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Home » How-to Graphics » How to Create a Watermark in Canva + 10 Options!

How to Create a Watermark in Canva + 10 Options!

Updated on: February 13, 2024 by Louise Myers 76 Comments

Want to watermark your photos and graphics?

Here you’ll learn how to create a watermark in Canva.

Or check out the Ultimate List of websites where you can watermark photos free!

Identify your work as your own, and protect your images from content theft, with a visual watermark.

Let’s go!

Watermark photos free download or online header graphic.

How to Watermark in Canva – Logo or Not!

If you’re a Canva user, you can easily create a transparent watermark to add to your images.

Import your photo to Canva and create it into the size you require. If you’re not sure how, learn how to crop an image in Canva.

Next, you’ll add a logo, text, or icon to it.

Have a logo? Use the Upload tab to add it to Canva. From there, simply drag it onto your photo or graphic.

No logo? Go to the Text tab and click “Add a subheading.” Type your name, business name, or website – however you’d like people to identify your work.

Then pick a Canva font you can commit to for the long haul. You’ll want to be consistent across all your images.

If you have a Pro account, you can upload your own fonts to Canva.

Alternatively, you can go to the Elements tab and search for something like “camera icon.”

Without added text though, an icon won’t truly identify your work as yours. It’s a bit generic.

how to add your watermark icon in canva.

Once you’ve added whatever you want to be the watermark, you can use the transparency setting to make it less obvious.

In this example, we used the quill and books icon. We’ve showed it at full opacity above, as well as at 50% in the image below.

Adjust your watermark until you’re happy with how it looks, then download your photo for use.

how to adjust opacity of watermark icon in canva.

You can also move the watermark as needed if it works better in different places in different photos.

Plus if you use a logo or icon that can have colors changed, you can alter this so the watermark shows up on different backgrounds.

Adjust the opacity. On a dark image, you may prefer it more transparent. On a light background, you may need it 100% white, or change it to a transparent black.

Your favorite design tool or app to add text to photos will work to add a watermark as well.

Why Watermark Your Photos?

Before we dive into free watermarking options, let’s think about why you should add a watermark to images.

The process of watermarking is a bit like an artist signing a painting, but for the digital age.

Watermarks help photographers, graphic designers, bloggers, and other online creators, to make sure their work is credited to them properly.

The easiest way to do this is to ‘sign’ your digital art with a watermark.

While content thieves abound and we can’t completely stop them, watermarking is a deterrent, since it stakes your claim on your creations.

In short, watermarks help protect your images from content theft.

Is There a Case Against Watermarking?

In recent times, there’s been a bit of a move against watermarking.

Not so much for photographers or digital artists, but for others who take photos and use them in their business.

The main reason for this is social media marketing.

Sure, watermarked images do work on social media. But if the watermark obscures the photo or impacts it by being too obvious, people might not engage with the image as enthusiastically.

The answer? Keep it subtle and simple.

I recommend you add basic branding, such as your website name, when you create Pinterest Pins. Or add a faded logo in the corner of an Instagram post.

Test to see what works for your eye and your audience.

How to Watermark Photos FREE!

Here are 10 sites to choose from!

Each listing first specifies whether you’ll watermark online or download software, then you’ll see the website address.

Whether you’d like to download free watermark software to your computer, or prefer to watermark online, you’re covered here.

Each site works a bit differently, so check out a couple. Click on each heading to visit the site.

If you try any, please give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down!

Watermark Photos FREE with the Best Watermark Tools

View more lists from Louise Bugglin Myers

You can vote for your favorites right on the list! And Save this post to Pinterest so you can refer back for more options.

Easy Watermark Options

These free tools offer easy ways to watermark your designs and photos.

Plus you can use a graphic design tool like Canva to easily create a custom watermark or add unobtrusive branding.

That way people know an image is yours – but you still get the full benefits of using it online.

