What is Affinity?

Affinity is now a unified creative application offered by Canva, bringing together vector design, photo editing, and layout capabilities within a single environment.

Historically known as an alternative suite to Adobe tools (Designer, Photo, Publisher), Affinity has evolved into a centralized platform designed to cover the full range of advanced graphic production needs, for both digital and print.

Unlike UX/UI-oriented collaborative tools such as Figma, Affinity is primarily a precision-driven production tool, built for designers who require fine typographic control, advanced layout capabilities, and professional print constraints.

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Affinity becomes a reference solution as soon as design goes beyond interfaces and enters the realm of demanding graphic design and print production.

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Key features

Graphic design and complex mockups

• Advanced vector tools for logos, illustrations, icons, and detailed visuals
• Fine control over layers, masks, effects, styles, and graphic constraints
• Creation of complex, highly detailed mockups that are difficult to achieve in UX/UI-focused tools

Print and professional layout

• Design of brochures, white papers, reports, institutional and commercial materials
• Advanced management of grids, columns, text styles, pagination, and typographic hierarchies
• Support for color profiles, bleed, margins, and professional printing constraints

Digital asset production

• Precise export to SVG, PNG, JPG, and WebP
• Control over resolutions, densities, and color profiles
• Production of optimized assets for the web, interfaces, and marketing materials

Unified suite and performance

• Vector, photo, and layout workflows unified within a single application
• Excellent stability when handling large and complex files
• High performance, even on demanding graphic projects

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Who is it for, and in which contexts?

Affinity is particularly well suited for:

• designers and studios producing professional print materials
• creative teams working on complex or highly detailed mockups
• organizations looking for an Adobe-like alternative without a subscription

It is less relevant for:

• workflows that require advanced real-time collaboration
• collaborative UX/UI discovery phases, where Figma remains more appropriate

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Affinity becomes especially relevant when Figma reaches its limits—particularly in terms of graphic precision, advanced typography, and print layout.

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Affinity pricing (in euros)

The new version of Affinity is free.

• Free access to the unified creative application
• No subscription required for graphic design, photo editing, or layout features
• Authorized for both personal and professional use

Some AI-assisted features may be tied to specific Canva offerings (e.g. Canva Pro), but the core creative tools remain freely accessible.

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Affinity is currently one of the only professional graphic design solutions that is free, covering vector design, photo editing, and print layout.

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We-R agency opinion on Affinity

Affinity is now an extremely relevant creative suite, especially since its transition to a free and unified model.

It stands as a credible alternative to Adobe for advanced graphic design, complex mockups, and, above all, print—areas where Figma is simply not designed to operate.

We strongly recommend Affinity: it delivers a level of power and precision comparable to Adobe tools, without the high cost or subscription model, making it a highly rational choice for teams and agencies looking to control software costs without compromising on quality.

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When a project requires a high level of graphic precision, typographic control, or professional layout, Affinity becomes a natural complement to Figma, and in some cases, a more suitable option depending on the use case.

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Alternatives and similar tools to Affinity

• Adobe Creative Cloud : The industry standard for professional design—extremely comprehensive, but based on a costly subscription model.
• CorelDRAW : A long-standing solution still used in certain print and signage industries.
• Mainstream graphic tools (Canva, etc.) : Useful for simple needs, but insufficient for demanding graphic design and professional print workflows.

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