How to make money selling Canva templates

TL;DR: Making a steady income by selling Canva templates isn’t as hard as you might think. We’ll explore Canva template designs you can create, where and how you can sell them, and how much money you can earn selling Canva designs.

You can use Canva for just about anything nowadays—to put together presentations, create business proposals, design social media posts, make event invitations, and even generate marketing materials. But did you know producing and selling your own Canva templates can be a great way to build your passive income and expand the digital products you offer?

If you’re wondering how to sell Canva templates, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll discuss how much money you can make, potential expenses, which templates you can create, where to sell your designs, and how you can get started.

There are three main reasons why selling Canva templates is worthwhile:

It’s also worth mentioning that even though there are already many Canva templates out there (including those the platform designs and shares itself), the demand for these digital downloads is still incredibly high.

Many people use them regularly, so the most important thing to keep in mind if you want to successfully sell Canva templates is to design unique products that aren’t widely available on the market and solve a problem or serve a need for a specific customer niche.

Selling Canva templates can certainly be lucrative, especially if you tap into the right market, niche, or customer needs and create designs that the masses want to buy.

To give you an idea of the profit potential, Canva templates sell for between $12-$16 on common online marketplaces. If you sold 500 templates, you could make between $6,000 and $8,000. That’s a serious chunk of change.

It can be tricky to price digital downloads, so take a look at what other sellers are charging for their Canva templates and keep track of how much you need to ask for to keep your business running profitably. 

One of the reasons why selling Canva templates is so popular is because it’s inexpensive. Most people can afford the tools required to start designing Canva templates and it comes with very low recurring expenses. But there are a few costs to consider:

The Canva templates you can create are almost unlimited. And remember, the more creative, the better. Check out some of the most popular Canva templates people sell to help you brainstorm ideas:

You can sell Canva templates nearly anywhere, but here are a few of the more common ways seasoned designers and content creators are doing it.

Etsy is a well-known online marketplace that connects buyers and sellers all around the world. People most often use it to sell handmade items, but many Etsy users sell digital products successfully on the platform.

Many people use a platform like Etsy when they’re just getting started creating Canva templates but don’t have a dedicated website or landing page set up.

You can sign up for an Etsy account for free if you want to sell your templates on the platform. It’s a popular platform, complete with a steady stream of customers that’ll browse through your offerings. 

There are some fees associated with selling on Etsy:

Etsy users also have the option to sign up for Etsy Plus, which costs $10/month but comes with benefits like storefront customization, restock requests, listing credits, ad credits, and other discounts.

Creative Market is another online marketplace, specializing in design assets and digital products rather than handmade items like Etsy. Along with templates, Creative Market users sell things like graphics, fonts, photos, and web themes.

Creative Market works because members pay monthly subscription fees that include a set amount of digital download credits, so you’ve always got a captive audience browsing through your products.

Even though it doesn’t cost anything to set up a shop on Creative Market, they take a hefty 40% commission from all the sales you make.

Selling Canva templates on your website can be one of the most lucrative options because you don’t have to pay a monthly fee or give up a percentage of your sales to a marketplace platform. You’ll also have a lot of flexibility to make your website exactly what you want. However, this option isn’t very beginner-friendly:

You can build your website with a content management system (CMS) like WordPress or a beginner-friendly platform like Wix, Squarespace, or Weebly. 

Another way to sell templates without giving up a percentage of your sales is by building dedicated landing or sales pages. That way, you can target your known audience, direct visitors to your page, and start making money selling Canva templates.

If you use a platform like Flodesk Checkout to promote your templates, the process could look something like this:

Selling your Canva templates doesn’t have to be complicated—just follow these six steps and you’ll have your process set up in no time. Bonus: The more Canva templates you sell, the easier it’ll be.

First, register for your Canva account if you don’t have one already. You’ll have to decide whether you want to opt for their Free plan or their Pro plan, which starts at $12.99 per person per month.

The most important part of the process is actually designing the Canva templates. These are the digital products people will buy, and their novelty and quality are huge factors in how much you’ll be able to charge and how successful you’ll ultimately be.

