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Is Affinity Studio the real-deal or is it a trick?
- Thread starter Ambrosia7177
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Based on limited first-hand experience, plus what a lot of people say online, I can't see Gimp being a good direction to go.
(Can the same be said for Krita and Inkscape?)
Appreciated 😂
Yeah I download it occasionally and cross fingers and am disappointed. Been like it 20 years.
Well the output is what you judge it on. It really can knock out some good stuff. I still use it for processing negative scans from film because I’m too cheap to pay for negative lab plugin for Lightroom and it does a better job.
I will indeed.
Actually you don’t with lightroom. You can still export just not edit any more if you stop paying.
Man there is so much over thinking in this thread. The answer is far more simple than anyone is making it.
The Affinity Suite is free right now. That may change in the future, it may not. The apps themselves are competent and full-featured, if a little clumsy. But they're a great platform for learning fundamentals and getting some projects done with little commitment. All of the basic features and functions are available and capable, for free. Only integration with the larger Canva universe, and its AI products, cost money. There's literally no reason not to use them here and now and re-evaluate only if or when any of this changes.
Canva, their new owner, is a web-based design and marketing tools company. They make their money via subscription services for template-driven design, video editing, and marketing communications asset generation targeted at non-designers and business folks. They a huge company at this point, although nowhere near Adobe's league. The inherent level of "slop" that comes from Canva's tools aside, the barrier to entry to using them has always been low, so credit where credit is due. Canva made creating a lot of basic marketing materials far more accessible than it was before they existed.
Serif, the company that created the Affinity Suite, teetered on the edge of irrelevance for years and it's likely why they sold out to Canva. They did a great job with the Affinity Suite, but the market they targeted—professionals like me—have 10, 20, or 30 years of knowledge invested in Adobe's products or workflow. I'm not throwing that knowledge away for any person or any reason. So there was no end game for them to actually succeed. Selling to a much larger company who has the resources to keep their software intact as a "value add" to their primarily products was probably a smart move.
At some point, though, Canva will want to seek a return on their investment. But that time is not now. For all the use-cases you describe, I think the Affinity Suite would be fine. Just be aware there is very much a learning curve. They're dense and rich tools, not unlike their Adobe counterparts. But it's nothing you can't get your head around with some effort.
Ironically, as someone else mentioned earlier, Canva's original web-based tools are likely an easier, better fit for you to quickly and efficiently produce graphics for your needs, but most of their services are not free and you indicated you don't want to use cloud-based resources so that limits your choices. Plus you indicated a desire to learn some design fundamentals, and Canva's tools won't enable that.
The Affinity Suite is free right now. That may change in the future, it may not. The apps themselves are competent and full-featured, if a little clumsy. But they're a great platform for learning fundamentals and getting some projects done with little commitment. All of the basic features and functions are available and capable, for free. Only integration with the larger Canva universe, and its AI products, cost money. There's literally no reason not to use them here and now and re-evaluate only if or when any of this changes.
Canva, their new owner, is a web-based design and marketing tools company. They make their money via subscription services for template-driven design, video editing, and marketing communications asset generation targeted at non-designers and business folks. They a huge company at this point, although nowhere near Adobe's league. The inherent level of "slop" that comes from Canva's tools aside, the barrier to entry to using them has always been low, so credit where credit is due. Canva made creating a lot of basic marketing materials far more accessible than it was before they existed.
Serif, the company that created the Affinity Suite, teetered on the edge of irrelevance for years and it's likely why they sold out to Canva. They did a great job with the Affinity Suite, but the market they targeted—professionals like me—have 10, 20, or 30 years of knowledge invested in Adobe's products or workflow. I'm not throwing that knowledge away for any person or any reason. So there was no end game for them to actually succeed. Selling to a much larger company who has the resources to keep their software intact as a "value add" to their primarily products was probably a smart move.
At some point, though, Canva will want to seek a return on their investment. But that time is not now. For all the use-cases you describe, I think the Affinity Suite would be fine. Just be aware there is very much a learning curve. They're dense and rich tools, not unlike their Adobe counterparts. But it's nothing you can't get your head around with some effort.
Ironically, as someone else mentioned earlier, Canva's original web-based tools are likely an easier, better fit for you to quickly and efficiently produce graphics for your needs, but most of their services are not free and you indicated you don't want to use cloud-based resources so that limits your choices. Plus you indicated a desire to learn some design fundamentals, and Canva's tools won't enable that.
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We disagree.
