Use Canva to design digital and physical products for sale

We know content licence and commercial usage terms can be confusing and a little overwhelming. While this is a nuanced topic and we can’t always provide a clear answer to each specific situation, we aim to provide information to keep in mind when you’re using Canva to create and sell designs (e.g. templates, print products, e-books, AI-generated content, etc.) and creating designs for clients.

What’s allowed and not?

We'll cover more details and scenarios in the sections below but here are things you need to generally keep in mind when using Canva to create and sell designs.

You can only sell original designs

If you want to create a product you can sell, it needs to be an original design. You can't sell any Canva content on a standalone basis.

Creating an original design means using Canva Content with a combination of design elements (e.g. images, videos, audio files, other media, text, illustrations, background features, etc. ) and editing techniques to make a "new" creative work.

How do I know if my design is original enough?

A good question to ask yourself is: Is what I’m selling a unique design that I've put creative effort into? Or am I just reselling content I’ve found on Canva with minimal changes?

When will my use of Content be considered to be “standalone”?

Using the Content in its original form, solely using a filter, changing colours, resizing, cropping, or outlining the Content, or using a single piece of Content with minimal additional design elements such as a border is a standalone use.

You can't take an element from the Canva library (e.g. photo, illustration, etc.), put it on a t-shirt, and sell it. This isn't a “design” and would amount to re-selling someone else’s content. This applies whether you're creating the t-shirt yourself, or using a third-party print service.

Products you can sell

Canva’s Content Licence Agreement does allow you to use both Canva Free and Pro Content to design and sell a range of products (see section 5 of the Content Licence Agreement) such as:

• templates
• posters, mugs, t-shirts, stickers, and other printed products
• e-books and magazines

Canva’s Content Licence Agreement does not allow you to use Free or Pro Content to design and sell your own stock content (e.g. clipart files). If you want to sell stock content, you need to create your own designs from scratch.

Special conditions for using Canva Pro Content

There are special conditions for using Canva Pro Content in templates or products for sale. Our Content Licence Agreement covers this in more detail, but in general:

• If you want to create and sell templates that include Pro Content, you can only sell these as Canva template links. Read on to the templates section below to learn more about it.
• A pixel limit applies when using Pro Content in electronic publications like e-books.

Selling templates

You can sell templates under certain conditions.

• The templates need to be an original design. You can use a combination of Free and Pro Content.
• You can only use Pro Content in template designs if they’re shared as Canva template links (e.g. a template that brings your customers back to design in Canva).
• You can’t sell templates with Pro Content as a PDF or other file types, whether flattened or not.

Definition of “templates”

We define templates as a design that has a pre-determined layout and style which is intended to be further edited or customised by an end-user to produce the required final document.

This includes templates for websites, social networking websites, documents, projects, or otherwise for distribution and/or sale to third parties. For example:

• A wedding invitation is a template because you need to fill out the details of the event in order to use it.
• An e-book is not a template because it’s a finished product that doesn’t require further editing by the end-user in order to use it. This applies even if the e-book has sections that an end-user can fill out. An example is a self-help book that has a section for the reader to write notes in.

Template scenarios

Zahir is a template designer who specialises in invitations. He wants to use Canva to design wedding invitation templates to sell on Etsy.

• Zahir creates some invitation templates that include Pro Content. This is allowed as long as Zahir is selling his templates as Canva template links.
• Zahir creates some invitation templates that only include Free Content and photos Zahir has taken himself and uploaded to Canva. This is allowed and Zahir can sell these templates as PDFs or as Canva template links.

Selling posters, mugs, t-shirts, stickers, and other print products

You can sell different print products and use print-on-demand (POD) services under certain conditions.

• The print products need to be an original design. You can use a combination of Free and Pro Content.
• You can’t print Free or Pro Content as-is.
• You can use print-on-demand services (POD) as long as you’re using your original design and the service doesn’t require that you own the copyright to it.

Print-on-demand service and copyright ownership

Some third-party print services may require you to agree that you own copyright in any design you upload to their service. If that's the case, you can't use Canva Content in those designs because you don't own their copyright. You only have a licence to it.

If the print service only requires you to agree you have the right to use your design that contains Canva Content, then it’s OK to use as long as you're complying with our licence terms (e.g. you aren't trying to sell Content on a standalone basis).

You’re responsible for checking the terms of third-party websites as we’re unable to advise you on these.

