The Canva Content License Agreement (CLA) governs the use of content from Canva’s library in Canva designs. The library includes photos, icons, illustrations, video, audio, fonts and templates. Anyone who exports a Canva Design that contains such content is bound by the CLA, the Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use. The CLA does not cover Popular Music, which has a separate licence.[1] The Terms of Use refer to this material as “Licensed Content”. Users keep ownership of the content they upload, but any use of a design that contains Licensed Content is subject to the CLA.[3] The MSA used for enterprise customers incorporates the same CLA.[4]
For a software asset manager, the CLA matters because it adds a second licence layer on top of the subscription. A design may be compliant with the Terms of Use and still breach the content licence if it is reused, resized, sold as merchandise or published at full resolution in ways the CLA does not allow. Canva reserves the right “to cancel or change the licenses granted by this agreement” and to replace content with an alternative.[1]
Editions
The CLA sorts content into four categories, listed “from most to least restrictive”: Education Content, Branded Content, Pro Content and Free Content.[1]
| Category | Licence | Key limits | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Content | Free Content License: perpetual, non-exclusive, non-transferable, worldwide | Reusable across designs; may be downloaded standalone; CC0 or Public Domain items follow their own source licence | Most restrictive content category governs the whole design |
| Pro Content | Pro Content License (One Design Use License) | One Canva Design per licence; no standalone copying, download or distribution; pixel limit online | Pro Content licensed for a single Canva Design |
| Branded Content | Personal use only unless the source information says otherwise | No commercial, promotional or merchandise use; no implied endorsement | Branded Content is for personal use only |
| Education Content | Labelled “Resource”; educational, non-commercial use only | No commercial or promotional use | Education users may use Pro Content only non-commercially |
Content generated by Canva with generative AI is marked as Free or Pro and is licensed in the same way as other content in that category.[1] Users can check whether an item is Pro by hovering over its thumbnail and looking for a crown icon. Free users see a watermark on Pro content.[2]
Mixing categories
Where a design includes content from several categories, “the most restrictive category applies to the entire design”. A design that combines Branded Content with Free or Pro Content therefore follows the Branded Content rules.[1] Catalog proof: Most restrictive content category governs the whole design.
Metrics
The licensing unit is the Pro Content License (One Design Use License). It is a licence to use one piece of Pro Content or one Pro Template “in a single Canva Design”.[1]
Counting / floors
When a licence is issued
“A license is issued to you when you Export a Canva Design, for each piece of Content contained in your Design.”[1] Free Content licences cost nothing. Pro Content licences are bought by Free users and issued “at no additional cost if you have a valid Canva subscription”.[1] For a Free user, the one-off fee removes the watermark for that content in that design only.[2] Catalog proof: Content licence issued on Export.
One design per licence
Each Pro Content License covers one design. Using the same item in a new design needs a new licence, and this includes “a Design that has been Magic Resized”.[1] Subscribers do not pay again. A new licence is issued automatically each time they export a new design containing the content.[1] Canva’s FAQ explains that a Pro subscriber is issued “a new One Design Use License for the second, third and fourth designs (and so on)”, while Free users pay for each further design.[2] Catalog proof: Reuse of Pro Content in a new or resized design needs a new licence; Pro subscribers receive One Design Use licences at no extra cost.
The CLA describes both the Free and the Pro Content licences as perpetual.[1] Editing saved designs in Canva after a subscription ends is a separate question: the Help Center states that when a Canva Teams subscription lapses, Pro elements in saved designs “will appear watermarked on the Free plan”.[8]
Client designs
Agencies and freelancers may transfer a Canva Design containing Free or Pro content to a client for the client’s own use. Three conditions apply: a written agreement must limit the client to that use, the designer remains liable for the client’s compliance, and the design may go to “a single client”.[1] The right does not extend to transferring the content itself outside the design.[1] Catalog proof: Designs may be transferred to a single client.
Online resolution limit
Pro Content used in online or electronic publications (web pages, blogs, e-books and videos) is limited to “a maximum of 480,000 total pixels (for example, 600px x 800px) per Content file where un-edited”. The limit does not apply to websites published through Canva’s own website publishing, or to Canva-hosted designs embedded on third-party sites.[1] Canva explains that the limit protects Pro Content from being downloaded from a customer’s website for use outside Canva.[2] Catalog proof: Pro Content online pixel limit.
