Canva isn't a joke anymore

For a long time, 'Looks like it was made in Canva' was the ultimate graphic design insult. Ostensibly for inexperienced designers, Canva was always the 'casual' platform, known for its user-friendly, browser-based interface. Indeed, anybody who knew how to drag-and-drop could design something in Canva.

But things started to shift a couple of years ago, when Canva acquired Affinity, a company known for much more 'pro' tools such as Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer. And now that it has acquired professional motion design software Cavalry, that 'casual' moniker is well and truly in the rear-view mirror. Canva is becoming more than just a simplified Photoshop alternative.

Indeed, one word that appears time and time again in Canva's blog post announcing the acquisition is 'Professional' – it pops up twice in the opening paragraph: "Cavalry has quickly become a modern favourite among professional motion designers, thanks to its procedural, performance-first approach and deep commitment to creative control. Bringing that expertise into Canva marks an important step forward in how we think about professional creative work."

The move also marks a move towards greater 'pro' functionality for Affinity. Many users have wanted the suite to include a motion design component, and now it (sort of) does. And users are cautiously optimistic about the acquisition. "If they can integrate it into the suite seamlessly, I'm all for it," one Redditor comments.

Canva's somewhat aggressive moves into 'pro' tools are somewhat surprising given comments CEO Cliff Obrecht made to Creative Bloq in 2023. "We certainly don't see Canva as a straight-up replacement for tools like Figma or Adobe," Obrecht told Creative Bloq. "But pros' projects can be scaled through Canva. A business card is a great example. When a designer created a master business card design 10 years ago, they would actually have to change the text on every business card, you could only do that in InDesign or in Photoshop. Now, the designer can do the master work, and then smaller changes can be made by different teams in Canva."

But now it seems the company's strategy is coming into focus, and it's all about that "master work". Rather than offering a single platform for simpler asset design or for tweaking projects created elsewhere, the addition of pro tools mean that creatives don't need to leave the Canva ecosystem at all – and now that ecosystem includes motion design.

Which brings us to the Adobe of it all. A few years ago, the idea that Canva could be the one to take down the creative software behemoth would have seemed like a joke. But the closer Canva gets to offering a full-on professional creative suite, the less funny it gets.

From price hikes to questionable AI policies, Adobe users have been citing several reasons for jumping ship in recent years. But ultimately the lack of a viable alternative to the entire Creative Cloud suite has made switching providers difficult. But subscription fatigue is real, and designers are hungry for something new in 2026.

Indeed, whispers of a viable threat to Adobe are getting louder. "At last a credible challenger for Adobe," "Cool, another nail in Adobe's coffin," and "Canva are really going all in to beat Adobe and I’m here for it baby!" read some of the top Reddit comments on the news of the Cavalry acquisition.

Whether or not Canva can do serious damage to Adobe remains to be seen, but the very fact that it's in the conversation marks a significant shift in brand perception. 'Looks like it was designed in Canva' could soon very well become a compliment.