Is Canva Pro Worth It? My Honest Canva Review 2023
Are you using the free version of Canva and you’re considering upgrading to Canva Pro, but you have one burning question: Is Canva Pro worth it?
Personally I think Canva Pro is a fantastic graphic design tool with so much functionality and super handy features (hello one-click background remover!) I especially love the huge stock photo library which in itself is worth the upgrade alone.
But don’t take my word for it, let’s have a look at the difference between Canva Pro vs the free Canva plan and then you can decide if the paid version of Canva is worth it for you!
In this Canva Pro Review we’ll look at:
- What is Canva
- Canva free vs paid – what’s the difference
- How much is Canva Pro
- How to get Canva Pro for free
Let’s have a look.
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What is Canva?
Just in case you’re new to designing your own marketing collateral, I’ll quickly explain what Canva is.
Canva is an online drag-and-drop graphic design editor that makes it super easy to create graphics like Pinterest pins, Facebook posts, ebooks, logos and pretty much anything you might need for your business.
It has a huge photo, video and font library and it has tons of other design elements, background images, textures and even audio files with background music and sound effects.
There are also loads of templates available for pretty much anything you might want to design so if you’re not very creative, you’ll still be able to create beautiful graphics in no time.
The best thing about Canva is that it has a lot of functionality available on the free plan and you’ll be able to do the most common tasks like create Pinterest pins and other social media graphics without having to upgrade to Canva Pro.
However, there are definitely quite a few handy features available on Canva Pro.
I love Canva Pro for its huge stock photo library, extra storage and the handy resize function that lets you turn one design into many!
Is the paid version of Canva worth it for you?
Try Canva Pro for FREE for 30 days and find out!
Let’s compare Canva Pro with Canva’s free plan so you can decide if the Canva Pro features are worth the extra dosh.
Canva Pro vs the Free Version of Canva
Photos & Videos
Free Canva: Access to 4M photos, videos and elements. You can also upload your own photos or graphics and you can buy premium photos starting at $1.
Canva Pro: Access to the complete photo library. This library has over 60M photos, videos, illustrations, icons and other elements that you can add to your designs for no extra charge.
Fonts
Free Canva: Access to a limited amount of fonts. You can’t upload your own fonts.
Canva Pro: Access to the complete font library with over 1000 fonts and you can upload your own font files.
Brand Kit
Free Canva: You can’t upload transparent logo files, fonts and you can only create one colour palette with up to 3 colours.
Canva Pro: Easily keep all your designs on brand with Canva Brand Kit. Upload your logo files, fonts and create up to 100 colour palettes with up to 100 colours each.
Templates
Free Canva: Access to 8000 templates.
Canva Pro: Access to over 20.000 premium templates.
Folders
Free Canva: You can only create 2 folders on the free plan.
Canva Pro: Access to unlimited folders to organise your work.
Storage
Free Canva: 1 GB storage.
Canva Pro: 100 GB storage.
Team Access
Free Canva: Share a link to one of your designs via email, for a team member to view or edit.
Canva Pro: Share a link to one of your designs via email, for a team member to view, edit or use as a template. This is a must-have feature if you want to sell Canva templates.
This feature is such an improvement on the “share a link to edit” feature in the free version of Canva. If someone bought your templates and forgot to make a copy before editing (which is so easy to do) they would change your template and your work would be gone!
With the “Share a link as template” feature, they get access to a copy of your template, not the original.
Resize Your Design
Free Canva: If you accidentally created your design in the wrong size you can’t resize it, you’ll have to start your design over again.
Canva Pro: Speed up your design process with the magic resize function. Turn one design into multiple formats with a few clicks. This is a really cool function that will save you lots of time. Have a look how easy it is to magically resize your designs in this video.
Transparent Background
Free Canva: Transparent backgrounds are not available on the free plan.
Canva Pro: Delete distracting backgrounds in one click and save your graphic as a transparent PNG file. This functions is also very handy when saving a logo design.
Animations
Free Canva: Access to 6 ways to animate your design.
Canva Pro: Access to 11 ways to animate your design.
One disadvantage of Canva
One thing that might be a problem for some people: you can’t use Canva offline. If your internet is slow or you don’t always have internet available, Canva won’t be for you.
