12 Great Ways To Make Money With Canva in 2023

Canva is undoubtedly one of the most popular tools on the internet today.

But from all of its millions of users, only a lucky few are clever enough to generate money using this free graphic design tool.

In this article, we’ll teach you 12 simple ways to make money on Canva yourself without needing any hard skills or qualifications.

Let’s dive in!

12 Profitable Methods To Earn Money On Canva

Earning money from Canva is simpler than you think — all you need is a laptop, internet, and a spark of creativity to generate hundreds of dollars every month!

Most of these online business models require little experience to begin, while others demand some connections and investment to take off.

Let’s have a look:

1. Create And Sell Canva Templates

One of the simplest ways to generate passive income using Canva is by selling templates. All you need to do is create an account and design various templates to earn up to $100 a day! 

To begin, decide what kind of templates you want to create — some popular examples include social media posts, presentations, client packets, newsletters, and eBook covers. Then, open creator mode on Canva and design a few eye-catching designs while offering plenty of customization options to accommodate different users.

After you’ve made a few samples, you can start selling Canva templates separately or in packets on various marketplaces such as Etsy, Shopify, Creative Market, and Teachable. Eventually, you can turn these digital products into a full-scale Canva template business by promoting your designs on your own website. 

2. Design and Sell Printables

Selling printables such as coloring pages, planners, and stickers is an excellent way to monetize your Canva skills. You can take inspiration from pre-made templates on the platform and use them to build your own by testing different color palettes, fonts, and graphics.

Since printables have both personal and professional use, you can either sell them on marketplaces like Etsy or advertise them through your own brand. If you know people who run a successful blog or YouTube channel, you can also pitch them some custom printables for their business and charge a commission on each sale.

3. Become a Canva Contributor

If you have a knack for designing vectors and like making intricate artwork, Canva’s Contributor program can become a solid source of passive income for you.

Canva’s Contributor program allows content creators to upload and sell their illustrations, stock photos, and stickers on the platform. Each time someone purchases your artwork, Canva will reward you with a 35% royalty from the total revenue. The only condition is that your published artwork must be completely original and fulfill Canva’s terms and conditions.

Considering that Canva currently has over 100 million users, you can make loads of money by selling your artwork to just a portion of their users. Just create a Canva account, upload your work, and start generating cash!

4. Start A Print-on-Demand Business

Building an online merchandise store from scratch is a lucrative option for Canva designers. But there’s a similar model that can potentially bring more returns with less risk; Print-on-Demand.

To kickstart a print-on-demand business, the first step is to determine the type of merchandise you want to sell. Ideal markets for print-on-demand include enthusiastic fanbases of movies, TV shows, and music. Once you’ve finalized a niche, you can use Canva’s drag-and-drop builder to create designs for different types of merch, such as shirts, mugs, books, and hoodies.

After you’ve created a few designs, you can export and share them with print-on-demand vendors such as Printify, Printful, and Sellfy. When someone places an order, the vendor will handle all the trouble of printing, packing, and shipping the product and reward you with a commission on each sale.

Check out our comparison of print-on-demand giants Printify vs Printful here!

5. Design Logos for Small Businesses

New businesses are always in the market for logos. With a bit of creativity and Canva’s extensive features, you can easily create and sell a single logo to small startups for up to $40 or more!

To start off, create a few logo samples to build your portfolio. Then, search for clients on the best freelance graphic designer websites, like Upwork, DesignCrowd, and 99Designs, and pitch them your designs at competitive rates. Once you have a few 5-star ratings and positive reviews, you can start pitching your designs to medium and large enterprises that are willing to pay $100 or more for a well-designed logo.

If you’ve run out of creativity, you can always take inspiration from the thousands of logo templates in Canva’s library. As long as you don’t copy anyone’s design, you’re good to go!

6. Promote Canva as an Affiliate

Did you know that you can earn up to $36 by referring a single person to Canva?

That’s right! The Canva Affiliate program is an excellent way for influencers and popular creators to earn several hundred bucks a month by encouraging their followers to purchase Canva Pro. And here are some reasons why this business model is so effective.

For starters, Canva is already an extremely popular platform with over 100 million users. All you need to do as an affiliate is convince an existing (or new) user to upgrade to Canva Pro to earn a referral fee. Secondly, the company tracks each referred user for a generous 30-day time period, which increases your chances of scoring a conversion.

Once you’ve signed up as an affiliate, you will get a custom referral link that you can advertise on your social media account, email newsletter, or website. Canva will also give you access to a personal dashboard to track your metrics and conveniently withdraw payments.

7. Create eBooks for Amazon Kindle

If you have a penchant for writing or just love working with books, you can make loads of money by designing eBook covers on Canva.

Platforms like Upwork and 99Design are full of eBook clients looking for talented graphic designers to work for them. You can consistently find authors that need front covers, illustrations, tables, and other types of media for their eBook in exchange for decent money.

