What is Affinity?
Affinity is a desktop application for professional graphic design. It merges what used to be three separate programs from the British developer Serif, Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher, into a single app organized into Vector, Pixel and Layout studios. A designer can draw a logo with vector tools, retouch a photograph with raster tools and lay out a brochure page in the same document without exporting files between programs.
The app runs locally without a subscription: every editing tool and export option is free to use once a person signs in with a free Canva account. Workspaces can be customized by mixing tools from different studios and saving panel arrangements for particular kinds of work, and those setups can be shared with colleagues. Affinity opens documents made in the earlier version 2 apps as well as Photoshop PSD files, and it exports standard formats such as PDF, SVG, PNG and TIFF.
Canva bought Serif in 2024 and released Affinity in its current form at the end of October 2025, making it a free competitor to Adobe’s Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. Subscribers to Canva’s premium plans can use Canva AI tools inside Affinity, including generative fill, expand and edit, and background removal. An iPad version is in development, and people who bought the older version 2 licenses can keep using those apps.
Key features of Affinity
- 01
Vector studio
Pen, shape and node tools create scalable illustrations, logos and icons, with boolean operations, gradients and precise snapping for print and screen work.
- 02
Pixel studio
Raster tools handle photo retouching, masking, selections, adjustment layers and live filters, covering much of the work designers previously did in Affinity Photo.
- 03
Layout studio
Page layout features support multi-page documents with master pages, linked text frames and paragraph and character styles for brochures, magazines, books and reports.
- 04
Customizable workspaces
Users can combine tools from different studios, rearrange panels and save several workspace setups for specific project types, then share those configurations with teams or the wider community.
- 05
Canva AI Studio
People on Canva premium plans can run AI tools inside Affinity, such as generative fill, expand and edit, and background removal, without leaving their document.
- 06
File compatibility
Affinity opens documents from the earlier Affinity version 2 apps as well as Photoshop PSD and PDF files, and exports formats including PDF, SVG, PNG and TIFF for print and web.
Who uses Affinity?
- Freelance illustrators and graphic designers create logos, icons and print artwork without paying for a design software subscription.
- Photographers retouch and composite images using layers, masks and adjustment tools.
- Small publishers and marketing teams lay out brochures, magazines and books ready for commercial printing.
- Canva users who need finer control than the browser editor offers move detailed design work into a desktop app linked to their Canva account.
History of Affinity
Serif, a software company founded in Nottingham, England, in 1987, spent about five years building the Affinity range from scratch as a professional alternative to Adobe’s creative applications. Affinity Designer arrived in 2014 as Serif’s first product for the Mac, followed by Affinity Photo in 2015 and Affinity Publisher in 2019. Version 2, released in November 2022, introduced a universal license that covered all three apps on every supported platform.
Canva acquired Serif in March 2024 at an undisclosed price and published a pledge about fair pricing and continued development of the apps. In early October 2025 Serif stopped selling the version 2 apps ahead of a relaunch, and at the end of that month Canva released the unified Affinity app as a free download for Windows and macOS.
- 2014
Serif releases Affinity Designer, the first app in the Affinity range.
- 2015
Affinity Photo launches as a professional photo editor.
- 2019
Affinity Publisher completes the three-app suite with desktop publishing tools.
- 2022
Affinity version 2 introduces a universal license covering all three apps.
- 2024
Canva acquires Serif and the Affinity apps.
- 2025
Canva relaunches Affinity as a single free app combining vector, pixel and layout tools.
Affinity pricing
Pricing modelFreemium
The full app is free with a Canva account and needs no subscription; AI tools inside Affinity require a Canva premium plan such as Pro, Business or Enterprise.
Prices change often. Check the official Affinity website for current plans.
Affinity alternatives
Well-known alternativesAdobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, GIMP, Inkscape and Scribus
Affinity: frequently asked questions
Who owns Affinity?
Affinity is owned by Canva, the Australian-founded design software company, which bought the app’s developer, Serif, in March 2024. Serif, a software company from Nottingham, England, created the original Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher apps before Canva merged them into a single free application in 2025.
What is Affinity used for?
Affinity is used for professional graphic design work: drawing vector illustrations, logos and icons, editing and retouching photos, and laying out multi-page documents such as brochures, magazines and books. Its Vector, Pixel and Layout studios let designers do all three kinds of work in one file.
Is Affinity free?
Yes. Since its relaunch in October 2025, the full Affinity app has been free to download and use on Windows and macOS with no subscription, although users must sign in with a free Canva account. Canva’s AI tools inside Affinity require a Canva premium plan, such as Pro, Business, Enterprise or Canva for Education.
When was Affinity released?
The current all-in-one Affinity app was released at the end of October 2025. It succeeded Serif’s separate Affinity apps: Affinity Designer, first released in 2014, Affinity Photo in 2015 and Affinity Publisher in 2019.
Is Affinity available on iPad?
Not yet in its new form. As of September 2026 the unified Affinity app runs on Windows and macOS, and Affinity says an iPad version is in development without giving a release date. Canva has kept the older version 2 iPad apps available for existing users in the meantime.
Sources
- Get Affinity affinity.studio
- Canva Relaunches Affinity as Free All-in-One Design App, MacRumors macrumors.com
- Affinity’s entire suite goes completely free on Mac with new all-in-one app, AppleInsider appleinsider.com
- Affinity (software), Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org
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