Apart from this minor drawback (that affect both Canva Pro and the free version of Canva) I think Canva is a quality editing tool that you should definitely try out.
Canva Pro Features Recap
- Access to the complete photo and video library
- Custom font upload & 1000+ premium fonts
- Brand Kit with 100 colour palettes
- Magic resize
- Share links as templates (perfect for selling Canva templates)
- Transparent background
- 20.000+ premium templates
- Unlimited folders to store uploads and designs
- 100 GB storage
A Great Canva Feature
If you want to sell Canva templates like Pinterest pin templates, ebook templates or any other templates, you can use the feature: Share a link to use as a template.
This used to be a Canva Pro feature but it has recently been added to Canva’s free features.
With the Share a link to use as template feature, your buyers get access to a copy of your template, not the original. This feature is a life saver and will stop your clients from changing your templates by editing and saving them.
This used to be a Pro feature but it’s now available on the free plan.
New Canva Pro feature: Content Planner
Canva has added a Content Planner & Scheduler to its Pro features. This great new feature will allow you to create, plan and schedule social posts direct from your Canva account.
With Canva’s content planner you can schedule posts to:
- A Facebook page or group
- Slack
- Tumbler
This is another great time saving feature, no need to download and upload to a separate scheduler, you can do it all from inside Canva!
Try out Canva’s Content Planner
Canva Pro Pricing
So how much is Canva Pro exactly, you’re probably wondering…
Let’s find out with the Canva Pricing plans below.
When you upgrade to Canva Pro you have the following pricing options:
- The Canva Pro Monthly Plan costs $12.95 USD per month. This is billed monthly and can be cancelled at any time.
- The Canva Pro Annual Plan costs $9.95 per month and is billed annually at $119.40.
- If you have a large team you can sign up for Canva Enterprise for $30 per month.
- If you are a nonprofit, student or teacher you can apply for Canva Pro for free.
How to get Canva Pro for Free
You can get Canva Pro for free if you’re a teacher or student or non-profit organisation. Simply select the relevant plan and apply.
If you’re not a teacher, student or non-profit, you can also use Canva Pro for free by signing up for their one month free trial. This is a great way to try out all the Pro features and see if upgrading is worth it for you. If you choose not to upgrade, you can cancel your free trial at any time before your 30 day period is finished.
Try Canva Pro for Free for 30 Days
Canva Pro Lifetime
You might be wondering if Canva Pro has a Lifetime Membership available, where you’d pay a one-time fee and get unlimited access for life.
No Canva Pro does not offer a lifetime deal. If you find a website that offers Canva Pro lifetime plans it is most likely a scam.
Canva does have a lifetime plan for the free version, you can sign up for that here:
Is Canva Pro Worth it for you?
I hope you’ve enjoyed my Canva Pro review and you now know the difference between Canva Pro and the free version.
Do I think the paid version of Canva is worth it?
Definitely!
Canva Pro has great extra features, I love the stock photos and resize feature, and it’s one of my favourite blogging tools!
Is Canva Pro worth it for you? Sign up for your free trial here and let me know in the comments below!
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Sassy Boss
Sassy Boss
Thank you for the review – reliable, sensitive, and thoughtful, as always! In my opinion, Canva Pro is well worth it. Thanks, Lisa! for this wonderful article.
Hi Lisa,
I got a free trial of Canva Pro which I used to create some Instagram templates for a client. I uploaded two fonts for this, now that the free trial is coming to an end I’m really worried that the templates I’ve designed will change and those fonts will disappear. Will these designs stay as they are once I go back to the free version? and will my client still be able to use them in the same way? Any advice would be much appreciated! I love the pro version but I only needed it for that one client and can’t justify the paid subscription.
Hi Lucy,
Yes your templates stay the same. If you used pro images in the templates, your client would have to upgrade to Canva Pro to be able to use those images. But that’s always the case, no matter if you (the creator) has a Canva Pro subscription or not. I believe the template function comes with the free Canva plan now too so you won’t have to upgrade to Canva Pro anymore to use this function!!
Cheers Lisa
Canva is a graphic design platform that combines simplicity, high-quality resources and powerful functionality to solve all kind of creative needs at once. I think Canva Pro is the best. Thank you for sharing your opinion.
