What is the best book cover maker?
The list above ranks them by the Author Score. Canva is the most widely used; Book Brush and BookCoverZone are built for authors and state that they make KDP print covers.
Book Cover Design Software
Cover makers, design apps and premade cover shops for self-published books, from free tools to $99 premades. Each has a BookBird Author Score from what its own site confirms (including whether its images and fonts may be used on a book you sell), what it costs and how many people search for it.
Prices and data checked October 7, 2026 · Author Score computed by a published formula, not paid for
The short answer
- Canva 8.5 Free plan; paid from $20 a month
Authors on a budget making ebook covers and promo graphics - BookCoverZone 8.3 $99 one-time
Authors who want a designer-made premade cover without commissioning one - DIY Book Covers 8.2 Free plan; paid from $19 one-time
Budget authors wanting AI-made ebook covers with one-time credit packs - Book Brush 7.2 $149 a year
Authors who want covers plus ad graphics in one yearly web subscription - KDP Cover Creator 6.6 Free
KDP-only authors needing a quick free cover inside KDP
All book cover software, scored
8 of 8 shown · How the Author Score works
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1
8.55/6 author jobsFree plan; paid from $20 a monthFree plan + paid plans2.4K−9%searches a monthweb · Windows · Mac · iOS · Android
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2
8.36/6 author jobs$99 one-timeOne-time licence110−31%searches a monthweb
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3
DIY Book Covers
AI cover generator, template editor and 3D mockups by designer Derek Murphy
Book cover design
8.25/6 author jobsFree plan; paid from $19 one-timeSeveral ways to pay, one-time option880−23%searches a monthweb -
4
7.25/6 author jobs$149 a yearSubscription1.6K−16%searches a monthweb
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5
6.63/6 author jobsFreeFree390+8%searches a monthweb
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6
Affinity
Free all-in-one design app by Canva with a page-layout studio
Book formattingBook cover design
5.61/6 author jobsFreeFree12K−3%searches a monthWindows · Mac -
7
4.81/6 author jobsFree plan; paid from $7.99 a monthFree plan + paid plans90+46%searches a monthweb · iOS · Android
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8
2.21/6 author jobs$19.99 a monthSubscription70−56%searches a monthWindows · Mac · web · iOS · Android
Nothing matches. Clear a filter to see more.
Prices in USD from each vendor’s own site, checked October 7, 2026. Searches: US Google searches a month for the product’s name, with the change over 12 months. Score out of 10, by one published formula; nobody pays to be listed.
How to choose book cover software
Ebook only, or a paperback wrap too?
An ebook cover is one image. A paperback needs a full wrap, back cover, spine and front, sized to your page count and paper, with bleed. Book Brush, BookCoverZone and KDP Cover Creator state that they make KDP print covers. Canva has book cover templates but not a spine calculated from your page count, and DIY Book Covers says it cannot make paperback wraps yet. Whatever you use, our free cover calculator gives the exact full-cover size and spine width for any trim and page count.
Can you use the images on a book you sell?
A stock photo licensed for social posts may not cover a product you sell. Canva, Book Brush, BookCoverZone and DIY Book Covers state their images and fonts can go on a book for sale; the product pages quote what each says. Covers made in KDP Cover Creator can be used only on KDP.
Design it yourself or buy a premade?
BookCoverZone sells premade covers, each sold once and customised with your title, from $99 for an ebook cover. Canva, Book Brush and DIY Book Covers are for making your own. Affinity, now free, and Photoshop are full design apps: the most control, but no book templates or spine tool, so you start from a blank page.
A new cover for an existing book? Our guide to building a print-ready cover for KDP covers bleed, safe area and the barcode, and the free ISBN barcode generator makes the barcode for the back.
How the BookBird Author Score works
Built for self-published authors, from facts anyone can check: each vendor’s own pages, read on October 7, 2026, and US Google search volumes (Google Ads data via DataForSEO). Nobody pays to be listed, and no score is adjusted by hand. We did not test the apps by writing a book in them; the score measures what they do for an author, what they cost and how widely they are used.
- Author jobs, 50 points. Each category has a list of jobs an author needs that kind of software to do. A job counts only when the vendor’s own pages say the product does it; a job they do not mention earns nothing, and the product page says which ones.
- Book cover design: print covers sized for KDP, ebook cover sizes, book cover templates, images and fonts cleared for commercial use, print-ready export and 3D mockups for promotion.
- Cost, 25 points. What one year costs a single author on the cheapest plan with a USD price. A one-time licence is spread over 3 years. A free plan, or a platform that takes no upfront fee, earns all 25; the dearest product in the category keeps 5.
- Adoption, 25 points. How many people in the US search Google for the product by name each month: 20 points on a log scale against the most searched product in the category, and 5 for the trend, comparing the last three months with the first three of the year.
The score is the points earned divided by the points that could be checked, on a 10-point scale. A part with no data (no USD price, no search volume) is left out rather than guessed. How long a product has existed is not scored: few vendors state it. Review sites are not used: for most of these products the profiles rate the whole company or hold a handful of reviews.
| Book cover design | Author jobs /50 | Cost /25 | Adoption /25 | Score /10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canva | 41.7 | 25 | 18.6 | 8.5 |
| BookCoverZone | 50 | 22.2 | 11 | 8.3 |
| DIY Book Covers | 41.7 | 25 | 15.8 | 8.2 |
| Book Brush | 41.7 | 12.6 | 17.4 | 7.2 |
| KDP Cover Creator | 25 | 25 | 15.6 | 6.6 |
| Affinity | 8.3 | 25 | 22.4 | 5.6 |
| Adobe Express | 8.3 | 25 | 14.4 | 4.8 |
| Adobe Photoshop | 8.3 | 5 | 9.1 | 2.2 |
Questions
Is there a free book cover maker?
Canva and DIY Book Covers have free plans, and KDP Cover Creator is free inside KDP, though its covers can be used only on KDP. Affinity is free for individuals.
Can I use an AI-generated cover on KDP?
KDP accepts it, but asks you to say whether the cover images were generated by AI when you publish.