Share with your friends and followers so they can learn how to watermark photos free.

pinnable image with text saying watermark photos free download or online.

Filed Under: How-to Graphics, Social Media Tips, Websites & Blogs Tagged With: canva, copyright infringement, protect images, social media images, watermark photos

About Louise Myers

Louise Myers is a graphic design expert whose designs have been featured by Disney, Macy's, WalMart and more. Her straightforward writing style empowers small business owners to make their own graphics for social media success!

Comments

  1. Rajoa Maichal says

    October 3, 2022 at 7:26 AM

    This article is very informative on several watermarking tools. Now I can easily watermark many images for free.

    Reply
  2. Kiran says

    December 11, 2018 at 3:55 AM

    Hi,

    Great list and I request you to add this site also to the list which has great options to watermark images.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      December 11, 2018 at 7:36 AM

      If a real human being visits the post they could add it to the queue for possible inclusion. We don’t allow bot comments or links in comments.

      Reply
  3. Sojeong Kim says

    September 24, 2018 at 4:27 PM

    I tried several of them you mentioned and did not work for me; I like to put my site name on my photos exactly right bottom corner with specific margin. It failed when the width and height ratio changes. But, I do not want to change one by one using photo shop or any app.
    I couldn’t find one doing exactly like that.

    So, I just developed one. If it’s simple text watermark (I do not support image yet), this must work for many with one click. I spent two week on this and does not want to use it myself.

    I put it into windows app store with “Bulk Photo Editor”. (only for windows 10)

    Please let me know if it’s worth to improve further with rotation, image watermark..

    Thank you,

    Reply
  4. Leona says

    July 3, 2018 at 2:40 AM

    I’m using cdWorks Photo Helper too. I can not only watermark my photos, but also manage EXIF data and edit picture data. Good one!

    Reply
  5. Nicho says

    September 25, 2017 at 1:50 AM

    Water marquee, cdWorks and umark are one of the best watermark
    software to use. You have listed almost all the good software to use for watermark. Thanks for sharing your valuable information.

    Reply
  6. Lee says

    October 17, 2016 at 3:25 AM

    Thanks for sharing!
    VisualWatermark is very good and I have been using it for a while. But I got a better tool from GOTD a few days ago named PT Watermark. After using it a few days, now I feel it’s probably the best (both in quality and efficiency) watermarking software in the market. Hope you like it too 🙂

    Reply
  7. Garg Ankit says

    September 17, 2016 at 10:56 PM

    UMark is a notable tool I had been using since long to watermark my images for copyright protection. On similar grounds, I’d like to introduce you to Canva. Give it a try. Is it worth adding to this list?

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      September 19, 2016 at 9:39 AM

      Hi Garg,

      I’ve written about Canva many times. I think of it as a lot more than a watermark tool, but it certainly could be used for that.

      Thanks for the suggestion!

      Reply
  8. Robert Jacko says

    August 16, 2016 at 7:00 AM

    Hello! We have released our first version of free watermarking tool at watermark.top. It has few interesting features and might be useful for many. Tool is new and still under development. I hope you would like it 🙂 tips and comments are highly appreciated! Thank you.

    Robert

    Reply
  9. Dumaji says

    April 4, 2016 at 2:22 AM

    Thanks for sharing. I have started using this website for adding watermark.

    Reply
  10. Amin Ahmadi says

    December 24, 2015 at 4:16 AM

    I would be glad if you can also review the free app that I released for this same purpose recently. It’s called Picture Stamper and is available for Mac and Windows.

    http://amin-ahmadi.com/picture-stamper/

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      January 1, 2016 at 6:52 PM

      Looks good Amin, I have added it to the list. Thanks!

      Reply
  11. Salim says

    July 18, 2015 at 5:02 AM

    I like this software so much.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      July 18, 2015 at 3:02 PM

      I’m happy to hear that, Salim!

