Photoshop vs Affinity Photo

Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard. It runs on a subscription (from $22.99 per month on an annual plan in the US) and ships a steady stream of new features. Affinity Photo used to be its main paid rival, a one-time purchase from a company called Serif. That changed in October 2025: Canva, which bought Serif in 2024, merged Affinity Photo, Designer and Publisher into one app called Affinity and made it free.

So the question is no longer "is Affinity worth $70?" It is "do you need anything that only Photoshop does?" This page answers that.

The short answer

Start with Affinity. It is free, runs on Windows and Mac, opens PSD files, and covers layers, masks, adjustment layers, retouching and compositing. Because it costs nothing, you can try your real projects in it before paying for anything. Choose Photoshop if your work depends on Adobe's ecosystem: its Firefly-based generative tools, its huge plug-in library, Creative Cloud sync between devices, or clients and studios that expect Photoshop workflows.

Where Photoshop wins

Photoshop's lead is now concentrated in four areas:

Mature, built-in generative AI. Generative Fill, Generative Expand and Neural Filters are part of Photoshop itself and use Adobe's Firefly models. Affinity now offers generative tools too, but through a separate paid Canva plan, and they are newer.

Plug-in ecosystem. Photoshop has three decades of third-party plug-ins for retouching, color grading, and specialty effects. Affinity accepts many Photoshop-compatible plug-ins, but not all of them work and the ecosystem built for it is much narrower.

Industry compatibility. Photographers, agencies, and studios run Photoshop. If you send files to clients or collaborate with other retouchers, working in Photoshop is the lowest-friction path.

Working across devices. Creative Cloud syncs files between computers, and Photoshop has an iPad version today. Affinity keeps files on your device, and its new iPad app has been announced but not released.

Where Affinity wins

Price. Affinity is free. Compared with Photoshop's annual plan billed monthly, that saves $275.88 a year. For anyone who edits photos as a hobby, this settles it unless you need a Photoshop-only feature.

Three apps in one. The free app combines photo editing, vector design and page layout. In Adobe's world those are Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, which cost far more together.

Frequency separation built in. Photoshop requires you to set up frequency separation manually or with an action. Affinity has a dedicated Frequency Separation filter. Small thing, but if you retouch portraits regularly, it matters.

Speed on modest hardware. Affinity has a long-standing reputation for being quick with large files and on older computers. Results depend on your machine, and since it is free, it is easy to test on yours.

Who should pick which?

Pick Photoshop if: you are a working photographer or designer; you rely on Adobe's generative tools or Neural Filters; you collaborate with other Photoshop users; you need to work on an iPad or sync across devices; you already pay for a Creative Cloud plan.

Pick Affinity if: you edit photos a few times a month; you do not want a subscription; you mainly need layers, masks, retouching and compositing; you would also like vector and layout tools in the same app; you are moving up from a casual tool like Photoshop Elements.

The honest middle ground: use Affinity for everyday work, and subscribe to Photoshop for a single month when a project needs something only Photoshop has. Adobe offers a month-to-month plan with no annual commitment. It costs more per month than the annual plan, but it is cheaper if you only need Photoshop occasionally.