Canva Brush is a new AI model built to edit designs you already have. Instead of generating something fresh every time, it looks at your design, works out how it is put together, and changes only what you ask for, whether that is one line of copy or the fonts on every slide of a deck. It is live now in Canva AI for Canva Pro subscribers, and you switch to it from a model dropdown.
Canva announced Brush on 29 October 2026, a week after its image generator, Canva Craft. A day later, Google’s Gemini in Google Slides gained a similar ability to edit whole presentations from a single prompt. Both tools edit what you already made instead of starting over, but they work in different places.
What is Canva Brush?
Brush is a vision-language model, which means it reads images and layouts as well as text. It was built by Canva Research, the company’s 160-person AI lab, which also made Canva’s Craft image model. Canva describes the split simply: Craft generates the image, and Brush refines the design around it.
The hard part of AI editing is knowing what not to touch. Ask a general model to change a headline and it may also shift your spacing, swap a colour or rewrite text you were happy with. Brush works in a loop to avoid that. It writes and runs code to adjust design elements, then inspects the page to check the result before taking its next step.
Everything Brush produces stays a normal Canva design. Text, images, colours and layouts remain separate elements you can move, edit or delete by hand, so you are not left with a flattened image you can’t change.
Canva’s numbers, measured against its previous design agent:
- Up to 69% faster on general design editing tasks.
- 46% lower cost per edit task.
- In Canva’s internal testing, it matched or beat the old setup on most editing tasks, with the strongest results in restyling designs and adapting them to new formats.
Brush started from a leading open-weights model, which Canva has not named, and was then post-trained on real design and editing tasks. Canva used reinforcement learning with a reward system that scores visual quality, how well the layout follows design principles, and whether the task was actually completed. Canva says its own professional designers set the standard for what counts as good. The training data includes anonymised insights from users who opted in to help improve Canva AI.
How to use Canva Brush
You need a Canva Pro plan. Canva says wider availability is coming soon but has not given a date or said which plans come next.
- Open an existing design in the Canva editor, or open Canva AI and attach or link the design you want to change.
- In the Canva AI prompt box, open the model dropdown. It lists Core, Canva’s all-round design model, and Brush, marked Beta.
- Select Brush.
- Describe the change you want in plain language, such as “make the background feel like it’s moving” or “change the font on every page to something more elegant”.
- Review the result, keep prompting to refine it, or take over in the editor and finish by hand.
Brush powers supported edits only, so some requests may still be handled the old way. Selecting Brush in the dropdown is how Canva says to make sure it handles your full editing session.
Three things to try first
Canva suggests three kinds of edits, and they line up with the areas where its testing showed Brush is strongest.
- Restyle a design or image: change the colour scheme, the weather in a photo, or the overall mood. Canva’s example turns an ice cream ad into a limited edition Halloween version, keeping the product and layout while changing the theme and name.
- Change a multi-page design in one go: instead of fixing headers page by page, ask for one sweeping update across the whole document or deck.
- Remix for other channels: turn a presentation slide into an Instagram graphic, or adapt one design to a different format.
For Indian small businesses that run the same offer as a WhatsApp poster, an Instagram post and a printed flyer, the remix use case is the practical one. Festive season versions of an existing creative are exactly the repetitive edits Brush is meant to speed up.
What Brush can’t do yet
Canva calls this the first version and lists three things it is still working on:
- Brand Kit support: Brush can’t yet apply your saved brand fonts, colours and logos automatically.
- Referencing attachments: you can’t yet point it at a separate file and ask it to match that.
- Image-heavy layouts: designs built mostly from photos are an area Canva says it is still improving.
Missing Brand Kit support is the big one for businesses. Until it arrives, check that any edit Brush makes still uses your brand colours and fonts before you publish.
Canva Brush vs Gemini in Google Slides
Google’s update, published on 30 October, lets Gemini in Google Slides edit several slides or an entire presentation from one prompt in the Slides side panel. Gemini decides which slides need changing and edits the native slides directly. You can refresh fonts, backgrounds and colours across a deck, match the style of another presentation, expand or simplify content based on files in your Google Drive, merge slides, and make title styles consistent.
| Feature | Canva Brush | Gemini in Google Slides |
| Works on | Canva designs: decks, social posts, ads, documents | Google Slides presentations |
| Who gets it | Canva Pro subscribers | Google AI Pro and Ultra, Workspace Business Standard and Plus, Enterprise Standard and Plus, Google AI Pro for Education |
| Match another file’s style | Not yet (attachment referencing is coming) | Yes, from a reference presentation |
| Uses your own content | Edits the design you open or attach | Can pull content from your Google Drive files |
| Reformat for other channels | Yes, for example slide to Instagram graphic | Not a listed use |
| Undo | Keep refining by prompt or by hand in the editor | Undo or version history; a summary of changes appears |
| Limits | Brand Kit support not yet available | English only at launch, on desktop; higher promotional limits until at least 1 December 2026, then per-user limits |
Google’s feature is rolling out gradually from 29 October and may take more than 15 days to show up. There is no admin control, so Workspace users get it as soon as it reaches their account.
Pick based on where your work already lives. If your decks are in Google Slides and the content sits in Drive, Gemini can pull it in without leaving Google’s apps. If you make marketing material in many formats, Brush makes more sense because it works on any Canva design. Both join a growing list of AI design helpers, alongside Claude’s Docs, Slides and Design tools.
For now, Brush is available to Canva Pro subscribers. If you already build posters, social posts and decks in Canva, the appeal is making changes without rebuilding the design. If your presentations live in Google Slides, try Gemini there first. Check the result either way, especially brand colours, fonts and facts.
FAQ
Is Canva Brush free?
Not yet. At launch, Brush powers supported Canva AI edits for Canva Pro subscribers only. Canva says expanded availability is coming soon, without a date.
What is the difference between Canva Brush and Canva Craft?
Craft is Canva’s image generation model and creates new images. Brush is an editing model that changes existing designs, from single elements to whole multi-page documents.
Can I still edit a design after Brush changes it?
Yes. Everything Brush creates stays fully editable, with text, images, colours and layout as separate elements in the Canva editor.
How do I switch Canva AI to Brush?
In the Canva AI prompt box, open the model dropdown and select Brush instead of Core.
Does Brush use my Brand Kit?
Not yet. Canva lists Brand Kit support as something it is working on for a future version.
