UPDATE Mar. 4, 2025
It seems Canva has changed its mind, thankfully!
I had been getting conflicting stories from other template sellers I know. About half said that Canva Support told them that only the creator had to have a Pro account. So, I reached back out to Canva Support to see what reply I got (my fourth correspondence with them).
Mischelle wrote back to say, "To clarify, free users can access a template link created by a user with a Pro subscription. Once they open the link, they can use the design as a template; however, if the design includes any premium elements, a watermark will be displayed as an indication.
"Furthermore, users must sign in to Canva in order to create a copy of the design from the template link."
My own experience proved different when a friend asked me to try her recently create template link. Using my free Canva account, I was able to access her file. However, while I could edit fonts, I could not edit graphics.
At this point we will have to wait and see what Canva finally does.
Below is the original post I wrote. I've also added another option in case you want to start creating your templates in multiple formats or stop using Canva altogether.
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Original Post from Mar. 3, 2025
As I was clicking through my email the other day, I opened one that took me by surprise. It was stating that template creators/sellers who made their products in Canva were getting upsetting emails from their customers.
Apparently, the customers were trying to access the templates they purchased and were getting a notice that they were required to have a Canva Pro account.
These are not the sellers/creators. These are the end users. The moms looking to customize their child’s first birthday template or the neighbor who is hosting a St. Patrick’s Day party and wants to edit the party invitation, banner and whatnot he bought.
There’s a lot of discussion about this so I reached out to Canva support directly and found out that it’s true!
What is in the Canva Update?
Let’s start at the beginning. The first Canva support rep (Yannie) answered my question with this information: As of the end of January 2025, creating Template links is now a feature available exclusively to users on a paid subscription or a free trial.
Key Points about Template Links:
- Existing Links: If you've created Template links before this update, those links will continue to be usable without any changes.
- Creating New Links: Should you need to create a new Template link, please note that you will need to be on a paid subscription or take advantage of a free trial. This ensures you can continue to enjoy the benefits of Canva's advanced features.
But that didn’t explain all the customers complaining about the requirement of Canva Pro to access the templates. So, I asked some more questions.
Who is required to have Canva Pro access to use templates?
According to a second Canva support rep (Ian): To clarify, the template link feature is now included in our Pro offerings. This means that both the creator and the recipient of the template link must have a paid subscription or be on a free Canva Pro trial to access and edit shared templates.
So, yes… going forward you will have to have a Canva Pro account to create templates and share the links.
AND
Your customers/end users who receive/use the links will need a Canva Pro account to access and edit the templates.
Will all my previous Canva templates stop working?
No. Thankfully, Ian also stated:
However, please be assured that any template links created before this update will remain usable without any modifications.
So, any templates created prior to January 25, 2025 should still work even if you and/or your customers/friends/whomever have free Canva accounts.
That was the first question I asked myself. I started a search for other options. This blog post will be an ongoing venture, so I’ll post what I’ve found for now.
➡️ This will be an ongoing post that I will update as I have more information. For now, I’ll post what I’ve found out. Note that at this time I have not tried all these options.
If you don’t have a Canva Pro account and don’t want to upgrade from free so you can use template link sharing, you can consider these options:
- Microsoft PowerPoint or Google Slides - Free or Paid
PowerPoint (or Google Slides) offers the ability to create files that you can share with others. Whether you need static (still) or animated graphics, either of these can handle the task.
While you probably already know that Google Docs, Sheets and Slides software is free, you might not know that there is a free version of Microsoft 365. You get pretty much all the features of the downloadable version, but the free version is available for use only online.
However, you can download your files and share the links, you can download files as PDFs, etc. all for free.
There is even download your Canva templates as PowerPoint files. You will have to re-do any animation and possible have to tweak the placement of text, etc. But it is easier than starting from scratch.
What I like most about this is that I control the links, how and when they are shared.
