Affinity’s Bold New Chapter: Why This Unified App Might Just Be the Adobe Killer

As someone who has been working with Affinity apps for over a year and a half, I came into this announcement with high expectations, and overall, I am incredibly impressed. The “all-new Affinity” is more than just an update; it’s a revolutionary design and a direct challenge to the industry status quo.

A Design That Unifies and Impresses

The most significant immediate takeaway is the overall design. It is genuinely amazing. Canva and Affinity have succeeded in creating a single, unified interface that seamlessly combines the power of vector, pixel, and layout tools.

  • Superior to the Competition: Frankly, the app is way better than Adobe’s Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign combined in terms of user experience. It’s clean, intuitive, and most importantly, it efficiently handles the jobs of those three separate programs in one cohesive application.
  • Efficiency and Performance: The interface is visibly cleaner and doesn’t demand the extensive resources that Adobe’s massive software suite does. For a professional app doing the job of three, this is a massive win for workflow and system performance.
  • Familiarity and Flow: For existing users, the transition is smooth. The overall design looks familiar, allowing for an easy and immediate shift between vector, pixel, and layout workflows without the jarring context-switch needed when using separate apps.

The AI Experience: Highs, Lows, and Massive Potential

The new app includes a dedicated AI section, bringing powerful machine learning features directly into the professional workflow, including non-destructive layers and more.

  • The Best Feature: The AI-powered object selection is currently working incredibly well. It’s noticeably clean, with excellent edge definition, far surpassing the performance I saw in the past, particularly in Affinity Photo.
  • Photo Generation Success: When testing the photo generating capabilities with prompts, the results were really good and the overall quality of the generated photos was high.
  • The Gap to Fill (Generative Tools): Where the AI still needs significant work is in its generative capabilities. I found that generative fill and generative vector creation are not yet at Adobe’s level. For instance, attempting to use generative fill to remove a car and replace it with pavement resulted in the AI placing another car instead—a clear indication that this technology is still in development. The vector generating is currently way worse than Adobe’s and needs serious improvement.

The “Free Forever” Model: The Ultimate Disruptor

The business model behind this launch is what makes it a true industry game-changer. The concept of free software for everyone, forever, is something they have truly “nailed.”

  • Unlocking Access: Now is the time for a massive segment of the creative community—easily 50% of people who are currently using Adobe’s apps—to make the switch. They can now use a professional-grade alternative for free.
  • The Revenue Strategy: It’s a clear move: the apps are free, but they will likely monetize through AI credits and advanced AI features, which are already a paid tier within Canva. This is a smart way to drive adoption of the core, high-quality tools while providing a path to premium revenue via the cutting-edge, machine-learning features.

Affinity is no longer just an alternative; it is a powerful, unified platform with a revolutionary price tag. While the AI has room to grow, the performance, design, and cost of the core app make it, without a doubt, the most compelling new option for creative professionals today.