When Canva bought Serif — the small British studio behind the beloved Affinity design tools — fans wondered what would happen next. A year later, we have our answer: Affinity has been completely reimagined, rebuilt, and relaunched as a single, all‑in‑one creative app. And here’s the headline that’ll make designers everywhere do a double take — it’s free.
For years, Affinity carved out a niche as the go‑to alternative to Adobe Creative Cloud. Instead of saddling users with monthly fees, Serif offered its software as a simple one‑time purchase. You’d buy Affinity Photo for image editing, Affinity Designer for vector work, and Affinity Publisher for layout — three separate apps, all yours forever.
Canva, known for its quick‑and‑easy browser‑based design tools, is shaking that model up. The new Affinity combines all of those capabilities — photo editing, illustration, and publishing — into one seamless experience. No more jumping between programs, no more separate downloads. Canva says the app will remain “free forever,” which sounds almost too good to be true.
For most users, there isn’t one. The core Affinity toolkit is completely free. But if you’re already using Canva Premium, you’ll get some clever extras:
It’s a tidy way for Canva to integrate its growing AI toolbox while keeping the base experience accessible to everyone.
If you already own the older Affinity V2 apps, you can hang onto them — they’ll keep working just fine. However, they’re no longer available in app stores, and Canva hasn’t confirmed any future updates. From this point forward, the focus clearly shifts toward the new unified version of Affinity.
Currently, the app is available for Windows and macOS, with an iPad edition in development.
For Canva, this isn’t merely a redesign — it’s a statement. The company built its fame on making design accessible to anyone, but with Affinity, it now steps into professional creative territory. Adobe has long been the dominant force in creative software, yet Canva appears ready to challenge that position with a suite that’s both powerful and (for now) completely free.
Of course, “free forever” can mean many things in the tech world, and it remains to be seen whether Canva’s generosity will evolve into a freemium model. Nevertheless, designers have plenty to be excited about: a high‑performance, unified suite backed by one of modern design’s strongest brands.
The new Affinity app is available now at canva.com. Smart move? Big gamble? Maybe both — but one thing’s certain: Canva just made the creative landscape much more interesting.