If you are weighing up VaultIt against Canvsly, you are almost certainly trying to answer one question: where is the safest, most lasting home for my child's artwork over the next decade? Both apps will scan a drawing. The decision really comes down to privacy, cost over years, and how well things hold together once the collection grows from a handful of pieces into hundreds. This is a fair, plain look at how the two compare for an ordinary family.
VaultIt keeps the decision simple. It is built only for children's artwork, free for its core features with no subscription required, and your scans live in a private vault that is never sold or used to train anything. Voice notes and a year-by-year timeline turn the collection into a story you actually return to.
Before anything else, read how each app treats your child's images. VaultIt keeps everything in a private vault that is never sold, shared or used to train anything. Whatever you decide between VaultIt and Canvsly, read that app's data policy in full first, this is your child's face and creations, so it matters more than any feature.
A monthly fee feels small until you multiply it by the ten-plus years your child is making art. VaultIt is free to download and free for its core features. If Canvsly relies on a subscription, work out the five-year total before you commit, not just this month's price.
Any app handles fifty drawings nicely; the real test is five hundred. Try both with a larger batch and see how the timeline and search hold up. The gap between VaultIt and Canvsly usually shows up not on day one but once a few years of artwork have piled in.
Some apps put core features behind a paywall and reserve free tiers for a taste. VaultIt lets you scan, add voice notes and organise without a subscription. Compare that honestly against what Canvsly includes for free, and decide which model suits a years-long habit rather than a one-off tidy.
Is it easy to switch from Canvsly to VaultIt?
Yes, and there is no rush to delete anything. The simplest path is to start a free VaultIt vault and run it alongside Canvsly for a few weeks, scanning new artwork into VaultIt as it arrives while you get a feel for it. If you decide to commit, you bring your existing images across at your own pace, so you are never locked out of either while you make up your mind.
Can I import my existing artwork?
You can. Any drawings you have already photographed, whether they live on your phone, in Canvsly, or in a folder on your computer, can be added straight into your VaultIt timeline. You are not starting from scratch, the years you have already captured come with you, and you can slot them into the right age as you go.
What is the single biggest difference between VaultIt and Canvsly?
It comes down to focus and privacy. VaultIt does one thing, preserve a child's artwork in a private, lasting timeline with their voice attached, and it is free to do the core of that. If Canvsly suits how your family already works, there is no need to change for its own sake. But if a private, focused, subscription-free archive is what you are after, that is exactly the gap VaultIt was built to fill.
“Honestly both apps were fine for fifty drawings. It was when my collection got big that VaultIt pulled ahead of Canvsly, the timeline still made sense and I could actually find things.”
— Dom, mum of three