Affinity Just Went Free Forever, But Is It Too Good to Be True?

At the beginning of the month, Affinity pulled all of its apps from the website and teased us that ‘something big’ was on its way. Well, it’s finally been revealed, and honestly, it’s a bit of a surprise. Affinity (now owned by Canva, which acquired Affinity last year) has launched an all-new, all-in-one design platform that combines photo editing, vector illustration, and page layout into one lightning-fast app.

Oh, and it’s completely free. As in, “no subscription, no license fee, no catch.” Or at least, that’s what Canva wants you to believe. But in the world of “free forever” apps, designers have learned to read the fine print between the lines.

Still Affinity, Not Canva (Mostly)

When Canva bought Affinity’s parent company, Serif, a lot of us assumed it was the beginning of the end. The fear was that Affinity would get watered down into some glossy “design for everyone” toy.

But, the new app still feels like it’s been made for designers, not marketers. Canva’s fingerprints are definitely there, but the core Affinity experience hasn’t been wrecked. At least not yet. They’ve clearly listened to the community, too. Loads of the small quality-of-life tweaks and requests from pro users have made it in, which makes this release feel more like an upgrade than a rebrand.

The All-New Affinity: Three Apps Become One Beast

Affinity’s three big apps (Designer, Photo, and Publisher) have now merged into one unified creative powerhouse. You can edit a portrait, tweak a logo, and drop it straight into a brochure layout without ever changing tabs. Finally, everything lives inside the same workspace.

It seems fast, too. Panning and zooming are smooth, edits happen instantly, and it feels more responsive than anything Adobe’s managed in years. You can zoom in to ten-million per cent, if you’re into that sort of thing, and it doesn’t even flinch. For the people who’ve been using Affinity since day one, it will still feel familiar, just leaner and better stitched together with the convenience of one app instead of three separate ones.

Vectors, Pixels, Layouts All in One Place

Here’s the bit that’ll actually make working designers happy: everything’s finally in one space. The vector tools are proper, precise, and don’t lag even with heavy files. The photo editing side is genuinely up there with Photoshop. It’s non-destructive, GPU-accelerated, and loaded with all the good stuff like Smart Selections and live filters.

Meanwhile, the layout tools handle long documents, master pages, and text styling with zero fuss. You can jump between all three instantly, so no exporting, no conversions, and no spinning beachballs of death.

Custom Studios

Affinity’s also added custom “studios,” which basically means you can build your own workspace setup. You can mix and match vector, pixel, and layout tools however you like, then save it. You can even share your setups with other people, which is nice if you work in a team or just like to show off how organised you are.

It’s a small change that makes a big difference. Every designer works differently, and for once, the software actually respects that instead of forcing you into someone else’s idea of productivity.

It’s Free Forever (But Can You Really Trust It?)

Affinity is now completely free. No trial, no “basic” tier, no watermarks, just the full professional-grade toolset, open to everyone. It’s a bold move, especially when Adobe is still charging freelancers subscriptions that feel more like rent than software. Canva is clearly trying to position Affinity as the accessible, no-strings-attached alternative, likely to funnel more people into paying for the Canva Premium option.

The problem is that not everyone believes it. Across Reddit, Twitter, and design forums, the excitement quickly gives way to suspicion. Designers love Affinity, but they’ve been around long enough to smell a “free forever” claim that might come with a catch. As one user put it, “Free in Canva-speak usually means you’ll pay later, in features, privacy, or both.”

That scepticism isn’t unfounded. In 2025, “free forever” often translates to one of three things: you’re the product, the good stuff eventually lands behind a paywall, or your data (or maybe even your artwork) quietly trains AI models. Canva insists your work won’t be used to train its AI and that privacy is a top priority. That’s the official line, but, as another designer dryly noted, “Top priorities have a way of quietly shifting when money and tech are involved.”

The elephant in the room is AI. Canva’s tools, such as Generative Fill, Smart Expand, and Remove Background, are baked into Affinity for Premium users. They’re undeniably handy, but for anyone who prefers their creative work to stay out of a training dataset, they’re also a little worrying. AI might be the future, but it’s still the slightly weird roommate at the creative party: you can’t uninvite it, it’s always there, and it’s not fully trusted.

Potentially Brilliant, But Let’s Wait and See

So what’s the verdict then? It feels like a strange move, and many loyal users will certainly be sad to know there won’t be any more updates to their existing versions in the old format. Although the new software is free, it seems like a strong move for anyone who is resisting Adobe’s Creative Cloud. Fortunately, the old versions will still function, and this newer, more powerful version could be a good thing. We perhaps shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, as they say. Let’s just hope this particular horse isn’t of the Trojan variety.

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