Freemium
9 votes
About Canva
Canva is a browser-based design editor, and its developer documentation sets out two distinct ways to work with it in code: apps that run inside the Canva editor, and the Connect API, which drives Canva from another system.
A Canva app is a plugin built with standard web technologies such as JavaScript, rendered inside an iframe in the editor's object panel. Three pieces make one up: the Apps SDK, the App UI Kit and the Fetch API for calls out to a backend. A finished app is either distributed publicly through the Apps Marketplace or shared privately with team members only. Local development uses the Canva CLI, installed from an npm package published by Canva, and expects Node.js v24 and npm v11, with the development server running on port 8080.
The Connect API works the other way round, letting an external application create and retrieve work in a Canva account. It authenticates with OAuth 2.0 using the authorisation code flow plus PKCE with SHA-256, and Canva publishes the OpenAPI specification on its developer site. An integration is either public, which means passing a Canva review, or private, which is restricted to Canva Enterprise customers.
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Through the API, a design can be created from four presets (doc, email, presentation and whiteboard) or at custom dimensions between 40 and 8000 pixels on each side, with a total area no greater than 25,000,000 square pixels. Assets can be uploaded: images up to 50 MB as JPEG, PNG, HEIC, single-frame GIF, TIFF or single-frame WEBP, and video up to 500 MB as M4V, MKV, MP4, MPEG, QuickTime or WebM. Autofill populates image, text, chart and sheet fields in a design, which is the mechanism behind generating many designs from one data source, though the acting user must belong to a Canva Enterprise organisation. Brand templates can be listed 25 at a time by default and 100 at most per request, and require a Canva Pro, Canva Teams or Canva Enterprise plan.
Exports are produced as JPG, PNG, GIF, PPTX, MP4, PDF, an HTML bundle or standalone HTML. MP4 is available at 480p, 720p, 1080p and 4K in horizontal or vertical orientation, PDFs at A4, A3, letter or legal, and JPG, PNG and GIF images between 40 and 25,000 pixels. Plan level reaches into the API here: Pro export quality, lossy PNG compression and transparent PNG backgrounds all need a Canva Pro level plan, and on the free plan a fixed-dimension design cannot be upscaled on export by more than 1.125 times.
Rate limits are counted per user of an integration: 20 design creations per minute, 30 asset uploads, 60 autofills and 100 brand template listings. Exports are governed more tightly, at 750 per five minute window and 5,000 per 24 hours for the integration, and 500 per 24 hours for any single user.
Key features
- Exports a design as JPG, PNG, GIF, PPTX, MP4, PDF, an HTML bundle or standalone HTML.
- Exports MP4 video at 480p, 720p, 1080p or 4K, in horizontal or vertical orientation.
- Sizes PDF exports as A4, A3, letter or legal.
- Creates designs from doc, email, presentation and whiteboard presets.
- Accepts custom design sizes from 40 to 8,000 pixels per side, up to 25,000,000 square pixels.
- Uploads image assets up to 50 MB as JPEG, PNG, HEIC, single-frame GIF, TIFF or WEBP.
- Uploads video assets up to 500 MB as M4V, MKV, MP4, MPEG, QuickTime or WebM.
- Autofills image, text, chart and sheet fields in a design through the Connect API.
- Authenticates Connect API integrations with OAuth 2.0 authorisation code flow plus PKCE.
- Publishes the Connect API OpenAPI specification on the developer site.
- Rate-limits each user to 20 design creations, 30 asset uploads and 60 autofills a minute.
- Throttles design exports to 750 per 5 minutes and 5,000 per 24 hours per integration.
- Runs apps inside an iframe in the editor's object panel, built with the Apps SDK and UI Kit.
- Distributes an app through the Apps Marketplace or privately to team members only.
- Requires Pro, Teams or Enterprise for brand templates, and Enterprise for design autofill.
What people use it for
Key facts
| Category | Design |
|---|---|
| Pricing | Freemium |
| Free tier | Yes |
| Upvotes | 9 |
| Listed | 22 August 2026 |
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