Lovely. \s They got brought by Canva and went down the Adobe rabbit hole.
this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2025
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Less of an Adobe rabbit hole than an Adobe abandoned mineshaft.
I haven't followed this software and company before, what do you mean, what is the catch?
Adobe doesn't offer any of its software for free except acrobat reader, where you get nagged about paid features constantly, but it's easy to ignore.
Why shouldn't I recommend this over cracked Photoshop? Its features seems like closer to PS than Gimp or Krita.
They used to be anti-Adobe and claimed they'd never stoop to their level. This new free version offers Canva Premium plan, which unlocks cloud content. It's only going to get worse from here.
The writing was on the wall when Serif sold the product to Canva. We already knew Canva used a rent seeking model at the corporate level, so it didn’t really matter what promises they made about what they’d do with Affinity.
I use this at a center I volunteer at that works with the mentally disabled. Unsurprisingly, a lot of those people are old. Surprisingly, Canva is simple enough that I've been able to train the elderly, of all people, to use the program to make fliers or three-fold pamphlets for themselves. It's a good program for what it does, and the center pays for a premium subscription, so it's not something I personally need to worry much about.
Honestly, I'm fine with this in terms of the program's functionality, as long as Canva does't fuck with its user interface. It is pretty simple and intuitive, and I'd argue that the UI is quite possibly one of its strongest assets, seconded only by the massive amount of options/elements you can add to your project. And it's already apparent what AI is mostly used for within the program: making more graphic elements to slap onto your page, and more ready-made templates you can still go in and alter everything in at-will. And honestly, I'm fine with that.
If they are a registered non profit they shouldn't have to pay for premium, and be eligible for a free subscription
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Top ten answers on the board; we asked 100 users "How will Canva cover the costs of the software development if Affinity is free?"
It has Ai features by subscription to Canva Premium.
don't believe companies when they tell you they don't want all the money on the planet by any means possible
I need to make sure I have my old Affinity installers. I'm sure I won't be able to activate in a few years because they decide to take down the authentication server.
This is a good point. I'm going to download all the installers they have today and ferret them away just in case.
Enshitification is inevitable. Ugh.
At least give us a Linux version.
Still no Linux support. As someone who purchased the Affinity Suite, I'm not sure I like this shift in model. If they keep to just fencing off AI in premium and keep investing in the whole app, fine, but I don't have my hopes up.
Oh no. Affinity was a good paid alternative to the adobe shite, now this is going to turn down a subscription route after they get people hooked, isnt it?
At first glance, this all sounds positive, especially for users without an affinity for AI.
However, time will tell whether the program will become less appealing if it turns out that the majority of Affinity users are not persuaded to sign up for a Canvas subscription for AI editing.
Either certain tools and functions will disappear behind a paywall, or compatibility will be restricted by no longer allowing free import and export to certain file formats.
So this is basically v3, and they’re trying to gain critical mass adoption vs Adobe.
I’m happy with my v2 for now, but I have a hunch if I migrate to “3” I’ll be modifying my hosts file in the future.
This frustrates me so much.
I paid for v1 and v2 of the suite precisely because I’m willing to pay for a tool that works for me, predictably and reliably and with no compromise in goals. Now I’ll have to switch platforms yet again, because they’re going to monetize somehow, and if it’s not by taking my money, it’ll be by taking something else.
Is Inkscape a reasonable replacement for Illustrator yet? Is there an equivalent for InDesign?
I don’t want to get stuck in a Canvas walled garden, and I’m not going to pay rent to use software.
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If a business charges nothing for a product then it is not the product. You are.
Sometimes that's harmless as in they're wanting you to try their service. Your business for other projects is still the product in that transaction.
Other times it's your personal data that is the product and they're wanting to then turn around and monetize that data.
But in both scenarios, you, or something of yours, is the product.
I have it installed on my laptop. I'm not using their AI web app.
I sent them feedback back when I heard the news about the Canva merger.
I knew this would happen but it still hurts.
I can only hope I can keep my current version as is without further updates.
I almost bought publisher last week, and postponed till Black Friday. Just wow!!!