Yes, Affinity really is free. You can use every tool in the Pixel, Vector, and Layout studios, plus all of the customization and export features, as much as you want, with no restrictions or payment needed. If you’re on a Canva premium plan, you’ll also be able to unlock Canva’s powerful AI tools within Affinity.

        • neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          11·
          2 days ago

          About a year ago, Canva tried to raise their prices significantly.

          I forget exactly, but I pay for an account and can have 5 people on my team. They said they would start charging for each team member or something like that.

          One person said their cot went up from like $100 to $600, maybe the numbers are off, but it’s close to how severe there increase was.

          There was so much backlash over it that they decided to keep the old pricing structure.

          • floofloof@lemmy.caEnglish
            151·
            2 days ago

            So they’re planning to hook people in with freebies then boil the frogs a little slower.

  • panda_abyss@lemmy.caEnglish
    42·
    2 days ago

    I’ve been a paying affinity customer for years, and I’m not signing up for Canva.

    I get it’s “free”, but I’m sketched out.

    • Cethin@lemmy.zipEnglish
      4·
      2 days ago

      I’m not buying that it’s free unless it’s FOSS almost ever. Maybe it’s just a “create an account so we can collect data on you” deal, but that still isn’t free.

      • BismuthYellow@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        2 days ago

        Yes, you have to create an account in Canva and turn off a bunch of tracking that is set on by default. There’s even a record setting that is off at the time of me discovering it, but that just made me nervous.

        I recently downloaded it to try it out but i’m thinking of just torrenting adobe tbh.

  • setVeryLoud(true);@lemmy.caEnglish
    27·
    2 days ago

    Oh god, how are they financing its development? Selling my personal data? Training AI on my data? Nagware? Not giving us a Linux version, ever?

    • woelkchen@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      2 days ago

      Oh god, how are they financing its development?

      Canva’s AI features are a subscription service. Existing Affinty features are now free.

    • floofloof@lemmy.caEnglish
      13·
      2 days ago

      The best possible scenario is that they’re just using it to entice people to pay for a premium subscription and will leave it that way. But the chances are that once they’ve pulled enough people in with the offer of free software, they’ll alter the deal.

    • Emily (she/her)@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      131·
      2 days ago

      Considering you can turn off telemetry and never need to connect it to the internet after activation, I’m assuming that - like how Adobe uses cheap education licenses to on-ramp people onto their platform - this is largely intended to drive professionals towards Canva and their various other products. They take a loss on this product to become the de-facto standard image/vector/publishing application.

    • j5906@feddit.orgEnglish
      3·
      2 days ago

      Linux became so good at emulating windows apps, it now runs some of them better than windows itself (higher fps, lower power draw), so eventually their will be a port.

      Given that these non native ports run in containers/bottles/whatever and internet access is often limited by default. However internet access is the key for their new business modell.

      Basically Linux users will get the same or better product, without the drawbacks, which reminds me of pirated movies, where only the people actually buying it were made to sit through unskipable commercials.

  • SatyrSack@quokk.auEnglish
    30·
    2 days ago

    I was really hoping for Linux support some day. Now, I am totally fine sticking with GIMP.

      • danielton1@lemmy.worldEnglish
        11·
        2 days ago

        Isn’t Krita more focused on digital painting than photo editing? I always end up going back to the GIMP because of that even though I use KDE.

        • nasi_goreng@lemmy.zipEnglish
          61·
          2 days ago

          Yep. It’s 100% digital painting. All photo manipulation features are either minimal implementation or simply does not exist.

          All the developement roadmap are often times trying to replicate Clip Studio Paint as it becomes the most used digital painting software for newer generation. Like comic/manga layout, integrated 3D pose, etc.

          • danielton1@lemmy.worldEnglish
            4·
            2 days ago

            That’s what I thought. People keep saying Krita is a great alternative to GIMP, Photoshop, and Affinity Photo, but photo editing is not its focus at all.

            • RightEdofer@lemmy.caEnglish
              1·
              2 days ago

              It’s not but it has had non-destructive adjustment layers for years before Gimp. It’s fine for a lot of things with a much better interface.

    • infeeeee@lemmy.zipEnglish
      91·
      2 days ago

      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.

      • Tony Bark@pawb.socialEnglish
        16·
        2 days ago

        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.

        • Em Adespoton@lemmy.caEnglish
          6·
          2 days ago

          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.

  • ICCrawler@lemmy.worldEnglish
    10·
    2 days ago

    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.

    • localhorst@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      2·
      2 days ago

      If they are a registered non profit they shouldn’t have to pay for premium, and be eligible for a free subscription

  • Godnroc@lemmy.worldEnglish
    14·
    2 days ago

    Top ten answers on the board; we asked 100 users “How will Canva cover the costs of the software development if Affinity is free?”

  • Voytrekk@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    17·
    2 days ago

    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.

    • garretble@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 day ago

      This is a good point. I’m going to download all the installers they have today and ferret them away just in case.