In September 2024, Canva moved long-standing Teams customers from as little as $119.99 a year for five people to $10 per person per month, with a three-person minimum. For an affected five-person team that meant $500 a year, discounted to $300 for the first year. Canva tied the rise to its new Magic Studio AI tools and kept its one-person Pro plan unchanged.
Key takeaways
- Some legacy Canva Teams customers went from $119.99 a year to $500 a year, a rise of more than 300%, with a $300 first year to soften it (Fortune, Sep 2024).
- Canva justified the rise with Magic Studio AI tools, and weeks earlier bought Sydney's Leonardo.ai.
- The entry-level Pro plan stayed at $120 a year, so new solo users weren't scared off.
- By the end of 2025 Canva reported more than 31 million paying users and US$4 billion ARR.
Imagine you run a five-person marketing team.
For four years you've paid Canva $119.99 a year. For the whole team. That's about $2 a month per person for the tool you use every single day.
Then, in September 2024, the email arrives. Your new price is $500 a year. Discounted to $300 for the first 12 months.
That's what Fortune reported happened to some of Canva's long-standing US Teams customers. A rise of more than 300% at full price. More than double, even with the discount.
People were not happy. And Canva kept growing anyway.
What exactly did Canva change?
Canva moved its Teams plan to $10 per person per month, with a minimum of three people. Here's how that played out:
| Before | After | |
|---|---|---|
| Legacy Teams plan, up to five people | $119.99 a year | $500 a year at full price |
| First year after the change | $300 (discounted) | |
| Customers who joined Teams since April 2024 | Already on new rates | No change |
| Canva Pro (one person) | $120 a year | $120 a year, unchanged |
Look at that last row. Canva didn't touch the entry plan. A freelancer signing up for Pro saw nothing new. Only the old team accounts were repriced.
How did Canva justify the rise?
With AI.
A Canva spokesperson said the original pricing "reflected the early stage of this product and has remained unchanged for the last four years." Canva pointed to the Magic Studio AI tools it had added since.
And it had just bought something to back that up. On 29 July 2024, weeks before the price news, Canva acquired Sydney's Leonardo.ai for undisclosed cash and stock. Leonardo had more than 19 million registered users, had generated more than a billion images, and brought 120 staff. Canva said it would keep Leonardo running independently, grow its API business and integrate its technology into Magic Studio.
So the story to customers was simple: the product you bought for $119.99 isn't the product you have now.
Why didn't the backlash hurt Canva?
Because the numbers kept climbing.
By the end of 2025, Canva reported more than 31 million paying users, more than 265 million monthly active users and US$4 billion in ARR. Teams of more than 25 seats doubled to about US$500 million ARR.
There are three reasons I think the rise stuck.
Switching is painful. In the book's MOATS framework, the S stands for Switching. Teams had years of templates, brand kits and shared folders inside Canva. Moving all that to another tool costs far more than $380 a year.
The value really had grown. Customers could argue about the size of the rise. It was harder to argue that Canva in 2024 was the same product as Canva in 2020.
The front door stayed cheap. Canva's freemium funnel and $120 Pro plan kept bringing new users in. New growth didn't depend on the repriced accounts. (You can read how that funnel works in how Canva reached $4 billion ARR.)
My take
In the book I mention Close.com, a CRM that originally included unlimited free phone calls in its plans. Eventually it pulled them out and charged per call, because unlimited calls were eating its gross margin. AI features are the modern version of those free calls. Every image Magic Studio generates costs Canva money. A flat team price set before AI existed was never going to survive AI.
Model your own price rise
See how many customers you could lose before a price increase stops paying off.
Was it the right call?
For Canva, yes. For you, maybe, and only if a few things are true.
A big rise on legacy customers works when customers depend on you, when you can point to real new value, and when you've kept a cheaper way in. If any of those are missing, a 300% rise is just a way to lose your oldest customers.
It also needs to be honest. In Australia, the ACCC took Microsoft to court over its AI-linked price rise, alleging it didn't clearly tell subscribers about a cheaper plan. (See how Microsoft's AI price rise put it in an Australian court.) If you raise prices, tell customers every option. Our guide to raising subscription prices in Australia covers notice and fairness.
What can you steal from Canva?
- Audit your oldest customers' pricing. If someone's price hasn't changed in four years and you've added a lot, they're probably underpriced.
- Tie the rise to visible new value. List what's been added since they joined. Be specific.
- Soften big rises with a 12-month step-up. Canva's $300 first year turned a shock into a staircase.
- Keep your entry price stable. New customers keep coming while legacy accounts are repriced.
- Check your AI costs. If you've added AI features to a flat price, your margin may be shrinking quietly. The AI SaaS pricing guide walks through the options.
When you're ready to write the email, start with our price increase email templates. For the full method, see how to raise prices without losing customers.
What to do next
Sort your customers by the price they pay and the date they joined. Find the ones paying the least for the most.
Then rebuild your pricing table with an entry tier you'll protect and a team tier priced for the value you deliver today.
Pricing Table BuilderDesign a good-better-best pricing table and export it.Open the free tool →You can see Canva's current plans in our Canva pricing teardown.
Frequently asked questions
Why did Canva raise its Teams prices?
Canva said the original Teams pricing reflected the early stage of the product and hadn't changed in four years. It pointed to the Magic Studio AI features it had added since. AI features also cost real money to run, unlike most traditional software features, so the old flat team price was carrying a lot more cost than it used to.
Did Canva raise prices for everyone?
No. The change hit long-standing Teams customers on legacy pricing. Customers who had joined Teams since April 2024 were already on the new rates, and the one-person Canva Pro plan, at $120 a year, was unchanged. Keeping the entry price stable while repricing older accounts is a big part of why the rise didn't hurt growth.
How do you soften a big price increase?
Phase it in. Canva gave affected teams a discounted first year at $300 before the full $500. Other options are giving long notice, letting customers lock in an annual price before the rise, offering a smaller plan, and explaining exactly what new value they've had since they joined. Never surprise people at renewal.
Is it legal to raise subscription prices in Australia?
Generally yes, if your contract allows it and you don't mislead customers. A term that lets you raise prices one-sidedly without a fair way out may be unfair in a standard form contract, and you should tell customers every option, including cheaper plans. See our guide to raising subscription prices in Australia, and get advice on your terms.
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Robert Coorey, MBA
Robert is the author of The Subscription Playbook and Feed a Starving Crowd and a Director at BPAG Accountants in Sydney. More about Robert.
Sources
- Fortune, Canva hikes team subscription prices by 300%, citing AI features (3 Sep 2024)
- TechCrunch, Canva acquires Leonardo.ai to boost its generative AI efforts (29 Jul 2024)
- Canva Newsroom, Welcome to Canva, Leonardo! (29 Jul 2024)
- TechCrunch, Canva gets to $4B in revenue as LLM referral traffic rises (18 Feb 2026)
Facts and prices checked 27 October 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.