• You can not "buy Photoshop once a year" or I would still be using it. All you can do now is pay your ongoing subscription annually. And no, it is not the same thing. We could discuss the IP issues involved but it would derail this thread.
• Adobe IMO (and I started with Adobe in the 90s) became a bad actor after the Macromedia merger. Yes I agree that most long term pros are locked in to Adobe, but that does not make Adobe less of a bad actor. Serif Affinity OTOH has been a great actor, so I see no reason to create some "uncertainty of Serif" as being less desirable than the certain evil of Adobe for a new user.
• Affinity has IMO better new-user tutorials than Adobe does.
Personally I recommended the Affinity apps for any new user desiring high level design software back when it was not free. Now that it is free I strongly recommend the Affinity apps. So what if it might cost money at some future date? Decide at that time if you prefer a different app; who knows what will be best choices in the future?
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I think that's moot.
I don't disagree with you on the Adobe are evil front. But sometimes evil creates really good products. The problem is any of the non-evil (open source) options are dire and the rest are mediocre evil. There's no winner really. I'd rather go sell my soul and burn money than time. Time is much more of a problem.
Uncertainty from Serif exists only since Canva bought them out. I work in the PE market on software. They only do this if they think it'll give them long term market proposition or upsell down the line. It's like giving coke to hookers to build a dependency.
Not really. Either that or I'm an idiot. Either might be true!
In the future you're locked into proprietary file formats on Serif. NONE of their stuff is documented. PSD and the Lightroom metadata SQLite databases are well documented.
Adobe aren't that evil https://www.adobe.com/devnet-apps/photoshop/fileformatashtml/
@cateye,
"Over-thinking" is my specialty!
After researching a lot of software over the last 24 hours, I think you are 90%+ correct...
Where I left off before supper was this...
In addition to Affinity Studio, maybe I want to look at Pixelmator Pro and/or Photomator. (Photomator sounds like it is a decent to Lightroom?)
Also, it sounds like I should be saving photos for my website to avif, so that is a small strike against Affinity. So if I go the Affinity route, then I need to find a workaround for that thing.
Otherwise I think you are right - yet it never hurts to spend some time familiarizing myself with all of the paid and free and open-source options out there for photo-editing and vector-editing.
Oh, okay, I didn't know that. To me, Canva, is synonymous with cringe-worthy YouTube thumbnails!!
Makes sense!
Another conclusion that I also came to this afternoon...
Affinity Studio presumably has tons of YouTube tutorials, but from the little I have read, Pixelmator Pro and/or Photomator might be easier/quicker to learn, and in the beginning those latter two applications might be all that I need?
But assuming that Affinity Studio is around for a few years, it would probably be a great application to learn and help me to 'cut my teeth" on a fairly beefy photo-editing application.
So because of my hangups about The Cloud and A.I., that could be a good thing as far as Canva products go, because it sorta forces my hand to man-up and learn the harder applications, i.e. Affinity Studio, versus using the cutesy web-based Canva...
"Over-thinking" is my specialty!
After researching a lot of software over the last 24 hours, I think you are 90%+ correct...
Where I left off before supper was this...
In addition to Affinity Studio, maybe I want to look at Pixelmator Pro and/or Photomator. (Photomator sounds like it is a decent to Lightroom?)
Also, it sounds like I should be saving photos for my website to avif, so that is a small strike against Affinity. So if I go the Affinity route, then I need to find a workaround for that thing.
Otherwise I think you are right - yet it never hurts to spend some time familiarizing myself with all of the paid and free and open-source options out there for photo-editing and vector-editing.
Oh, okay, I didn't know that. To me, Canva, is synonymous with cringe-worthy YouTube thumbnails!!
Makes sense!
Another conclusion that I also came to this afternoon...
Affinity Studio presumably has tons of YouTube tutorials, but from the little I have read, Pixelmator Pro and/or Photomator might be easier/quicker to learn, and in the beginning those latter two applications might be all that I need?
But assuming that Affinity Studio is around for a few years, it would probably be a great application to learn and help me to 'cut my teeth" on a fairly beefy photo-editing application.
So because of my hangups about The Cloud and A.I., that could be a good thing as far as Canva products go, because it sorta forces my hand to man-up and learn the harder applications, i.e. Affinity Studio, versus using the cutesy web-based Canva...
Agreed.
Agree.
Interesting.
Well said...
There goes the"G" rating for this thread!