      Reply
  12. Patrick says

    April 6, 2015 at 3:19 AM

    Awesome, lets see what works … I am trying Visualwatermark.com … hope it will be exactly what I am looking for ..
    Cheers!

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      April 7, 2015 at 10:03 AM

      Best of luck with it, Patrick!

      Reply
  13. Anick says

    March 24, 2015 at 7:45 AM

    What if I want to be your intern!!!
    Any way great to have such an informative writings.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      March 25, 2015 at 7:36 AM

      I’ll keep that in mind, Anick, if I should want an intern. Thanks!

      Reply
  14. Susan Ballard says

    March 23, 2015 at 5:14 PM

    I use iWatermark on my Mac, Windows tablet and iPhone and it works great! It’s definitely my favorite and I believe they have versions for Mac, Windows, Android and iOS. Check it out 🙂

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      March 25, 2015 at 7:34 AM

      Thanks for the recommendation, Susan! Since the post is only FREE apps, I can’t add it, but it’s nice to hear you like it.

      Reply
  15. SHAHID says

    February 13, 2015 at 9:31 PM

    wonderful list…. 😀

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      February 15, 2015 at 2:28 PM

      Thanks Shahid!

      Reply
  16. I Gede Wisaksono says

    December 14, 2014 at 5:49 AM

    What about Watermark Factory 2 ?

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      December 15, 2014 at 10:16 AM

      Looks like that one isn’t free permanently? If it is, give me the link and I’ll be happy to add it!

      Reply
  17. Julia Richard says

    October 15, 2014 at 4:48 AM

    Just an awesome article 🙂

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      October 15, 2014 at 10:23 AM

      So glad you enjoyed it, Julia!

      Reply
  18. Katherine Brady says

    September 1, 2014 at 7:36 AM

    Hello Louise. Maybe you can help me? I used paint in my windows program to add a text box to many pictures thinking it would act as a watermark. Not ever doing this before, I made the mistake of not checking it out first and now half these pictures are marked with no way to remove the text box. The paint program has no way to remove them, and in my photo program I cannot return it to original. Is there a way to remove these text boxes without ruining my beautiful photos? Thank you for any help you can give to me.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      September 1, 2014 at 9:21 PM

      Hi Katherine,
      Unfortunately, if you can’t remove the text boxes in the program that created them, I really don’t know how you would do it.

      Any chance you have a backup copy of your photos on your phone, camera, or elsewhere? Sorry I couldn’t help.

      Reply
  19. Woo says

    August 24, 2014 at 8:21 AM

    Hi, Louise Myers,
    which software should i use to detect watermark in an image ?
    Thanks

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      August 24, 2014 at 1:10 PM

      Hi Woo,
      Watermarks are visible, so you don’t need software. If it’s metadata you’re after, several Adobe programs can read it, like Photoshop and Bridge. A Google search will net you some websites. I haven’t used them so I can’t recommend one.

      Louise

      Reply
      • CZ says

        January 24, 2015 at 11:38 AM

        “Watermarks are visible”

        This is not true of audio files. How can they be detected?

        Reply
        • Louise Myers says

          January 25, 2015 at 1:42 PM

          Hey CZ, my specialty is graphics, and I couldn’t tell you about audio. Sorry.

          Reply
  20. S L says

    July 13, 2014 at 12:28 PM

    for video I recommended Aoao Video Watermark Pro. its easy to use. 🙂

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      July 13, 2014 at 3:38 PM

      Thanks for the tip!

      Reply
  21. Euphonos says

    July 2, 2014 at 7:45 PM

    Hello Louise,

    Thanks for this interesting & wonderful post. I came across while looking for some tools coz I had plans to have my photography blog 🙂

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      July 3, 2014 at 3:16 PM

      You are most welcome, Euphonos (lovely sounding name, right? 🙂 )

      Best wishes on your photography blog!

