Who actually uses a Canva Enterprise licence
When you verify your email domains, Canva gains visibility of every account on them. It is easy to assume that means you are now paying for all of those people. You are not, and the difference is often large enough to change your budget.
Part of Setting up Canva Enterprise: how the rollout works, a guide from Refuel Creative for organisations moving to Canva Enterprise.
When you verify your email domains, Canva gains visibility of every account on them. It is easy to assume that means you are now paying for all of those people. You are not, and the difference is often large enough to change your budget.
When this applies: Whenever you are sizing or reviewing your Canva Enterprise licence count.
Short answer: no. Only people added to a managed team consume a licence.
Canva has three account states, and the difference between them decides your bill. The documentation defines them but never connects them to licensing, which is why this trips people up.
- Claimed. You have verified the domain. The account is still unmanaged. No licence used.
- Affiliated. The account is linked to your organisation. The person can no longer change their email, rename the account or delete it without your approval. Still no licence used.
- Managed. An affiliated account that has been added to a team you actively manage. This is the state that uses a licence.
If someone takes no action during their 30 days, their account becomes affiliated automatically. Canva's wording: "If you don't take action, your account will automatically become affiliated with your organisation."
Affiliated is not the same as being in your team. People only become managed, and only start using a licence, when an administrator adds them to a managed team or when they log in through single sign-on with just-in-time provisioning switched on.
Why this matters to your budget
If you have sized your Enterprise licence count off the headcount in your user report, that number is almost certainly too high.
The report shows everyone on your domain who uses Canva, including people who signed up years ago for one poster and never came back. Your licence count only needs to cover the people you deliberately put into managed teams.
If your licence count has already been agreed on that basis, it is worth revisiting before renewal.
Just-in-time provisioning
This is the setting that turns an affiliated account into a managed one automatically, the first time someone logs in through single sign-on. It is on by default. If you want tight control over exactly who consumes a licence and when, this is the setting to review.
Related articles
- Will our people be locked out of Canva?
- Understanding your Canva user report
- Refunds on existing Canva subscriptions
Canva documentation
Canva updates its documentation without notice. If something here no longer matches what you see in your account, tell us and we will check it.