Affinity Photo Reviews

It's a real, reliable, professional software at a fixed (low) price.

My only quibble is that it takes a while to load itself. I have a Macbook Pro 2015 and it was once super quick, so recently I reset the entire Mac, on order to have it clean and fast: disappointedly Affinity still take long time to be ready.

What I like the most about Affinity Photo is the price. It is so cheap and works perfectly for my photo editing needs. I am a graphic designer and also a photographer. The first-ever software I used was Adobe Photoshop but as time goes by I feel like I'm paying too much for the software. I looked for an alternative then here comes Affinity Photo. I bought it without hesitation and fell in love instantly! The price is hard to beat and works really well like Photoshop. That's when I decided to ditch Photoshop and learn how to use Affinity Photo.

It's really easy to use if you are already familiar with Photoshop. Everything is pretty much the same. You just need to watch a few tutorial videos then you will be confident enough to play with the tools available.

It's also not resource-hungry. It loads very fast on my mid-end laptop. I also like that they have a mobile app where you can use a stylus pen to brush or paint, but I am more used to using the mouse so I just use it on mobile for fun.

All future updates are also free so you don't have to be worried about getting left behind. Even if they release a new separate version, I will still support and purchase this gem. It can open PSD files so you can import (and also export) your Photoshop files. It was a no-brainer switch for me.

I wish it supports smart objects. I think this is the only thing missing from this app. I'm not sure about the other features but this is what I noticed when I needed it. I search through the internet and it was indeed not supported. Other than that, everything is excellent!

Affinity Photo has all the tools I needed without any additional plugins. the ease of use and access to tools with a rich interface was helpful to quickly understand it after switching from lightroom/photoshop.

Layers management is a bit behind compared to photoshop.

To echo what I wrote in the pros section of my review for Affinity Designer, the main reason I bought this was for its integration with Affinity Publisher. I’m a writer, and I develop my own books, and I wanted a tool that could help me make them without a costly subscription. In my search for an alternative to Adobe InDesign, I found Affinity Publisher, and that search also led me to its two siblings, Photo and Designer. Having the ability to use Photo’s tools within an app for designing publishing interiors seemed like a no-brainer for me. But that only mattered if I’d actually bought Photo. So I did. And now I use it more than any other tool in my development library. It’s so easy to use, yet has so many tutorials available that even those who find it difficult at first can figure it out soon enough. It has also effectively replaced Corel’s PaintShop Pro as my go-to for inexpensive photo compositing. It’s become the primary reason my book covers look any good now. And the website I’ve been working on since November of last year: all page images come from composites made with Affinity Photo, and my site couldn’t look any better. Affinity Photo makes me look good, and I have no hair. If that’s not enough reason to get it, then the low one-time cost should seal the deal.

Again, to reiterate my cons from Affinity Designer (and this is fair because they both use the same architecture and share many of the same interface tools), I’m not experienced enough with even higher-end products (like Adobe Photoshop, for example) to make claims about the features they offer that Affinity Photo doesn’t. That said, I do know what I want Photo to do that it can’t do, and what I want it to do is to import Photoshop “actions,” which I think are just macros, so that I can buy the good ones off Design Cuts or some other online design resource and use them in my photos. In other words, I want it to do what Adobe Photoshop can do, but so far it can only do about 80%. That’s plenty, but it’s not everything. I want everything. I also want a pizza. We can’t have everything. (But I can have a pizza.)

As a long time Photoshop user I was looking for a replacement which would offer me a product with comparable features. Affinity exceeded my expectations and is offered at an amazing price point. Instead of paying a monthly fee I was able to purchase a lifetime license for all the functionality I needed plus some!

I wish there was a more active support after purchase. While there are videos on youtube, I ended up purchasing the Affinity Photo Workbook (hardcover) to use as a reference. Well worth it and still substantially less expensive than Photoshop.

Affinity Photo offers tremendous value. It is on par with Photoshop in all essential features, and surpasses Photoshop in many features. I love that it has a simple help feature that assists in using each tool. The absolute best feature? The wide assortment of export options.

Affinity could do a better job in promoting add-ons and feature extensions. I use Photo for work and hobby and I didn't realize it could be used masterfully for astrophotography until I saw a video online.

It's so easy to use once you get over the learning curve. Even after 2 years I am still discovering more and more things that I thought were not possible with this software

There is a bit of a learning curve and some features do not work as I'd expect. I would also like other things implemented (adjustiblity per layer,etc) but I also understand that for the price point that's not something they are in a hurry to implement

I love how Affinity Photo has all of the features that a graphic designer needs to succeed. It has features comparable to that of Photoshop, but it's more affordable.

I have some issues with patterns. Sometimes there will be a thin line between two objects in a repeating pattern. I looked up the solution to it, but it would be nice if this wasn't an issue at all. It's a minor issue, but still an issue nonetheless.

It has the major functionality and features of Photoshop at an affordable price. It runs efficiently without using a lot of RAM. It has a user friendly interface.

The learning curve is not as low as I expected it to be. I had to purchase a separate Affinity Photo for Windows and Mac.

Similar to Photoshop and works really well on a Mac or PC. No monthly subscription costs so much better value for money versus Adobe software.

Some features our users said were not the same or not available compared to Adobe Photoshop - however we have not generally had an issue long term.

Affinity Photo is the reason I don't bleed money on overly expensive programs that I only use a tiny portion of. It is inexpensive, reliable, and has all the features I ever needed!

