Enable Canva users to search, license, and use Getty Images seamlessly from within the Canva editor

Canva needed a way to offer Getty Images to users in a legally compliant, user-friendly experience, one that fit neatly within the Canva editor. Everest partnered with Canva to build a backend orchestration layer that integrated Canva’s licensing engine with Getty’s API. The outcome was a smooth, scalable licensing experience for end users and internal teams alike.

Challenge

Getty Images offers premium, high-quality content, but comes with strict licensing and rights management requirements. Canva needed to:

• Integrate Getty’s licensing flows into the Canva editor
• Manage compliance without burdening the user
• Support creative teams with access to images at the right point in their workflow
• Enable a solution that worked seamlessly with Canva’s existing infrastructure

Solution

Everest worked with Canva’s internal platform and product teams to:

• Build an orchestration layer that acts as a proxy between Canva’s frontend/editor and the Getty Images API
• Enable real-time licensing, search, and usage rights validation inside the Canva experience
• Expose Getty’s licensing engine in a controlled, scalable way that preserves the user experience
• Abstract away complexity so users can focus on creativity, not compliance

Technical Highlights

• Developed a scalable proxy API layer between Canva and Getty
• Normalised Getty's licensing rules into a format Canva's systems could validate and enforce
• Enabled Canva's editor to trigger rights-checked requests via simple API calls
• Built in analytics hooks and traceability for compliance auditing

Our Approach

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Collaborated closely with Canva’s platform, compliance, and product teams

Scoped a clear API layer to simplify downstream integration and accelerate front-end adoption

Delivered in less than a month, with ongoing support to tune and evolve the API post-launch

Ensured compatibility with Canva Pro user flows and internal content validation tools

Result

• Launched to Canva Pro users as part of their licensed content experience
• Enabled access to Getty Images without complex license management
• Protected Canva and its users by ensuring compliant use of licensed content
• Internal teams now have better tools to manage usage rights and approvals

Tech Stack

Custom proxy and orchestration API
Getty Images licensing API
Canva’s internal content and licensing platforms
Monitoring and logging integrations for rights validation

Canva Getty Images App

Enable Canva users to search, license, and use Getty Images seamlessly from within the Canva editor

Let us innovate and create together,
as a team at Everest!

Or send an email to hi@everest.engineering

++ See more of our work

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Using AI to predict what customers actually want before going to market.

Using AI to predict what customers actually want before going to market.

Pick the fun way! c

Canva Getty Images App

Enable Canva users to search, license, and use Getty Images seamlessly from within the Canva editor

Let us innovate and create together, as a team at Everest!

Or send an email to hi@everest.engineering

++ See more of our work

Add a long, descriptive title or heading here

Add a long, descriptive title or heading here

++ See more of our work

Using AI to predict what customers actually want before going to market.

Using AI to predict what customers actually want before going to market.

Pick the fun way! c

Let us innovate and create together,
as a team at Everest!