Is Canva Pro Worth It? My Honest Canva Review 2024
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!
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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.
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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.
Try Canva Pro for Free Today
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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!
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.
Want to create high converting optin freebies?
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Checklist Template for Canva
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
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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:
Free Canva Lifetime Plan
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!