Updates·October 22, 2026, 23:53

Canva built its own AI image model, trained on design templates

AI-generated from the sources listed, with automated source checks.

Canva has launched Craft, its first in-house image model. It is trained on the company's own templates and is meant to make it easier to create posters and posts that include text.

Design platform Canva launched Canva Craft on Oct. 22, 2026, the company's first image generation model developed in-house. Until now, Canva has not had a model of its own like this.

Craft is available to all Canva users through the Dream Lab tab. Developers can also use it through the Canva API, a technical access point that lets other programs pull images from the model.

Plans first, draws afterward

According to Digital Trends, the model works in two steps. First it interprets your description and plans the composition: where things go and how large they should be, what should take up the most space, and how the text is placed. Then it produces the image itself.

Craft can generate images at up to 2K resolution and in up to 30 different aspect ratios, Digital Today reports.

The model is not primarily trained on photographs, but on human-made templates from Canva's library. These include posters, social media posts, presentations, infographics, menus and text-heavy layouts.

Users can edit a specific area of an image without changing the rest. Images can also be converted into layered designs that can be edited further with Canva Magic Layers.

Canva's own ranking

Canva says Craft ranks fourth on Design Arena's list of image models. According to Canva, that makes the company the world's second-best AI lab for image generation, behind OpenAI. This is Canva's own claim, and it has not been independently verified.

The model was developed by Canva's in-house research team. Researchers from Leonardo.ai, which Canva acquired in 2024, contributed.

Plans and finances

Canva plans to make the model usable for images in external chatbots such as ChatGPT and Gemini via Canva's MCP. The company is also developing two faster and cheaper variants, Craftfast and Craft-ultrafast.

TechCrunch assesses that a proprietary model is expected to lower Canva's API costs and give it better control over quality and speed. Canva had roughly $4 billion in revenue last year, but has lowered its growth forecast for 2026. High AI costs are cited as one of the factors. According to AI Weekly, the growth target dropped from 30 to 20 percent.