**Canva Unifies Affinity Apps into Free Software, But Ends Perpetual Licensing**
In a significant development for graphic design professionals and enthusiasts, Canva has unveiled a major update to the Affinity suite of creative applications, marking its first major move since acquiring Affinity from Serif last year. The new offering, called “Affinity by Canva,” combines the three flagship Affinity apps—Photo, Designer, and Publisher—into a single, unified software platform. This new app is available at no cost, provided that users create or log in with a Canva account. However, generative AI features are restricted to those who subscribe to Canva’s paid plans, which start at $120 per year for individuals.
**Background: Affinity’s Appeal and Canva’s Acquisition**
Affinity apps have long been favored by designers and artists seeking powerful, professional-grade tools without the commitment of a subscription. Unlike Adobe’s Creative Cloud, which requires ongoing payments, Affinity built its reputation on offering perpetual licenses—a pay-once, own-forever model. The acquisition by Canva, a company that has enthusiastically embraced generative AI and a subscription-based business model, raised concerns within the Affinity user community. Many wondered if Affinity’s anti-AI stance and perpetual licensing would survive under Canva’s ownership.
**What’s New: Unified App and Pricing Structure**
The launch of Affinity by Canva answers many of these questions. The new app merges the capabilities of Affinity Photo, Designer, and Publisher, streamlining the user experience and offering a single interface for editing photos, creating vector graphics, and laying out documents. This unified app is compatible with both x86 and Arm versions of Windows, as well as macOS (including both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs) going back to macOS 10.15 Catalina. A new iPad version is also promised soon.
Most notably, the core features of the Affinity apps are now free to everyone who registers with Canva. This means that powerful, professional design tools are more accessible than ever. According to Affinity CEO Ash Hewson, the new app was developed in close collaboration with the creative community and guided by Canva’s Designer Advisory Board, prioritizing “performance, reliability, and creative freedom.”
**Generative AI Features Behind a Paywall**
While the essential creative tools are free, Canva is placing its generative AI features—such as Generative Fill, Expand & Edit, and Remove Background—behind its existing paid subscription tiers. This approach may reassure long-time Affinity users who were wary of generative AI being forced into their workflows, especially given Affinity’s previous public skepticism of such technologies. Hewson has emphasized that the AI features in Affinity by Canva are designed with privacy in mind; any work done within the app will not be used to train AI models. This is a clear attempt to address privacy concerns and retain trust among privacy-conscious professionals.
**No More Perpetual Licenses: The End of an Era**
One of the biggest