Microsoft Designer
Microsoft's free AI design and photo-editing app, on monthly credits
Overview
Microsoft Designer is a free AI app for making images, stickers, greeting cards, invitations and social graphics from a description, and for editing photos by erasing, moving or restyling objects. It runs on the web and mobile with a monthly credit allowance. Microsoft 365 Personal, Family and Premium plans give more credits and bring Designer features into Word and PowerPoint.
Pricing
Pricing shown for reference only. These figures reflect RECATOOLS research as of 14 Oct 2026 and may be out of date or incomplete. This is not financial or purchasing advice — always confirm the current price on the provider’s official website before making any decision.
- Create images, stickers, greeting cards, collages, invitations and more with words and AI
- Move people or objects, erase distractions, restyle or frame images
- Blur or remove backgrounds, crop, add text and resize
- Higher usage than free for AI image creation in Copilot
- Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote desktop apps with Microsoft Copilot
- 1 TB of cloud storage
- For 1 to 6 people (AI for subscription owner only)
- 2 TB of shared cloud storage
- Extensive usage for AI image creation in Copilot
- Advanced Copilot chat with extensive usage
- Agentic AI features including advanced research and analytics
What you can produce with Microsoft Designer
- Images, stickers, emojis, wallpapers and avatars generated from a text description
- Greeting cards, invitations, collages and social posts laid out with imagery and text
- Photo edits that move people or objects, erase distractions, restyle or frame an image
- Background blur or removal, cropping, text overlays and resizing for other formats
- Web and iOS/Android apps on a free monthly credit allowance
- Designer features inside Word and PowerPoint with a Microsoft 365 Personal, Family or Premium plan
Designer is a capable free tool for non-designers: describe an invitation, card or social post and it builds one, and its photo editor handles object removal, restyling and background blur well enough for everyday use. Daily boosts are gone; every account now gets monthly credits, one per AI action, and Microsoft 365 subscribers get up to four times as many.
It is a consumer app, not a studio. Microsoft has already retired its Teams bot, the page does not say which image model it uses, and it offers no developer API. Use it for quick personal graphics, not for brand or print work.
What we found
Microsoft Designer is Microsoft's AI graphic-design and photo-editing app for consumers. It was first shown at Ignite in October 2022, ran as a preview through 2023 and reached general availability with a personal Microsoft account in July 2024, on the web and on iOS and Android. It is still live at designer.microsoft.com, opening on three choices: create with AI, edit with AI or design from scratch.
Microsoft's product page lists what it makes from a typed description: images, stickers, greeting cards, collages, invitations, emojis, clip art, wallpapers, monograms and avatars. The editing side moves people or objects, erases distractions, restyles or frames a photo, blurs or removes backgrounds, crops, adds text and resizes a design for another format. Designer moved to OpenAI's DALL·E 3 in late 2023, but Microsoft's current page does not say which image model it runs today.
The pricing model changed, and earlier versions of this page described the old one. Designer no longer has daily "boosts": its FAQ says every image is now automatically boosted. Instead each account gets a fresh set of credits every month, and each AI action costs one. Microsoft's page does not state how many free credits that is. Microsoft 365 Personal at $9.99 a month, Family at $12.99 or Premium at $19.99 give the subscription owner up to four times as many, shared with Copilot in the Office apps, and are also what unlock Designer features inside Word and PowerPoint.
Not every surface survived. Microsoft retired the Designer bot and channel banners in Teams between mid-January and 27 February 2026 and pointed users to image generation in Copilot. Generative features are also limited by age, which varies by region, so some accounts cannot use Designer at all.
For quick invitations, social graphics and photo fixes, it is a capable free option. Anyone needing print resolution or detailed layout control will want a dedicated design tool.
Compiled by RECATOOLS from public sources: vendor documentation and pricing, code repositories and published reporting.
About this listing
This entry was compiled from publicly available data including Microsoft Designer's official website, press releases, documentation, and reputable third-party publications. RECATOOLS is not affiliated with Microsoft Designer unless explicitly stated.
Third-party AI tools update their pricing, features, availability, and policies frequently. Information here may be outdated by the time you read this — we make reasonable efforts to keep listings current, but cannot guarantee absolute accuracy.
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