It’s no secret that Adobe dominates the design tool market, Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator have long been the industry standard. But, in acting as a near monopoly, Adobe has gotten a little greedy. Subscription prices for creative cloud have ballooned, making it difficult for small shops and freelancers to afford them. That gap in the market, for an affordable design option, paved the way for Canva to sneak in. With its low costs and templated options Canva quickly gained popularity for marketing departments that don’t have a significant amount of creative need or budget for a proper designer. 

The end of 2025 saw a massive shake to the design tool market, however, with the introduction of Canva’s newest program: Affinity. A free alternative in the market, Affinity combines the interface of Photoshop, Indesign and Illustrator, advertising itself as a sort of all in one solution. Unlike Adobe, which has separate programs for pixel based art and vector based art, Affinity utilizes a tab set up to switch between the two. It can even use .idml files (meant to act as a template file you can export from InDesign), bridging a gap between Adobe designers and Canva designers. 

All this sounds too good to be true right? I mean, how can they offer a free version that does everything the big three Adobe programs do? Well, I thought the same so this lifetime Adobe designer went to investigate. 

The interface

If you’ve spent years in Adobe, as I have, the Affinity interface certainly takes a minute to get used to. But, it’s not impossible. They were sure to carry over commonly used hot keys Adobe-natives are used to, and all the windows can be moved around to mirror your normal go-to workspace. Where Adobe uses icons alongside window labels, Affinity defaults to a sans-icon approach (mouse toolbar excluded of course).

The three tabs at the top allow you to alternate between features that clearly mirror the big three adobe programs, with mouse toolbar tools and inspector windows changing when you cycle between each mode. 

Graphics Quality

The first thing I noticed when I opened up the program was how everything looked low res until you zoom in, and even then it still looks like a fairly pixel-focused viewer. Even imported vector .ai files looked like low resolution pngs in this program. The program has two different views and defaults to pixel-based, but there is a vector viewer that resolves these issues. 

My guess on why this happens, is it’s a way to conserve memory, as if it’s meant to do the work of three programs plus display high resolution crisp linework then it may run a lot slower.

Compatibility with Adobe 

Yes, Affinity is compatible with .idml files. No, it is not a perfect transition. Something about how Affinity sets up its bounding boxes causes text to get repositioned, so if you’re going to import an .idml file be prepared to readjust the layout. Transparency blending gets wonky, as well, with the transition. So pay special attention to any special effects you’ve added to your artwork when importing into Affinity. 

If you’re a photoshop designer you are in a much better space to use this program. Affinity is fully compatible with Photoshop files, and has the ability to export as Photoshop files.  

The biggest concern I’m seeing with Adobe compatibility has to do with Adobe specific fonts. These, understandably, do not carry over to Affinity. If you’re working between Adobe and Affinity then you may be able to bypass this issue by outlining the fonts, but as a design veteran I must always warn against outlining text unless absolutely necessary as it removes editability.

Official review

Affinity is a great program, and may work for small shops that only work on their own brand and don’t interact with outside designers on a regular basis. For an industry designer, I’d suggest against making the switch quite yet. Adobe has been working hard accumulating a library of protected fonts, making the switch to anything else nearly impossible if you’re a freelancer or work in multiple brands. There are far too many brands that use Adobe specific fonts as part of their branding, making it a massive hassle to have to work around for the sake of using a new program. 

It’s clear based on the interface and functionality that Affinity favors raster-based design tools, like Photoshop. If your team primarily works with photoshop files, and doesn’t use any Adobe fonts, then you may find an easier transition than someone who works in multiple Adobe products on a daily basis, or more vector-based designers. In fact, it’s a great way to introduce raster-based designers to vector design practices, something essential if you want to make your artwork look clean and professional at any size. 

It has a ways to go in terms of user testing, and compatibility with vector programs, but as a foundation Affinity is really great for a free program. I’m sure by the time it’s on par with Adobe they’ll have reason to begin charging for their software, rightfully so. Hopefully Adobe has the good sense to begin lowering their prices before then, or Canva and Affinity will give them a run for their money. 

The design world is constantly shifting and evolving, and as designers it’s important to pay attention when design programs like this gain traction. There WILL be clients and companies who want you to work in this program, despite Adobe’s strong grasp on the market and industry-defining features, so it’s important to take time when you have it to become familiar before then so you don’t waste time adapting when that moment comes.