Print-on-demand (POD) scenarios

Scenario 1: Jon wants to create t-shirt and mug designs and sell them using a print-on-demand (POD) service. Jon uses a mixture of graphics and fonts to create his original designs. This is allowed.

Scenario 2: Nadia wants to design and sell posters using POD. Her design consists of a single photo with a border around it.

• Nadia can't use Pro or Free photos from Canva for her poster designs because her use would be considered standalone use.
• Nadia can use her own photos that she uploads to Canva to create these posters because she owns the copyright in her photos and can use them on a standalone basis.

Stickers, posters, flyers, invitations, etc. scenarios

Scenario 1

AJ wants to design and sell stickers.

• He makes a sticker sheet with 20 individual basketball, football, and other sport-related elements from the Canva library. The stickers can be downloaded as a flattened PDF or as individual PNG files. This isn’t allowed as this is standalone use of each of the individual elements AND providing the individual file downloads is similar to selling clipart files.
• He makes a sticker sheet with 20 inspirational quotes he came up with and has typed them out using Canva fonts. The stickers can be downloaded as a flattened PDF or as individual PNG files. This is allowed.

Scenario 2

Kat wants to design and sell greeting cards for her customers to print at home. Kat’s customers can’t edit the cards. Kat uses a mixture of fonts and Free and Pro Content to create her card designs. This is allowed.

Selling print products based on a Canva template scenario

Blake wants to design, print, and sell a children’s book. They start their book design with a Canva template. This is allowed as long as Blake isn't selling the template as-is. Blake needs to populate the book template with their own content and add their own creative effort so that the book design is unique to Blake.

Selling digital e-books and other online publications

You can sell digital publications (e.g. e-books, online magazines, newsletters, etc.) under certain conditions.

• The digital publication needs to be an original design. You can use a combination of Free and Pro Content.
• If you want to use Pro Content in electronic publications you need to design it using Canva.
• You can’t download Pro Content from Canva and then use it to design your e-book in another software application.
• If you’re using Pro Content in an unedited format (which means a photo by itself on a page with no elements overlaid on the top) you have to stick to the maximum 480,000 pixel limit. This is so other people can’t easily extract Pro Content from your e-book and then re-use it.

E-book scenario

Jenny is a nutritionist and wants to design an e-book in Canva to sell to her clients. Jenny uses stock photos of food from the Canva library throughout her e-book. This is allowed as long as Jenny sticks to the pixel limit of 480,000 for any unedited images she uses in her e-book.

Selling digital clipart

You can’t sell digital clipart that customers will use in applications outside of Canva, designed using Free or Pro Content. If you want to sell digital clipart, you have to create your own designs from scratch.

Digital clipart scenario

Martina wants to design digital clipart and sell it. They plan to use Free and Pro Content to create new clipart designs, and then sell the flattened PNG files for their customers to download. This is not allowed because Martina would be re-selling Content for customers to use in other applications.

Selling AI-generated images

Images generated with AI features (e.g. Magic Edit, DALL·E, and Imagen by Google Cloud) are not covered by Canva’s Content Licence Agreement. You can use these images for any lawful purpose, including selling them, as long as you comply with our AI Product Terms.

In many countries, the legal ownership of AI-generated works is unclear. This means you may not be the copyright owner of the images you make. We recommend seeking legal advice if you plan to sell your AI-generated works. 

 

Learn more about copyright ownership of designs made in Canva and using Magic Studio safely and legally.

If I use Magic Edit to change certain components of a photo, can I sell the revised photo?

Only if it’s part of an original design. You can’t sell it on its own (e.g. as the only image on a t-shirt).

Manipulating a photo, whether using traditional photo-editing tools, or AI tools, is still using the underlying photo. The Content Licence Agreement still applies to the use of that underlying photo.

We acknowledge that there might be a scenario where you’ve changed a photo so significantly with Magic Edit that it no longer resembles the original photo. However, there’s no definite rule we can provide on how much you’d need to change a photo in order for it not to be considered standalone use.

Creating designs for clients

You can create designs (e.g. social media posts, advertisements, etc.) for clients or take design commissions as long as you:

• Transfer the rights of the finished design (e.g. social media post, advertisement, etc.) to your client by making an agreement with them.
• Make sure your client complies with the Content Licence Agreement.
• Transfer the design to one client only. You can’t transfer or sell the same design to multiple clients.

 

Want to give credit to our Canva Creators for using their elements? Learn more about attributing and giving credit to Canva element creators.