Canva has acquired Affinity in an effort to compete with Adobe
Canva’s acquisition of the Affinity creative suite has reignited fears about the loss of affordable, one-time-purchase alternatives to Adobe’s subscription-based tools. Commenters praise Affinity’s performance, pricing, and lack of bloat, but widely expect Canva to push the products toward subscriptions, cloud integration, and AI services despite public pledges to preserve perpetual licenses, seeing the deal as part of a broader trend toward “enshittification” of professional software.
Overall sentiment
- Thread is dominated by disappointment and anxiety from Affinity users.
- Main fear: loss of perpetual, offline, native desktop tools and “enshittification” via subscriptions, bloat, cloud lock‑in, and AI features that users don’t want.
Business model and acquisition concerns
- Affinity’s one-time purchase model is repeatedly cited as its main differentiator from Adobe.
- Many expect a staged transition: reassure users now, then introduce optional subscriptions, then tilt the product toward subscription over time.
- Official statements/pledges from Canva/Affinity promise perpetual licenses will continue and any subscription would be optional, but language like “at this time” and focus on v2 (not v3+) makes users skeptical.
- Several see this as a classic M&A pattern: acquisition → integration pressure → pricing/model changes → product decline.
- Some note Serif was profitable and didn’t “need” to sell; others think AI and scale pressures made a sale rational.
Affinity vs Adobe
- Split views on quality:
- Some say Adobe tools are clearly superior and Affinity’s only real edge was pricing and lack of Creative Cloud bloat.
- Others argue Affinity is faster, more stable, leaner, and superior in fundamentals for print and desktop publishing; Adobe is seen as legacy, bloated, and bug-ridden.
- Lock‑in, industry standards, and network effects (education, agencies, file exchange) are seen as the main reasons pros stick with Adobe.
Canva’s reputation and fit
- Canva is described as:
- Highly successful, subscription-based, “lower-end” or prosumer design tool, strong in templates and social media content.
- Cloud‑only, browser‑first, with collaboration, but frustrating or inadequate for power users.
- Many worry Canva will:
- Push Affinity towards cloud/web, subscriptions, and AI features.
- Misunderstand Affinity’s pro workflows and loyal user base.
- A minority is optimistic, thinking Canva’s scale could fund real improvements and that Affinity and Canva target different segments.
Alternatives, OSS, and user strategies
- Some users plan to:
- Freeze on Affinity v1/v2, disable updates, archive installers, or move to VMs.
- Re‑evaluate Adobe, Pixelmator, Capture One, DaVinci Resolve, CorelDRAW, or niche tools.
- Invest more in open-source tools (GIMP, Inkscape, Krita, Scribus, LaTeX, etc.), though many see current OSS UX as inadequate vs Affinity/Adobe.
- Broader frustration with industry-wide shift to subscriptions and cloud dependence is a recurring theme.