Affinity is "free", at what cost?

Last year Canva acquired Affinity a professional design tools alternative to Adobe for several undisclosed millions of dollars, it was exciting and comes with a breathe of fresh air for the creative communities, because it is a one-time payment, and not as predatory as the grandpa, Adobe. But the recent change was shocking, its parent company Canva just turned the whole design world on its head by making the pro version of the tool free for everyone.

It now boils down to, what’s in it for them? Especially in a world where creative are skeptic with anything AI, and any tools that promise to be free, we all know this is not the first time design software companies have promised and then do the opposite when creatives are already locked in, Adobe has done it, Figma has done it too by increasing their prices in difficult times, limiting usage to squeeze out more profit when everyone is now dependent on the tool.

If you're getting something for free, you are most likely the product.
— Chris Skinner's

The acquisition

In second quarter of last year, Canva, the design tool for regular people bought the Affinity the professional new industry special kid that came to save all the oppressed creatives from predatory subscriptions model that Adobe is using to strangle us all. They’ve been quiet since the acquisition, leaving everyone guessing to see what’s next, and if there will be a dramatic change to the tools. But because of its low price and full ownership when purchased, the lack of updates was tolerated by the industry, because no one could ask for more. Why would you? The tools already do the bare minimum. The question now is, why will a company acquire a tool for several of millions then make it free for all, that’s very suspicious isn’t it?

The big update

The big update came knocking this week last days of October 2025, Canva shockingly made the pro app which is Affinity free for everyone, not expected at all for a tools that cost several millions of dollars in acquisition.

Creative are right to be wary right? Not letting the excitement blind us. It is usually the pro stuff that costs more money, not the easy-to-use regular tool like the Canva. This direction is a remarkable shift in how design software is priced. For Canva to flip the card make the premium tool free, while monetising the regular tool, it shows there’s something at play and we should all be wary.

Although, they’ve made no significant changes to the current tools compared to the Affinity legacy. Which could all be a plot to not upset the buyer of the legacy tools. It still makes one wonder why they made the new tool free.

The question we should be asking is, what could their strategy be? What’s in it for them in the long run?

Long term strategy

Adobe charges a massive $1,200 per year for a business seat to its design software, and up to $600—800 for professional. Why is Affinity leaving all this money on the table begs for question and is a little bit suspicious. Can we say this is a distribution strategy?

Let’s explore that, Adobe entered the industry with file format .psd, .ai, .indd eventually becoming the industry standard. Especially, among professional users.

First, maybe Canva is also trying to penetrate the market by using .af for all its file format which is a solid move by the way, I like it but I am also skeptical because it is FREE. The reason being that, having all this complex professional tools that define industry skills, now packed into one shell may soon become a big problem for design manager. In terms of utilization, or even project management. We aren’t asking this question now because of excitement.

Secondly, making the professional tool free could be a strategy to accelerate its adoption in the market among professional, so they could win advocacy, which is already working for them. Figma already run this model when it was trying to penetrate the market with .fig and cloud access, and bunch of free stuff in the software like unlimited pages, draft as the main page no team required. To unseat tools like Sketch, Invision and Adobe XD. Once that’s done, we all have seen their real colours.

While everyone is currently fixated on Canva taking on Adobe. I am on that spectrum as well. We should be asking what’s in it for them, and how does that benefit us in the long run. Designer and creative and easy to cajole, lied to and manipulate because our emotion are heighten because of this job. The interesting part is not only the pricing. It’s the standardization of their file format as well, .af format for photo, vector, and layout all in a single shell. If this works could set a new route. But if not, it’s going to flop.

Lastly, keep in mind that while all the Affinity professional software, the likes of photos editing tool, layout; the publication tool, and the vector tool, are all free, there are a few features that require a subscription to Canva. And that’s for the regular costumers who are not designers. Same strategy Figma used, by catering to the upper echelons for collaboration, now that feature is now sitting behind a paywall. How could this affect us all in the future if we locked in into their ecosystem now.

What we should keep in mind

Free is not generosity. Free may be Canva distribution strategy for their tools, else how will you compete with your big brother and unseat the tyrant. They implore Figma strategy, go for the regular people in the chain, that will make professional want to switch when push comes to shove. We all know a lot of the time, creative are in service of this regular people not the other way around. We will need to use what the regular people are familiar with to be able to collaborate properly with them, and if we pay attention to this loop, there’s a model here that will benefit Canva. These are my deductions, and based on mere assumptions only.

In conclusion

Keep in mind, a tool like Affinity is designed for the relatively small percentage of people who can make art or lay out print publications. While Canva is designed for regular office workers, many of whom need to occasionally design social posts, presentations, reports, or even email signatures. For all these people to work together, Canva we need to be tailored in at some point. You won’t have a chance but to be a subscriber. Maybe not now.

They just turned Affinity into a distribution channel to win the creative over, they’re taking a strategic bet and if it works, it’ll all be a very interesting topic for the industry and software business.

Do you agree or have a different take?