Microsoft Designer
Verified Oct 16, 2026 ActivePrompt-driven graphic design metered by Microsoft AI credits
Listed on EffectHub ·
Pricing
- Pricing model
- Freemium
Designer carries no price of its own; it is metered by the Microsoft 365 AI credit pool. Free accounts get 15 credits a month, and a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription lifts that to 60 shared with Copilot in the Office apps, so a week of drafting in Word leaves fewer image generations. Credits reset at the start of each billing month and do not roll over. Microsoft retired the standalone $20/month Copilot Pro in late 2025 and folded its benefits into Microsoft 365 Premium at about $19.99/month, with existing Copilot Pro subscribers supported until 1 August 2026.
Use tool ↗About Microsoft Designer
Microsoft Designer turns a prompt into social posts, invitations and edited photos, and returns layered files you can keep editing rather than a flat render. Generative erase, background removal, restyle and image generation each cost one AI credit from a monthly allowance. Free accounts get 15 of those credits; a Microsoft 365 subscription raises the figure to 60, but that pool is shared with Copilot across Word, Excel and the rest of Office.
- API
- Not confirmed
- Last verified
- Oct 16, 2026
Verified sources
- Site live at HTTP 200; designer.microsoft.com/pricing returns 404 — there is no standalone pricing page for the productdesigner.microsoft.com ↗
- AI credits for Microsoft 365 Personal, Family and Premium: monthly allowance, shared across Copilot features, resets each billing month and does not roll oversupport.microsoft.com ↗
- Free users get 15 AI credits per month and Microsoft 365 subscribers 60 shared with Copilot; each generation, generative erase or restyle costs one credittooljunction.io ↗
- Standalone Copilot Pro at $20/month retired in late 2025 and folded into Microsoft 365 Premium at about $19.99/month; existing subscribers supported to 1 August 2026computerworld.com ↗
Is Microsoft Designer legit?
We don’t label tools safe or unsafe. Below are the records we checked ourselves, each with the date we read it.
- Domain registered
- May 2, 1991 (35 years ago)Registry record (RDAP), registrar MarkMonitor Inc., looked up Sep 6, 2026
- TLS certificate
- Issued by Microsoft Corporation, valid until Apr 28, 2027Seen in our own connection to the site on Oct 16, 2026
- Last checked
- Oct 16, 2026The site answered
- On the market since
- 2023The vendor's own material, read by us
- Operated by
- Microsoft, United StatesOur research, card verified Aug 17, 2026
Pros & cons of Microsoft Designer
Free enough to be worth having on the taskbar and genuinely good at one-off social graphics, but the credit pool is small and shared, so it is a convenience tool rather than something a design workflow can lean on.
Pros
- Usable for free with a Microsoft account and no separate purchase
- Output stays layered and editable instead of arriving as a flat image
- Runs on web, Windows, iOS and Android with the same account
Cons
- 15 free credits a month is a handful of generations, not a workflow
- The 60-credit subscriber pool is shared with Copilot across Office, so Designer competes with Word for it
- Credits reset monthly with no rollover
- No API and no published standalone pricing page
Best for
- Microsoft 365 households already paying for the subscription
- Quick social posts, invitations and thumbnails where speed beats control
- Light photo cleanup such as background removal and object erase
Not for
- Any volume of design work, where 60 credits a month disappears in an afternoon
- Teams needing API access, brand kits or real collaboration
Watch out: The 60 credits a Microsoft 365 subscription buys are not Designer's — they are the same pool Copilot draws on in Word and Excel, so heavy Office use silently starves your image generation.
Alternatives to Microsoft Designer
Microsoft Designer head-to-head
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