Canva vs Evernote
Side-by-side comparison of the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy of Canva and Evernote.
Canva provides some meaningful user-friendly features such as private-by-default designs, ownership of user content, policy archives, and privacy/AI controls. However, those benefits are offset by broad data collection, ad targeting, admin access to work accounts, long/undefined retention, auto-renewal, liability limits, and mandatory arbitration.
Canva offers clear summaries, private-by-default design sharing, user ownership of uploaded content, and some privacy controls including AI-training preferences and data-rights request channels. But it also collects extensive usage and third-party data, uses personalized advertising and cross-site tracking, auto-renews paid plans with limited refunds, lets employers/team admins control work content, limits liability sharply, and requires individual arbitration with class-action and jury-trial waivers.
Points of interest
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negative ●●●●● termsArbitration and class waiver
Most disputes must go to binding AAA arbitration on an individual basis, and users waive jury trials and class actions. This makes it harder to bring claims in court or join with other users.
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negative ●●●●○ privacyBroad tracking and ad targeting
Canva uses cookies, device IDs, location data, and partner data to personalize ads and measure effectiveness, including on other sites. This means substantial tracking beyond basic service operation.
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negative ●●●●○ privacyThird-party data enrichment
Canva may combine your data with information from data brokers, social platforms, and public sources to profile you and tailor offers. This can expand what Canva knows about you beyond what you directly provide.
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negative ●●●●○ termsTeam admins control work content
If you use a team or managed work account, admins may access, transfer, delete, or reassign your content and account. This significantly reduces privacy and control for workplace use.
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negative ●●●●○ termsLow liability cap
If Canva causes harm, its total liability is generally capped at the greater of $100 or the fees you paid in the prior year. For many users, that sharply limits practical remedies.
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positive ●●●●○ termsYou keep content ownership
Canva says you retain ownership of content you upload. The license you grant is framed around operating, securing, and continuing shared designs rather than taking ownership outright.
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negative ●●●○○ termsShared content license persists
If your content is included in a design you share, Canva gets a perpetual license as needed to keep that design available. That means some rights continue even after your subscription ends or your account is closed.
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negative ●●●○○ privacyRetention period undefined
After account termination, Canva may keep profile information and user content for a commercially reasonable time and for legal, backup, or archival reasons. The policy does not give a clear deletion deadline for ordinary accounts.
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negative ●●●○○ termsAuto-renewal and limited refunds
Paid subscriptions renew automatically, cancellations usually only stop the next cycle, and fees already paid are generally nonrefundable unless law requires otherwise. Free trials can also convert into paid plans unless cancelled in time.
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positive ●●●○○ privacyDesigns private by default
Canva defaults designs to the most restrictive sharing setting, which is a meaningful privacy protection. Users still need to be careful with link-sharing and public posting options.
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positive ●●●○○ privacyAI training controls offered
Users can manage preferences for whether Canva analyzes their data for training AI and machine-learning features. Canva also says Canva Education user content is not used for AI training.
Documents
Evernote includes meaningful privacy positives like no sale of personal data, export/deletion options, and limited employee access to content. But those are offset by strong liability disclaimers, broad service-change rights, U.S. data transfers, backup retention, and mandatory individual arbitration for many users.
Evernote presents a mixed but fairly transparent legal posture. It says users keep ownership of their notes, offers data export and deletion requests, and says it does not sell or rent personal data. However, it requires arbitration for many U.S.-linked disputes unless you opt out quickly, reserves broad rights to change or suspend the service, disclaims warranties, limits liability, and retains some deleted data in backups for up to one year.
Points of interest
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negative ●●●●● termsMandatory arbitration waiver
For U.S. users or those under the Federal Arbitration Act, most disputes must go to individual arbitration instead of court, and class actions are waived. You can opt out, but only within 30 days.
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negative ●●●●○ termsBroad liability disclaimer
Evernote provides the service "as is" and broadly disclaims warranties, while limiting liability to the maximum extent allowed by law. If the service fails, loses data, or has outages, your remedies may be limited.
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negative ●●●●○ termsCan change or limit service
Evernote can modify features, impose limits, suspend access, or discontinue parts of the service, sometimes without notice. This means features or access you rely on may change unexpectedly.
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positive ●●●●○ privacyNo sale of personal data
Evernote explicitly says it is not in the business of selling or renting your personal data and does not share it for third parties' own advertising purposes. That's a meaningful privacy protection compared with many ad-supported services.
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positive ●●●●○ privacyExport and deletion rights
You can access, edit, export, correct, or request deletion of your personal data, and you can export notes at any time. This gives users a practical path to leave the service with their information.
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negative ●●●○○ termsIrrevocable content license
You keep ownership of your content, but grant Evernote a worldwide, transferable, sublicensable license to store, reproduce, modify, and distribute it as needed to run the service. This is service-related, but it is still broad while your content remains stored there.
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negative ●●●○○ privacyDeleted data lingers in backups
Deleted content may remain in backup systems for up to one year, and some account/support data can be kept for up to three years or five years for legal compliance. Deletion is therefore not always immediate or complete across systems.
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negative ●●●○○ privacyU.S. storage and transfers
Your synced data is stored on servers in the United States and may be transmitted internationally. Users outside the U.S. may face weaker local privacy protections or more government-access concerns.
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positive ●●●○○ privacyLimited employee content access
Evernote says staff generally cannot view your content unless you give permission or access is legally required. Support access is described as temporary and consent-based when tied to specific issues.
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positive ●●●○○ termsNotice before account closure
If Evernote decides to close your account, it says it will usually give at least 30 days' advance notice so you can retrieve stored content. This is a useful safeguard against sudden loss of access.
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negative ●●○○○ privacySecurity scanning of shared content
Evernote may automatically analyze shared notes and emails for spam, malware, fraud, and policy violations. This is framed as security protection, but it still means some content is machine-scanned.
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neutral ●●○○○ privacyDo Not Track ignored
Evernote says it does not currently respond to browser Do Not Track signals. Users who rely on that browser setting should not expect it to control tracking here.
Documents
Comparison is based on each service's published Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Read the source documents linked above before relying on any specific clause.