Is Affinity Free? What Changed and What You Get

Affinity is one app for design, photo editing and page layout, and it now sits alongside Canva. The Affinity site is blunt about it: Affinity is free for individuals, and it adds the word seriously in brackets. For business owners who've been doing their own graphics in a browser tool, that's a big deal, because Affinity is a full desktop design app. Here's what you get, what isn't included and who it suits.

What free Affinity includes

The Affinity product page describes one app covering three jobs:

• Vector for graphic design, digital illustration and logo creation.
• Pixel for photo editing.
• Layout for page design, such as brochures and reports.
• File compatibility with PSD, AI, IDML, DWG and other file types, with layers and structure preserved.
• Export to Canva, so you can take finished assets into Canva to collaborate and scale them into campaigns.

Affinity says you can design, edit and lay out without leaving your .af file, and that the app keeps up with thousands of layers and detailed edits at very high zoom levels.

Free Affinity vs Affinity with Canva AI

Feature	Free for individuals	With a Canva premium plan
Vector, Pixel and Layout tools	Yes	Yes
Open PSD, AI and IDML files	Yes	Yes
Export assets to Canva	Yes	Yes
Canva AI tools inside Affinity	No	Yes
Mac	Yes	Yes
Windows	Yes	Yes
iPad	Coming, not yet available	Coming, not yet available

The catch: AI is optional, and iPad isn't here yet

The design tools are free, but the AI tools aren't part of the free offer. Affinity says that if you're on a Canva premium plan, you can use AI tools directly in Affinity. On a free account, you get the full design app without those AI features.

The second gap is iPad. Affinity's download section lists Mac and Windows, and for iPad it says the team is busy building the iPad version. If you edit on a tablet, that's not available yet.

The third point is who it's for. The free offer is for individuals. Affinity points organisations that need features such as SSO to Canva Enterprise or Canva Education instead.

Can Affinity replace Photoshop and Illustrator?

For a lot of small business design work, it can. Affinity's file compatibility matters here. Because it opens PSD, AI and IDML files with layers preserved, you can open work a designer sent you in Adobe formats and carry on editing it.

If you're comparing options, my list of Photoshop alternatives includes Affinity alongside other tools, and my guide to free graphic design software covers lighter browser-based options for quick social graphics.

How to get Affinity for free

1. Go to the Affinity website and choose your platform, Mac or Windows.
2. Select the free download.
3. Install the app. On Mac it runs natively on Apple silicon and Intel.
4. Open a template or start a new document in Vector, Pixel or Layout.
5. Link your Canva account if you want to export finished designs to Canva.

What your computer needs

Affinity says it's fully optimised for macOS and runs natively on Apple silicon and Intel. On Windows, it says Affinity runs fast even on mid-range machines but works best with a dedicated graphics card. If you're working with large photo files, that dedicated GPU will make the biggest difference.

Good first projects for business owners

• Redraw your logo as a clean vector file, so it prints sharply at any size.
• Edit product photos in Pixel before uploading them to your website.
• Lay out a one-page service sheet or a lead magnet PDF in Layout.
• Export your brand assets to Canva so your team can reuse them in social posts.

Who free Affinity suits

Free Affinity suits freelancers, small business owners and creators who want desktop-grade design, photo editing and layout tools without an ongoing plan. It's especially useful if you already use Canva and want a more detailed design tool alongside it.

It's a weaker fit if you need AI features without a Canva premium plan, or if you mainly design on an iPad.

Affinity and Cavalry for motion

Affinity also points to another tool for moving designs. Its site says you can turn finished designs into moving artwork by importing them straight into Cavalry from Affinity. For a business owner, that's a route from a static logo or social graphic to a simple animation without rebuilding the artwork.

Working with a designer's files

The file compatibility point deserves a second mention, because it's where Affinity stands out. If you've ever been sent a layered Photoshop or Illustrator file and couldn't open it, Affinity's support for PSD and AI files with layers and structure preserved means you can make small changes yourself, such as updating a date on a poster, rather than going back to the designer for every tweak.

My verdict: Affinity is free for individuals, and it gives you desktop design, photo and layout tools in one install. Download it for your Mac or PC, and treat the Canva AI tools as an optional extra.

Frequently asked questions

Is Affinity free now?

Yes. The Affinity website says Affinity is free for individuals, with free downloads for Mac and Windows.

What does free Affinity include?

Affinity includes Vector for design and illustration, Pixel for photo editing and Layout for page design, all in one app.

Does free Affinity include AI tools?

No. Affinity says its AI tools are available inside the app if you're on a Canva premium plan.

Is Affinity available on iPad?

Not yet. Affinity says the team is building the iPad version, and the current downloads are for Mac and Windows.

Can Affinity open Photoshop files?

Yes. Affinity says it can bring PSD, AI, IDML, DWG and other file types into the app with layers and structure preserved.

Is Affinity free for businesses?

Affinity says it's free for individuals. Organisations that need features such as SSO are pointed to Canva Enterprise or Canva Education.

Does Affinity run on Apple silicon Macs?

Yes. Affinity says it's fully optimised for macOS and runs natively on both Apple silicon and Intel Macs.