How to Make Square Images in Canva (And When to Use a Free Alternative)

Canva is great for designing graphics, but when you just need a square image — especially without cropping — you might wonder if there's a quicker way. Here's how to make square images in Canva, and when a free alternative makes more sense.

How to Make Square Images in Canva

Method 1: Create a New Square Design

1. Open Canva and click Create a design.
2. Choose Custom size and set both width and height to the same value (e.g. 1080 × 1080 for Instagram).
3. Upload your image and place it on the canvas.
4. Resize or crop as needed. Canva will let you crop to square, but that still cuts off parts of the image.

Method 2: Resize an Existing Design

1. Open your design and go to File → Resize (or use the Resize button).
2. Create a new size with equal width and height (e.g. 1080×1080).
3. Adjust the layout. If the original was landscape or portrait, elements may need repositioning.

Method 3: Use Crop to Square

1. Select your image in the design.
2. Click Crop and choose the 1:1 or square aspect ratio.
3. Drag to adjust the crop area.

Limitation: Cropping removes content outside the square. If you want to keep the whole photo in a square frame, you need to add a background (blur or solid color) and fit the image inside — which Canva can do, but it takes more steps.

When to Use Canva for Square Images

• Heavy design work — logos, text overlays, branded templates.
• Multiple outputs — you need square, story, and poster from one project.
• Team collaboration — shared brand kits and templates.
• You already use Canva — no new tool to learn.

When to Use a Free Alternative

When you only need to make an image square without cropping, a lightweight tool is often faster:

• No signup — upload, adjust, download.
• Blur or solid background — keeps the full image in a 1:1 frame.
• No design overhead — no templates, layers, or export settings to manage.
• Quick one-offs — profile pictures, product photos, social posts.

Square Image does exactly this: upload a photo, choose blur or solid background, and get a square image. No account, no watermark, works in the browser.

Summary

Use Canva when you're designing—adding text, graphics, or multiple formats. Use a free square-image tool when you just need to turn a rectangle into a square without cropping. Both approaches are valid; choose based on how much design work you need.

See also: Best square image tools comparison and How to make an image square without cropping.