More optimistic designers can write their own eBook on a topic they’re passionate about, such as romance, horror, or an autobiography. Then, you can design a cover for your eBook and self-publish it through Amazon Kindle or Apple Books to earn a commission on your book sales. 

Compared to a one-time payout from freelancing gigs, writing your own eBook can become a source of passive income as long as it keeps selling more and more copies. If you’re not super confident about your writing skills, you can also use an AI assistant like Jasper to craft compelling stories and generate ideas for your book.

8. Start an Online Canva Course

Do you know Canva inside out and love sharing your expertise with others?

If so, then you can potentially make thousands of dollars by selling Canva courses online.

Start by brainstorming some ideas for your course and decide whether you’ll be teaching beginners, advanced users, or both. Write down a basic script and create a presentation for each video before recording tutorials, exercises, and guides for your course.

Once everything is ready, publish your Canva course on online course platforms like Teachable, Udemy, or Skillshare to start making money. You can also promote your courses via paid ads or get shoutouts from friends and family members.

If your course becomes a hit, you can build a decent following on social media platforms as a Canva expert and further grow your profits by promoting affiliate links and partnering with high-paying clients to endorse their brand on your account.

Check out our article on how to build an online course for more pointers.

9. Create Social Media Posts For Businesses

Brands and startups are always on the hunt for talented designers to create attractive social media posts for their audience.

With some research, you can find loads of clients that are willing to pay between $300 to $2,000+ each month to create social media graphics for their brand!

Start by approaching brands in your network or use sites like Fiverr and Upwork to find social media gigs. Once you’ve landed a few contracts, you can begin designing attractive social posts with your own creativity or experimenting with Canva’s templates.

As your client base grows, start offering social media management services to Twitter and Pinterest users to multiply your revenue. Take a look at our article on how to become a Pinterest manager. You can also upsell your clients by offering to write captions and scheduling their posts to scale your portfolio and earnings.

Just do your best to reflect each brand’s DNA into their posts and develop a unique brand kit for each client to retain them in the long run!

10. Sell Your Design Skills On Freelancing Websites

Probably the fastest way to earn money with Canva is by selling your design skills on freelancing platforms.

Websites like 99Designs, Fiverr, and DesignCrowd have thousands of active design gigs at all times that are waiting to be picked up by designers. You can start by creating an account on all of these platforms and building your profile with samples, testimonials, and past projects.

The best strategy for newbies would be to apply for as many gigs as possible. Once you’ve successfully completed at least four to five jobs with positive reviews, you can narrow down your services to social media graphics, logos, brand kits, or whatever domain you specialize in.

Freelancing has the potential to expand into a digital agency that can generate five to six-figure revenues each year if executed properly. Just try to satisfy each client to your fullest and exceed their expectation with each project to convert short-term gigs into long-term partnerships. 

Here’s an article on graphic design company name ideas to give you naming inspiration for your new venture.

11. Design A Website or e-Commerce Store

Canva isn’t just a tool for designing posters and logos.

You can also create stunning, fully-functional web pages for companies with their one-page website builder!

Some of the best platforms to find web design work include Upwork, Facebook Groups, and 99Designs. You can also explore your professional circle or LinkedIn to find businesses looking for expert website designers.

Once you’ve landed a contract, start planning out the website and build a basic layout. Create individual pages for your client’s site and experiment with various typographies, color schemes, and navigation menus that reflect their brand theme.

After your page is ready, add some finishing touches, integrate any necessary plugins, and hit publish. However, do note that you cannot publish these web pages on a website unless you have Canva Pro. By upgrading to the Pro version, you will also get access to 100+ million stock photos/videos, advanced features like background removal, and a built-in content planner for social media scheduling.

12. Publish Canva Tutorials on YouTube

Are you an expert at using Canva and think others could benefit from your knowledge?

If that’s the case, then creating a YouTube channel for Canva tutorials might be an excellent way to monetize your skills.

YouTubers can easily make a few hundred to several thousand dollars a month from a single channel once they’ve established a decent following. Besides making money from people watching your videos, you can also generate income from YouTube by:

• Doing sponsored videos with brands
• Promoting Canva Pro affiliate link on your channel
• Selling merchandise and courses

To become a successful YouTuber, you need to create a top-notch content strategy. Make sure that your tutorials are easy to follow and contain appealing visuals and groovy music that keeps your audience hooked. 

Try to come up with catchy titles and attractive thumbnails for each video and promote your content on Instagram and Facebook to get an initial boost. Once you’ve got a few thousand subscribers, your views will start growing organically, and your channel will begin to scale up.

Making Money on Canva With Closing 

That’s all for our list of 12 ways to make money with Canva. With a bit of patience and experimentation, anyone can turn their Canva skills into a proper side hustle and even replace their typical 9 to 5 job! 

If you’ve also got a neat hand at using AI chatbots and creating prompts, check out our guide on How To Make Money With ChatGPT.

Or, if you have a fondness for eBooks and audiobooks, read our article on How To Make Money On Audible right now.