      Reply
  22. utsav says

    June 20, 2014 at 4:45 AM

    Hi Louise…!!!
    Great work… I google for best watermark and it shows me a list of Watermark software. I confused which is best?
    Then I head over to your website and I found my answer. Just Downloaded Visual watermark.
    Thanks for sharing

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      June 20, 2014 at 2:19 PM

      Hey Utsav, so glad this was helpful! Thanks for your kind comment.

      Reply
  23. SJ Valdez says

    June 17, 2014 at 1:14 AM

    Thanks for this post, Louise! Number 8 worked for me. 🙂

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      June 17, 2014 at 10:08 AM

      Wonderful! Glad you found it helpful 🙂

      Reply
  24. Rechel Chua says

    April 15, 2014 at 11:30 PM

    Louise, thanks for this list of watermark software, its hard for us this days to secure out photos online, since I am studying to be a photographer, watermarking software is so important, thanks so much!

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      April 16, 2014 at 9:31 AM

      I’m glad this was helpful, Rechel! Best of luck to you in your photography career.

      Reply
  25. obat penghilang bekas jerawat says

    August 23, 2013 at 2:16 PM

    waw, I was really wondering if you knew how to add a symbol to the watermark. Like the name and a little symbol like a small diamond or something.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      August 27, 2013 at 3:33 PM

      If you don’t have a symbol font, try googling “special characters.”

      I’m not on a PC so I don’t know if this will work, but it’s worth a try!

      Reply
  26. Anders Pedersen says

    May 23, 2013 at 4:36 AM

    Hi Louise

    I have made a free online watermarker, and a free for personal use (windows only) watermarker and I was wondering if you might consider adding my site to the list http://www.watermark-image.com ?

    /Anders

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      May 28, 2013 at 9:37 AM

      Sure, I will do that. Thanks Anders!

      Reply
  27. Crystal says

    April 29, 2013 at 9:04 AM

    I was wondering if you knew how to add a symbol to the watermark. Like the name and a little symbol like a small diamond or something.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      April 30, 2013 at 8:41 PM

      Hey Crystal,
      I doubt that any of these free programs would allow you to do that easily. You’d probably need to create an art file that you could overlay in a graphics program, or on pixlr.com.

      Reply
    • Ivan Ross says

      May 6, 2013 at 12:09 PM

      Most fonts have special symbols. You can access them by pressing a shortcut on your keyboard or using a special app – Character Map.

      Both Windows and Mac have programs that show a complete list of all available characters. On Windows, it’s under Start – All Programs – Accessories – System Tools – Character Map menu item. Start it. Find a symbol you want, click the Select button. Then click Copy to save the symbol into your clipboard. Switch to the watermarking program and paste the symbol (Ctrl + V) in a text field.

      This will work for every program you have. Should it be Microsoft Word or Google Chrome.

      Reply
      • Louise Myers says

        May 6, 2013 at 9:14 PM

        That’s a fantastic tip, thanks Ivan!

        When I need symbols, I usually just paste in a symbol font, but this will be more flexible. I just never remember how to find those secret characters on Mac!

        I prefer to believe it’s from being blond rather than senile 😉

        Reply
        • Ivan Ross says

          May 6, 2013 at 10:45 PM

          There is also shortcuts for these symbols. For example, on Mac copyright symbol is Alt + G.

          Reply
          • Louise Myers says

            May 7, 2013 at 5:04 PM

            That one I know oh-so-well 😉 It’s the shapes and smileys that I’m not sure about on Mac. We don’t have all the keyboard codes with strings of numbers – at least I’m not aware of it!

            Some icons sent from Windows aren’t recognized on Mac as well.

  28. Ashley Danielle says

    March 16, 2013 at 7:16 PM

    Really enjoyed your article. Visual Watermark was my fav!!

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      March 16, 2013 at 10:48 PM

      Thanks Ashley!

