| Hey, Can you hear the distant drums? Yes, we're getting closer to that most wonderful time of year, when the world's marketers crowbar open your wallet. Which means it's a really good time to look at free alternatives to things you are paying for. (At least, this is my strategy to make space for the new shiny. I guess you could just... not buy the new shiny?) Everyone knows about the likes of Google Docs but it's going to take a lot more than a mildly annoying $6.99-a-month subscription to make me switch from Word. Google Docs exists for those who need it and/or prefer it; I'm happy for everyone involved. But I have bigger fish to fry. Bigger fishes? I should know that... growing affinity There was some fabulous news at the end of October for designers and creatives: Canva has relaunched Affinity and is making it free, forever. But what is Affinity and why should you care? If you are a photographer, designer, artist, illustrator, editor, or just someone like me who enjoys fooling around with creative tools and making all sorts of graphics... you might have your pom-poms out already because Affinity is basically a very popular alternative to Adobe's prohibitively expensive creative suite. Programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign have long been industry leaders — and have never been more unpopular thanks to the increasing prices (and increasingly sharp business practices) of Adobe. Creatives have to fork out over $1,000 a year to gain access to Adobe's Creative Cloud — because everything is a subscription now obvs — and Adobe has been criticized for all sorts of unsavory practices like hidden early termination fees (which triggered actions from the FTC), AI theft, kickback scandals, a laissez faire attitude to security, and the squashing of competitors. Various alternatives have attempted to make headway over the years but what made Affinity exciting — especially for those looking for a proper Photoshop alternative — was that it was a flat fee (around $70) had similar functionality (right down to shortcut keys) and could handle things like .psd files. But what is even more exciting is that (a) it was bought by Canva last year and (b) Canva just made it free, forever. BTW that's not "free if you have a Canva Pro subscription" — it's free-free. Free for everyone. Forever. At the same time Canva did that, they didn't hobble the base product of Affinity, in case that's what you're thinking. They made Affinity better. You can find a million videos from excited designers on YouTube who will explain this change better than me but one peeve they had about Adobe was when they had to switch between three different programs — Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign — to work on a project. Affinity has now combined its versions of those programs so that they are all easily accessible tabs in the one piece of software which you can switch between while working on the same project; it's pretty neat. I don't want to get into the weeds on this too much myself yet as I only downloaded it yesterday, but the excitement from Designer World is what I'm legally required to describe as "palpable." The headline news is that if you were looking to replace your Adobe subscription, you now have over 1,000 dollar-shaped reasons for doing so. And if you are worried about losing access to some of the other programs in Adobe's Creative Cloud, remember that DaVinci Resolve is arguably better than Premier Pro and is free and now integrates well with Affinity too btw (plus Canva just relaunched their free video editor if you want something simpler and/or don't have a powerful rig). And then Audacity remains free if you need an alternative to Audition. free vs pro (vs affinity) In case the difference between these programs confuses you: - Canva is a free browser-based design program — which is especially good for beginners; it's what I design everything on, and also how I learned to design them things because it really does hold your hand if you are willing to dive in and mess around.
- Canva Pro is the paid tier of the same program with some extra bells and whistles which aren't essential but quite useful if you are a heavy user. I used free Canva for years before upgrading to Canva Pro (which costs around $150 a year) which I personally find to be worth it but it's far from essential.
- Affinity is a proper piece of professional, download-and-keep software for PC/Mac (with these updates coming to the iPad app very soon) and which is now free, forever, and which has also relaunched with some great new features and proper Canva integration as well.
You don't need Canva Pro to access Affinity, just a regular Canva account, although a Canva Pro subscription will give you access to extra AI features… if that is of interest. AFAIK those are the only things that are "gatekept" behind a Canva Pro subscription — it's not like you get some hobbled version of Affinity if you don't have Canva Pro. I'm stressing that point because that's not how these things usually work, right? Canva also remains free — in case you thought that was the sting in the tail. I'm sure they would like everyone to upgrade to Canva Pro but it's certainly not necessary. Basic-level Canva remains an excellent program — one I used happily for years and years before deciding to upgrade to Canva Pro. For me, it's worth $150 a year for quality-of-life features like Magic Resize, which is such a timesaver; maybe I'll highlight some of those in an upcoming Image Workshop episode. (Perhaps that heavily rumored live episode!) But you can access all the key features of Canva — and download Affinity — without having Canva Pro. Just to be clear on that point. You only need to sign up to free Canva and you are able to download Affinity and keep it forever. where is the catch? But perhaps we should entertain a little skepticism here for a moment as well. While Canva says Affinity is yours to download and keep, and that it is free forever, who's to say that will always be the case? Maybe they will hobble Affinity (or basic Canva) at some point in the future to the extent that a Pro subscription feels compulsory. Or jack up the price? Perhaps even start engaging in the shady practices which Adobe has become infamous for. It's a tech company, after all. Tech companies are cool… until they don't need to be anymore. Skepticism is always healthy in these situations but I do genuinely think this is exciting news for anyone who likes to make stuff. I'm not a Canva affiliate BTW, this is not a sponsored email. I was a Canva affiliate a few years back, until they closed their program, but I probably promote them more now tbh. I certainly make more Canva resources for you guys these days — just in case anyone was wondering about that and if it affects my opinions. I only promote companies and tools that I use myself, regardless of any affiliation. Also, let me just say it's pretty damn cool that in the blistering hellscape of 2025 that all the software you need to create professional level designs, to edit videos like a pro, to record top quality audio, to do a million other things basically only limited by your imagination is… free. And on a personal level, I was so glad to hear this announcement because I had almost convinced myself to spring for an Adobe subscription. I'm finally setting up my office after such a long hiatus and was in the process of convincing myself to try it out — only held back by the endless negative comments from designer friends over the years about Adobe, and a reluctance to fork over money to a company with such values. It's great to have a comprehensive — and free! — alternative. And satisfying to shank a company that has been doing exactly that to its own users for years. super stock photo deal While we're on a design kick, remember that the best stock photo deal around is the bi-annual DepositPhotos deal from AppSumo: Get 100 Stock Photo Credits for $39. This is an affiliate deal, but not only does this not affect the price you pay, this is actually the cheapest this deal has ever been. And if you sign up to AppSumo's mailing list, you can get an extra 10% off on top of that (look out for the pop-up). The credits never expire so you don't have to stay up all night downloading or whatever, but fair warning: this may kickstart a creative frenzy. In fact, the two things in today's newsletter — trying Canva for the first time and buying my first pack of DepositPhotos stock credits back in 2018, I think? — kickstarted a real creative journey for me. I used to be one of those people who said they couldn't draw a straight line with a ruler. And now I make all my ad graphics, website graphics, blog headers, and social media teasers. I still hire proper designers to make my book covers, although I did have a go at a reader magnet cover a while back and was pretty happy with the results. That's not something I could have imagined a few years ago, and neither is the idea that I would start sketching again simply to relax — on my trusty Remarkable obvs — something I haven't done for maybe thirty years. Turns out I still just draw pandas and dogs and sloths, so maybe not much has changed after all! Dave P.S. Noodling and doodling music this week is Two Wooden Spoons by This Is The Kit. | 
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