Pexels
Free stock photo and video site owned by Canva, feeding images into Canva's design tools.
On the record
Checkpoint: Canva's targeted IPO window, which forces clarity on whether Pexels stays a destination or becomes a training-data backend
The call
Pexels' traffic is fading as AI image tools spread, but it survives as a quiet feeder into Canva's much larger, still-growing design business.
Pexels is a free stock photography website that Canva owns and uses to funnel people into paying for Canva Pro. The product is getting harder to defend because AI image generators like Adobe Firefly and Stable Diffusion can now create custom images on demand instead of searching through pre-made photos. The one thing that could save it: if Canva keeps investing in Pexels as a destination people visit, rather than quietly letting it become just a training dataset or a way to get people to Google Pexels then convert them to Canva customers.
Why
01
AI pressure: Adobe Firefly, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion image generators. Designers now generate images instead of searching for them; Pexels traffic roughly halved from Dec 2025 to June 2026. Could AI do the core job? Yes, likely.
02
Bigger players: Adobe (Firefly plus Adobe Stock plus Creative Cloud). Adobe bundles AI generation with stock and editing in one paid suite, cutting the reason to visit a free photo site at all. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.
03
What protects it. Canva owns Pexels outright and doesn't need it to make money on its own; Pexels just feeds Canva's 265M-user design funnel.
What would change this call
Pexels monthly site visits (Semrush) over next two quarters. Continued decline from ~23M would confirm loss of destination traffic to AI tools and rivals.
Canva publishes or leaks a 2027 roadmap naming Pexels' role. Shows whether Pexels stays a user destination or becomes a backend/training-data asset.
Canva files S-1 or confirms/delays 2027 IPO timeline. Tests whether Canva's overall growth story (which backs Pexels' equity value) stays on track.
Canva publishes or leaks a 2027 roadmap naming Pexels' role. Shows whether Pexels stays a user destination or becomes a backend/training-data asset.
Canva files S-1 or confirms/delays 2027 IPO timeline. Tests whether Canva's overall growth story (which backs Pexels' equity value) stays on track.
Key numbers
- Pexels visits fell from ~41.4M to ~23M
- Canva ARR ~$4B, growing 43% YoY
- Canva valued near $65B in secondary sale
Named risks
- Core generic stock-photo use case is being displaced by generative AI image tools.
- Pexels traffic estimates show sharp, inconsistent decline across 2025 to 2026.
- Pexels could be repositioned from a destination product into an AI training-data backend.
- Canva IPO timeline could slip past the stated 2027 target, delaying equity liquidity.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Unsplash | contesting | Pexels had ~35M organic traffic vs Unsplash ~19M as of July 2025 per Ahrefs |
| Shutterstock | losing to | Shutterstock had ~45M organic traffic vs Pexels ~35M as of July 2025 per Ahrefs |
| Getty Images/iStockphoto | losing to | iStockphoto had ~37M organic traffic vs Pexels ~35M as of July 2025 per Ahrefs |
| Generative AI tools (Firefly, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion) | losing to | Generic stock-photo market described as 'obliterated' by generative AI as of Nov 26, 2025 |
| Google AI Mode Search | gaining on | Google launched Connected Apps for Canva inside AI Mode Search on July 16, 2026, shifting discovery away from direct visits |
Questions people ask
- Is Pexels profitable on its own?
- Pexels does not disclose standalone revenue or profit. It has been a wholly-owned Canva subsidiary since May 2019, operating as a free content funnel that drives users into Canva Pro rather than charging directly for its stock photos and videos.
- Could AI replace Pexels?
- Generative AI tools like Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and Adobe Firefly already perform Pexels' core job of producing generic stock imagery. Reporting from November 26, 2025 describes the generic stock-photo market as being 'obliterated' by generative AI.
- Who owns Pexels?
- Pexels is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canva Pty Ltd, an Australian design-software company. Canva acquired Pexels along with fellow free-stock site Pixabay in May 2019 as part of a stated 'Netflix of stock photography' strategy.
- Who is Pexels' biggest competitor?
- Pexels competes with Unsplash and its Canva sibling Pixabay in free stock, and with paid incumbents Shutterstock and Getty Images/iStockphoto, which had more organic traffic than Pexels' ~35M as of July 2025 per Ahrefs. Generative AI tools are the bigger structural threat.
- Will Canva's IPO change anything for Pexels?
- Canva COO Cliff Obrecht confirmed a 2027 IPO target as of April 16, 2026, following a Delaware redomicile in early 2025 and an August 2025 employee share sale valuing Canva near $42B. No Pexels-specific IPO impact has been disclosed.
- Is Pexels traffic declining?
- Third-party Semrush estimates show a drop from about 41.4M visits in December 2025 to about 22.99M by June 2026, though these figures are inconsistent estimates, not confirmed Pexels data, and should be read cautiously.
Timeline
- 2026-07-16Google rolls out AI Mode Connected Apps in Search, including Canva design generation
- 2026-07-14Pexels publishes AI and ML FAQ on contributor content usage for AI training
- 2026-07-01Getty Images terminates $3.7B Shutterstock merger after UK CMA divestiture demand
- 2026-06Semrush snapshot puts Pexels monthly visits at about 22.99 million
- 2026-04-16Canva COO Cliff Obrecht confirms 2027 IPO target
- 2025-11-26Reporting describes generic stock-photo market as 'obliterated' by generative AI
- 2025-08Canva employee share sale values company at roughly $42B
- 2025-01-08Getty Images and Shutterstock announce $3.7B merger to counter AI pressure
- 2024-08Canva acquires Leonardo AI, bringing in-house generative image tools
- 2019-05-16Canva acquires Pexels and Pixabay
Revision history
24 July 2026
First assessed. Protection under test. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- Pexels (2026-02-05)
- Canva acquires Pexels, Pixabay (2019-05-16)
- TechCrunch (2019-05-17)
- TechTimes (2026-06-13)
- Sacra (2026-02-24)
- Capital Brief (2026-04-16)
- Semrush (2026-01-12)
- Semrush (2026-07-12)
- Ahrefs
- laozhang.ai (2026-03-26)
- Pexels Help Center (2026-07-14)
- Inc./Reuters (2025-01-08)