Canva Makes Affinity Free for Everyone: Photoshop Alternative at $0

If you've ever wanted a professional photo editing tool like Photoshop but didn’t want to pay for expensive subscriptions, here’s some amazing news — Affinity apps are now completely free!

What Are Affinity Apps?

Affinity has long been known for its professional creative tools — Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer, and Affinity Publisher — which were popular as affordable one-time purchases compared to Adobe’s subscription-based Photoshop and Illustrator. These apps are loved by photographers, designers, and digital artists for their performance and user-friendly interface.

Canva Acquires Affinity

Last year, Canva acquired Affinity. Now, in a major update, Canva has made all Affinity apps completely free for everyone. That means you can now download and use Affinity’s professional creative tools at no cost — no subscriptions, no hidden fees.

You just need to create a free account on the official Affinity website to download the suite. The apps are available for Windows, macOS, and soon for iPad. There’s even support for ARM-based Copilot+ PCs.

What’s Included

Affinity’s new all-in-one app includes different creative tools:

• Vector (Designer) – For creating logos, illustrations, and artwork.

• Pixel (Photo) – A full-featured photo editing tool.

• Layout (Publisher) – Perfect for magazines, posters, and documents.

• Canva AI  – Offers generative AI tools like image creation (requires Canva Pro).

The best part? All the design and photo-editing tools are completely free. Only Canva’s AI-powered features require a paid Canva plan.

A Photoshop Alternative That’s Free

Affinity Photo feels and works a lot like Photoshop. You’ll find tools such as layers, effects, shadows, overlays, selection tools, and even machine learning features for object selection. Although some AI features run on your CPU and may be slower than GPU-powered tools, the editing experience is smooth and capable.

If you’ve used Photoshop before, you’ll feel right at home with Affinity’s interface. You can edit photos, design thumbnails, add text effects, and much more — all without paying a cent.

Better Than GIMP?

GIMP is a great free and open-source Photoshop alternative, but it can feel complicated to use. Affinity, on the other hand, offers a cleaner, more intuitive experience while maintaining professional quality. While it’s not open-source, it delivers performance and usability that can easily match or surpass paid tools.

Final Thoughts

This move by Canva is a huge win for creators. Making Affinity’s professional design tools free opens the door for millions of people — from students to professionals — to create stunning designs without breaking the bank.

If you haven’t tried it yet, visit affinity.studio and give it a shot. Whether you’re editing photos, creating digital art, or designing layouts, Affinity’s free suite is one of the best creative tools available today.

I’ve also made a video on this topic — you can watch it below.

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