How to Get Canva Pro Features for Free
Most people who search for a Canva Pro alternative do not want to leave Canva. They want one or two Pro features without the subscription: removing a background, keeping brand colours and logos in one place, using premium templates and stock, scheduling social posts, or editing a short video. This guide takes each of those Pro features and shows the free tool that replaces it. Some are open source, some are simply free; we say which is which. We checked prices, free limits and licences on each official website in October 2026.
Quick answer: stay on Canva Free and add Photopea (or the open-source rembg) for background removal, Penpot for a free brand library, Adobe Express Free for extra templates and basic scheduling, Postiz for open-source scheduling, and Kdenlive for video. For a list of open-source design tools only, see our open-source Canva alternatives.
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What Canva Pro Adds and What It Costs
According to Canva's pricing page (October 2026), Canva Free already includes the drag-and-drop editor, 1.6 million+ templates, 4.7 million+ photos, videos, graphics and audio files, one Brand Kit limited to three colours, and 5 GB of storage. Canva Pro adds 3.6 million+ templates including premium ones, 141 million+ premium photos, videos, graphics and audio files, 5 Brand Kits, social content scheduling, AI tools such as resize, translate and background remover, and 100 GB of storage. When we checked from Europe, Pro cost €110 a year for one person; Canva shows prices in local currency, so yours may differ. You can start a free trial of Pro before paying.
Sources: each tool's official website, pricing page or code repository, checked 26 October 2026. Free plans change; check the terms before relying on them for client work.
The 10 Best Free Canva Pro Alternatives in 2027, Feature by Feature
1. Adobe Express Free: more free templates, stock and basic scheduling
Adobe Express is the closest thing to Canva itself, and its free plan is generous: 100,000+ static and video templates, more than 1 million royalty-free Adobe Stock photos, videos, music tracks and design elements, 4,000+ Adobe Fonts, 5 GB of storage, and content scheduling to one account per social network. It is not open source. Two Canva Pro favourites are paid here too: one-click Resize and brand kits are part of Adobe Express Premium (€12.09 a month when we checked, with a 30-day free trial).
2. Penpot: a free, open-source home for your brand kit
Penpot is an open-source design platform (MPL-2.0) that runs in the browser or on your own server. It is built for UI and web design rather than social posts, but its components, shared libraries and native design tokens do what Canva's Brand Kit does: keep your colours, fonts, logos and reusable elements in one place for the whole team. Its Professional plan costs $0 and is described as "free and fully featured"; paid plans add storage and history. Penpot is actively developed, with version 2.18.5 released in October 2026.
3. Photopea: free background removal and Photoshop-style editing
Photopea is a free photo editor that works in the browser and fully supports Photoshop's PSD format, for opening and saving. It is not open source, but it is free to use, and its homepage promises one-click background removal and AI fill that replaces part of an image from a text description. Photopea runs on your own device, so files are not uploaded and never leave your computer. For product photos, headshots and logos, it covers Canva Pro's Background Remover.
4. rembg: open-source background removal in bulk
rembg is an MIT-licensed tool that removes image backgrounds on your own computer. You can use it from the command line, as a Python library, as a small HTTP server or in Docker, which makes it ideal for removing backgrounds from a whole folder of product photos at once. It is actively maintained (v2.0.86 came out in October 2026). You need to be comfortable installing a Python package, so it suits technical founders or a developer on the team.
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5. Postiz: open-source social media scheduling
Postiz replaces Canva Pro's Content Planner. It schedules posts to more than 30 networks, including X, LinkedIn, TikTok, Bluesky and Telegram, from one calendar, and it adds AI agents that draft and plan posts. The code is open source under AGPL-3.0 and its documentation covers self-hosting, so you can run it on your own server for free; the hosted version starts at $29 a month with a 7-day free trial.
6. GIMP: full photo editing, free and open source
GIMP is the best-known free and open-source image editor, for Linux, macOS and Windows. It is built for high-quality photo manipulation, far beyond Canva's photo tools. GIMP 3.2.6 was released on 10 September 2026. It has no templates and a steeper learning curve, so use it for the photo, then finish the layout in Canva Free.
7. Pixlr: quick photo edits in the browser
Pixlr is a browser and mobile photo editor with AI tools. It is not open source. You can use it for free, while the Plus plan (€2.49 a month when we checked) adds ad-free use and unlimited saves, and Premium (€9.99 a month) adds a large library of fonts, templates and elements plus 1,000 monthly AI credits. Choose it if you want simple edits without installing anything.
8. Inkscape: logos and vector graphics
Inkscape is a free, open-source vector editor licensed under the GNU GPL. It is the right tool for a logo, icons or print files that must scale without losing quality, something Canva handles only partly. The 1.4 series is current; version 1.4.4 was tagged in May 2026.
