Seating chart software vs a spreadsheet
The default option, and for a small wedding the correct one. Here is the point at which it stops paying for itself.
SeatingSorted vs Canva
Seating chart software vs Canva
Checked August 2026The short answer
These are not competitors. Canva is a design tool: it produces the beautiful printed board your guests read at the door. Seating software decides what goes on that board. Most couples want both, in that order — work out the seating, then design the sign.
| Canva | SeatingSorted | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A graphic design tool | A seating planner |
| Designing the display sign | Excellent — this is what it is for | Basic printable output |
| Deciding who sits where | You decide, it lays out | Rules in, plan out |
| Collecting RSVPs | No | Yes, by link |
| Keep-apart rules | No | Enforced |
| Handling a late change | Re-edit the design by hand | Re-solve, then re-export |
| Templates and fonts | Thousands | One clean layout |
Use Canva when
- You already know the seating and need it to look good on the day.
- You want table cards, escort cards and a welcome sign in one visual style.
- Your seating is simple enough that deciding it was never the hard part.
Use SeatingSorted when
- You do not yet know who sits where, which is the actual bottleneck.
- Guests are still replying and the list keeps changing.
- There are constraints — divorced parents, a fallen-out pair, children who need an adult — that have to hold.
The part people find out too late
The order matters more than the choice. People who design the sign first end up redesigning it, because seating is decided last and changes right up to the week of the wedding.
Comparisons age. This one was last checked in August 2026 — if something here is out of date or unfair, tell us and it gets corrected.