      Reply
  29. cek TEKAPE Gan says

    March 13, 2013 at 11:52 PM

    wonderful list…. 😀

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      March 14, 2013 at 9:54 AM

      Glad you enjoyed it! I’m surprised by the immense popularity of this post. So glad you’re finding it useful!

      Reply
  30. Andrew says

    February 18, 2013 at 11:37 AM

    Hello. Recently I created a page from within my personal Facebook profile. The page is to show friends and family some stuff I´m selling. My idea is to label the pictures as things get sold. I´ve been looking all over for online image editing tools for adding watermarks to photos on this page, but all these tools will only allow me to edit my profile pictures, but the ones in the page won´t be listed or appear anywhere. Any ideas on how to deal with this problem?

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      February 18, 2013 at 10:01 PM

      Hi Andrew. I think you’re wanting to add a watermark (or “sold” verbiage) to photos that are already on Facebook? I don’t know of a way to do that.

      You could add it in a comment or the description, or just delete the photo.

      Reply
  31. Hossein T says

    February 13, 2013 at 6:20 AM

    hi dear louise , good time
    sorry , How can I add watermark to some special pages while other pages without watermark in word2007?

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      February 14, 2013 at 8:45 AM

      I’m sorry Hossein, I don’t work with Word. These watermark tools are for photos and other images.

      Best of luck with it!

      Reply
  32. bratari shamballa says

    December 12, 2012 at 1:33 AM

    i think the best solution to watermark the images still remaining photoshop or imagemagick

    i use them since awhile and im very happy

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      December 12, 2012 at 9:24 AM

      Absolutely Bratari! If you have the images open already in an image editor like Photoshop, watermark them right then. Saves time!

      Have a great day!

      Reply
  33. Sreejesh says

    December 2, 2012 at 9:33 AM

    Wow, great list, I loved the tool you embeded to show the list. It was worth the visit to your blog, I got both the useful tools to watermark and an awesome list making tool.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      December 4, 2012 at 7:03 PM

      Terrific Sreejesh! I’m glad you got some good info, and I appreciate your comment!

      Reply
  34. Vitor Sequeira says

    November 16, 2012 at 6:36 PM

    Hi Louise,
    thanks for your great work on it.
    i’ll try Visual Watermark – it seems very good and has high rates in cnet and softpedia.
    Regards

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      November 17, 2012 at 12:57 PM

      Hi Vitor!
      Appreciate your visit and comment. Enjoy!

      Reply
  35. Mark Knight says

    October 29, 2012 at 8:53 AM

    I’m planning to post some photos on my site and looking for the ways to add watermark, the information on this article definitely helps. Thank you !

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      October 29, 2012 at 10:20 AM

      Glad you enjoyed the post, Mark!

      Reply
  36. Carol says

    September 18, 2012 at 2:38 PM

    Great info as usual! I really like number 6 as it has lots of options.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      September 18, 2012 at 3:47 PM

      Thanks Carol, I appreciate getting a recommendation!

      Reply
  37. Frank Woodman says

    September 13, 2012 at 3:23 PM

    Great info to have. Protecting our online properties is harder than ever, and pictures are especially easy to pilfer. So hats off for a good set of sites and tools that can help.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      September 13, 2012 at 10:12 PM

      Hey Frank, thanks so much for reading and commenting! I appreciate your support!

      Reply
      • Donna says

        September 14, 2012 at 9:58 AM

        Louise, I am a beginner but need to watermark some paintings to show online that my husband did. Which website would be the easiest for a computer novice…nothing to intricate or I am lost. I do not want his artwork to be ripped off.

        Reply
        • Louise Myers says

          September 15, 2012 at 10:45 AM

          Hi Donna!
          I’d suggest trying PicMarkr or WaterMarquee. Be sure to upload the smallest images that show the work – be aware that there WILL be people who downlaod the images, and watermarks are easy to remove. You can read this article for more info on protecting images: https://louisem.com/1854/can-you-protect-images-from-copyright-infringement
          Best!
          Louise

          Reply

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