Canva just told investors to expect less growth, and the reason is one of the most expensive problems in tech right now: making AI products that don’t bleed money.
The Australian design software giant revised its 2026 revenue growth forecast from 30% down to 20%, a decision CEO Melanie Perkins framed as a deliberate trade-off between speed and economic sustainability. The announcement came in the company’s Q2 2026 investor update, landing at a moment when the entire software industry is grappling with the same uncomfortable math: AI features that users love can be ruinously expensive to run.
The numbers behind the slowdown
Canva’s Q2 2026 revenue came in at $921.9 million, representing 25.2% year-over-year growth. The gap between 25% actual growth and the original 30% target reflects real operational friction.
The culprit, according to the company, is a combination of delayed product launches, slower distribution, and the resource-intensive process of rebuilding Canva’s AI architecture. Perkins indicated the company chose to deliberately slow product rollouts rather than ship AI features at unsustainable unit economics.
