Affinity Photo Is Now Free — Here's What That Actually Means

Canva acquired Serif in 2024. Now the full Affinity suite — Photo, Designer, and Publisher — is free. But the details matter.

When Canva completed its acquisition of Serif, the company behind the Affinity suite, the photography community braced for the worst. The assumption was reasonable: big tech company buys beloved indie software, strips it for parts, locks features behind subscriptions. That's the pattern.

What actually happened was different. Canva released a new unified Affinity application that combines photo editing, vector design, and page layout in a single interface — and made the core professional tools available at no cost. As Fstoppers reported in their 2026 software guide, this includes everything photographers need: comprehensive layer support, professional retouching tools including frequency separation and liquify, non-destructive RAW processing, HDR merge, panorama stitching, focus stacking, and strong PSD file compatibility.

What's free

The unified Affinity app, downloadable with a free Canva account, includes the full feature set of what was previously Affinity Photo 2, Affinity Designer 2, and Affinity Publisher 2. For photographers specifically, that means: 16-bit and 32-bit HDR editing, a full suite of adjustment layers, advanced masking and selection tools, live filter layers, batch processing, RAW development, lens correction profiles, and the tone mapping workspace for HDR images. These were all features that previously required a .99 purchase per application.

What costs money

Canva has added optional AI-powered features that require a Canva premium subscription. These include generative fill/expand capabilities, AI-powered background removal and enhancement, and access to Canva's stock library and template ecosystem. The core photo editing capabilities — the parts that compete directly with Photoshop — remain free.

What it doesn't do

Affinity Photo has never included a digital asset management system. There is no catalog, no library browser with star ratings or keywording, and no equivalent to Lightroom's organizational features. It's a photo editor, not a photo workflow tool. Photographers who need DAM functionality still need a separate application for organization and culling.

Plugin support is also limited compared to Photoshop. While Affinity Photo supports some Photoshop-compatible plugins, the ecosystem is substantially smaller. Features like Actions (Photoshop) have an equivalent in Affinity's Macros system, but migration of complex existing workflows requires rebuilding rather than importing.

What happens to existing licenses

Existing Affinity V2 perpetual license holders retain their licenses indefinitely. The V2 standalone applications continue to function and receive security updates. Users can choose whether to migrate to the new Canva-integrated unified app or continue using their purchased version.

The practical result for photographers evaluating free alternatives: Affinity Photo now offers professional-grade pixel editing at no cost, filling the Photoshop-shaped gap in a subscription-free workflow. Paired with a free RAW processor like Darktable or RawTherapee for catalog management and batch processing, or with a perpetual-license editor like ON1 Photo RAW or DxO PhotoLab for a more integrated experience, it provides a credible professional toolkit without recurring costs.