Canva Screen Recorder:
How to Use It, What It Does Well, and Where It Falls Short
If you use Canva regularly in your business, there's a good chance you've been paying for a separate screen recording tool when you didn't need to.
Canva has a built-in screen recorder. It records your screen, your camera, or both at the same time — no extra software, no separate account, no watermark. And it's available on the free plan.
I found out about it because my nine-year-old wanted to record Roblox videos for her new YouTube channel. She caught on faster than I did, which tells you everything you need to know about how easy it is.
Here's everything you need to know before you use it.
Either keep reading or watch the video below:
How to Find the Canva Screen Recorder
The screen recorder lives inside the Canva desktop app — not the browser version, so you'll need to have the app downloaded on your computer. Once you're in, look for the record button in the top toolbar. It's a small camera icon.
From there you'll get three options: screen only, camera only, or both at the same time. For most business use — client walkthroughs, internal team videos, quick tutorials — you'll probably want both.
Set your microphone input, hit record, and a short countdown gives you a second to get ready before it starts.
What Happens After You Record
When you stop recording, it saves automatically into your Canva uploads folder. From there you can drag it directly into any Canva design, export it as an MP4, or grab a shareable link.
You can also do basic editing inside Canva — trimming, cutting pauses, adjusting playback speed. For straightforward videos, that's genuinely enough to produce something clean without touching another tool.
The Limitations Worth Knowing
There are three real limitations, and it's worth understanding them before you build your workflow around this tool.
The first is the 25-minute recording cap. Each recording maxes out at 25 minutes. If you're doing longer walkthroughs, you'll need to record in chunks.
The second is no system audio. This is the big one. Canva's screen recorder picks up your microphone but cannot capture sound that's coming from your computer — game audio, video audio, music, anything playing on your screen won't show up in the recording. My daughter discovered this immediately when her Roblox footage came out completely silent. It's a real limitation if you need to record anything where the computer's sound matters.
The third is that it requires an internet connection. The tool runs through the desktop app but is cloud-based, so you can't use it offline.
How It Compares to Tella
I use Tella for all of my own screen recordings — YouTube videos, client walkthroughs, everything. Tella handles system audio, longer recordings, and gives you and your viewers more options when you share a link. If you record regularly for your business and you want a more polished delivery experience, it's worth the upgrade. Click here to save 30% off 12 months.
That said, Tella isn't always necessary. If you're just starting out and you want to keep your tool count low, Canva is a genuinely solid place to start. It's free, it's already in your workflow, and for basic client walkthroughs and internal videos under 25 minutes, it does the job well.
The honest answer is: start with Canva, and move to a dedicated tool when you outgrow it.
The Bottom Line
The Canva screen recorder won't replace a purpose-built tool for everyone. But if you've been avoiding screen recording because you didn't want to learn something new or add another subscription — this removes that excuse. It's already there. You just have to use it.
