Here are some of the best free thumbnail makers to check out. Once you’ve signed up for a free account, simply select the More button beside the list of design options, then scroll down until you get to the section labeled Social Media & Email Headers. This is where you’ll find the YouTube Thumbnail template, which you can click on to start designing your own right away. You can use Fotojet to upload your own images, add custom text, add clipart such as shapes or icons, and, last but not least, customize your background with different colors and designs. There are ads, which is perhaps the biggest downside to using this tool, but you can get rid of them by upgrading to Fotojet Plus. One thing you might notice about this platform is that its feature offering is pretty basic. There are no fun shapes or icons to add like there are in Canva, but you do get to customize your layout with your color palette, background components, text, and a few other basic options. Take advantage of Snappa’s built-in library of visual icons or upload images yourself to use in your thumbnail. You can also customize the background, add effects, put custom text anywhere you want, create shapes and do so much more to make your thumbnail look exactly the way you want it to look. You can choose from a few pre-made layouts (or start one from scratch) and then move on to add and customize new layers. Layers include images you can upload yourself or custom text, plus the option to group layers so that they’re easier to move around. As an added bonus, Backgrounder lets you generate a color gradient or a sunburst to make your thumbnail really pop! This app lets you upload your own photos to use as backgrounds. It has a selection of pre-made background layouts that you can choose from. From there you can crop your thumbnail image to fit the ideal YouTube thumbnail size and add optional filters, fonts, photos, and even stickers to make it look more eye-catching. Choose from over a hundred pre-made backgrounds, upload your own images to use, enhance the look by applying filter effects, add uniquely crafted typography fonts to your text, and take advantage of the advanced editing tools. Your thumbnail will be automatically sized to fit the image size that YouTube recommends.
