The Best Ways to Make Money with Canva

Are you looking for ways to turn your design skills into passive income or side hustle? You may be surprised to know that you can achieve those two things by using Canva.

Canva is a popular online graphic design platform that allows anyone to create stunning designs with ease. Whether you’re a graphic designer, a marketer, a social media manager, or just someone with a good eye for design, Canva is intuitive and offers various opportunities to monetize your skills and creativity.

In this post, we’ll explore some of the best ways to make money with Canva. From selling your designs on Canva’s marketplace to offering design services on freelance websites, we’ll cover different options that can help you turn your Canva skills into a profitable side hustle.

What is Canva?

Canva is a design and publishing platform that allows its users to create a wide range of designs, from social media graphics and presentations to posters, flyers, and more.

Canva has a very user-friendly interface and many options to choose from in terms of templates, graphics, and fonts. The website offers a free version and a paid pro version to its users.

What makes Canva special is its thousands of original design templates for everything from social media posts to banners to posters and ebook designs. There are also millions of images, videos, and graphics that users can use to make their own designs.

Because it operates online and stores user creations, users can share their creations with team members and other Canva users.

That makes it easy for teams to collaborate or for the savvy Canva user to sell their creations to the rest of the world. 

Can I Make Money with Canva?

I know what you’re thinking. Canva sounds like a fantastic design tool, but can I really make money with it? 

The answer is: yes.

Many images, graphics, and stickers that Etsy sellers use to create their designs like printables and baby shower invitations were made by people just like you. Every image used results in someone getting paid for their work.

So, again, yes, you can make money using Canva. For someone with a good eye or a creative flair, selling on Canva can be a lucrative side hustle.

How to be a Canva Contributor

One way to make money with Canva is to become a Canva Contributor. 

As a Canva Contributor, you can sell the images, videos, graphics, and stickers that you create to other Canva users. 

The one downside to the Contributor program is that it has become so popular that, as of March 2023, Canva has “paused” new signups. The site tells users to check back later for the opportunity to join.

Although the program is currently on hold, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it won’t resume in the future. When the Contributor program becomes available again, it has the potential to be a profitable side hustle, as it was before.

How do I Sign Up for the Canva Contributor Program?

The process of signing up for the Contributor program was simple and straightforward prior to the program being placed on pause.

All you had to do was click the “Sign Up” button, upload your work, and wait for Canva to review it. If everything was approved, your designs would be available on the site within a week.

Once your designs are live, as a Contributor, there’s nothing else to do but wait and collect royalties.

How much does a Canva Contributor Earn?

According to the site Graphic Design Guides, Canva pays Contributors 35% of every sale. That’s 35 cents for every $1 single-design license you sell. The sale price for each design is determined by Canva based on factors such as complexity, demand, and usage rights.

So the amount of money a Canva Contributor earns depends on the number of designs they sell, as well as the sale price of each design. Some successful Canva Contributors have reported earning hundreds or even thousands of dollars per month from their design sales.

However, it’s important to note that earning potential can vary widely based on the quality of your designs and the demand for your work.

Canva supports three different payment options: PayPal, Payoneer, and Skrill. The company pays its contributors on the 15th of each month or at the payout threshold. 

Canva has a default payout threshold of $100 and will not pay contributors until they meet the $100 threshold. Contributors can request funds under $100, but Canva will charge a $2 fee for every payout under $100. 

Does the Canva Contributor Program allow you to Sell Templates on Canva?

One thing the Canva Contributor program does not cover is Canva templates, but Canva is working on bridging this gap. 

The company is currently exploring a way for designers to sell their templates through the website via the Canva Creator program.

What is the Canva Creator Program?

Canva’s Creator program is not to be confused with the Contributor program. They are two separate things, and Canva is working to keep them separate.

Through the Creator program, skilled designers create templates for Canva. Like the Contributor program, creators receive a royalty each time someone uses their template.

According to Canva’s Help Center, you have to submit your work to be a part of the Creator program. If it’s accepted, Canva will reach out to you.

As of March 2023, you can only sign up as template creators or specialty creators, which create in a particular niche such as Education Speciality Creators are teachers who specifically create educational resources.

Signing up as an element creator is temporarily unavailable due to high popularity and demand.

[Find out more about the Canva Creator Program here.]

Sell on Canva

All in all, selling Canva templates online can be a fun and lucrative side hustle.

The Side Blogger said she made an average of $2,000 per month selling Canva templates on various websites, including her own.

While Michelle at Making Sense of Cents says she made $2,000+ per month selling her Canva templates.  

We actually recommend selling printables, digital downloads, and templates made with Canva on Etsy.

We have had several students from our E-printables course make five or six figures per year selling printables and digital products they make with Canva on Etsy.

Learn more about selling printables made with Canva in our E-Printables course.

What are Some Other Ways to Make Money Using Canva?

Being a Canva content creator or contributor is not the only way to make money with Canva.

There are several other ways to make money with Canva.

Create Products Using Canva

One of the best ways to make extra money from Canva is by using it to create things like printables or digital designs.

Printables are digital files that you can sell to people who print the documents themselves. Printables range from party games to wedding invitations, wall art, personal planners, and more!

As previously mentioned, Canva is one of the best places to create printables because of its easy-to-use interface and a wide variety of graphics and elements. Creators can create designs that are unique and stand out from the crowd.

Your templates will be saved on your Canva profile so you don’t have to start from scratch every time you create a new template.

You can use a previous template as a starting point, allowing you to create something like a Facebook ad and a banner for your Facebook Page much faster.