9. Krita: illustrations for posts, covers and merchandise
Krita is a professional, free and open-source painting program licensed under the GNU GPL. Use it when you need original illustrations instead of stock graphics, for example for a book cover, a mascot or print-on-demand designs. Krita 5.3.4 and 6.0.4 were released on 15 September 2026.
10. Kdenlive: video editing with automatic subtitles
Kdenlive is KDE's free and open-source video editor for Linux, Windows, macOS and BSD. It goes well beyond Canva's video editor, with 3-point editing, nested sequences, transitions, colour grading with LUTs and scopes, and subtitles with automatic transcription. Version 26.08.2 was released in October 2026.
Canva Pro Alternatives That Changed or Were Dropped
The 2025 version of this article recommended a few tools that no longer fit:
- Gravit Designer: its old site, designer.io, now redirects to CorelDRAW Go, a paid subscription with a 15-day free trial. There is no free Gravit Designer any more.
- remove.bg: the popular background remover now belongs to Canva. Its pricing page says the standalone website will no longer be available from 1 December 2026, when background removal moves into Canva.
- Blender: free and open source, but a 3D tool, not a Canva Pro replacement. If you need 3D, see our free Blender alternatives and open-source Blender alternatives.
- Lunacy: still free for Windows, Mac and Linux, but it is a UI design tool closer to Figma than to Canva, so we left it out of this list.
Magic Resize is the one Pro feature without a good free replacement: Adobe Express also keeps one-click Resize for paying users. The free workaround is to build each format you post (square, story, banner) once as a template and reuse it.
Which Free Canva Pro Alternative Should You Choose?
- You mostly need background removal: Photopea for single images, rembg for whole folders.
- You want consistent branding across a team: Penpot's shared libraries, free and open source.
- You need more templates and stock: Adobe Express Free alongside Canva Free.
- You schedule social posts: Postiz if you can self-host; Adobe Express Free if one account per network is enough.
- You edit video: Kdenlive.
- You design a logo or print files: Inkscape, and GIMP for photos.
- You use Canva every day for client work: the trial plus €110 a year may simply be cheaper than your time spent juggling five tools.
Comparing more design tools? See our top design tools for startups, Photoshop alternatives, Figma alternatives, open-source CorelDRAW alternatives and open-source Procreate alternatives. For diagrams and flowcharts, try our open-source draw.io alternatives.
How Founders Use Free Design Tools
For a startup, design is mostly marketing: social posts, a pitch deck, a landing page and product photos. A free stack covers all of it if you keep things simple. Set up your colours and fonts once, reuse a small set of templates, and spend the saved money on reaching customers. If you make YouTube content, read Canva vs Photoshop for YouTube thumbnails; if you need a logo fast, see Design.com vs Canva for logo design. For scheduling beyond Postiz, compare Buffer alternatives and Hootsuite alternatives.
Your designs can also be a product: print-on-demand lets you sell them without stock. And before you spend weeks on visuals, validate your startup idea; once it works, the F/MS AI SEO Tool writes the articles that bring people to your pages.
FAQ About Free Canva Pro Alternatives
Is there a free version of Canva Pro?
No, but Canva Free is generous, and Canva offers a free trial of Pro. Canva Pro features such as background removal, brand kits and scheduling can be replaced with free tools like Photopea, Penpot and Postiz.
How much does Canva Pro cost in 2027?
When we checked in October 2026 from Europe, Canva's pricing page showed €110 a year for one person. Canva shows local prices, so check canva.com/pricing for your country.
What is the best free alternative to Canva Pro's background remover?
Photopea, which removes backgrounds in the browser and keeps files on your device. For many images at once, the open-source rembg runs on your own computer.
Is there a free alternative to Canva's Brand Kit?
Yes. Penpot's shared libraries and design tokens keep brand colours, fonts and components in one place, and Penpot's Professional plan is free. Canva Free also includes one Brand Kit with three colours.
Can I schedule social media posts for free?
Yes. Adobe Express Free schedules to one account per social network, and Postiz is open source and free to self-host, with support for more than 30 networks.
Is Photopea open source?
No. Photopea is free to use in the browser, but it is not open source. GIMP is the open-source alternative for photo editing.
Is Adobe Express free?
Yes, it has a free plan with 100,000+ templates, 1M+ Adobe Stock assets, 5 GB of storage and basic scheduling. Resize and brand kits need Adobe Express Premium.
Is remove.bg still available?
remove.bg now belongs to Canva. Its pricing page says the standalone website will no longer be available from 1 December 2026, when its background removal moves into Canva.
Which free tool replaces Canva for video?
Kdenlive, a free and open-source video editor for Linux, Windows and macOS, with nested timelines, colour tools and automatic subtitles.
Where can I get a backlink for my design startup?
You can publish a guest post in one of the Fe/male Switch startup blogs, which rank in Google and in AI tools. Get a quality backlink.
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
