Canva has two developer products, and most teams pick the wrong one because the names do not say which direction the integration runs. This page explains what each one does, what neither one does, and how to tell within five minutes which you need.
Quick disclosure: we build Polotno, an editor SDK, so we are one of the answers at the bottom of this page. That only works if the rest is accurate, so everything below is checked against Canva's own developer documentation and linked so you can verify it.
The short answer
Connect API
Apps SDK
Neither embeds an editor
Both official routes point the same way: toward Canva. That is a deliberate product decision, not a gap they forgot to fill. If your requirement is "our users design inside our app", the Canva API is not the tool, and no combination of its endpoints becomes one.
What the Connect API actually does
The Canva Connect APIs are a REST API with OAuth, covering fourteen groups:
Designs
Autofill
Brand templates
Exports
Assets
Design imports
Folders
Comments
Merges and resizes
Analytics
Webhooks
Users and auth
That is a capable workflow API. If your product manages marketing assets and your users already live in Canva, it does real work: sync an asset library, generate a thousand localised variants from one brand template, pull exports back into your CMS, and get a webhook when someone comments.
What it does not do
No embeddable editor
No white labelling
Users need Canva accounts
The data model is Canva's
Distribution is gated
The last one surprises people late in a project. Building an integration your customers will use means shipping a public app through Canva's review process, on Canva's timeline.
The Apps SDK runs the other way
The Canva Apps SDK is often suggested when the Connect API turns out not to embed an editor. It does not solve that problem — it inverts it.
An app built with the Apps SDK is a JavaScript bundle that runs inside an iframe in the Canva editor's object panel. Your interface appears as a side panel next to Canva's own tools, and it can drive the canvas programmatically. Distribution is either the Canva Apps Marketplace or a private team workspace.
So the Apps SDK puts your product inside Canva. The Connect API pipes data between your product and Canva. Neither puts Canva inside your product, which is the thing most teams searching for "Canva API" are actually trying to do.
When Canva's API is the right choice
Genuinely often. Use it when:
In those cases an editor SDK is the wrong answer and would cost you more work for a worse result. Start at canva.dev and check the current plan requirements on Canva's own pages, since those change.
When you need an editor instead of an API
The requirement is different when any of these is true:
That is a design editor SDK, which is a different category of product from a workflow API.
What that looks like
This is our answer, so weigh it accordingly. Polotno is a JavaScript SDK that renders a full design editor inside your application. The editor below runs in this page:
Every design is plain JSON, so you can generate one from your own data, store it in your own database, and render it yourself. There is no Canva account, no review process, and no other brand in front of your users.
The honest trade: you do not get Canva's stock library, its template catalogue, or its brand recognition, and you take on integration work that a hosted API does not ask of you. If Canva's ecosystem is the point, the Connect API is the better tool.
Common questions
Where to go next
- Building an automation on Canva's platform: Canva Connect API docs
- Building an app that lives inside Canva: Canva Apps SDK docs
- Comparing hosted design tools as a user, not a developer: Canva alternatives
- Choosing between editor SDKs: how to choose a design editor SDK
- Putting an editor in your own product: Polotno SDK features and the documentation
