The right MagicBrief replacement depends on what your team used it for. Evaluate Canva Grow for advertising inside Canva, Foreplay for saved references and briefs, Motion for creative analytics, and Adrio for competitor research connected to creative production and Meta testing. Replace the missing workflow before buying another collection of features.
We build Adrio. This is our editorial selection framework, reviewed on September 30, 2026, using the official sources linked below. It is not an independent performance benchmark.
MagicBrief has closed: what that means now
MagicBrief's official notice gives July 31, 2026 as its closure date. Its shutdown FAQ identifies Canva Grow as a new product built by the team, rather than a direct port. The FAQ says underlying campaign data remains in the connected ad platforms. It also says Inspire collections did not have a bulk export option.
Because the shutdown date has passed, do not build your migration plan around logging in and exporting today. Inventory files you already saved, links in your briefs, and campaign data available through your own ad accounts. Ask MagicBrief support about outstanding account-specific data requests rather than assuming recovery is possible.
There are two separate tasks: recover what is still available and choose how the team will work next week. Buying a replacement does not reconstruct a missing collection automatically.
Which alternative fits each job?
| Job you need to replace | Product to evaluate | What to test before committing |
|---|---|---|
| Design, advertising, and insights inside Canva | Canva Grow | Required account connections, editing, and current plan access |
| Saving references and preparing briefs | Foreplay | Finding an old reference, sharing a board, and handing off a brief |
| Reviewing creative performance with the team | Motion | Rebuilding one report with your actual metrics and groupings |
| Research through creative production and the next Meta test | Adrio | Reference-to-concept workflow, revisions, and publishing boundary |
These products overlap. A table helps choose what to evaluate; it does not establish that one tool reproduces every MagicBrief feature.
Canva Grow: evaluate the successor on its own terms
Canva Grow's product page describes generation, publishing, and performance insights within Canva. That makes it a sensible first evaluation for teams whose approved designs and brand assets already live there.
Use a real unfinished brief. Can the designer produce the draft, the buyer review the intended account, and the strategist read the resulting report without recreating context? A convenient editor matters less if the account connection or reporting view you need is missing.
Avoid assuming a historical MagicBrief report, saved collection, or workflow exists unchanged in the new product. Write down the exact job and demonstrate it. Check current commercial terms directly rather than relying on a migration promotion that may have expired.
Foreplay: evaluate the reference and briefing handoff
Foreplay lists saved-ad collections, competitor tracking, briefs, and creative analytics. Evaluate it when the team needs a shared place to retain research and communicate a direction before production.
The useful trial is a handoff. Ask a strategist to save three references for a refillable household product, explain the angle in each, and send a brief to the person making the ad. Ask that person what information is still missing.
A rich collection can still leave an unclear brief. Preserve the source URL, observation date, reason for saving, and the element you want to adapt. Review the swipe-file-to-brief workflow if your old boards were full of examples but light on decisions.
Motion: evaluate the reporting meeting
Motion describes visual creative reporting, AI tagging, and recommendations based on connected account data. Evaluate it when the missing job is explaining performance to a creative team.
Rebuild one weekly review using the same date range, attribution context, and conversion definition you used before. Check whether the groupings answer your questions: product, concept, creator, offer, or format. Do not judge a reporting replacement only by how attractive the dashboard looks.
You may still want a separate production tool. The important handoff is whether the review becomes a clear next brief. Our Adrio vs Motion comparison includes a trial built around that decision.
Adrio: evaluate research connected to production
Adrio combines ad research, saved references, brand context, and creative production through Spark. Spark can create static and video ads, read connected Meta results, and help plan the next test. Both image and video ads can be published directly to Meta with approval by default.
It is worth evaluating when the missing step is turning research into something your brand can test. Bring one product, one approved offer, and two references. Ask Spark to explain the patterns, propose distinct concepts, and make the selected direction. Inspect the finished creative in the studio before any launch.
Adrio is not a promise of automatic MagicBrief data migration. Generation also consumes credits. Review the current pricing and credit details, including the cost of revisions, before deciding what production volume makes sense.
A practical replacement plan for one working week
Start with a small inventory rather than recreating every historic board.
- 1.List the three jobs the team cannot complete without a replacement.
- 2.Gather available source files, approved briefs, campaign identifiers, and reference links.
- 3.Select one active product and a current testing question.
- 4.Trial the relevant product using that exact work.
- 5.Record what transferred, what required rebuilding, and what remains unavailable.
- 6.Assign an owner to the reference collection, production brief, campaign launch, and review.
For example, a skincare team might need to retain competitor references, build a new product-demonstration ad, and review its previous campaign. The team may choose a research tool and a production tool rather than forcing one purchase to cover every job. A team already operating inside Canva may prefer to test the successor there first.
Judge the trial by completed work: an accessible reference, an approved brief, an editable creative, and an understandable review. Do not confuse the number of imported files with a successful workflow.
Questions to ask before switching
Can I move all my MagicBrief data into Adrio?
Do not assume that. What you can carry forward depends on the files and links you retained and the current data available through your ad accounts. This guide does not describe an automated MagicBrief import.
Is Canva Grow the same product as MagicBrief?
MagicBrief's FAQ describes it as a new product rather than a direct port. Evaluate the features your team actually needs and verify them in the current product.
Should I replace research and analytics with one tool?
Only if it completes both jobs well enough for your team. Use a real brief and a real performance review to test the handoff between them.
Where should I start if production is the bottleneck?
Bring a product link and one saved reference into Adrio, then measure the work needed to reach an approved creative. Our product-URL-to-Meta-ads guide explains the preparation and launch handoff.
