Affinity Studio now free • Hacker News Board

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#41

Post by northrup » Thu, Oct 30, 2025, 4:18 PM UTC

tym0 wrote: post #35

pavlov wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a replacement, the old Affinity apps are discontinued: "Your Affinity V2 license (via Serif) remains valid and Serif will continue to keep activation servers online. But please note that these apps won’t receive future updates. "For the best experience, we recommend using the new Affinity by Canva app."

As someone who just bought V2 I am worried that V2 uses an activation server at all unlike V1 with its license key. When this free/premium with AI thing crash and burn in a few years I can kiss that license goodbye.

You should log in and download the offline copy of your license key and store it in order to safeguard such things.

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#42

Post by mbirth » Thu, Oct 30, 2025, 4:19 PM UTC

cosmic_cheese wrote: post #27

turnsout wrote: post #20

As an Affinity user, I'm interested to try this out (just downloaded). I'm surprised they tried to put it all in one app. Affinity Publisher is quite different from Affinity Photo for example. Edit: Just checked out the app. They essentially put Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher together in one app, switchable from a tab. Honestly, it's executed well. I hope it stays free—these apps are legitim…

Combining vector and raster editors makes some amount of sense since the raster editor had some vector capabilities anyway, but yeah, tossing in layout/desktop publishing feels kind of weird. It's a bit like combining a microwave oven and a blender.

DTP is basically vector editing with an emphasis on text boxes.

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#43

Post by codeptualize » Thu, Oct 30, 2025, 4:19 PM UTC

It'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 is enough people will want the AI, which I think is correct.

As a long time Affinity user, first reaction was: "see, there is the subscription", but on second thought, fair enough, well played. I'll probably get the AI subscription as well.

I do wonder if over time more features will go into that premium plan, but we'll see.

Edit: It seems like some of the AI stuff runs on device, they are not very clear about what does or doesn't. That makes me change my opinion a bit, as that's just straight up a freemium subscription model.

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#44

Post by Inityx » Thu, Oct 30, 2025, 4:20 PM UTC

If you're not paying, you are the product.

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#45

Post by dtagames » Thu, Oct 30, 2025, 4:21 PM UTC

I must say this is a welcome relief from the overpriced Adobe monopoly which I, as a solo dev, simply can no longer justify.

The last suite with this name had a terrible UI. Canva also owns Leonardo which is pretty great so perhaps this will have a decent UI now that they've bought and revamped it.

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#46

Post by BizarroLand » Thu, Oct 30, 2025, 4:21 PM UTC

add-sub-mul-div wrote: post #9

If I have to "sign up" then I don't really consider it free. Maybe still a good deal for some who need it, but I won't casually try this out like I would if I could just do it anonymously.

This is a good rule of thumb

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#47

Post by sarreph » Thu, Oct 30, 2025, 4:21 PM UTC

After the V2 suite was released a few years ago, I realised I would never get the "old" Affinity product experience back -- the same experience and price-point that made me a great and productive self-taught illustrator / designer.

C'est la vie, all good things must come to an end. I'm glad the original team made it out with a financial reward (from Canva sale)...

Time for someone else to pick up the mantle! [and for everyone else to stop moaning]

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#48

Post by odie5533 » Thu, Oct 30, 2025, 4:22 PM UTC

osxman wrote: post #29

This is bad news... I liked the Publisher/Designer/Photo apps on my Mac. The presentation of this new 'Canva' acquired product feels like a circus, and roadmap is very unclear also. This feels like it will be the end of a none adobe solution. Also I paid every upgrade for NOTHING.

Now that the basic tools are all free, they no longer make money. AI features are the only thing that makes money, so all development is going to funneled into the AI features exclusively.

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#49

Post by orliesaurus » Thu, Oct 30, 2025, 4:25 PM UTC

Interesting move by this company to expand into the creative suite space...

BUT I'm curious how they'll handle interoperability with existing workflows... Are there import/export paths for PSD, Sketch, Figma... Without that it's just another silo...

ALSO for freelancers and small teams licensing models matter... a subscription tied to an account can be a hurdle if you need to collaborate with clients outside the ecosystem...

Would love to see more clarity on offline use, local file formats and plugin APIs... those details make or break a creative suite...

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#50

Post by kyawzazaw » Thu, Oct 30, 2025, 4:25 PM UTC

orliesaurus wrote: post #49

Interesting move by this company to expand into the creative suite space... BUT I'm curious how they'll handle interoperability with existing workflows... Are there import/export paths for PSD, Sketch, Figma... Without that it's just another silo... ALSO for freelancers and small teams licensing models matter... a subscription tied to an account can be a hurdle if you need to collaborate with clients outside the ecos…

I think for now, they will be fine with solo. for small businesses