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I’ve paid for Canva’s Pro subscription twice and got a refund once. Why? I realized the free version more than sufficed for my needs. If you’re considering paying for it, consider these points before you commit.
1I Didn’t Actually Need Premium Features
The way I use Canva, I truly do not need pro features. I paid once, realized I didn’t need the premium features, and, other than by accident, never paid again. Canva’s Pro subscription is a gigantic enhancement over the free version, but for making presentations and simple graphics, the free version more than suffices.
Even if you never pay a cent for Canva, thefree version has heaps of useful featuresto try. Nevertheless, the free version’s main weakness for me is the annoyingly numerous amount of assets that are Pro-only, making it difficult to find free elements.
Whether on Canva or any other tool with free and premium options, understand which features you actually need to use on a regular basis. You probably don’t need the premium model if the free version covers 90% or more of those functions. You can likely cover the remaining 10% with alternative software.
2I Wish I Tried Free Alternatives Before Buying
Many software tools excel in some things and lack in others. Canva is the alternative many people use instead of PowerPoint or Adobe Creative Cloud, offering a huge variety of user-friendly tools for design and even video editing.
It’s easy to get caught in the hype and marketing surrounding the paid versions of software, but sometimes, that software isn’t the best option for your needs. When choosing the right tool, understand what the most important things you need your tool to do are, see which option or options do that best, and select accordingly.
For example, Canva excels in user-friendly design, but you might need a more robust image or video editor. In that case, while I severely dislike Adobe’s predatory pricing and practices, Adobe Creative Cloud may be a better option with software like Premiere Pro and Photoshop. Even for simple graphic design,there are many alternatives to Canva you should trybefore paying for Pro.
3I Forgot to Check the Refund Policy Before Paying, but Was Fine
Before spending a single cent on any premium subscription, you must understand if the company has a refund policy, as well as how it works. This information may be hidden in the tool’s terms of use, but you can often use the tried-and-true method of adding “Reddit” to a Google search to see users’ experiences. I didn’t do this research before, and Adobe burned me, whereas Canva was much kinder.
Some time over a year ago, I paid for Canva Pro, thought I had canceled my subscription, accidentally renewed it, and was able to get a full refund. While Canva doesn’t make clear the specifics of its refund policy,many others on Reddit have discussedhow helpful the company’s customer service is with swift refunds.
Ironically,Canva’s terms of use have no guaranteed refundsfor these kinds of situations, yet the company still does it.
4I Wish I Knew How I’d Actually Use Pro Features
Canva’s software is so robust for free that I never felt the need to explore premium features—therefore, I am a happy Canva user who will stick to free. However, whether with Canva or other tools like Notion, I often succumb to marketing-fueled temptation to purchase the premium versions, with frequent popups asking me to upgrade. The Pro version does have manymany useful features to warrant the price, but I doubt I’d use any of them regularly.
In these cases, it’s important to actually plan how you’ll use premium features and understand what problems they’ll solve for you. Do you already have abackground removal toolfor images? If you have an iPhone, you actually do.
With how well the company has treated me with refunds, I’d happily pay for Canva Pro if I needed its features, but I don’t. I only need the free features, have better alternatives for some Pro functions, and have no plan for how I’d use Canva Pro’s additional tools.