While PowerPoint does have many of the same abilities as Canva (the use of background remover, shape frames, mockups and templates, for example), they are not as convenient to use. Instead of just clicking or dragging like with Canva, you have to go through multiple steps to accomplish what you want.
I’ve used PowerPoint and other Microsoft software for this in the past and it works fine. But it’s also a bit more trouble to share your templates. You’ll need to download your creations to Dropbox or some other storage site then use the share option to create a public link.
- Creating Templates in Canva and Downloading as PDF
Canva does allow users to upload PDF files to their accounts. When you open those Canva breaks all the bits and pieces apart into individual elements that can then be edited.
- Corjl - Paid
Corjl is a platform specifically for professional template creators. They have a wide variety of features and they make a point on the Pricing page to state that people can login and edit the templates for free.
It integrates with Etsy, Shopify and WooCommerce.
However, Corjl charges you in two ways. They have several levels of paid plans and they also charge you per template sold. That can get expensive! For this reason, I won’t be using Corjl. It starts at $12.99/month plus $ .65 per item sold.
If you sold 50 items in a month, you would pay $32.50 in fees + $12.99 monthly cost for a total of $45.49.
- Adobe Express - Free and Paid
While Adobe Express is very close in look and feel to Canva, it doesn’t really compare. Adobe Express has far fewer templates for you to start with (even in the paid Premium plan) and significantly fewer design features.
However, if you want to give it a try to see if it has what you need, their support rep (Jayram) says, “Your customer does not need a paid account to access and edit templates in Adobe Express.” That’s good news!
But you will need a paid account.
After a bit of use, I’ve found that Adobe Express has a very good background remover (which you can use for free). It also offers:
- Limited drag-and-drop frames that are a bit more complicated to use
- Limited mockups for a variety of items (phones, mugs, t-shirts, etc.) but these are not frames so you have to crop and edit the photo or graphic manually to fit the frame
It’s $8.33/month if paid annually for one user. If you add up to three users the price is lower per user. So, it’s (for example) $7.99 per user, per month for a total of $23.97/month.
- Visme - Paid
This is not generally used for creating and selling templates. While you can do that, you’d have to add each customer to your paid account as a team member in order for them to edit the templates. Not practical at all.
- PicMonkey - Paid
I started out using PicMonkey years ago and liked it better than Canva at the time. As Canva added more features, I switched. Many of my early designs are still in PicMonkey. You can start a trial for free, but you can’t download or share any files without a paid subscription.
I asked about templates, sharing, etc. and Fin with PicMonkey support said, “Your customers don’t necessarily need a paid account to view shared designs, but they would need one to edit them within PicMonkey.”
So that’s out.
As I get more information and find other possible options, I’ll update this post.
If you have other questions or suggestions for replacements and alternatives for Canva, feel free to leave them in the comments.
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Not totally true. You need Canva Pro to create a template link, but as long as you only use free elements your customers can use your templates. At least that’s what Canva is telling me.
That’s part of the update. According to two Canva support reps that I was emailing with today, they customer as well as the seller have to have Pro accounts. That’s what has everybody in such an uproar. End users are complaining that they can’t get access to the templates that they bought because of the new update. The old templates (created before Jan. 25) will still work, but not ones created Jan. 25 and after.
This is incorrect.
Canva Verified Expert here…
Only Pro users will be able to generate template links, but anyone, both pro and pree users will be able to use that link.
Thia update is currently rolling out so it is not available to everyone. But it is coming.
Yes. And I’ve added that to the top of the blog post. Maybe you didn’t see the update. But Canva Support has been telling a lot of people the wrong information. Including me. I got 3 different supoprt reps all telling me the opposite to start with (noted and named in my original blog post). This situation is confusing and a mess right now. I don’t know if Canva changed their minds or if the original policy change was not understood by the entire team.
Vista Create to me has always been second fiddle to Canva but is decent. I’m not sure if their free tier allows template sharing. https://create.vista.com/
Thanks for sharing.