Permitted uses
Designs containing Free or Pro content may be used for a wide range of purposes. Section 5 lists invitations, advertising and promotional material without a reproduction limit, school projects, social media, entertainment applications such as books and magazines, online publications, and prints and posters for personal or promotional purposes, resale, licence or other distribution.[1] Canva’s guide confirms that designs may be printed on merchandise for sale, but that standalone content, such as a stock photo printed on a t-shirt without other design elements, may not.[2] None of the licences require attribution.[2]
Free Content has additional rights that Pro Content lacks. It may be used in more than one design without a new licence, downloaded on a standalone basis, used in templates for sale to third parties, and installed in more than one location or on a network server. These rights are lost if the design contains any Pro Content.[1]
Music
Pro Music may be used in online advertisements but not in “traditional media ads or commercials in paid channels, such as TV, cinema, radio, podcast and billboard”. It also may not be used in TV or streaming productions, feature films, software applications or video games, nor remixed or extracted as samples.[1] Popular Music may not be used for any commercial purpose.[2] Catalog proof: Pro Music excluded from traditional paid media.
Education users
Canva Education users “may only use Pro Content for educational, non-commercial purposes”. Commercial designs need a separate Canva account.[1] Catalog proof: Education users may use Pro Content only non-commercially.
Disney content
Since 2024-10-18, Disney-themed templates and elements have been available to Pro, Education and Nonprofit users for personal or educational use only. Printed merchandise is permitted only in the United States, through Canva’s own print service. Derivative works based on the Disney content are assigned to Disney.[1]
Prohibited uses
Section 9 lists uses that are not allowed for any Free or Pro content. The list includes sub-licensing, reselling, gifting or otherwise transferring the content or the licence (subject to the client-design right), and using content in a trademark, design-mark, trade name or service mark (fonts excepted). It also prohibits displaying content standalone on print-on-demand sites, using it in ways that compete with Canva, and using “Editorial Use Only” content commercially.[1] Content may also not be used “for any machine learning and/or artificial intelligence purposes” or for technologies that identify natural persons.[1] Catalog proof: Content may not be used for AI or machine learning.
Canva’s guide adds that logo templates suit small or personal projects, but cannot give exclusive rights because other users may use the same content. A unique logo for a trademark should be built from fonts, simple shapes and lines, or the user’s own graphics.[2]
Font Software
Canva’s fonts are delivered as Font Software with extra restrictions. They may not be installed or used “on any device except one on which you are accessing a properly licensed copy of Canva”. They may be used only on Canva or as part of an exported Canva Design, and may not be modified or converted.[1] Catalog proof: Font Software only with a licensed Canva copy.
AI features and Licensed Content
Using an AI feature on library content does not turn it into the user’s own content. The AI Product Terms state that users own their Output “except for any Output that modifies or incorporates Licensed Content”. The terms give two examples: an AI-edited library photo is not owned by the user, and a generated presentation is owned as a whole but not the library photos in it.[5] The MSA takes the same position for enterprise customers.[4] Content supplied inside the Affinity software is covered by the Free Content License unless indicated otherwise.[7] Catalog proof: AI Output with Licensed Content stays under the Content License.
Compliance and termination
Canva monitors use: it “will keep track of your designs and your account”, including downloads and Exports, and may suspend or terminate an account that breaches the licence without notice.[1] On termination for breach, the user loses all rights to the content and designs, must delete them, and forfeits fees paid. Canva may also ask for written confirmation that the content and designs have been destroyed.[1] A user who learns of an infringement claim must stop using the content, have clients, printers and ISPs remove it, and notify Canva.[1] Catalog proof: Canva monitors Exports for licence compliance.
Releases are generally not obtained for Free Content. Users are responsible for deciding whether a model or property release is needed.[1] Enterprise customers with 100 or more paid users can switch on Indemnity Content Control, which limits the library to elements covered by Canva’s IP indemnity.[6]
Virtualization & partitioning
Not applicable. The CLA licenses content per design, not per machine. The only device rule concerns Font Software.
Cloud / BYOL
Not applicable.
Programs
The CLA has no programmes. Plan choice changes how licences are paid for: subscription plans include Pro Content Licences, Free users buy them per design, and Education users are limited to non-commercial use. See Canva plans, seats and billing.
Out of scope
- The Popular Music License, which the CLA excludes.[1]
- Third-party licences such as CC0, Pixabay and Pexels, which apply to content labelled with those sources.[1]
- The Fontsmith Collection EULA and Contributor Agreement, which were not reviewed.
- Prices of one-off Pro Content licences, which Canva shows in the editor rather than in a published price list.