Ayup! Following the outrageously exciting announcement from Affinity last week, I’ve gone all in. Seven days of exclusive use, and not just for photography purposes, either. I have thoughts. Let’s do this!
To give you an idea of how making this switch might affect your workflow, these are the Adobe apps I use most days:
- Photoshop
- Lightroom
- Illustrator
- InDesign
Photoshop and Lightroom were my go-to options for personal projects, and I used Illustrator and InDesign regularly for clients and my business.
Greetings from the future; here’s a full Affinity review following almost four months of daily use.
The Pros & Cons of Using Affinity Over Adobe
First things first, there’s no replacement solution for Lightroom photo management here. This is to be expected, but we do have most of the settings and RAW tools available that you’d find in Lightroom.
As a result, I’ve rediscovered the humble Photos app from Apple. Same deal with Lightroom when it comes to folders and management. What I also stumbled upon was a fairly powerful set of editing tools. For basic adjustments, cropping, straightening, sharpening and even spot removal, there’s no need to even leave the app. This all works with RAW files too. Not sure when this all happened, but it’s super-useful.
That said, I’ve been primarily exploring Affinity’s ability to fully replace Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. Spoiler alert: these apps have now been removed from the dock on my laptop.
The price
While half of the internet is completely fuming that Affinity dared to do something different, the rest of us are pretty happy that it’s now free.
I get the concerns, but from everything I’ve read, watched and listened to, Canva and Affinity played a very smart move here.
Your content in Affinity isn’t used to train AI features — we can’t access local files. For content you choose to upload to Canva, you’re in control. You can review and update your preferences any time in Canva settings.
Canva have gone on record to say that they’ve been able to make Affinity free due to their sustainable business model. Obviously, they’re hoping to grow their premium subscribers, but it’s 100% optional.
Furthermore, for only £13 per month or £100 per year, I’ll be signing up. That is, just as soon as the Creative Cloud subscription that I’m locked into ends. Sigh.
Even if this price does go up, as frequently mentioned by the negativity brigade, it’s still a huge difference compared to Adobe. Like enough to pay for a pretty decent holiday. I know which I’d prefer each year.
All-in-one
I’m particularly loving absolutely everything being in the same app. It’s freaking genius! So much quicker and easier for pretty much everything.
Each workspace is now called a studio. You can easily switch between Pixel (formerly Photo), Vector (formerly Designer), Layout (formerly Publisher) and Canva AI. All studios can be turned on or off, so it only shows the ones you’ll want to use.
In addition to the above, there are built-in Typography, Colour Grading, Retouching and Slicing studios available if needed.
PSD files with Smart Objects
Adobe Illustrator files
InDesign Files
Nope! Your InDesign files won’t open with Affinity, but there is, apparently, a workaround.
Affinity Publisher is able to open IDML (open XML) and not INDD (locked format). Additionally markzware.com has a tool for Mac to convert from INDD to IDML.
For photographers
Let’s dive into the photo editing experience with Affinity. Most enjoyable! As you can see from my Bluesky post below, there are plenty of options available. That said, I’ve only been using the Pixel and Develop studios.
This all works in much the same way as previous versions of the app. Develop is the equivalent of Camera RAW, and therefore has most of what you’d also find in Lightroom.
Once you’ve made your edits, flip back to the Pixel studio, where you can make any further adjustments that you would have in Photoshop. The Inpainting Brush is particularly powerful for removing smaller objects from your image.
The Object Selection tool (uses machine learning and requires an additional download) is also extremely powerful when it comes to masking certain parts of your photo.
Again, it’s nice not having to keep switching apps. Everything you need, all in one place. Happy days!
The only thing I’m slightly missing is an auto-straighten option. While it’s no bother adjusting it manually, I did use the auto-vertical setting in Lightroom a fair amount.
A week with the new Affinity app – First impressions
So over the last week, I’ve carried out a wide variety of tasks with Affinity that I’d previously have used Adobe for. These include:
- Setting up commercial print files
- Making mockups
- Editing stock vectors
- Logo and branding work
- Photo editing
- Print/layout design
Did it handle everything perfectly? Well, other than a few Adobe files not opening correctly (which I’d always be able to find a workaround for), yes. It really did. This has me instantly questioning why I’m paying Adobe so much per year. I’m sure many of you are in the same boat.
This isn’t my first experience with Affinity. I used version 2 extensively, only returning to Adobe for Dimension, Lightroom and a few of the advanced selection tools in Photoshop.
Following Adobe Max 2025, and its AI-obsessed vision of the future, I’m not looking to stick around. I’m not against AI, I use it moderately, as do many creatives. However, nobody asked for it to completely take over our most-used tools.
This is where Canva and Affinity have resonated with a lot of frustrated Adobe users. They recognise our values. They removed the need for a subscription, offering some AI tools to those who need them.
What’s more, they’ve built one of the most exciting digital art, design, layout and editing tools that we’ve seen in a long time. Well, ever, really.
Will Affinity replace my Adobe tools and insanely priced subscription? Yes, it most certainly will.