The free version of Canva is more than enough to get a printables business started. Once you have finished your designs, you can either design and sell printables, and digital products on sites like Etsy, Teachers Pay Teachers, and Creative Market, or, create beautiful designs on your own website and sell them.

Teach People How to Use Canva

Another way to make money with Canva is to teach other people how to use the site. Whether you’re offering personalized, one-on-one lessons, launching a Canva course, or even choosing to become a Canva YouTuber, there are people out there who can benefit from your Canva skills. 

Offering private lessons using Canva can be a profitable way to generate income, but it should be noted that this method is not entirely passive.

If you’re looking for a more passive income option, creating an online course and uploading it to platforms such as Udemy, Coursera, or Skillshare can be a great choice. Once you’ve created the course and uploaded it, you can earn money every time someone purchases it.

Join the Canva Affiliate Program

If teaching isn’t your thing, there are still plenty of ways to generate passive income using Canva by leveraging the other assets you’ve already created.

If you are active on social media, have a blog, or podcast, or create videos on YouTube, you could consider becoming a Canva Affiliate. 

Through the Canva Affiliate program, you can make money by referring people to sign up for Canva Pro. According to Canva, you can earn up to $36 for every new Canva Pro subscriber that signs up with your referral link.

The best part is that there are no fees or minimum sales required to be a part of the Canva affiliate program. 

With no sales quotas to meet, you can test out becoming a Canva affiliate without losing any time or money investment.

Ways to Make Money with Canva Templates

If you’re good at creating original templates in Canva, consider selling your skills or the templates themselves.

Sell Canva Templates on Other Sites

An excellent way to make passive income from Canva is to sell Canva templates and sell them on sites other than Canva.

You can sell your Canva templates on sites like Etsy, Design Bundles, or Creative Market. If you already have a design business and you simply want to create templates for people to use themselves, sell them through your personal website. 

Remember, while the Canva Creator program will connect you to Canva users, it isn’t the only game in town. 

Plus, the benefit of selling templates outside of Canva is you may get a more significant royalty.

Etsy might charge a smaller percentage per sale than Canva’s 65%, depending on the sale. If you sell through your personal website, that leaves all the profit to you.

Sell Your Merchandise

If you don’t want to create templates for other people, consider using Canva to create designs for t-shirts, coffee mugs, and stickers, especially if you have a print-on-demand business.

Use Canva to design your own products and then sell those products through a website like Zazzle, Printify, or a similar website. You can also create the products and sell them on a site like Etsy.

If you use Canva to create commercial products, make sure you operate within Canva’s guidelines.

Canva says you’re allowed to sell your creations commercially, provided the designs are your own. However, you cannot take an unaltered Canva design or template and sell it as is, so you will need to make a design your own before you can start selling it commercially. 

Become a Freelance Canva Designer

Becoming a freelance Canva designer can be a more demanding but potentially more profitable option.

If you’re the kind of person that likes working with other people, use your Canva skills to help other people create fabulous designs and templates. 

Plenty of people and companies out there need social media posts created or a business card designed. Often, these companies aren’t looking for a full-time graphic designer; they’re looking for someone they can hire once for a single project.

If you like setting your own hours and working as much or as little as you want, becoming a freelance Canva designer is a great way to use the site to earn extra money.

How to Sell Canva Templates on Fiverr

One of the best places to find clients as a freelance Canva designer is a site like Fiverr. 

Fiverr is designed to connect skilled individuals with people who need their skills. Usually, the person offering up the service sets a price for a specific task, and then someone hires that person to complete the job at the asking price. 

Many designers use Fiverr to sell their skills in creating templates in Canva. These designers set a price and offer to make a specific number of editable Canva templates for a customer. They deliver those templates, and the contract is complete. 

There are plenty of Canva services you can offer on Fiverr, including logo design, editable social media templates, ebook covers, social media banners, and posters. 

You name it, and odds are, you can create it.

How to Sell Canva Templates on Etsy

If you enjoy creating beautiful designs and then selling them, consider selling your templates on a site like Etsy.

Selling Canva templates on Etsy is different from selling them on Fiverr. For one thing, on Fiverr, the templates are made to order, meaning you and the client work together to create the template.

On Etsy, you need a product to list before you sell it. That means you need to create editable templates before offering them for sale on Etsy.

Most people sell packages of editable templates on Etsy, such as 50 Instagram post templates or 300 social media templates, or sell items in bundles like “The Self-Care Bundle,” which includes worksheets and self-care trackers. There’s also the “Coaching Worksheets Bundle” with coaching tools templates, worksheets, and resources. 

These can be offered for more money or a high price point and there are a lot of different ways to sell your Canva templates and items that you create on Etsy.

If you want to get started selling printables made in Canva on Etsy, check out the E-Printables course.

Final Thoughts

One of the best things about Canva software is incredibly easy to learn and it doesn’t take much time to become a skilled designer. 

With a bit of time and ingenuity, virtually anyone can use Canva to create templates, to create social media content, posts, invitations, and more, and then turn those into a profitable side hustle.

Best of all, you have many options for selling your final product. You can skip the middleman and sell directly on Canva through the Creator or Contributor programs. You can launch a Canva course and also use a third-party site like Etsy or Fiverr.

For the genuinely ambitious creator, there’s no reason you can’t do it all. As long as you’re creating original work, you can sell on a site like Etsy while creating custom templates for clients on Fiverr and selling other designs through the Canva Creator or Contributor programs. 

You have options for building your Canva side hustle; you just have to take that first step and get started. 

Good luck!

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