Canva is one of the most popular design programs. Canva has over 60 million users worldwide (9/2021), and for good reason: it is an extremely beginner-friendly yet powerful web-based design app. Most Canva users use the free version. Canva also offers Canva Pro (Canva for Work), a paid monthly version. Is Canva Pro worth paying for? You will find out in this article, as I go through my Canva Pro experience and its features.
I should say right away that Canva Pro is one of my favorite programs, and I have several years of experience using Canva (and the Pro version). If you do digital marketing, are a blogger or vlogger, design websites or do other graphic design work such as invitations, brochures and so on, you have surely heard of (and maybe tried) the Canva app.
Canva is a free online design program that lets you easily create almost any kind of visual content. If you have not tried Canva Pro before but already know Canva, have some experience with it and are thinking about switching to the paid version, keep reading and you may get some new perspectives to support your thinking. If you do not yet know what Canva is, it is worth reading my Canva introduction and guide here.
Why invest in a paid design program
Visual content is needed everywhere these days. Think of business cards, website banners, email themes, postcards, logos: things every business needs. On top of that, social media has massively increased the need for visual content.
You can also buy visual content from a professional, and for many larger companies that is the most natural solution. Sole traders, smaller businesses, influencers or bloggers, however, may not want to pay for every piece of graphic design work.
This is where Canva comes in handy. It offers an easy-to-understand platform that requires no previous experience in visual design. With Canva you can get started in just minutes when you need something for your business's or blog's marketing, for example.
When your requirements grow and/or you want more versatility, Canva for Work (Canva Pro) becomes a potential solution. Let's go through what Canva Pro includes, why it is worth investing in and why it is my own favorite.
What is Canva for Work (Canva Pro)
Canva Pro is Canva's paid monthly version, which offers a lot more than the free version: over 60 million images, elements and illustrations, thousands of fonts (and the option to add your own), unlimited folders, uploading your own materials and much more.
Canva Pro suits marketers, businesses, teachers, students, photographers, designers... practically anyone who needs high-quality, comprehensive tools for producing projects and visual materials.
If you are a new Canva user, it is also worth reading this post. Canva is a free graphic design program with a huge library of ready-made templates, elements, images and fonts that let you design practically any visual project.
Canva's ready-made templates include a wide selection for social media (Instagram stories, Facebook cover photos, YouTube thumbnails etc.), presentations (compare PowerPoint), flyers, cards, website banners, magazine covers, posters and much more! The ready-made templates are really handy and speed up the work of beginner Canva users in particular. Canva is fast and easy to use anyway, of course, but with templates you can have something finished in just minutes.
Canva for Work (Canva Pro) benefits
What makes Canva (Canva Pro) a sensible choice? What features does it offer?
We have now used Canva Pro for several years for our own and our clients' work, so the assessments in this article come entirely from our own experience.
#1 Canva Pro is very easy and fast to use
If I had to describe Canva in one word, it would be simplicity. Using Canva is very simple through its easy-to-grasp dashboard. In Canva you can create a brand kit for your business that speeds up managing fonts, logos and colors, for example. You can also create unlimited folders to organize your work.
The Canva editor itself is also really quick to learn, which is why Canva suits beginners well too.
#2 Image library, elements, fonts
The best thing about Canva is its large library of ready-made templates, images, elements and fonts that let you get started immediately. For a marketing manager, entrepreneur or blogger, Canva's ready-made selection is more than enough to create unique projects for years to come. You can of course also upload your own images, logos and elements to Canva and use them in your projects.
Image library
The Canva Pro image library gives you millions of images. The free version also has a selection of over a million images, and you can of course buy images for a one-off fee (usually €1). For me, though, one of the biggest reasons to take Canva Pro into use was the image library: Canva Pro's image library is very extensive and the monthly fee is still very reasonable.
So Canva Pro works out cheaper than some stock photo subscriptions, and Canva's image library is just one of its many benefits!
Elements and fonts
Users of Canva's free version know that Canva has a huge selection of elements and fonts (millions). Most of them, however, are unlocked for Canva Pro users. So another major benefit is access to fonts and elements.
#3 Teamwork
A great feature of Canva for Work (Canva Pro) is teamwork. You can add users to your team and give them rights to view and edit different designs. You can share templates, individual projects and folders.
Team features are especially well suited to small marketing teams: everything is easy to keep track of, and files are shared in real time with all team members, who can (within their own rights) download and edit the team's projects and templates.
#4 Integrations with different platforms
Canva has integrations with many platforms. That means you can use your Instagram or Facebook images directly in your Canva designs, for example! You can also publish to different platforms directly from Canva.
Of course you do not have to use the integrations, and they suit slightly larger teams with more clients, folders, social media accounts and team members in particular.
Canva Pro price
The basic version of Canva is free to use. Canva Pro costs €11.99 a month, or €8.99 a month if you pay for a whole year at once. The price is very reasonable, especially if you use Canva a lot. As I mentioned above, the price is competitive for the image library alone when compared with other stock photo services. On top of that, you get Canva's entire design library!
Canva Pro offers a 30-day free trial, so you can test all the features free of charge for a month.
How to use Canva for Work (Canva Pro)
Getting started takes less than a minute! Here is a short step-by-step guide to taking Canva Pro into use and creating your first design.
Create a Canva account
Go to Canva.com and sign up as a Canva Pro user for a free 30-day trial. You can also sign up for free Canva to see which features you are missing out on, which is of course an easier way to start for new Canva users.
Create your first Canva project
Browse the many templates, or choose the "Create a design" button to create a design project with custom dimensions. The Canva editor then opens, where you can edit your project. Click any element to edit it.
Publish or download
When your design is ready, you can download your project or publish it directly from Canva. When you download your project, Canva Pro users get many options for file format, file size, transparent background (.png) and so on.
You can also publish your project directly to Facebook or Pinterest, for example, or send it by email. If you want to publish directly to social media, you need to connect your social media account first.
Repeat for new projects!
As a Canva Pro user you can create as many projects as you ever want! (In Canva's free version your oldest designs are removed automatically when you create new ones, and storage is limited.)
Finally
Canva for Work (Canva Pro) is one of the most important tools for me today. It is really fast and easy to use and suits almost all the design work your business may need. Canva Pro is especially suited to marketing teams, entrepreneurs, bloggers and social media influencers, and to anyone looking for an easy-to-use yet powerful design tool.
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