Canva Pro versus Free: is Pro worth it?

canva canva pro pros and cons May 24, 2021

If you've spent any bit of time designing in Canva, then you're probably familiar with the little tiny crowns next to features unavailable to those with a free account. Typically these include custom fonts, intricate drawings or elements, and features that simplify designing and producing content. Let's dive into the pros and cons of the paid version to see which is best suited for your needs.

Is Canva Pro worth it?

A question we've all asked ourselves using a free version of anything: is the paid version worth it? My answer for Canva is, it depends, which is why I'm going to break down the reasons to get Pro and when you should say no to the tiny crowns.

The free plan is honestly super impressive - you can do so much with free Canva, including video editing and creating websites. However, it's really important to me that you know the difference between Canva Pro and a free account because Canva Pro is about much more than just having extra fonts and stock photos at your fingertips. Pro gives you more creative control AND more time-saving tools, which makes it a win-win.

Fair warning - what's available on the free version vs. Pro changes from time to time so it's a good thing to pay attention to. You can review the detailed options on their price page.

And if you'd like a free trial for Canva Pro, you can hop on over to my referral link and give it a whirl!

7 Reasons to Upgrade to Canva Pro

In my mind, the features I use most in Canva Pro break down into two categories: features that let me be more creative, and features that save me a lot of time.

Creative Features of Canva Pro

1. Additional Creative Assets

These are the building blocks of your designs, like fonts, stock photos/videos/music, elements, templates, animations, etc. To compare, according to Canva's pricing page, the free account has hundreds of thousands of free photos and graphics, while Canva Pro includes 75+ million premium stock photos, videos, audio, and graphics. Wow!

Now, if you're using a free account, you can't use any of the Pro fonts, even for a fee. You CAN use Pro elements, stock photos, stock videos, or stock audio, BUT when you want to download them, you will have to pay a small fee to use each item.

If you're only creating occasionally, maybe it's worth it to you to pay a few bucks here and there to use Pro assets without paying fully for Canva Pro. But having access to the full library (and the fonts!) included is really awesome.

2. Additional Effects and Page Animations

The next reason Canva Pro lets me have more creativity is through additional effects and page animations, my favorite of which is the background remover! If creative freedom is important to you - like it is for me - you'll want the Pro account to make use of features like this.

3. Upload Custom Fonts

If you're a direct seller like me, your company may have special branded fonts that aren't built into Canva. Depending on what else you use Canva for - your own personal brand or marketing for another business or nonprofit for example - the option to upload your own fonts is really useful. Even though Canva has tons of great fonts built-in, if branding is important to you - and it should be - you'll want to be able to upload your own custom fonts.

Time Saving Features of Canva Pro

While having the freedom to be more creative is always a plus in my book, saving time is paramount when you own multiple businesses, have a family, pets, a life, etc. These days, anything that can save me a few minutes is well worth the upgrade fee!

4. Magic Resize

In my video about resizing in Canva, I share a pretty easy workaround for resizing in the free version of Canva. It's a bit more tedious, but can be done! However, with Canva Pro, resizing multiple page designs is much simpler. If you resize often, Pro is likely worth it.

5. Brand Kit

Besides uploading custom branded fonts into Canva with your Pro account, you can also collect logos and brand colors together. This is especially useful if you design with multiple brands - maybe your personal brand and your direct sales company's brand. Having all the info you need at your fingertips when updating colors and fonts is a must-have for me!

6. Schedule Social Media

You heard that right! You can schedule your designs on social media right from Canva! Full disclosure - I do not use this feature as I schedule posts using a different program that can do more sophisticated things than Canva's scheduler. However, the ability to schedule without paying extra for another fee is a great thing, especially as you start out.

7. Unlimited Folders

Personally, this is a really underrated feature of Canva Pro, but so powerful for saving time and frustration! Folders lets you not only organize your designs - including an "all designs" folder - but also your uploads. For instance, each season, I upload all the marketing assets I get from my company and save them in labeled folders so I can always find what I am looking for in a flash.

So, tell me: is Canva Pro worth it?

In conclusion, there are many reasons why upgrading to Canva Pro makes sense for your business. If you want more creative freedom and to save time, it might be worth the expense if you use Canva a lot for your business, or you work with multiple companies or businesses. Otherwise, you might get by just fine with the free version.

Want to learn how I use the Canva Pro features for my business, with some of my best tips and tricks? Check out my latest YouTube video where I dive into all the details!

Ready to dive deeper into Canva?

Check out our free mini-course that teaches a multitude of essential Canva functions while walking you through making 5 must-have graphics for direct sellers.

We hate SPAM. We will never sell your information, for any reason.