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Affinity Studio now free

(www.affinity.studio)
1200 points dagmx | 1 comments | 30 Oct 25 15:54 UTC | HN request time: 0.33s | source
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pentagrama ◴[30 Oct 25 17:21 UTC] No.45762521[source]▶
I used Affinity for several years, so to add some background here:

Serif is the company that originally built this software.

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2014–2024

Serif developed the Affinity suite, a collection of three independent desktop apps sold with a one-time payment model:

- Affinity Designer: vector graphic design (Adobe Illustrator equivalent)

- Affinity Photo: digital image editing (Adobe Photoshop equivalent)

- Affinity Publisher: print and layout design (Adobe InDesign equivalent)

They were solid, professional tools without subscriptions like Adobe, a big reason why many designers loved them.

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2024

Canva acquired Serif.

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2025 (today)

The product has been relaunched. The three apps are now merged into a single app, simply called Affinity, and it follows a freemium model.

From what I’ve tested, you need a Canva account to download and open the app (you can opt out of some telemetry during setup).

The new app has four tabs:

- Vector: formerly Affinity Designer

- Pixel: formerly Affinity Photo

- Layout: formerly Affinity Publisher

- Canva AI: a new, paid AI-powered section

Screenshot https://imgur.com/a/h1S6fcK

Hope can help!

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iamphilrae ◴[30 Oct 25 19:56 UTC] No.45764560[source]▶
And so the enshittification begins. Such a shame to lose another set of solid, non-subscription-based desktop apps.
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gazook89 ◴[30 Oct 25 20:04 UTC] No.45764669[source]▶
Gathered from the FAQ, you only pay if you want Canva AI features. Yes, you create a Canva account, which is free, so that you can get your license. With old affinity, you also needed an account to receive the license.

In the new UI the ai features are tucked into an additional “studio” like how layout, raster, and vector are individual studios. You can choose which studios have a visible toggle, so you can hide the Canva AI toggle if you don’t want to see it.

Perhaps it gets worse over time. But right now, they’ve just made it free.

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1. 4u00u ◴[31 Oct 25 05:28 UTC] No.45768706[source]▶
I have to admit but unifying all apps and let me choose which panels to see it a good improvement over the old apps. Plus the fact that now I can share the editable files with others that don't use affinity and they can just download the app for free. I agree, in the future it might turn into another adobe but for now its nice.