It’s a very good app suite that gets the UX right esp if you use multiple of their apps but it falls short in areas that Adobe has had more r&d money thrown at, such as vector tracing, proper vector brushes, and proper psd support (you can import psd files, you cannot export fully editable psd files). I used it myself for branding and UI design for a few years and it’s definitely worth the money, but they do have some issues as I’ve said before. Their file format isn’t open source either afaik and there is no plugin support so it’s a friendlier looking and cheaper closed ecosystem.
Depends with what you might want to achieve, some people will say inkscape or gimp. In my minimal experience while they win in some departments like plugins and features their UX and UI is really not as good, but that’s just how it worked for me, some people would swear by them.
Those who actually use it, can they write down a simple comparison?
Those AI features are completely absent from Affinity. That said, Serif was recently bought by Canva who have AI features in their web suite, so I expect those to come to Affinity at some point, possibly requiring a subscription for cloud-enabled features (regular Affinity feature set will remain pay-once and offline, according to announcements). I hope some AI-supported upscaler will come to Affinity. I currently use some free web tool for nicer upscaling.
Also, Affinity apps don’t support file format plugins at all. AVIF and HEIF aren’t supported, so you’ll need external converters to open those.
Check this video as well. I do share most of that experience of having to Google how to do some things because it’s not immediately obvious, and some other things do take more clicks/effort than they should’ve compared to Photoshop. All in all, it has completely replaced Photoshop for my use case.
I did not use Photoshop particularly long, but I have been using the Affinity Suite both on a pc and a tablet for over a year now and can say it’s definitely quite good. Everything is where you think it should be, the workflow feels very usable with no major learning curve (looking at you, GIMP), and overall the only thing I don’t like about it is its lack of Linux support.
I would assume that absolute professionals won’t be able to find everything they like/want, but if you’re reading this, chances are you’re gonna be more than satisfied, if FOSS options don’t quite work for you.
I use the suite professionally. I come from the Corel world (which I slowly got to hate, but sunken cost, etc.) which I have gladly escaped.
The suite is just a bonkers value.
I live in Linux, but have a windows virtual machine just for Affinity.
Those who actually use it, can they write down a simple comparison?
The issue is that they recently were sold to canva. An online, subscription service that offersjtemplate based graphics suite.
Affinity promised that they would not change their model to subscription but many users doubt their credibility after the sale to canva
It’s a very good app suite that gets the UX right esp if you use multiple of their apps but it falls short in areas that Adobe has had more r&d money thrown at, such as vector tracing, proper vector brushes, and proper psd support (you can import psd files, you cannot export fully editable psd files). I used it myself for branding and UI design for a few years and it’s definitely worth the money, but they do have some issues as I’ve said before. Their file format isn’t open source either afaik and there is no plugin support so it’s a friendlier looking and cheaper closed ecosystem.
That I noticed, I can only save in their format, not that good
What is the open alternative?
There sadly isn’t a viable one at the same level of functionality.
Edit: some random other comment appeared here. Fixed.
Depends with what you might want to achieve, some people will say inkscape or gimp. In my minimal experience while they win in some departments like plugins and features their UX and UI is really not as good, but that’s just how it worked for me, some people would swear by them.
Those AI features are completely absent from Affinity. That said, Serif was recently bought by Canva who have AI features in their web suite, so I expect those to come to Affinity at some point, possibly requiring a subscription for cloud-enabled features (regular Affinity feature set will remain pay-once and offline, according to announcements). I hope some AI-supported upscaler will come to Affinity. I currently use some free web tool for nicer upscaling.
Also, Affinity apps don’t support file format plugins at all. AVIF and HEIF aren’t supported, so you’ll need external converters to open those.
deleted by creator
Check this video as well. I do share most of that experience of having to Google how to do some things because it’s not immediately obvious, and some other things do take more clicks/effort than they should’ve compared to Photoshop. All in all, it has completely replaced Photoshop for my use case.
I did not use Photoshop particularly long, but I have been using the Affinity Suite both on a pc and a tablet for over a year now and can say it’s definitely quite good. Everything is where you think it should be, the workflow feels very usable with no major learning curve (looking at you, GIMP), and overall the only thing I don’t like about it is its lack of Linux support. I would assume that absolute professionals won’t be able to find everything they like/want, but if you’re reading this, chances are you’re gonna be more than satisfied, if FOSS options don’t quite work for you.
I use the suite professionally. I come from the Corel world (which I slowly got to hate, but sunken cost, etc.) which I have gladly escaped. The suite is just a bonkers value. I live in Linux, but have a windows virtual machine just for Affinity.