Affinity by Canva: Free All‑in‑One Creative Suite with Optional AI

Read Articleadded Oct 30, 2025
Affinity by Canva: Free All‑in‑One Creative Suite with Optional AI

Affinity by Canva is a free, fully featured creative desktop app for Windows and macOS that unifies vector, pixel, and layout workflows with non-destructive editing, customizable studios, and precise export. It imports major creative formats with high fidelity and offers advanced photo, vector, and page layout capabilities, plus quick export to Canva. Canva premium users can unlock integrated AI tools; the app works offline after activation, supports unlimited installs, and opens V1/V2 files (though older apps can’t open new Affinity files).

Key Points

  • Free, full-featured desktop app for design, photo editing, and page layout—no paywalls; Canva account required.
  • Optional Canva AI Studio (with a Canva premium plan) brings Generative Fill/Expand/Edit, image/vector generation, background removal, super resolution, and more directly into Affinity.
  • Robust pro toolsets: non-destructive editing, customizable studios, high-fidelity import (PSD/AI/PDF/SVG/IDML/DWG), precise export, RAW and advanced retouching, vector precision tools, and print-ready layout features.
  • Compatibility caveat: new Affinity opens V1/V2 files, but V1/V2 cannot open new .af files; V2 gets no new features, and V2 iPad cannot round-trip with the new desktop app.
  • Available on Windows and macOS (Apple silicon optimized), iPad version coming; install on unlimited devices and work offline after activation.

Sentiment

The overall sentiment of the Hacker News discussion is predominantly negative and critical, expressing widespread disappointment and concern. Users feel betrayed by the departure from Affinity's previous 'pay once, own forever' business model and fear the 'enshittification' of the product under Canva's freemium strategy. While some acknowledge the commercial logic of funding AI features and appreciate the free core tools, the overriding sentiment is one of distrust towards a big corporation and lamenting the loss of a truly independent, user-friendly alternative to Adobe.

In Agreement

  • The freemium model is a smart approach to get AI money from those willing to pay, allowing the core creative suite to be free, potentially increasing accessibility.
  • AI-driven features are in demand and require significant backend resources (GPU, VRAM, storage), making a subscription model for these services financially necessary and pragmatic.
  • Canva's approach is more honest than Adobe's, giving away the core app because it's crackable, and charging for cloud-dependent features that cannot be 'cracked'.
  • The free core application acts as a sales funnel for Canva's broader paid ecosystem, creating goodwill and low-friction conversion, with minimal cost for free users on desktop.
  • Making professional design tools widely accessible, including to those who cannot afford them, is a positive mission.
  • The unification of Designer, Photo, and Publisher into a single app with tab-based switching is seen as a well-executed improvement by some users, resolving previous 'silly' divisions.
  • It offers a compelling alternative to Adobe's monopoly and its high subscription costs, potentially putting pressure on Adobe.
  • For casual users, having a solid free design tool is a welcome benefit, and they might not need or want the AI features anyway.

Opposed

  • The shift to a freemium model and the abandonment of the 'pay once, own forever' licensing model is a betrayal of Affinity's core value proposition and a key reason many users switched from Adobe.
  • Many users fear 'enshittification,' where the free app will increasingly become unusable due to feature gating, ad-supported content, data collection, or constant pushes to subscribe.
  • Existing V2 perpetual license holders feel their software is being deprecated; it will receive no future updates (bugs, security, OS compatibility, or new features), making it a 'second-class' experience or eventually unusable.
  • The mandatory Canva account and online activation requirement for a desktop app are viewed as a loss of user autonomy, privacy, and long-term access, making the software dependent on Canva's servers.
  • Concerns exist that user artwork/content, especially when using cloud AI features, might be used for AI training despite Canva's assurances, raising privacy and ethical issues for professional artists.
  • The consolidation of three distinct professional applications into a single UI is seen by some as unnecessary 'bloat' and a departure from focused, performant tools.
  • The move is perceived as prioritizing AI revenue over maintaining the quality and development of core design features, suggesting the 'design side will rot and die'.
  • Lack of a Linux version is a disappointment, and the inability of V2 apps to open new files saved by the V3 app creates workflow friction.
Affinity by Canva: Free All‑in‑One Creative Suite with Optional AI