If you need help getting started, browse through some of the following platforms for inspiration:

However, a word of caution. There’s a thin line between getting inspiration from other artists, content creators, and graphic designers and plagiarizing. Make sure you don’t copy anyone’s templates. Not only is it unethical, but it’s also a bad business decision (template rip-offs do not sell well).

It’s also worth thinking about whether you use Canva’s Free or Pro elements to design your templates. If you use their Pro design elements, your customers may need Pro accounts to access your full templates and you could run into more complicated licensing issues. Creating your own elements is best.

Your deliverables are what people receive when they buy one (or a few) of your Canva templates.

Once you’re finished designing your Canva templates, you’ll need to get them into a format you can send out to your customers.

First, create a shareable template link by clicking on Share and then Template link.

Next, decide on an elegant way to send your template link to your customers. Some template sellers embed their links into branded PDF documents that they deliver to their buyers. Others include the links on thank you pages from sales funnel builder platforms like Flodesk Checkout.

Seasoned Canva template sellers will tell you to create at least a few product images of your templates so potential buyers can get a better look before they decide to buy them. This is a great way to show your customers more details about your templates and show what sets them apart.

You might publish, share, and sell your Canva templates on one (or more) of the following platforms:

Whatever option you decide to go with, it’s time to upload your new templates into that space. Then, you’ll be able to share them with your customers and start making some sales! 

Templates don’t sell themselves. You can’t simply publish your Canva templates onto your website or another creative marketplace and expect your ideal customer to stumble upon them by chance. 

On the contrary, getting really good at promoting yourself and your work is a key aspect of running a successful Canva template business, whether you want it to be a side hustle or a full-time job. Here are a few ideas to help you spread the word about your newly published Canva templates:

All in all, you don’t need a whole lot to try your hand at selling Canva templates, and it’s pretty easy to start making a decent passive income from doing so. Just make sure you’ve got some design skills in your repertoire, know your way around Canva, and understand the kinds of templates your ideal customers are looking for.

Keep this article somewhere safe that’s easy for you to refer back to. We’re sure you’ll be putting together your own stunning Canva templates and selling them to your customers with an intuitive platform like Flodesk (try it out for free!) in no time.

If you create your own template with Canva, the platform doesn’t own your template design. The content you created and put together is yours to use, share, and sell. 

However, Canva does own its design elements—like images, graphics, and Canva templates, so if you use any of those in your templates, Canva may have at least partial rights to them. You may have to buy an additional license from Canva if you use any of the platform’s design elements in your template designs and want to resell or use them for business purposes. There are several options, like:

Be sure to review Canva’s Terms of Use and their Content Licensing Agreement for more information.

Yes, selling Canva templates can be profitable, but it largely depends on four factors:

If you think you can design exceptional, distinctive Canva templates and have a decent amount of design experience, plus a good plan for selling your designs, there’s lots of opportunity to build yourself a great side hustle or even a full-time income. 

For example, Canva templates sell for between $12-$16 on average, so if you sold 100 templates, you could make $1,200 to $1,600 net per month.

And if you’re wondering how to sell your Canva templates, a sales page platform like Flodesk Checkout is a great place to start (and you can try it for free).

Many people buy Canva templates. One of the biggest reasons why is that they want to put together a professional-looking design without creating one themself or hiring a professional to do it for them. That means some of the biggest Canva template customers are:

Yes, you can sell your Canva designs on your own platform. In fact, it can be one of the more profitable ways to do so as you don’t have to give up a percentage of your sales to a platform like Etsy or another creative marketplace. Just make sure you’re following Canva’s Terms of Use and stick to their Content Licensing Agreement.

Pro tip: If you don’t have your own platform or website set up yet, you can also sell your Canva designs with a sales page platform like Flodesk Checkout (and you can try it for free!).

Yes, you can use Canva elements in your template designs. But beware that doing so can affect who owns your designs. You own the content you create within Canva (and therefore, your templates), but Canva owns its content (like its templates, images, and other design elements). 

So, if you produce a template design and use Canva elements in it, you may have to purchase an additional license from Canva to use it for business purposes or resell it. 

If you want more information about the kinds of content licenses Canva has available, check out their Content Licensing Agreement.