Canva says its AI features are worth the 300 percent price increase

Canva says its AI features are worth the 300 percent price increase

Existing subscribers Canva teams subscribers are being moved to a new, more expensive pricing model. | The Verge

The price of some Canva subscriptions are set to skyrocket next year following the company’s aggressive rollout of generative AI features. Global customers for Canva Teams — a business-orientated subscription that supports adding multiple users — can expect prices to increase by just over 300 percent in some instances. Canva says the increase is justified due to the “expanded product experience” and value that generative AI tools have added to the platform.

In the US, some Canva Teams users are reporting subscription increases from $120 per year for up to five users, to an eye-watering $500 per year. A 40 percent discount will be applied to bring that down to $300 for the first 12 months. In Australia, Information Age reports that the flat $39.99 AUS (about $26 USD) per month fee for five users is switching to $40.50 AUS for each user. That means a team of five will go from paying $480 AUS (about $323 USD) to $2,430 AUS (about $1,636 USD) per year.

Some of these accounts had been locked into lower prices that Canva no longer offers. In April, the company silently changed its offering for new Teams subscribers to $10 per month for each user, and set a minimum requirement for three users. Now, Canva’s communications lead Louisa Green says existing users are also being moved over to this structure in September “to reflect the current price of the plan and the value of our expanded product experience.”

“Our suite of products has grown significantly over the last couple of years with the launch of new offerings like the Visual Suite and Magic Studio,” Green said in a statement to The Verge.

Canva has released a deluge of generative AI features over the last few years, such as its Magic Media text-to-image generator and Magic Expand background extension tool. The additions have transformed the platform from something for design and marketing professionals into a broader workspace offering.

While Canva has publicly announced similar pricing changes in the past, these latest increases were seemingly communicated exclusively via customer emails. Other subscription tiers for Pro and Enterprise users don’t appear to be impacted.

The premium pricing is a stark pivot for Canva, which was once considered to be a simple and affordable alternative to more expensive graphic design software provided by Adobe. Canva users online have condemned the increases, with some announcing they’ll be canceling their subscriptions and moving to Adobe applications. These huge price increases also follow Canva purchasing the company behind Affinity’s creative software suite for a reported “several hundred million [British] pounds,” and ahead of a potential public listing in the US in 2026.