Linux version when
Indeed. Although I suspect Wine or proton could be an option - not checked.
Older versions historically haven’t worked very well, but I’ve not tried with newer copies.
Affinity Studio now free
141–150 of 825 posts
Re: Affinity Studio now free
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m also a loyal Serif customer, love Affinity, and I work at Canva. This is not the first step in that. It’s not anywhere close to our plan. We want to make Affinity, and professional design, the default tool. And a huge part of that is free, forever. AI features; like generative fill, have COGS and incremental inference costs. Hence that’s an _optional_ subscription. I understand why you feel that way. Having being…
Is there any chance of offering a local mode for AI features? It's fine if that's pay-gated, but an increasing number of mass market machines (Macs, mainly, but also workstations with Nvidia cards and AMD boxes like the Framework desktop) have inference capabilities sitting somewhere between competent and excellent and it'd be a shame if all that power just sat unusued. It'd be a nice boost for privacy, too.
Affinity Photo 2 has a few offline AI features already. You download a model for offline use.
Re: Affinity Studio now free
#143I 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!
Re: Affinity Studio now free
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Affinity is free, forever; but not open source; if that makes sense. It's free until you guys stop supporting it or go out of business, then it disappears.
I don't think it disappears - the copy I have will still be on my machine, and free to use as well. Unless they implemented something to remotely delete it?
Legally, you can't redistribute it
Re: Affinity Studio now free
#145Many comments here that this "makes sense." Free does not make sense! If I'm not paying for it I'm not the customer anymore.
That depends on whether they have anything to sell you. Like Da Vinci Resolve's free version, for example; they have something pro to sell you (and hardware).
Canva presumably see it the same way
Re: Affinity Studio now free
#146It's a smart approach imo. They had to get a subscription somehow to support AI features which they need to compete (just usage cost wise you can't do that on a one time fee license). But since they promised not to go subscription when they got acquired by Canva, making it free with AI as the subscription is a clever solution to not break their promise while still introducing a subscription model. I think their bet i…
Thank you (long-time Affinity user and fan, and Canva employee here :) Re. on-device AI features: these still have significant training costs; and Canva as a whole has paid hundreds of millions to date in royalties to creatives, including for AI training. Affinity is free, forever; but not open source; if that makes sense.
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Re: Affinity Studio now free
#147It's a smart approach imo. They had to get a subscription somehow to support AI features which they need to compete (just usage cost wise you can't do that on a one time fee license). But since they promised not to go subscription when they got acquired by Canva, making it free with AI as the subscription is a clever solution to not break their promise while still introducing a subscription model. I think their bet i…
Thank you (long-time Affinity user and fan, and Canva employee here :) Re. on-device AI features: these still have significant training costs; and Canva as a whole has paid hundreds of millions to date in royalties to creatives, including for AI training. Affinity is free, forever; but not open source; if that makes sense.
It's not free, it's a lure. There is a hook hiding somewhere.
The real cost of tools like these is not the upfront price, but the time invested learning the tool and incorporating it into your workflow.
Krita is clunky, but good enough for me, and it really is free.
Update: Changed my analogy to lure.
Re: Affinity Studio now free
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Affinity is free, forever; but not open source; if that makes sense. It's free until you guys stop supporting it or go out of business, then it disappears.
I don't think it disappears - the copy I have will still be on my machine, and free to use as well. Unless they implemented something to remotely delete it?
Unless you freeze your machine in its current state, software that isn't maintained will eventually stop working.
Re: Affinity Studio now free
#149Devastated about this. Good for them for making money on the sale to Canva, but still, this is a sad day. Studio is now freemium, in the future probably more and more features (outside of AI) will be added in the subscription, and you will end up with an app full of disabled features and pop-ups encouraging you to subscribe and unlock the new and shiny thing. There is absolutely nothing in the world that anyone can s…
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Re: Affinity Studio now free
#150They seem to have removed Affinity from the Mac App Store. For those who want a lifetime license instead of freemium, Amandine* is similar to Affinity ($30 on Mac Store). (I have no connection to either app). * Edit: It's Amadine, not Amandine (my typo)
And if you want just a photo editor, not a vector software, I really recommend Pixelmator Pro. I've had it and Affinity Photo for years, but I find myself sticking with Pixelmator more often than not.