- Affinity is now free for everyone
- An app for photography, designer and editor
- Premium Canva subscribers also get AI tools within Affinity
Affinity is now free. You read that right. No capture, no fees – three of my favorite professional apps for graphic design, photo editing, and desktop publishing are now completely free for everyone.
In addition to eliminating the perpetual license (in a sea of subscriptions, that was always refreshing), Affinity has also integrated Photo, Designer, and Publisher into a single app.
According to the company, it brings together “professional vector, photography and design tools in one powerful space, including everything you need to design, edit and publish without switching apps or breaking the flow.”
Or pay money, anyway.
Free, but at what price?
Since Canva purchased it in 2024, there have been concerns that the software would follow in its owner’s footsteps and introduce subscriptions for users and businesses.
To be fair, Affinity was quick to quell those rumors. At the time, it remained committed to the perpetual license model, promising in no uncertain terms that subscriptions were not at stake. No way, no way.
After that, there was little news. Until, out of nowhere, the Affinity website went dark. Users could no longer purchase the software and were only greeted with a sign promising “Creative freedom is coming.”
Then, earlier this month, Affinity made all three existing apps free for iPhone and iPad users (I covered the news here).
It turns out that the emphasis was not on creativebut in freesun.
And this is also the full Affinity experience. It’s not a stripped down version, but all the tools, all the features, everything that made Affinity great is in place. With some extras.
Users with a Canva premium account will now have access to the platform’s AI tools within Affinity with the new Canva AI Studio. That means the introduction of tools like Generative Fill, Expand & Edit, and Background Remover, putting Affinity more on par with its archrival Adobe.
That’s what I find especially interesting about the move. Affinity already offered some of the best alternatives to Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Along with professional-grade software, the appeal of a one-time fee compared to Adobe’s relentless subscriptions was great.
Now, with any costs removed, I’ll be interested to see how this will revolutionize the creative software landscape and whether Adobe users will change (I suspect Affinity is interested to see if this will happen as well).
You can get the new Affinity suite from their new website by clicking here.
The best photo editors for all budgets.
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