Affinity by Canva

Affinity is a high-performance, unified creative suite that provides professional-grade vector design, photo editing, and page layout tools within a single application. It addresses the critical pain point of expensive, subscription-based creative software, offering a powerful, unrestricted solution completely free of charge. Designed for professional illustrators, photographers, graphic designers, and publishers on macOS and Windows, Affinity empowers you to achieve pixel-perfect results and complex layouts without ever compromising on capability or workflow.

Key Features

Affinity is built around a flexible, high-speed architecture designed to keep pace with the most demanding creative tasks.

🎨 Unified Vector, Pixel, and Layout Studios Seamlessly transition between vector design, raster editing, and multi-page layout within the same document, eliminating the need to export or switch between separate applications. This unique studio environment ensures a cohesive workflow, allowing you to craft, edit, and publish simultaneously.

⚙️ Customizable Workflow Adaptation Unlike rigid software interfaces, Affinity allows you to rearrange panels and mix tools to build completely custom studio setups that adapt to your specific task—from logo design to advanced photo compositing. You can save multiple setups and switch between them instantly, maximizing your efficiency.

🛡️ True Non-Destructive Editing Maintain complete peace of mind and creative flexibility with non-destructive editing across all layers and files. Stack complex edits, filters, and layer effects, and tweak, reorder, or remove them at any time without flattening your work or committing to a change, ensuring your original data remains intact.

⚡ Live Performance and Precision Experience ultra-fast performance where every adjustment, filter, and layer effect updates live on your screen. This real-time rendering capability means you see your work exactly as it will export, enabling you to achieve crucial pixel-perfect precision instantly across all design elements.

📂 Broad Professional File Compatibility Easily integrate Affinity into existing professional pipelines. The software supports the import of major industry file types, including PSDs (Photoshop), AIs (Illustrator), and IDMLs (InDesign Markup Language), preserving structure, layers, and creative intent upon migration.

Use Cases

Affinity provides a versatile platform that supports a wide range of creative and publishing needs, delivering professional outcomes in diverse scenarios.

High-Fidelity Branding and UI Design

Utilize the Vector Studio for advanced curve editing and precise shape building to design complex UI systems, detailed icons, or scalable brand logos. You can then leverage the Image Trace feature to convert flat images into clean, fully editable vectors in seconds, accelerating your design foundation without sacrificing quality.

Advanced Photo Retouching and Compositing

Photographers can perform full non-destructive RAW editing from the first tweak to the final export, maintaining full fidelity throughout the process. Combine multiple images into epic, multi-layered masterpieces using advanced retouching tools that allow for undetectable, flawless edits, ensuring your visual storytelling is always precise.

Professional Publishing and Data Layout

For long-form projects like brochures, reports, or books, the Layout Studio acts as a powerhouse. Use features like Smart Master Pages, document-wide style systems, and baseline grids to maintain consistency. Furthermore, the Data Merge capability allows you to flow spreadsheet or database content directly into your designs, streamlining the production of personalized or high-volume documents.

Why Choose Affinity?

Affinity challenges the status quo of the creative industry by providing a professional, full-featured solution without the barrier of ongoing cost.

Zero Cost, Zero Restrictions

Affinity is genuinely free. You gain unrestricted access to every tool within the Pixel, Vector, and Layout studios, including all professional customization and export features. This eliminates the financial barrier associated with traditional creative software, allowing individuals and small teams to access top-tier tools immediately.

Stop Renting Software

Affinity empowers users to own their tools and workflow. By offering a high-performance alternative, it disrupts the subscription model, allowing you to focus your resources on creation rather than continuous software rental.

AI Integration That Respects Your Craft

For users with a Canva premium plan, Affinity integrates powerful AI features like generative fill and background removal directly into the workflow. Crucially, Affinity ensures full control over your content: your local files and content within Affinity are never used to train the AI features, guaranteeing privacy and ownership.

Conclusion

Affinity delivers the precision, performance, and depth required by professionals across graphic design, photography, and publishing. By uniting advanced vector, pixel, and layout capabilities in a single, high-speed, and completely free application, Affinity offers true creative freedom.