Today, Affinity and Canva, together announced the acquisition of Serif, the makers of the Affinity apps, by Canva. This is a significant development in the progress of the Affinity suite, and we are both excited, and hesitant at this development.
What Is Affinity?
Affinity is a suite of apps that allows designers, photographers, and publishers to make amazing creative work, with a one-time purchase format, that their customers have loved. I myself have written quite a bit about their raster image editing app, Affinity Photo.
What Is Canva.com?
Canva, on the other hand is an online platform that allows you to quickly assemble and create artwork for social media or other purposes using pre-defined art, or to create your own artwork very quickly with simple, easy to use tools that anyone can pick up very quickly. Canva.com
Why Is This Important?
The Affinity apps have been a shelter from the flood of ‘subscription’ based software that has taken over the market. Affinity Photo, Designer, and Publisher have a full-set of features to produce professional artwork rivaling that of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.
With the purchase of Serif, the company behind Affinity, by Canva, users are left wondering whether that’s all about to change. Notably, Canva is a subscription based service, even though it does have a rather generous functionality even if used free.
Both Canva and Serif have published statements that say that they’re committed to the user base. In fact, Serif CEO, Ashley Hewson states in their announcement:
Since the inception of Affinity, our mission has been to empower creatives with tools that unleash their full potential, fostering a community where innovation and artistry flourish. We’ve worked tirelessly to challenge the status quo, delivering professional-grade creative software that is both accessible and affordable.
None of that changes today.
Ashley Hewson, CEO, Serif
The FAQ section goes on to say that no changes in pricing model are expected for v2, and current owners will be able to use the apps in perpetuity. However, there is no mention of pricing for future versions. It also mentions that we can expect to have some integration with Canva in the future.
Proponents of Perpetual Licensing
Historically, Serif have been strong proponents of a single purchase fee for their software, with updates for each version being free until the next version is released.
This has been a huge selling point for customers who are fed-up with paying for monthly subscription fees for image editing software, and a refuge for people who do not want to pay large sums of money over the years. Users love it, and hopefully Ashley Hewson’s statement today means that the pricing model is not going to change in the longer term, although that question is left open-ended.
Possibilities for The Future
Having been acquired, Affinity is now in a place to gain wider exposure, and usage, as well as the financial backing to be able to integrate more tools into their existing suite. We look forward to seeing what the team at Affinity are able to do, and we wish them well in this transition.
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