There’s a lot of misleading advice online about getting Canva Pro for free, and not all of it is safe or legitimate. This guide walks you through the real, approved ways to use Canva at no cost and helps you avoid common scams that could put your account at risk.
Resources Mentioned
- Free Trial of Canva Pro (Affiliate Link)
Transcript
When you’re trying to figure out how to get Canva Pro for free, it’s easy to run into a lot of confusing information — and sometimes some pretty sketchy advice. And because so many people search for things like “how to get Canva for free” or “how to get Canva Pro for free,” there’s a lot of inaccurate and unsafe guidance floating around.
So as a Canva Verified Expert who spends a lot of time teaching people how to use Canva properly and safely, I want to walk you through the options that are actually legitimate.
Unfortunately, there’s a lot of misinformation out there, not because people are intentionally trying to mislead you, but because there are sellers online who are trying to make a quick buck by offering what looks like a really cheap Canva Pro subscription. And most people genuinely don’t realize these offers aren’t real Canva plans.
You might come across Facebook groups offering Canva Pro for a few dollars, Etsy listings promising “Canva Lifetime” access, or Fiverr sellers claiming they can “upgrade your account” for five bucks. These are not legitimate Canva subscriptions.
And here’s Canva’s official stance, straight from their policies:
“Purchases made through unauthorized third-party sellers or unofficial channels go against our Terms of Use and Acceptable Use Policy. Please note that plans purchased in this way may lead to account downgrade, suspension, and/ or termination, which may include the loss of the designs created. ”
That “Canva Lifetime” access you often see?
It doesn’t exist. What usually happens is that someone has improperly gained access to a Canva for Education or Canva for Nonprofits account and is illegally adding strangers as team members.
Not only is that a violation of Canva’s terms, it also puts your content at risk.
If Canva detects that activity (and they often do) the entire account can be shut down, and if that happens, everything you’ve created can be permanently lost.
So let’s take a look at the real ways you can use Canva for free, including how to try Canva Pro for free the safe, official way.
The 4 Legitimate Ways to Use Canva for Free
Before we talk about the Canva Pro trial and whether it’s worth it, here are the four official free pathways:
- Canva Free — the version most people start with. It’s always free and includes access to millions of images and templates, though not the premium ones.
- Canva Pro Free Trial — a 30-day trial that unlocks all Pro features. We’ll talk about those features in just a minute.
- Canva for Education — if you’re a K–12 teacher, you can apply for free access that includes many Pro-level features tailored for classrooms.
- Canva for Nonprofits — registered nonprofits can apply for full access to Canva Pro at no cost.
For most small business owners and entrepreneurs, the Pro trial is the easiest way to really understand the difference between Free and Pro.
So What Happens During the Canva Pro Free Trial?
If you decide to give the trial a try, you’ll have 30 days of full access to everything Canva Pro includes:
- the premium stock library
- all premium templates
- the Brand Kit
- Canva’s AI design tools and premium AI features
- additional download and export options, and
- more storage
And when those 30 days are up, if you decide Canva Pro isn’t the right fit, you can cancel the Pro trial in your billing settings and your account will simply revert to the free plan.
But honestly, once you’ve had a chance to explore these tools in the context of your business, I think you may start to see why many people feel the upgrade is worth it.
If you’ve already decided you want to give the trial a go, the link is below or you can head to BrendaCadman.com/pro.
Is Canva Pro Worth It?
So let’s talk about some of the key differences between free and Pro and whether Pro is worth it.
For most business owners, Canva Pro ends up being one of the more affordable tools you’ll use, but that doesn’t mean you should upgrade without making sure it provides real value for you. I never hesitate to invest in something that helps my workflow, but I also want to feel confident that the investment genuinely supports how I work.
So let’s look at some of the primary feature differences that might help you decide whether Pro is a fit.
Premium Stock Library
One of the first differences you may notice about the Pro plan is just how many more options you have when it comes to Canva’s stock library. In fact, you’ll now have access to the entirety of Canva’s premium stock library, which includes not only stock photos but also an incredibly wide variety of icons & illustrations, video and audio. There’s still a lot of options available to you in the free plan, but I know that most of the graphics I have used in my various website images, social media, presentations, and other designs have all been part of that premium library.
Premium Template Library
In addition to having access to Canva’s premium stock library, Canva Pro will also give you access to the entirety of Canva’s template library.
While you do have a wide variety of templates available to you on the free plan, you’ll have significantly more on Pro, giving you far more choice and the flexibility to choose the template that best fits your design needs.
The Brand Kit
The ability to set up and use the Canva Brand Kit feature is probably one of, if not the biggest reason, why I encourage anyone using Canva to support a business to upgrade from the free Canva plan to Canva Pro.
Having a visual brand kit is essential for any business, and it helps ensure the consistency of your marketing — which in turn fosters recognition and a sense of trust among your customers.
Canva AI
When it comes to Canva’s AI tools, the big question is: what’s actually free, and what requires Pro? Canva’s AI access now falls into two categories.
First, premium AI tools — features like Magic Write, Create an Image, and Canva Code — all draw from a shared usage balance. Free users get a small number of credits for light testing, while Pro users get a much higher allowance for consistent use. (And AI video generation with Google’s Veo 3 is Pro-only.)
Then there are AI design tools — things like Magic Resize, Magic Edit, Magic Erase, Magic Animate, and the Photo and Video Background Removers. These don’t use credits; they’re either included in your plan or not.
In short then, Canva Free lets you experiment. Canva Pro gives you the AI tools you need to actually design with them every day.
Saving, Sharing & Exporting
Then there are the saving, sharing and exporting differences.
Free and Pro users can download their designs in most standard image and video formats but Canva Pro gives you more control over how those files are exported.
With Pro, you can adjust image size and quality, compress image files, and download designs with a transparent background, which is essential for things like icons, illustrations, and logos. Pro also unlocks SVG downloads and CMYK colour profiles for print-ready PDFs.
Another important difference is in how you share your designs. While all users can share view and edit links, you now need Canva Pro to create template links. Template links are what allow someone to open a copy of your design in their own account — which is essential if you sell templates, share templates with clients, or provide templates as part of your content or courses.
Canva Pro also lets you save a design as a brand template inside your own account, which is incredibly helpful if you create recurring content and want a consistent, efficient starting point every time.
Storage & Organization
There aren’t a lot of differences between the Free and Pro plans when it comes to organizing your Canva account. Both plans include unlimited folders, and you can create folders nested up to 10 levels deep.
Perhaps the biggest difference is in storage space — free users get 5 GB of total storage, while Pro users now get 100 GB, which can make a big difference if you upload a lot of images or video.
Also, one organizational feature that is Pro-only is design and media tagging. Tagging allows you to add keywords to your designs, photos, and videos, making it much easier to find the content you need when your Canva account starts to fill up.
Closing
So to wrap things up, ultimately I want you to be able to try Canva for free, explore the features for yourself, and see whether the value is there for you to upgrade to a paid plan — which, in my experience, remains one of the more affordable and worthwhile subscriptions for most small business owners.
But I also want you to be able to do that safely, without falling into the scams or too-good-to-be-true offers that can jeopardize your account.
So if you’d like to start a free trial, you’ll find the link below, or you can go to BrendaCadman.com/pro if you prefer.
