I put the taped label on there for my own sake.
I forget how I came by the Mac Mini pictured above, but I’m sure I didn’t buy it new. I rarely do. It was probably Dan’s—my buddy who’d snatch up the latest Apple gear the day it dropped, only to flip it the moment something faster or shinier arrived. His castoffs were my gain; he’d offer them to me at prices so low I’d be a fool to say no. Those…
Subscription-free photo editing, page layout, graphic design and illustration apps for professionals. Try for free or buy for one low paymen
(Tumblr Post from July 15, 2024)
Affinity suite is 50% off in sale until August 15, 2024 and has extended free trial to be 6 months (previously 1 month).
Free trial includes Affinity Designer 2, Affinity Photo 2, and Affinity Publisher 2.
The "all software license" bundle (including iPad versions) can be purchased for $82.99usd on sale.
During the sale the PC/Mac apps individually cost $34.99, and iPad apps individually cost $9.29 (Affinity Pricing Page)
Each main version of Affinity software is so far just a 1-time purchase. Affinity suite is a competitor of Adobe suite, and was acquired by Canva.
Compatible with MacOS, Windows, and IpadOS. (Though some have Affinity apps working Unofficially on GNU/Linux using "Wine" and "Bottles").
For context:
The sale and extended free trial for Affinity 2 Suite is happening at same time of Adobe's recent controversies. So this is likely taking advantage of the influx of former Adobe Suite users quitting Adobe products.
Adobe controversies include: (1) exorbitant hidden subscription cancellation fees, and difficulty in cancelling. (2) previous Terms of Service scrutinized for implying Adobe planned to collect and sell Adobe cloud suite users’ files and user data; as well as use their users' content (including NDA content) for image generation training with no opt-out option, creating further legal scrutiny.
The U.S. government and different organizations are suing Adobe for anti-consumer practices.
well uhhh rip to the CSP folks I guess lol? Figure I’ll throw my two cents out here. Even though some people are claiming V3 will be a perpetual license (which also I do not see anywhere in their article) I’ve never seen a piece of software that starts a subscription model maintain their perpetual licenses. I’ve watched that happen to both the Substance suite (acquired by good old Adobe) and ZBrush (after being acquired by Maxon).
A couple shoutouts: Krita is free and open source, and currently my software of choice. It has oodles of different brushes and features, multiple different brush engines including compatibilty with MyPaint, and although 2D animation is the bane of my existence, it’s more friendly to starting animators IMO than actual animation programs.
Paint Tool SAI still operates under the most forgiving license I have ever seen. There is a version 2 in development that you can download builds for if you have a license, and by and large I find that they are pretty stable / not prone to crashing. While somewhat lacking in features compared to other programs, V2 has some good basics, and the brush engine itself is one of the best I’ve ever seen for color mixing.
If you’re interested in vector art at all, Affinity Designer tends to be what I use for work. The Affinity Suite by Serif is designed to be an alternative to the Adobe triad of Photoshop-Illustrator-InDesign with a perpetual license. Designer is essentially the Illustrator equivalent and I feel the most robust competitor of the three, although all three I would say are more user-friendly than Adobe’s.
Finally, I just want to add that while I know a lot of y’all that follow me are just hobbyists, which is perfectly fine, but if you can afford to throw money at programs like these I encourage you do so. SAI in particular (to my knowledge) is still being developed by just one person, and unfortunately, even software devs are still bound by capitalism as much as the rest of us. Free, donation-driven models are totally viable. I mean god, Blender’s been doing it for 20 years now! But the people behind it are real folks in need of support, and I hope those of y’all looking for a CSP alt will keep that in mind.
Hey folks, hope you’re doing well! Clip Studio Paint is running another one of its sales for the next five days where's it's only $25 for the basic version (which is a one and done purchase on desktop, but it’s a subscription fee on mobile). Given it's my preferred drawing software and it's really good, I'm always here for people getting it at a discount. I’ve been using it since 2016 for my illustrations. It’s very friendly towards my workflow, especially with its stabilization features that work with virtually every tool. (I also recommend Krita for this reason for something a bit more budget-friendly.)
Likewise, the Affinity Suite is 50% off until June 30th, and if you're someone who dabbles in graphic design and doesn't want to pay subscription fees, you're gonna want this. Affinity Photo, Designer, and Publisher are just as powerful as Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. I'm learning them as an alternative, and while Photo is the only one I've gotten to test, I'm really happy with what it allows me to do for photo editing. Each one is close to $25, and there's no subscription fee, so it's a one and done purchase, with a ton of extra content included right now for overlays and textures. It's worth looking into.
I’m not somebody that does a ton of promoting of products, but these are some pieces of software that I truly believe in. They’re useful and I’m excited to keep exploring them. Hope you find this useful!
God I wish I got affinity suit v2 before the merger
I hate company mergers and I don't trust canva enough to not go down the enshitification route so many companies do. I also don't like anything subscription based or adjacent. what is free now won't be free tomorrow 87% of the time. (Personal experience.)I juts like buying something one and owning it. I have my reasons to be reluctant about touching the new canva-affinity.
(God i miss the days when you could use a program without having to connect it to the f**cking internet...)
I really really like the affinity suite system. Publisher and designer is great and I really enjoy photo. I have the three on ipad but I regret not having it on pc.didnt have the monz at the time and I didn't know it got voutout til last minute. I can't find a way to get it anymore either. so im grasping to dying software.
Are there alternatives to it that id have to relearn, yeah sure. but not a lot of vector software doubles as having raster layers built in, isn't super confusing, and doest cost an arm and a leg. did I mention also legs you publish things, it also lets you publish things easier. love publisher , could literally use designer and phone with a change in modes.
Why I Left Adobe and Found My Creative Home in Affinity
For a long time, Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign from Adobe were simply part of my creative life. I grew up in an era when you bought the software once and it was yours, no timers, no monthly reminders, no creeping feeling that creativity was being rented by the hour. When Adobe shifted to Creative Cloud, I understood the logic. It is a powerful, beautifully built ecosystem that keeps…
Subscription-free photo editing, page layout, graphic design and illustration apps for professionals. Try for free or buy for one low paymen
These are the programs I use - Affinity, Designer - Photo - Publisher.
I've been waiting for this sale. I currently have Version 1. Does the sale mean Version 3 soon? I've also heard Affinity has been purchased by Canva. So I'm not sure what subscription evil is coming my way.
Affinity free for schools and nonprofits
I was not aware Affinity is free for schools and nonprofits. Most of my current designing is for a nonprofit. Something to look into.