Of course, @cjsuk, is purely speaking from what he has heard, and not from actual experience! ;-)
(This is the first time "hookers" have been injected - or should I say "blown" - into one of my threads!!) *LMAO*
It’s both. It absolutely is being given away as a loss leader for subscriptions. But it’s also a reasonably robustly featured and quite usable graphics app even without a subscription. For now, so long as you don’t want to use AI or premium stock imagery in it, it’s entirely free, no purchase, no subscription, with all other features that most people need fully unlocked.
Which means it serves an additional purpose: to capture the market away from competing apps and possibly put them out of business. That would leave Canva with a monopoly on the market for people who want/need to work with graphics and photos but aren’t themselves graphics/photography professionals who need Photoshop et al. Then they can do what they want in terms of pricing, at least until new challengers appear.
So the current excellent free deal may or may not last indefinitely, but there are two things you can do to protect yourself if you’re concerned:
* always save your files to your own drive or cloud, not Canva’s. If Affinity eventually becomes no longer free, chances are someone will produce a tool that can open and convert their format (if they haven’t already. My money is on Graphic Converter already having that capability, actually — or if not now, within a few months.)
* if you’re especially concerned, save an extra copy of each file in a more portable format such as .psd or .svg, etc, depending on the file type. Then you can always open them in other software that reads those formats.
Which means it serves an additional purpose: to capture the market away from competing apps and possibly put them out of business. That would leave Canva with a monopoly on the market for people who want/need to work with graphics and photos but aren’t themselves graphics/photography professionals who need Photoshop et al. Then they can do what they want in terms of pricing, at least until new challengers appear.
So the current excellent free deal may or may not last indefinitely, but there are two things you can do to protect yourself if you’re concerned:
* always save your files to your own drive or cloud, not Canva’s. If Affinity eventually becomes no longer free, chances are someone will produce a tool that can open and convert their format (if they haven’t already. My money is on Graphic Converter already having that capability, actually — or if not now, within a few months.)
* if you’re especially concerned, save an extra copy of each file in a more portable format such as .psd or .svg, etc, depending on the file type. Then you can always open them in other software that reads those formats.
Haven’t used Inkscape. Krita is pretty good
The sad thing about GIMP is that the software itself is great. The capabilities are awesome and it has great features
It’s the interface that’s a disaster. It’s possibly the best example of “designed by programmers” being a bad idea. But the programmers have a stranglehold on the software and refuse to recognize that they should stick to their strengths and let designers do the UI.
I recently saw someone suggest a really nice redesign of GIMP. They did this for no personal benefit. And the GIMP devs really just didn’t seem to understand what a favor they did for them. It clearly wasn’t a priority and they just said they’d consider some of it. That should’ve been their number one priority
Gimp is fundamentally flawed - it's not just the UI. The entire colour model is RGBA, 8-bits per component only. Y'UV/CMYK is crudely tacked on after. When you're working with camera raw images you end up with 12/14 or more per channel which means you're instantly crippled if you want to pull down a highlight or raise some dark areas.
My observation was specifically that I opine that the Affinity new-user-tutorial experience is better than Adobe's for a new user. But I am not a new user so my opinion is by definition skewed.
The OP could try both, but given the similar high competence of Affinity I would just go with the free Affinity...
No amount (or selection) of software will directly get you there.
You need to practice conversion-upload-reciprocity . . . there is no Silver Bullet.
Forget GIMP. GIMP's main plus was being free with good competence back when nothing competent was free. 2025 learning GIMP is just a poor time investment.
Apple now owns Pixelmator and Photomator. I will be curious as to how those good apps get used.
Apple now owns Pixelmator and Photomator. I will be curious as to how those good apps get used.
Valid point, but I guess it was implied in my OP that I am looking for an ecosystem with a solid product and even better tutorials and online forums and videos to help me get up to speed QUICKLY versus floundering with something like Gimp for the next 5 years.
I am interested in both of those - in addition to Affinity Studio. (Since I am out-of-work and broke, Affinity Studio wins for now.)
Haven't had time to dive into how Pixelmator Pro and Photomator work. (I think Photomator tries to be like Lightroom.)
Am also a little confused why Pixelmator Pro costs less than Photomator?
What really needs to happen is for some ambitious open-source dev team to come along, fork Gimp, burn it down and build it up the proper way, i.e. with a design plan and architecture.
Okay, I will bite...
The danger with these questions is always that each answer will generally be directed by that respondent's personal preference and familiarity of software that they happen to use within the context of their work requirements.
