affinity Challenges Adobe Photoshop‘s Dominance
For years, Adobe Photoshop reigned as the gold standard in graphic design and professional photo editing. Though, in recent months, Affinity has emerged as a strong contender, attracting creators worldwide, including in Indonesia.
This application offers Photoshop-level capabilities at a considerably lower cost, and is now even available in a free version.
What exactly is Affinity, and why does its presence threaten Adobe Photoshop?
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Get to Know Affinity
Affinity is a suite of professional design applications developed by Serif, a British software company. Initially, Affinity consisted of three separate apps:
- Affinity Photo as a photo editor (Photoshop choice)
- Affinity designer for vector-based graphic design (Illustrator alternative)
- Affinity Publisher for layout and content publishing (InDesign alternative)
In October 2025, Canva acquired Serif. As then, Affinity has undergone significant changes.
Now, all these functions are combined into one application with four main tabs: Vector, Pixel, Layout, and Canva AI. This integration simplifies workflows, allowing users to work on various design formats in one place without switching applications.
Why Affinity is a Serious Threat to Photoshop
Several factors contribute to Affinity’s growing importance: