Canva Free vs Paid – What are the Differences? All You Need to Know

It can be confusing to choose between the paid version or the free version of Canva.

It will depend on what features you require and which one checks all the points in your list. However, there are so many other factors you will need to consider before you make this choice. 

So, in this Canva Free vs Canva Pro review, we will discuss the features, benefits, pros and cons, and customer reviews for both our contenders. 

Features	Canva Free	Canva Pro
Free Folders	2 folders	Unlimited Folders
Brand kit	3 and a half stars	4 and a half stars
Free Trial	No trial	30-day trial period
Pricing	5 stars	4 stars
Additional Features	3 and a half stars	5 stars

Now that we have discussed a brief overview, let’s compare Canva Pro and Canva Free in this detailed review. 

Canva Free Review – Inspired Free Graphic Design Tools

The Canva Free version might be the best option for you as an online course business. It will not incur high costs and will meet your simple graphic design needs. 

Most of the features and tools Canva offers are usually found in expensive graphic design software. You can create interactive visuals with incredible graphics design tools for free. 

Do not underestimate the capabilities of Canva because of its free version. It still comes with high-quality: 

• Images
• Templates
• Graphics
• Videos

The free version does come with limitations and fewer features than the paid version. However, we believe this version will meet your basic graphic design needs. Therefore, we highly recommend it for your online course business. 

Features of Canva Free

• 2 Folders
• 1700 Fonts
• 250,000+ Free Canva Templates
• Invitation for Team Members
• 5GB Storage Space
• 6 Animation Effects 
• 75 Audio files
• 200K Photos
• 13K Videos
• 57K Graphic Elements

Pros	Cons
• User-friendly interface • Time-saving features • Pre-designed templates for free • Real-time collaboration with team • Easy-to-use • Access to many high-quality features is completely free	• Does not have a user-friendly mobile app • Delayed Canva support team response • Only one color palette in the brand-kit

Benefits of Canva Free

As mentioned earlier, Canva Free offers a multitude of features that are only available in expensive graphic design software. Moreover, these are high-quality features that come at zero price.  

After thorough research, our team found that Canva Free offers at least 1/3rd of:

• Photos
• Templates
• Videos
• Graphic design tools 

that are offered in paid versions of other graphic design programs. 

By this, we mean that you will have access to more than 200,000 photos that you can also get in premium for $1/picture. Furthermore, you can use over 250,000 design templates with the Canva Watermark.  

Our team found that while you cannot upload your fonts, there are other amazing tools Canva Free offers that make up for its limited features. 

For example:

Over 13000 videos and 57000 graphic elements.

We believe that Canva Free can be very useful for non-graphic designers because it has a very user-friendly interface that allows smooth navigation. 

Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Canva Free

Brand kit

There is only one palette of colors with three different shades in the brand kit. This means you can only create your brand’s visual identity in three colors.

Folders Free Canva 

The Canva free plan allows you to access only two folders to organize your design. You will not have access to folders in which you can upload or organize photos.

Free Trial

Since this version of Canva is already free, it does not have a free trial. You can use the tools for as long as you like without the restriction of a limited time period to avail free features.

Canva Free Pricing

The free plan offers exceptional tools and features at zero cost. We highly recommend this app because it has more benefits as compared to many other graphic design tools and saves a lot of money.

Additional Features 

You will have access to only 5GB storage for your content and graphics files with the free version of Canva. 

Online team collaboration can become very easy with Canva Free. You can share a link via email for a team member to review and make edits to your file.

Furthermore, an important factor to note is a limitation in the free version. You do not have the option to upload your own fonts and photos.

What Do the Customers Think?

Customers have given a lot of positive responses to the high-quality features that Canva Free offers. People have used this software to design graphics and it has been a great help for beginners.

This design tool can be used to create stunning graphics and edit images with tools that are not always available like this for free. 

There have been a few complaints about customer support responding late, but overall this software has a 4.5 stars rating. A few of the comments we found online include:

Best Graphic Design Software for Free

Canva promises features of the highest standard even in its free version. You get access to several tools that only expensive programs offer. This graphic design software is a great way to save money and still have access to high-quality tools.   

Canva Pro Review – Online Graphic Design Tool

You might wonder, with all the great features that come with the free version of Canva, why should you go for Canva Pro? Well, in this section, we will answer your question with details as to why Canva Pro is such a great tool to have. 

The Pro Version does not have an extremely expensive price tag. It has a 12.99/month annual plan. 

This professional version of Canva is trusted by more than 55 million users and offers:

• Premium Photos 
• Premium Templates
• Premium Graphics
• Premium features 

As an online course business, you want a good tool to create graphic designs for social media posts. Canva Pro is the perfect tool to meet your needs to create interactive promotional posts.

Canva Pro has a huge library of photos, fonts, and videos along with:

• Background images 
• Audio files with background music 
• Textures
• Sound Effects

With Canva Pro, you will be able to:

• Access a large stock images library  
• Get more storage 
• Sell your own images as templates

We believe that Canva Pro is the perfect graphic design tool for small business owners and social media managers.

Features of Canva Pro 

• Professional Brand Kit
• 100 Palettes with 100 colors
• Unlimited folders 
• 3000 Premium Fonts
• 420,000+ Templates
• 75M+ images, videos, and audios
• Transparent Background Designs
• Animator Pro
• Real-time Collaboration with team members
• Premium Support 
• 100GB storage
• Magic Resize Function 

Pros	Cons
• You can create Business Cards • Social Media graphics • Easy-to-use • Drag and drop feature • Custom templates that go with any color scheme.	• Video and Presentation templates have a difficult user interface to navigate • More resize opinions needed • Lack of tutorials on how to operate many features

Benefits of Canva Pro

We found that, unlike other graphic design software, the Canva Pro cost is affordable at $12.99/month. You can get access to a huge library of:

• Images
• Videos
• Audios
• Illustrations
• Graphics  

that you can add to your designs for no extra cost. 

The team access with Canva Pro is a must-have tool. You can send your design to a team member to edit or use as a template. Your design will be sent as a copy and the changes your team will make will not change your design. 

In our experience, the search feature available in Canva Pro only was a lot of help. This feature saves a lot of time. Although, you need to carefully name your designs to search for them. 

Canva Pro is the most reliable and suitable graphic design software to help in your marketing campaigns. The Canva Design tools can help create promotional posts for social media platforms for your online course business. 

Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Canva Pro

Brand kit 

A difference between the brand kit and brand kit pro version we should point out is that the brand kit pro has 100 color palettes. You can use these palettes that come in 100 different colors to create your multiple brand kits. 

Canva Pro Folders

Canva Pro comes with unlimited folders that you can assign to any specific tasks of your choice. You can create subfolders as well and add team members to folders.

Canva Pro Free Trial 

This free plan is a 30-day trial period in which you get free access to all features available in the paid version of Canva. 

When you sign up for a free trial, you can select the monthly or yearly plan and add it to your credit card. Note that you have zero charges. If by the end of the trial you do not want to use Canva Pro then you can simply cancel your account. 

Canva Pro for Free

You can get Canva Pro for free in several ways. The first one is, as mentioned above, a 30-day trial period.

There is a free plan for teachers and students which would benefit you as an online course business if you deal with courses for grades from Kindergarten till 12th. 

Canva Pro is a Google for Education  Partner, so it works with collaboration tools like:

• Remind
• Google Classroom
• Microsoft Teams

You can also get Canva Pro for free as a non-profit organization. Of course, it has to be a recognized organization and you will have access to free features for up to 10 members. 

Canva Pro Pricing 

Let’s talk about Canva Pro subscription plans now. 

You might be under the false impression by now that with all the amazing features, Canva Pro pricing plans must be at least $100. It is only $12.99/month which adds up to $119.99 paid annually. 

We would recommend the yearly plan to you because it comes with a 23% discount, unlike the monthly plan. 

If you want to get advanced features from the Enterprise Plan then you have to give a small fee of $30/month.

Additional Features

Our team highly recommends Canva Pro because some of the features it offers are not available in other programs. 

The first one is Canva Print with which you have the option to print your designs and order them if you need to. A note to take into consideration here is that this feature is not available in all countries.

Another feature that only comes with Canva Pro is Canva Schedule and Content Planner. You can create your designs and schedule them to post on your desired social media platform at any given time. 

Furthermore, Canva Pro offers a transparent background feature that allows you to edit photos and remove irrelevant backgrounds. This feature is especially beneficial for creating logos. A single click can add transparent backgrounds to your designs.

What Do the Customers Think?

Customers are highly satisfied with the features, quality, and affordability of Canva Pro. The 420,000+ Canva Templates and 71M+ Canva Photos are one of a kind and can be easily personalized.

Users of Canva Pro have described this graphic design software as being perfect to use in offices, schools, universities, and other fields of work. 

Canva Pro offers the same features as expensive graphic design programs only at a more affordable price. We believe this software will help you create graphics for your online course business more efficiently. 

A few of the positive feedback we found online are:

Best Online Graphic Design Software

Canva Pro is an exceptional tool that offers both quality and consistency in your work. It has a teacher and students program where you can get access to top-quality features for free. We highly recommend Canva Pro for your online course business. 

Canva Free vs Paid – Buyers’ Guide

The high costs of graphic design applications are usually the main concern for online course creators. 

It is not an essential part of your course content creation however, it is also important to engage students. 

So what are the factors you can consider to make a more informed decision?

Let’s take a look:

Folders

Design apps that are equipped with folders offer a convenient way of organization. You can upload your work, give access to team members, and organize photos according to the topic. 

This will declutter your work and give you easy access to files.

Brand kit

A brand kit gives you a color palette to work with and the option to upload fonts, folders, or images. This color palette will also set a tone for your own brand image. 

Therefore choose a graphic design app with a sensible color wheel. 

Free Trial

It is essential to test the tools of a graphic design app before you purchase it. You need to make sure the features offer value for the money you will put down for it. 

Sign-up for a free trial before you purchase an app to make sure it is exactly what you need.

Pricing 

Graphic design apps are usually quite expensive. They offer subscription plans to offer a more convenient manner for users to pay. However, these plans also incur high costs.

Thus, if you can pay high amounts for such apps, then make sure the quality and consistency of the features are worth the price. 

Additional Features

Every standard graphic design application will offer a wide range of templates, images, videos, and editing tools.

Look for an application that offers more than these features.

For example:

At least 100GB storage space or plugins. 

Final Verdict

This concludes our Canva Free vs Paid article. 

We hope that this review will help you differentiate between the free and paid version of Canva to help you make the right decision.

While Canva Free serves all the necessary functions of any great graphic design software completely free, Canva Pro is the winner. 

You can create designs for your online course business with a wide range of colors that the Pro version offers in its palettes. You can use fonts and photos from the many options it offers or you can upload your own. 

Canva Pro will help you make your online courses incredibly interactive at an affordable price.

Let us know which version works for you the best.