MasaApps360
English
CollageCraft

How to make a before-and-after photo collage

Open Templates, tap Before / After, pick Before · After for two photos side by side, Top · Bottom for stacked, or 3-Stage and 6-Step Progress if there's a sequence to show. Label it with Text, export free at up to 2K, no watermark attached.

3 min read · Updated 2026-09-11

Download on the App Store

When do you need a before-and-after collage?

Whenever the change itself is the story — a workout plan, a room renovation, a haircut, a cleaned car, a garden, a skin-care routine, a restored piece of furniture. Side by side, people get the difference in one glance instead of swiping between two separate posts and trying to remember what the first one looked like.

It's only a fair comparison if both photos are framed the same way. That matters more than any filter — a layout giving both halves the exact same size matters more than any effect you'd put on top.

Which layout should you use?

Before-and-after layouts and their free export sizes
LayoutCategoryPhotosShape2K export
Before · AfterBefore / After2Square2,048 x 2,048 px
Top · BottomBefore / After2Square2,048 x 2,048 px
3-StageBefore / After3Wide 1.6:12,048 x 1,280 px
4 StagesBefore / After4Square2,048 x 2,048 px
TransformationFitness3Wide 1.6:12,048 x 1,280 px
30-DayFitness30Square2,048 x 2,048 px

Beyond the table there's Portrait B/A and Progress B/A at 4:5 for the feed, Labeled B/A, 6-Step Progress, and Before/After Story at 9:16 for stories. Crown badges on a few of these cards don't mean anything — every layout here exports on the free plan.

How to make a before-and-after collage, step by step

  1. Open the Templates tab and tap Before / After (or Fitness for progress layouts).
  2. Tap Before · After.
  3. Tap the left slot and pick the before photo, then the right slot for the after photo.
  4. Drag and pinch each photo so the subject sits at the same height and size in both halves.
  5. Tap Text to add a label, type "Before", and drag it onto the left photo; repeat with "After".
  6. Optional: Spacing adds a divider gap, Border a frame, Filter one shared look for both photos.
  7. Tap the share icon, pick 2K under Quality and tap Save to Photos.

How to take photos that actually compare

  • Same spot, same distance, same height. Mark the floor, or use the same doorway if it's a room.
  • Same light — similar time of day, and no flash in just one of the two photos.
  • Same pose and clothes for fitness shots, so it's the body that changes and nothing else.
  • Keep the originals. With 3 or more stages, 3-Stage and 30-Day let you add photos as you go rather than all at once.

Which size for Instagram?

Square layouts post as-is. For more feed space, Portrait B/A (4:5) wins. For a story, use Before/After Story, or run any layout through Export for Social. A square collage at HD is 1,080 x 1,080 px — the size Instagram shows in the feed anyway.

Where this trips people up

  • Mixing orientations — a vertical before and a horizontal after crop very differently in the same slot.
  • Putting after on the left: people read left to right, so before belongs on the left, or on top.
  • Cramming too many stages into a small image. 30-Day holds 30 photos, but each one shrinks; 3 to 6 stages actually read on a phone screen.

Questions and answers

Is the before and after collage maker free?
Yes — every before-and-after and fitness layout, text labels, HD or 2K export, all free, no watermark attached to any of it.
Can I put more than two photos in a before-and-after?
Sure. 3-Stage holds 3, 4 Stages holds 4, 6-Step Progress holds 6, and 30-Day under Fitness fits 30 photos into a 5 x 6 grid.
Is there a slider to swipe between before and after?
No, it's a still image with the photos side by side or stacked. No interactive slider, no video.

You might also like

More CollageCraft guides