this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2025
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Affinity Studio is now free (www.affinity.studio)
submitted 2 days ago by simple@piefed.social to c/technology@lemmy.world
103 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Yes, Affinity really is free. You can use every tool in the Pixel, Vector, and Layout studios, plus all of the customization and export features, as much as you want, with no restrictions or payment needed. If you’re on a Canva premium plan, you’ll also be able to unlock Canva’s powerful AI tools within Affinity.

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[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 13 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

It seems reasonable for now: you can use all the tools except the AI stuff for free, so it's still (I assume) as full-featured as the last Serif version of Affinity was. And if the AI stuff is not done locally, then that costs them money to run so fair enough that they charge something. But we don't know what Canva plans to do with Affinity. Will the tools be gradually hollowed out while more and more features go behind a paywall? Will they start filling the desktop software with ads? What will they do when they judge that they have poached enough of Adobe's users? Will they brick your software if you close your Canva account? I don't entirely trust them.

[–] tonytins@pawb.social 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I stumbled upon them years ago when I discovered they had online colour tools. However, they've gradually leaned into AI and seem to be racking up a portfolio to rival Adobe.

[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Affinity has been the best alternative to some of the key Adobe tools for a while now, and it was a one-off payment of about $200 for the whole suite, which was good value. Now it's "free" I'm just a bit worried. Sure, it's not exactly a subscription but where are they going?

[–] tonytins@pawb.social 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I don't know either, and that's the problem. Open source projects can justify being free, even if some of the business models are a bit questionable (e.g. open core). What I do know is companies behind proprietary software has proven time and time again that we're the product.