- Affinity is now free for all
- One app for Picture, Designer, and Writer
- Canva’s premium subscribers additionally get AI instruments inside Affinity
Affinity is now free. You learn that proper. No catch, no cost – three of my favourite professional-grade apps for graphic design, picture modifying, and desktop publishing at the moment are utterly free for everybody.
Alongside dropping the perpetual license (in a sea of subscriptions, that was all the time refreshing), Affinity has additionally rolled Picture, Designer, and Writer right into a single app.
According to the company, it brings “professional vector, photo, and layout tools together in one powerful space, featuring everything you need to design, edit, and publish without switching apps or breaking flow.”
Or paying any money, for that matter.
Free – but at what cost?
Since being bought by Canva back in 2024, there were concerns that the software would follow in the footsteps of its owner and introduce subscriptions for users and businesses.
In fairness, Affinity was quick to quash those rumours. At the time, it remained committed to the perpetual license model, promising in no uncertain terms that subscriptions were not on the cards. No way, no how.
After that, there was little news. Until, out of the blue, the Affinity website went dark. Users could no longer buy the software, and were greeted only with a banner 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 seems the emphasis was not on artistic, however on freedom.
And that is the total Affinity expertise, too. Not a stripped again model, however all of the instruments, all of the options, every thing that made Affinity nice is in place. With just a few extras.
Customers with a Canva premium account will now get entry to the platform’s AI instruments inside Affinity with the brand new Canva AI Studio. Meaning the introduction of instruments like Generative Fill, Broaden & Edit, and Take away Background, placing Affinity extra on par with unstated arch-rival Adobe.
That’s what I discover particularly fascinating in regards to the transfer. Affinity already provided among the best alternatives to Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Along with the pro-grade software program, the pull of a one-off charge in comparison with Adobe’s ceaseless subscriptions was a giant one.
Now, with the removing of any prices in any respect, I’ll have an interest to see how it will shake up the artistic software program panorama, and whether or not Adobe customers will swap over (I think Affinity is eager to see if it will occur, too).
You will get the brand new Affinity suite from its new web site by clicking here.
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