Canva Pro's free trial is a full 30 days of the paid plan, not a stripped-down preview. That's longer than most design-software trials, but it also means the billing date sneaks up faster than you'd expect. Here's what you actually get, how sign-up works, and what happens the moment day 30 arrives.
What the Free Trial Actually Includes
The trial unlocks the full Canva Pro plan, not a limited version of it. Once it's active, your account gets:
- 141M+ premium photos, videos, graphics, and audio — versus 4.7M+ on Canva Free
- 3.6M+ templates, including the premium-only ones
- Background Remover — one click removes a photo's background, no separate app needed
- Magic Resize — turn one design into every size you need (Instagram post, story, banner) without rebuilding it
- 5 Brand Kits — save logos, fonts, and colors so every design stays on-brand
- 100GB of cloud storage, up from 5GB on Free
- Social content scheduling and print-ready CMYK exports
How to Start the Canva Pro Trial
- Go to Canva's Pro page and select Start a free trial.
- Sign in with an existing Canva account, or create one with an email, Google, Apple, Facebook, or Microsoft login.
- Pick monthly or annual billing. This decides what you're charged if you don't cancel, not what you pay during the trial.
- Enter payment details. A card, PayPal, or another supported method is required to activate the trial, even though nothing is charged yet.
- Confirm, and Pro unlocks immediately.
One trial per account.
The trial is for new Pro subscribers. If you've already run a Canva Pro trial on an account before, that account generally won't be offered a second one.
What Happens When the Trial Ends
Two paths, depending on whether you cancel in time.
If You Don't Cancel
Your account converts automatically to a paid Canva Pro subscription on day 30, and the payment method on file is charged for whichever billing cycle you picked at sign-up. There's no extra confirmation step — it just goes through.
If You Cancel Before Day 30
Your account reverts to Canva Free and you're not charged anything. You keep access to Pro features until the trial's actual end date; cancelling early doesn't cut you off immediately, it just stops the automatic renewal. Your designs stay in your account either way — cancelling doesn't delete anything, it just locks premium templates and assets behind a watermark again until you upgrade.
You can also skip the trial and start paying immediately, useful if you've hit the trial's lower AI limit and want the full allowance right away. That's a one-click option under Billing > Get more > Start subscription today.
How to Cancel the Trial
- Log in to the Canva account you started the trial on.
- Click your profile icon, then Settings.
- Go to Billing.
- Find your active plan, click More actions, then Cancel plan.
- Follow the prompts to confirm. Canva may offer a discount or a pause option first — skip past those if you just want to cancel.
What You Pay After the Trial
Canva Pro currently runs $18/month billed monthly, or $144/year billed annually — which works out to about $12/month, a savings of roughly a third over paying monthly. Whichever cycle you pick during trial sign-up is what you're billed on when it converts.
| Billing | Price | Effective Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $18/month | $18 |
| Annual | $144/year | ~$12 |
If you decide Pro is worth keeping, switching your existing trial to annual billing before it converts locks in the lower rate from the start, instead of paying monthly for a while and switching later.
Is the Trial Worth Starting?
If you design more than the occasional social post or flyer, the 30 days is genuinely enough time to know. Set up your Brand Kit on day one, run Background Remover and Magic Resize on a real project you actually need finished (not a throwaway test file), and you'll have a real answer well before the trial ends. The one thing to actually do: put a reminder on your calendar a few days before the end date. That's the step almost everyone forgets, and it's the only one that costs money if you skip it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Canva Pro free trial require a credit card?
Yes. Canva requires a payment method to activate the trial, even though you won't be charged until the 30 days end, and only if you haven't cancelled by then.
How long is the Canva Pro free trial?
30 days from the day you activate it. The exact end date and time are shown in your Canva account's Billing settings.
Will I lose my designs if I cancel the trial?
No. Your designs stay in your account whether you cancel or not. What changes is access — premium templates, fonts, and assets used in those designs go back to being watermarked or locked once you're back on Canva Free.
Can I get a second Canva Pro free trial?
Generally no, if you've already used one on that account. The trial is meant for new Pro subscribers, and repeat trials on the same account aren't typically offered.
Does the Canva Pro trial include the full AI allowance?
No. During the trial, your AI usage is capped at the same level as Canva Free. The full Pro AI allowance, about 10 times more, only applies once you're on a paid subscription.
Sources:
Canva Pricing (official)
Canva Help: End your free trial early
