Canva’s 2025 pricing shift prompts businesses to rethink their design toolkit. Explore alternatives and strategies to navigate rising costs in creative platforms.
For years, Canva has served as a go-to design platform for businesses ranging from startups to large enterprises. Its accessible, user-friendly interface and versatile functionality have made it a favorite in marketing tech stacks, empowering teams to produce professional visuals with minimal training. However, recent changes to Canva’s pricing plans – specifically for the teams plan - have shaken its loyal business user base, particularly business customers. Beginning in 2025, companies will face a steep price increase, attributed primarily to Canva’s integration of advanced AI features that streamline the creative process.
This blog delves into the implications of these pricing changes, alternative platforms to consider, and strategies for adapting your design toolkit to keep quality high without inflating your budget. Additionally, you’ll learn about the broader trend of rising costs in design platforms as AI technology become more integrated.
In late 2024, Canva announced price increases for users on its Teams plan, with costs rising by as much as 300% for users in 2025. This decision, driven by Canva’s investment in AI tools, has sparked industry-wide concern. The rollout of new AI features and tools for Canva users, which promise to automate tasks and enhance creativity, come at a cost: developing, maintaining, and expanding these capabilities requires significant resources, which Canva has opted to fund through revised pricing. While demand for advanced generative AI capabilities is growing, and these new features undoubtedly add significant value to the product, the steep cost increase has left many businesses questioning Canva’s affordability as a design solution.
With Canva, marketing and design teams can create nearly professional-grade materials without needing costly design software or specialized staff. Canva has the leader in democratizing design, offering a solution that saves both time and money.
Users have expressed concerns that Canva is prioritizing AI developments over the user-friendly design features that originally made the platform popular. This shift could leave teams questioning if Canva is the right fit for their needs. Additionally, as businesses balance budgets, or looking to implement additional marketing tools needed for operations, they may find Canva’s new rates unsustainable, especially as AI-driven features increasingly overshadow the platform’s foundational simplicity.
While Canva’s pricing changes may impact budget-conscious and lean marketing teams, several alternatives several alternatives offer comparable functionality at a potentially lower cost. Here are some recommended options:
Adobe Express (formerly Adobe Spark) provides powerful, intuitive design tools making it a strong alternative to Canva. Integrated with Adobe’s broader ecosystem, it enables teams to seamlessly transition between Express and tools like Photoshop or Illustrator. Like Canva, Adobe Express offers user-friendly design capability, but with the added arsenal of Adobe’s signature creative power. Adobe’s stable pricing and strong brand make it a reliable alternative for those seeking a scalable, robust solution.
Formerly known as Crello, VistaCreate is tailored for marketing professionals and offers a range of templates and tools to streamline content creation. The design tool is positioned as an affordable option compared to Canva, and is a great alternative for companies looking to balance cost and quality.
Canva’s price increase is not an isolated incident. It reflects a broader trend in the design and creative software industry, where platforms are steadily raising prices to account for the growing costs of integrating and maintaining advanced AI tools. Generative AI, machine learning, and automation technologies are becoming more essential in streamlining creative processes, but they are also expensive to develop and implement.
As AI capabilities evolve, we can expect more design platforms to adjust their pricing to reflect these advancements. This is particularly true for platforms that are heavily investing in AI to stay competitive. The tools that enable marketers and designers to work faster and smarter are no longer optional add-ons—they are becoming central to the functionality of these platforms.
Canva’s price increase isn’t an isolated case but part of a broader trend. The rise of generative AI and machine learning has become central to many design platforms, raising costs across the board. Businesses must navigate this evolving landscape by assessing the necessity of AI features, considering platform alternatives, and leveraging partnerships.
Determine whether Canva’s AI enhancements align with your team’s needs. If your marketing team find simpler design tools more suitable, switching to a more simplistic design tool that still has robust design capabilities but at a lower cost.
As outlined earlier, viable design platforms like tools like Adobe Express or VistaCreate offer similar functionality to Canva and may better suit your team’s creative and financial needs, offering stability amidst Canva’s changes.
If your marketing team struggles to keep up with design and creative demands—whether it’s for social media, marketing collateral, or other design content—partnering with a professional agency can help. Agencies bring tools, expertise, and professional results, allowing your team to focus on strategy and growth. Agencies typically are skilled in maximizing the capabilities of platforms like Canva, Adobe, and others, ensuring consistent design execution.
Most design platforms offer discounts on annual or multi-year subscriptions, which can help offset potential cost variances.
keeping an eye on design platform trends will help your business stay prepared for future pricing shifts.
Streamline Inc., a mid-sized consulting firm with $50 million in annual revenue, relies on Canva for its marketing team to produce client proposals, social media graphics, and internal presentations. With a lean in-house team of four marketers, Streamline has used Canva’s Teams plan due to its affordability and ease of use. However, as the 2025 price increase approaches, their $1,500 annual Canva expense is set to triple, impacting the marketing budget.
Streamline’s marketing team is facing a dilemma: absorb the cost increase or find an alternative. While they value Canva’s design features, this new expense strains their budget. Additionally, they foresee an uptick in design demands, including a major website overhaul and new client branding packages, which require more specialized skills than their team can handle.
After weighing options, Streamline chooses a hybrid solution to balance cost, flexibility, and quality:
Streamline transitions its in-house team from Canva to Adobe Express. This tool offers comparable functionality for daily needs and integrates seamlessly with other Adobe tools already in use, such as Acrobat and Photoshop. At an annual cost of around $1,200, Adobe Express provides high-quality design capabilities at a lower price, helping Streamline control costs while still producing engaging social media posts and presentations.
For specialized needs, Streamline partners with a marketing agency experienced in brand strategy and high-stakes design. The agency steps in to manage complex projects like the website redesign and client brand packages, using advanced tools such as Adobe Creative Cloud and Figma. This partnership provides Streamline access to top-tier design talent and resources without the full-time expense of adding designers in-house. The agency also helps align the brand’s visuals across platforms, ensuring consistency and high impact for client-facing content.
By adopting Adobe Express and partnering with an agency, Streamline maintains design flexibility and quality without overspending. The marketing team handles routine design tasks internally, while the agency ensures major projects are executed professionally. The result is a balanced approach that keeps costs manageable, optimizes in-house resources, and delivers exceptional creative output for Streamline’s expanding client base.
As AI advancements reshape design tools, businesses must carefully weigh their options. Canva’s 2025 price hike may prompt companies to reconsider their creative toolkit, with alternatives that offer powerful yet simplistic design solutions. For teams stretched thin by design demands, partnering with a professional agency ensures continued quality without added platform costs.
Remaining adaptable and well-informed empowers your team to make strategic choices that align with both your creative goals and financial constraints. By proactively evaluating and optimizing your design tools, you can safeguard your team’s agility and maintain a competitive edge, no matter how the digital landscape evolves. This approach ensures not only immediate resilience in the face of industry shifts but also positions your business for sustainable, long-term success.