Thanks for this wonderful article. With Canvas Pro, do I and all my team members me plus 2 have same ‘desktop’? Ie. I might be working on a bbq instagram or something, another person dessert and 3rd person drinks. Is it like google sign in where you get your own page setting? When I go to do my work, I don’t want to see their history (anything dessert or drinks) and just focus on my bbq stuff? Thanks, Leanna
Hi Leanna, good question! I’ve actually never used Canva with team members but I’m pretty sure you’d have your own page settings. You can try Canva Pro free for 30 days, so I recommend trying it out so you can see how it works! Good luck 🙂
Hi Lisa, Thanks for the great article. I am currently using the pro using a free trial – if I make several folders (more than the 2 that the free version allows) will I lose the additional folders if I revert back to the free version. Also the same sort of question with the branding. If I set up a whole set of my branding (colours, logo etc) will I lose it all if I revert back? Thank you
Hi Julie, if you revert back to the free version of Canva, you won’t be able to access your brand kits, they won’t be deleted though, if you upgrade again, your brand kit will be there. With the folders I’m not sure, but I think you’ll be able to access the content in the folders but it will most likely all be bunched into one folder.
I hope this helps 🙂
canva pro is definitely worth in my opinion. it has many features that makes content creation easy.
In my opinion canva pro is very worth it. i use canva pro and it is so easy and the premium gives you so many new features. buy the pro version.
Very interesting insight. I believe in professionals so this is a very useful article for everyone. Thank you very much for sharing..
I have been using Canva for more than a year now and I have recently signed up for the Canva Pro annual plan. I was still not sure about my decision.
I am glad I found your article. Now I am almost certain that Canva Pro will be worth my investment.
Thank you for the great write-up.
You’re very welcome Vishi!
Hi, we are just getting started with Canva and are trying to decide if we want to jump in with Pro. My question is, if we decide to cancel our Canva Pro will we still be able to use the free version of Canva? I have been looking everywhere for this information and have had no luck finding answers anywhere. I would appreciate your help, if you can . Thank you!
Hi Rachel,
Yes if you cancel the Pro Version you’re automatically back on the free version. Nothing to worry about, you can still access all your designs but if you used pro images they will get watermarks on them again. Hope this helps you out!
Hi Lisa. Great read! I just want to ask what happens if I sent my template to someone but then I lost or cancelled my Canva Pro subscription. Will that person still be able to use my template?
Hi CLaire, yes good question! Good news:your Canva templates will still work exactly the same once you cancel your subscription! If you want to make more templates however, you’ll have to sign up again. Hope this helps.
All the best,
Lisa
I just found you and so glad I read it. I was wondering…I got my first yearly bill for Canva pro and wanted to be sure I was doing the right thing.
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for the detailed review of Canva Pro. I’ve been using Canva Free Version for a while and now I think I should upgrade to the Pro. Is there any coupon Lisa to save few bucks while upgrading to Canva pro?
Best
Govind 🙂
Hi Govind,
I’m glad you liked my review. I don’t know of any coupons or discounts though…If you sign up for the yearly plan you save about $3 per month..
All the best
Lisa
This is such a great article! I’ve been using the FREE versions of Canva for quite a long time and this post helped me to understand its pro features much better. I might try the pro version now. I love the Transparent background and the magic resize feature of the pro account.
Yes those features are great! The transparent background is perfect if you’re creating a logo.
Lisa, thanks for your great post and honest assessment. I’m glad I came across it in a search for this exact question. I had some experience with the free version yesterday and love the site. Today I came back to your site to be sure to use your link to sign up for the free trial. 🙂 Doing this type of thing is new to me and I’m going to have so much fun with this. So happy that I’ll be able to give the site I’m creating a lively, fun look. Thank you!
Thanks for coming back to my site and using my link. I’m glad my review helped you out. Have fun using Canva!
I just finished my free pro trial and decided not to go ahead with the pro version. It is nice to have, but I just wasn’t using the pro features enough to warrant the expense. Great recap of the pro vs free features.
I totally understand, Canva’s free version is so good already, it’s only worth upgrading if you need the Pro features or are interested in their photo library.
This is such a great article! I’ve been toying with the idea of upgrading to Canva Pro for a while – I might give the free trial a go. It’s especially useful to know about going Pro to sell templates – thank you for posting!
Yes the free trial is perfect to see if it it’s worth it for you.