10 Simple Ways to Make Money with Canva
Canva is essentially a design platform for people who can’t design. So, back in 2019 when I kept hearing people say they were making money with it, I rolled my eyes pretty hard.
I mean, come on. Isn’t Canva just where my sister makes birthday party invitations?
Well, it was and it wasn’t at the same time.
Here’s what I actually figured out: Canva is powering thousands of small online businesses. Coaches use it. Bloggers need it. Etsy sellers rely on it. YouTubers can’t function without it. If someone’s making money online, there’s a pretty good chance Canva is involved somewhere.
So, from that moment the question in my mind automatically went from “Can you make money with Canva?” to “How do I make money with Canva?”
After that, I basically went on a watching and reading spree. I watched hundreds of YouTube videos, read hundreds of blogs about making money with Canva. And from those, I found several ways to make money with Canva.
To be honest, I tried nearly every idea I found but only a handful actually worked for me. So, in this post, I’ll share those same ideas that worked for me.
If you’ve been thinking of starting a side hustle and know some basics of Canva, then this post can do wonders for you!
1. Selling Canva Templates
This one makes total sense when you think about it. People don’t want to start from scratch. They want something that already looks good so they can just swap out the text and move on with their lives.
Social media templates, planners, resumes, pitch decks — people are buying all of it.
When I started selling on Etsy, you know what blew my mind? The simplest templates sold the best. No crazy gradients. No 3D effects that’ll look dated next year. Just clean, organized layouts that made people feel like they had their lives together.
You can sell these on Etsy, Gumroad, or wherever. Just make the template, get a shareable Canva link, and let the platform do its thing.
Is it totally passive? Nah. You’ll constantly receive those “How do I download this?” messages. But it’s about as hands-off as it gets without hiring someone.
Here’s the math: templates can sell over and over. Service work? You do it once, get paid once, done.
2. Promoting Canva as an Affiliate
Okay, this is actually my favorite.
Selling templates is cool, but the affiliate opportunity is where it’s at. Canva has an affiliate program — basically, you get people to sign up through your link, and you make money.
The beauty of it? You’re probably already discussing this stuff anyway. Making a social media blog post? Mention Canva. Doing a YouTube tutorial? Drop your link. Instagram design tips? Perfect spot for it.
The trick is just being genuine about it. People can smell inauthenticity from a mile away. If you actually use Canva and show how it helps you — not just say “Hey, buy this” — people will click.
I’ve seen people earn steady money from this without ever feeling like salespeople. They just teach their skills and naturally mention Canva. That’s the sweet spot.
Just don’t expect to retire on affiliate commissions alone. It’s good money, not quit-your-job money.
3. Becoming a Canva Contributor
This one surprised me when I found out about it.
Canva actually pays you when people use your designs. You upload templates, graphics, photos, whatever — and when someone licenses your work, you get paid.
Does it start big? Nope. It’s more of a trickle at first. But here’s the cool part: you upload it once, and it can keep earning for years. Like, you’ll get payments for stuff you created ages ago.
Canva’s not looking for perfection either. They want clear, useful designs that actually solve problems. If you like designing but hate dealing with customers (same), this could work for you.
There’s something kind of cool about knowing your work is being used all over the world. Corporate presentations in London, social posts in Singapore, resumes in Ohio. It’s a strange feeling, but a good one.
4. Designing Social Media Graphics for Businesses
Small business owners are exhausted. Like, seriously.
They want to post on Instagram, but they don’t want to spend their Tuesday afternoon stressing over fonts and spacing. If you can take that headache away, you’re solving a real problem.
You could offer branded post bundles, story templates, or monthly content packages — whatever. Most clients don’t want perfection. They just want to look consistent without thinking about it every time they post.
Once you create a few templates they can reuse, the work gets much faster. And many of these turn into monthly retainers, which is fantastic when bills are due.
5. Digital Products That Aren’t Just Templates
Let’s go a bit deeper here.
Think planners, habit trackers, journals, workbooks, checklists, kids’ activity sheets, affirmation cards. People buy this stuff when they’re looking for structure or trying to get their lives together.
A lot of folks wouldn’t think to sell these, but the demand is real.
Canva makes it easy. You don’t need a design degree or fancy software. You just need to understand what someone is struggling with and create something that helps.
Some of my best sellers have been incredibly simple. Clean grids, lots of white space. Function over fancy, always.
6. Freelance Design Services
Still figuring out what you want to do? Freelancing is basically speed dating for business ideas.
People hire for YouTube thumbnails, presentation decks, worksheets, lead magnets — all kinds of stuff. You can find clients on Fiverr, Upwork, or even just by sending DMs to small businesses on Instagram (nicely, obviously).
Pricing feels awkward at first. You’ll probably undercharge. You’ll definitely experience some imposter syndrome. But then you get that first payment notification, and it feels amazing.
As you complete more projects, you’ll start noticing patterns: what people actually want, what pays well, and what you enjoy. That information is worth far more than the money from those initial gigs.
7. Teaching Canva
You don’t need to be a Canva expert to teach it.
You just need to know more than the person asking for help. That’s it.
Most people open Canva for the first time and feel overwhelmed. If you can walk them through making their first post or presentation, they’ll happily pay you.
This could be a mini-course, a live workshop, one-on-one sessions — whatever format works. And teaching something actually makes you better at it, which is a nice bonus.
8. YouTube Content
Canva tutorials do really well on YouTube.
People are constantly searching for “how to make Instagram posts in Canva” or “Canva for beginners.” If you’re decent at explaining things, this is a solid long-term play.
With a YouTube channel, you can make money with ads, affiliate links, or selling your own products. And the best part is, one single good performing video can keep making you money for years.
It may take some time to see some initial growth, but once it start growing, it surely won’t stop anytime soon.
9. Presentation Design
Everyone hates making presentations. And most presentations are terrible because they either have too much text, bad stock photos or no clear story.
If you can turn someone’s messy ideas into clean slides, people will pay for that. Especially for pitch decks, investor presentations, conference talks — the high-stakes stuff.
Clients care less about flashy design and more about clarity and ease of understanding. Canva makes revisions super easy, which clients appreciate.
10. Printables
“Printables” may sound boring, I know. But it’s actually a huge market.
Wall art, budget sheets, meal planners, party decorations — people buy this stuff constantly. And from a business perspective, there’s no shipping or inventory to deal with. The customer just downloads it, prints it, and it’s done.
Sales will vary widely. Some months you’ll make nothing. Other months you’ll randomly earn $2,000. The key is to build up a catalog of related products over time.
Conclusion
Canva is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It rewards patience, creativity, and consistent effort.
The people who actually make this work aren’t design geniuses or business prodigies. They’re just the ones who keep going after their first template flops.
I still doubt myself all the time. I’ve got designs just sitting there with zero sales that I thought were brilliant.
But consistent effort adds up. I’ve got a template that’s now selling 30 times a month. Old affiliate links I forgot about are converting at 2%. That YouTube video I spent six hours on still isn’t getting the views I want, but whatever.
If even one idea here made you think, “Yeah, I could try that,” just start there. You don’t need some perfect master plan.
Just start. That’s honestly enough.