Is Affinity Studio the real-deal or is it a trick?

[Ambrosia7177]

Hello.

I see that Canva has combined the Affinity products into something called "Affinity Studio".

In addition, I see that Canva has made "Affinity Studio" free.

However, is this just a trick by Canva to get people to upgrade to a paid subscription?

While Affinity Studio is free, apparently you have to buy a subscription to do fancier things.

Not sure where is that "line in the sand"?

Sadly, all of my dreams of building a website and YouTube channel got put on hold during 2024 (and now 2025), and so I never got a chance to try out different photo-editing software applications - which a lot of you recommended in the past.

I could use some serious help figuring out if the free version of Affinity Studio will do what I need.

(Don't mind buying standalone software, but am NOT interested in going down the subscription route...)


Here are some things that I need to do in 2026...

For my website:
- Basic photo-editing (e.g. Resize, crop, reduce file-size for web/mobile, adjust light-levels, maybe tweak color)
- Ideally be able to apply adjustments to multiple photos at once. (I can see myself needing more of a production-line versus spending 10 hours editing one photo for the cover of Vogue.)


For YouTube:
- Take screenshots from video, and do basic photo-editing (like above) so a screenshot can be used as cover-photo for a YouTube video.
- Create professional looking YouTube thumbnails. (**Super important)


It also isn't clear to me if the Canva application is entirely paid now?


Side Note:
I think I have gotten pretty good at shooting (and editing) video in DaVinci Resolve - at least I am proud of my work thusfar.

However, I know that a MAJOR WEAKNESS of mine is not knowing how to make professional-looking YouTube thumbnails.

(All of the experts say that without a top-notch YouTube Title and Thumbnail, your channel is doomed.)

And the reality is that I am NOT a graphic designer, plus I think that using A.I. to create **fake** Mr. Beast-type YouTube thumbnails is evil.

I do NOT want over-the-top looking thumbnails. Rather, I just want to be able to take a photo (or video clip), maybe swap out the background, add some text, and have it look good enough to make people want to click on my video.

Am hoping that I don't need a Master's degree in art / graphic design to create professional-looking YouTube thumbnails.

Also not sure WHICH TOOL I need to do this based on my requirements??

Clearly the paid version of Affinity Studio / Canva could do wonders, but is there a way to do that in the free version of Affinity Studio, OR is there a practical way to do that in some other software that doesn't require a paid subscription or get into things like using A.I. to train their LLM off of my work.

I am willing to roll up my sleeves, but knowing that I work like a tortoise, am hoping there is software available where I don't have to spend 5 years learning a bunch of stuff.

My dream is to launch my business in 2026 (i.e. website and YouTube channel), and so time is of the essence!

Is the free version of Affinity Studio the solution? Or do I need something else?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!

 

[MBAir2010]

Ambrosia7177.​

what graphic design software do we use now?

I have been using Photoshop/Illustrator since 1990 and now use Affinity 2021
as some as my self that program is cumbersome, hard to read and can't draw continuous lines.
BUT
this program does what I need for my M1s as I need a program for layers only
with some touch up.
I have designed some fun stuff like this avatar in affinity 2021,
as CS4 or later really does a better job as profession graphic design.
I use my early Intel MacBooks to perform my creative designs and upgrade the website.

last year I had the time to build a website from scratch using CS4 which seem very 2012ish
as that is interesting, has many playful features like roll over, motion graphics and slide shows.
I never tinkered with CCS creative style sheets since that is boring and mundane.
that being said the main inpatient of graphic design is one mind, rather than software.

hope this helps and Cavna aint doing this for free so be careful.

 

[Slartibart]

Everything the previous version 2 plus a few new things like vectorising are fully usable in the new free Affinity Studio. Everything in your list is indeed covered.

 

[OldMacs4Me]

Anything useful here?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/new-affinity.2471192/

 

[Ambrosia7177]

what graphic design software do we use now?

Nothing. Just getting started.

hope this helps and Cavna aint doing this for free so be careful.

That is my suspicion...

 

[Ambrosia7177]

Everything the previous version 2 plus a few new things like vectorising are fully usable in the new free Affinity Studio. Everything in your list is indeed covered.

So things that a basic-to-intermediate Affinity Photo or Affinity Designer would need are currently free and available in Affinity Studio?

How does Canva fit into all of this?

Is Canva also part of Affinity Studio?

I was under the impression that once you start using Canva, you pretty quickly have to upgrade to a paid subscription to do anything of value - particularly for generating YouTube thumbnails.

 

[hg.wells]

So things that a basic-to-intermediate Affinity Photo or Affinity Designer would need are currently free and available in Affinity Studio?

How does Canva fit into all of this?

Is Canva also part of Affinity Studio?

I was under the impression that once you start using Canva, you pretty quickly have to upgrade to a paid subscription to do anything of value - particularly for generating YouTube thumbnails.

Everything is free unless you want to use Canva’s AI then you need a subscription.

https://www.canva.com/newsroom/news/affinity-free/

 

[MBAir2010]

Nothing. Just getting started.

Affinity should perform everything you need to create photo and graphic design.
since you have nothing else to compare the user experience to you might grasp the tools usage better than others.
you can insert or place/import a photo, then add text, graphics and anything else they do on you tube nowadays.
then save the designs as .jpg and .gif images to insert on web design programs,
the YouTube design options add pop ups, banners and other motion video effects.

as the last professional situation I was involved in our designer used code
to change cores, sizes on ;jpg files via ccs
without opening photoshop.
ii would create the images in a certain format after reddening and cleaning up the subject.

I never gave Affinity a credit card and I can revert the program from Tahoe to Monterey
as I did on two computers this Sunday without a hitch.

 

[r.harris1]

You need a free canva account to use Affinity Studio. If you aren’t interested in the AI-based tools (generative fill, etc), which it sounds like you aren’t, you pay nothing. The v2 Affinity didn’t have those anyway, to speak of, so except for a few new things, it’s the same. The Affinity suite can do at least most of the stuff you’re after, though you’ll obviously need to invest time in yourself to learn the tools and practice them. Standing out on the web or YouTube is extremely difficult - there’s a tremendous amount of garbage - so knowing your tools well can be an advantage.

It’s always a good idea to follow the money, as has been noted. In this case, Canva are after Adobe’s corporate publishing market, which is where the big cash is. You aren’t their primary target market. Don’t get me wrong, they want you to use their tools, and will want to entice you into a subscription perhaps, but that’s far from being their main goal. It’s free for what you want, they claim forever (whatever that means), so enjoy.