My experience: I use most Adobe apps since Photoshop 3.5. Extensive experience in just about any design app, from 2D to 3D, UX prototyping, and film & FX editing. But I also teach this stuff to either beginners and experienced people alike. I like to work in open source software (if possible) as well. I used or tried almost every design app ever published, from C64 times onward to today.
To me software is merely a tool that is used in a particular context. If it saves me time, makes me more efficient and it is fun to use: I will use it. I do not care about free or commercial. I do, however, tend to avoid locked-in subscriptions if possible. I have been bitten too often. I tend to favour different design tools for my own personal work compared to what I am 'forced' to utilize at my jobs. But it depends.
And that is the key phrase here: it depends.
Let's return to your @Ambrosia7177 's task requirements and context:
The only part users have to pay rent/a subscription for is to access the generative AI features.
But the core application is actually the next FULL release of Affinity Designer, Photo, and Publisher seamlessly integrated into one application with different workspaces to conveniently switch between these three feature sets.
It is also good to mention here that in this version a bunch of long LOOOOONG requested features have finally been implemented. For example it is now possible to convert bitmaps to vectors.
As it stands today: there is no catch. Affinty is fully featured, sans AI functionality. And free. It really is quite impressive if you think about it.
It does NOT save your work to their servers. It does NOT send your files for training their AI. It works locally. Even when users opt for the paid subscription: the AI models are downloaded to your local machine, and run on your local machine.
GIMP will do just fine as well. The latest version (R3) is actually not that bad (would never have thought to actually write this).
Krita will also work just fine. Amazingly good for digital painting in my opinion, but is also fairly good at general image editing, even if not as performant as dedicated image editors. The only drawback is its text tool, which is okay, but doesn't allow for direct edits on the canvas (yet).
PhotoLine is my preferred general purpose image editing app. A glorious underdog - but not for everyone. And an obscurity on the web and social media. Not great for absolute beginners due to a distinct lack of tutorials.
Pixelmator accomodates your purposes really well too.
If you are reluctant because of the 'free' Affinity deal being a "too good to be true" offer: at this point there is no indication that there are any catches. Of course, you will still need a Canva account, and the software will have to check your license and contact the Canva servers once in a while for you to keep using it. I believe I read that Affinity will need to contact their servers every 7 days, or so, to keep running. But don't quote me here.
For some people this might be a dealbreaker. For most it is not. I mean: quite a few design apps can't even be used anymore without an active live internet connection... (Figma, for example)
Just grab a frame, place it in its own comp, add text. Use layers, effects. For more complex effects switch to the Fusion workspace. The colour grading workspace allows for high-level colour and light adjustments as well...
Export that one frame to an image. And create your own text/graphics templates to quickly generate new thumbnails for Youtube.
No need for an external image editor.
This... is something that requires experience and insight in good design and layout. And knowing your audience - what they respond to.
Can't help you with that. Read up on good design. Get a good book on design. Watch some tutorials on what good design is. You need to develop an eye and sense for it - which can't be done in a mere 40 hours.
Learning a new software interface and medium-level usage of software can be easily taught (by oneself or watching/reading tutorials) in 40 hours. Learning how to be a good designer: Nah.
But you can copy designs from other people, of course.
Which means: download and install each (trial), and test for a week, or so. NO-ONE can tell you which will work best for you in this case (in my opinion). We can only suggest options and alternatives, and make you aware of what exists and about different workflows. You decide in the end.
The danger with these questions is always that each answer will generally be directed by that respondent's personal preference and familiarity of software that they happen to use within the context of their work requirements.
My experience: I use most Adobe apps since Photoshop 3.5. Extensive experience in just about any design app, from 2D to 3D, UX prototyping, and film & FX editing. But I also teach this stuff to either beginners and experienced people alike. I like to work in open source software (if possible) as well. I used or tried almost every design app ever published, from C64 times onward to today.
To me software is merely a tool that is used in a particular context. If it saves me time, makes me more efficient and it is fun to use: I will use it. I do not care about free or commercial. I do, however, tend to avoid locked-in subscriptions if possible. I have been bitten too often. I tend to favour different design tools for my own personal work compared to what I am 'forced' to utilize at my jobs. But it depends.
And that is the key phrase here: it depends.
Let's return to your @Ambrosia7177 's task requirements and context:
As others have mentioned here: aside from having to create a Canva account, the core version of Affinity is entirely free. No strings attached (as of yet? Unknown at this time) and Canva has gone to quite extreme lengths to calm their Affinity users that their intention is to keep it freely available for everyone.
The only part users have to pay rent/a subscription for is to access the generative AI features.
But the core application is actually the next FULL release of Affinity Designer, Photo, and Publisher seamlessly integrated into one application with different workspaces to conveniently switch between these three feature sets.
It is also good to mention here that in this version a bunch of long LOOOOONG requested features have finally been implemented. For example it is now possible to convert bitmaps to vectors.
As it stands today: there is no catch. Affinty is fully featured, sans AI functionality. And free. It really is quite impressive if you think about it.
It does NOT save your work to their servers. It does NOT send your files for training their AI. It works locally. Even when users opt for the paid subscription: the AI models are downloaded to your local machine, and run on your local machine.
The Affinity Photo workspace will easily accommodate your listed requirements here. Yours are very basic needs, actually. Because Affinity is now a combined trio of apps, it might come across as cumbersome to learn - but the dedicated workspaces do keep things relatively clutter-free.
GIMP will do just fine as well. The latest version (R3) is actually not that bad (would never have thought to actually write this).
Krita will also work just fine. Amazingly good for digital painting in my opinion, but is also fairly good at general image editing, even if not as performant as dedicated image editors. The only drawback is its text tool, which is okay, but doesn't allow for direct edits on the canvas (yet).
PhotoLine is my preferred general purpose image editing app. A glorious underdog - but not for everyone. And an obscurity on the web and social media. Not great for absolute beginners due to a distinct lack of tutorials.
Pixelmator accomodates your purposes really well too.
If you are reluctant because of the 'free' Affinity deal being a "too good to be true" offer: at this point there is no indication that there are any catches. Of course, you will still need a Canva account, and the software will have to check your license and contact the Canva servers once in a while for you to keep using it. I believe I read that Affinity will need to contact their servers every 7 days, or so, to keep running. But don't quote me here.
For some people this might be a dealbreaker. For most it is not. I mean: quite a few design apps can't even be used anymore without an active live internet connection... (Figma, for example)
I really have to ask: if you are already familiar with Resolve: why not also do your photo editing in it? I know people who left Photoshop in favour of Resolve. Of course, it is 'different', but I have edited stills in Resolve myself.
Just grab a frame, place it in its own comp, add text. Use layers, effects. For more complex effects switch to the Fusion workspace. The colour grading workspace allows for high-level colour and light adjustments as well...
Export that one frame to an image. And create your own text/graphics templates to quickly generate new thumbnails for Youtube.
No need for an external image editor.
This... is something that requires experience and insight in good design and layout. And knowing your audience - what they respond to.
Can't help you with that. Read up on good design. Get a good book on design. Watch some tutorials on what good design is. You need to develop an eye and sense for it - which can't be done in a mere 40 hours.
Learning a new software interface and medium-level usage of software can be easily taught (by oneself or watching/reading tutorials) in 40 hours. Learning how to be a good designer: Nah.
But you can copy designs from other people, of course.
I can't tell you which general purpose image editor would work best for you --no-one can. All of the image editors listed above (including Resolve) are overkill for your modest requirements, and it basically comes down to your own preferences: how you want to work, and which software feels 'best' for you personally.
Which means: download and install each (trial), and test for a week, or so. NO-ONE can tell you which will work best for you in this case (in my opinion). We can only suggest options and alternatives, and make you aware of what exists and about different workflows. You decide in the end.
PS I forgot to mention that I have used the Affinity apps since their first release. Personally, there are too many paper-cuts in those apps for my personal requirements and workflow(s). This, however, should not influence your @Ambrosia7177 decision which image editing workflow and software to use.
Your requirements are extremely basic. Mine reach into the ninth circle of Dante's proverbial hell.
Even the lofty Photoshop falls short on what I need to accomplish my work. Btw, Photoshop's core is full of legacy code and design decisions that require backward workarounds, and in some cases just cannot keep up with modern workflows.
Your requirements are extremely basic. Mine reach into the ninth circle of Dante's proverbial hell.
Even the lofty Photoshop falls short on what I need to accomplish my work. Btw, Photoshop's core is full of legacy code and design decisions that require backward workarounds, and in some cases just cannot keep up with modern workflows.
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Oh good to know. I’ve never endured GIMP enough to use it for print or RAW so I didn’t even know that
I think one of the benefits of Affinity is it doesn’t have as many features as Adobe so it’s less confusing. It has pretty much everything most people will need but Adobe also has that plus a bunch of niche stuff, which can clutter the interface