Affinity image editing software now free

[Sharktooth]

Affinity has just announced that their latest image editing sofware will now be provided free.

That was a big surprise. I, like many others, were expecting that Affinity could move to a subscription model, like Photoshop. Instead, they're still going to provide new software for free. The only gotcha is that the new Artificial Intelligence tools will require a subscription to Canva. That's O.K. by me, since I don't have any burning desire to use AI.

Here's the link to the announcement on YouTube, that also describes some of the new features too.

For those of you not familiar with Affinity, they have been providing image editing software for several years now, and it is a low cost competitor to Photoshop. Affinity also includes Desktop Publishing as well as Drawing features, along with the image editing component. I've been using it for a few years now, and find it quite good.
Now that it's being provided for free, it will be a good alternative to Gimp, which is also free, but doesn't have the greatest user interface.

 

[koraks]

I gave it a spin last night when I read about its release. I think I'll keep using it; it seems to perform significantly better (faster) than GIMP for filter/adjustment layers and the masking procedures for these layers are also more effective and easy to use. The feature set/functionality is more limited to GIMP's, so I'd consider them complementary. For instance, Affinity's color management is rather crude.

 

[ezphotolessons]

Their Customer Service is abysmal.

 

[gbroadbridge]

My concern is that although it is free right now, I've been burnt in the past by similar promises that were 'amended' later and turned into subscriptions.

I have a perpetual license for all 3 affinity products at the moment, and don't think I'll migrate any of my work over to the new platform whose file formats are not backwards compatible.

 

[Don_ih]

I have a perpetual license for all 3 affinity products

I have the same thing. And, given my totally unsophisticated needs of the software, I'd be fine if they never even updated it.

 

[Hassasin]

My concern is that although it is free right now, I've been burnt in the past by similar promises that were 'amended' later and turned into subscriptions.

I have a perpetual license for all 3 affinity products at the moment, and don't think I'll migrate any of my work over to the new platform whose file formats are not backwards compatible.

Does not look like anyone will have a choice. This appears to have been part of the update to what you , I , and countless others, paid for. Canva will take Affinity login details and integrate. It's probably too fresh to see if this will have meaningful impact on those who have paid lifetime entry fee for the Affinity Suite.

Taking it further, first it looks like there is a deal between Affinity and Canva, one having acquired the other, or some sort of mutual integration. I'm not bothered by this at all, but will be if at some point later the money I put into Affinity will have become as having no value at all, or if I'll be forced to start paying (i.e. for Canva account). Affinity has been very at providing high quality design software for a long time at a fraction of expected price point. WIll this be a start of corporate greed? Time will tell.

If any of my worries will have direct link to use of Ai features and opting out will remain on teh table, without losing functionality of non-Ai version, then I'm good.

 

[Hassasin]

Well, I need to walk back my last comment, for now at least. This New Affinity as an all-in-one software, and could be an interesting proposition, especially for anyone into publishing, as all functions are integrated into one application. I think I'll get it to see what the difference is from the Suite.

There is a good chance this all-in-one is NOT same as stand alone software. Affinity had done in the past, offering older versions for nearly free, after newer version was already out. That approach gave users really cheap way of getting still a high quality software, even it was not the latest.

 

[Hassasin]

My concern is that although it is free right now, I've been burnt in the past by similar promises that were 'amended' later and turned into subscriptions.

I have a perpetual license for all 3 affinity products at the moment, and don't think I'll migrate any of my work over to the new platform whose file formats are not backwards compatible.

Affinity states full compatibility with V1 and V2.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Affinity states full compatibility with V1 and V2.

Sure, it can read them, but anything you save with the new version is not compatible with, and cannot be read with earlier versions.
So you are then trapped into the new version. And if it becomes subscription later, you have an issue.

Been there before.

 

[Hassasin]

Sure, it can read them, but anything you save with the new version is not compatible with, and cannot be read with earlier versions.
So you are then trapped into the new version. And if it becomes subscription later, you have an issue.

Been there before.

View attachment 410310

I have not checked with actual files but if this the case, then it is not full compatibility as they claim.

 

[gbroadbridge]

I have not checked with actual files but if this the case, then it is not full compatibility as they claim.

In their FAQ