I would really want more customization options for key bindings. My drawing tablet does not support the current hotkeys well, but that's not only on Affinity but on the tablet manufacturer as well.

1 : No Subscription Policy. It's perfect perpetual license and price is low.
2 : Fast navigate and can handling big project. I have done one massive composition file over 10 Giga and it works.
3 : external plug-in compatible. i use neat image photoshop plug-in with affinty photo without any problem.
4 : Panorama and stack (include astrophotography) feature is excellent.
5 : Refine feature. This process made me spend less effort and time to make mask from fuzzy object.

1 : User can't change scratch disk. if you face "disk full error" you can't proceed until empty you system disk. Let user change or add external disk as scratch disk option need.
2 : Selecting layer from working screen is very frustrating. It means can't select wanted layer among overlapped layers with right click list checking. User must find in layer palette. this is horrible when many layer project.
3 : Little bit training need to using mask workflow. newbie user confusing when work with mask layer. also, I hope to let user enable transform separately with mask.
4 : No Batch RAW processing.
5 : No response to user's question.

Price: A One-Time Price (instead of a monthly subscription).
CYMK: This is a required color mode for most professional printing. The settings are simple and the output is gorgeous!
Ease of use: Much easier than Adobe to learn and to use.
Multiple app options (I am using windows desktop) and multiple languages!

Three Platforms: The primary CON is there are three software programs (Photo, Publisher, and Designer) from this company that are each sold and used separately. The good thing is, now we can toggle between them, seemingly on the fly making it easier to use different features on the same artwork. But, they are still stand-alone when it comes to updates, so each program will need to be updated individually, be sure to update each one when they have updates to download and install.

Affinity Photo offers a complete and professional toolset on photo editing and has competitive pricing that makes it the best choice when it comes to benefit-cost analysis. The software is available to all platforms and devices, including Windows Store (even though it was first made to Mac platforms.). After a single purchase, you own the software and can use it until it is discontinued by Affinity, which is a fair model of pricing to users that's not done by major competitors. Instead, other companies charge users monthly to get a license to use their product, which makes their product far more expansive than Affinity Photo. The choice of charging only once for their product is a very good reason people are migrating to Affinity, especially new users and students who can't afford a never-ending monthly payment.

Getting used to Affinity Photo's interface was a confusing process, it could be more intuitively friendly to beginners and users who changed from another product. Maybe adding a tutorial or some sort of guide would help with that problem.

Affinity Photo is a competent alternative to Adobe Photoshop, and one that does so with a cheap initial purchase price and no ongoing subscription costs. I have found that everything I have needed to do in Photoshop can be done in Affinity, however sometimes the workflow is slightly different so taking a short training course it's definitely worth it.

Affinity seems a lot faster and less buggy than Photoshop in a lot of areas. There are also some places in which Affinity Photo is better than Photoshop. For example, Affinity gives a preview of the effect the tool selected will do to the image so you can get it perfect before committing to any modifications. Additionally, having separate personas that you choose depending on what you wish to do to the image helps cut down on clutter and allows you to focus better.

I haven't experienced any issues with the software, with the only negative being that if you are accustomed to another piece of software it can take some time to adjust. It can be difficult to find tutorials, and unless you are willing to pay money for a course there is a lot of trial and error.

The photoshop-like interface made it easy to switch over as a casual user with very little learning curve

Having to update by downloading an EXE from a website rather than having an app like Creative Cloud desktop is an annoyance

Create new graphic images, as well as create SVG, EPS, PSD files. You can import from standard programs, such as Adobe, CSP.. . Have a huge range of export options.

Not much, would be nice if more free additional resources like brushes, assets.

Affinity Photo contains most of the powerful feature anyone needs in their daily workflows and integrates seamlessly with their other softwares, Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher, in a way that allows you to switch modes and work on design and layouts from within the same application in a breeze.

Feature set is more limited than the competition with lots of more advanced feature having been stripped out in favor of speed and utility, namely automated actions, AI image editing, etc.

It is very easy to use and the tools available are very similar to other software tools. The zoom is infinite and helps you with a more detailed edition.

It can be a bit challenging at first if you are transitioning from another software, but once you get used to it you learn to love it.

The editing capabilities of Affinity Photos are at par with the Adobe Photoshop and it does the job at a much cheaper acquisition cost.

There is no accompanying mobile app to facilitate editing on the go.

Unless you need access to Adobe's Creative Cloud this fits as a great replacement at a much lower cost

Nothing major, takes a bit of time to adjust to some different layout/shortcuts.

Actually very easy to use, and a great alternative to its subscription-based alternatives. It has a lot of features, and you can manipulate psd files without issues.

Changing over took some time, but once you learn how to use it you won't go back.

Not having a monthly subscription, the cheap cost, ease of setup. Nearly all Photoshop functions are available for a tiny fraction of the cost. It runs very well on my Mac.

The documentation can be a bit sparse. Some features of Photoshop aren’t available. Having a simple “Save for Web” function is a big loss.

The tools for photo editing and graphics are state of the art, compared to the recognized brand. The price is unbeatable. The stability is very good and it is cross platform.
For those who edit pictures this is the way to go,

Some learning curve worth taking. Some features take an extra step to achieve.

I like that I can do the basics of Photoshop within this application.

There is a bit of a learning curve to figure out how to do all the things I was used to doing in Photoshop. The "personas" are a bit confusing for me but I am able to get done what I need to as a cover designer.