched by filename, and generate a print-ready PDF of everyone. It handles CR80 sizing, cut lines, double-sided cards and per-person QR codes automatically.

Does StencilID match photos to people automatically? +

Yes. Put each photo filename in a column (for example j_smith.jpg), upload the photos, and each one lands on the right card. No pasting images into cells, no public hosting.

Is StencilID free? +

You can design and preview for free. Generating and downloading a full batch as a print-ready PDF is on the paid plans, which start at $5 per month, or a one-time $9 / 100-card pack if you only need cards once.

Make the whole list, not one at a time

Design once, generate hundreds, print straight away. See the bulk ID card maker, browse templates, or read the full Canva walkthrough.

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