Valery 🍁✨Nov 3
Henry Wilkinson

Affinity is free, I have thoughts! If you want to know what they are you can click this link: https://wilkinson.graphics/blog/2025-11-01-affinity-is-free/

If you don't want to know what they are, you can do other things! Ride a bike! Watch the sunset! The world is your oyster!

Affinity is Free! ...But at What Cost?

My thoughts on the state of graphics software in 2025

Nov 3 at 6:23amWeb
Show threadValery 🍁✨Nov 3
@hank Another consideration: Canva is not only big in marketing–it's huge in education. My partner is a teacher and the kids and teachers all use Canva in some form. If I were to guess it looks like they are going for a generational vendor lock where the next generation of creatives are more familiar with their suite than Adobe's for the sole reason that there's no cost and no friction to using it.
Show threadValery 🍁✨Nov 3
@hank Anyways great read! I share pretty much the same perspective as you here. I was halfway thru Cory Doctorow's Enshittification when this was announced so to say that I was skeptical is an understatement. 🙈
Show threadHenry WilkinsonNov 3

@valerymarier At this point I’m a little tired of “enshitification” alone as a critique, I think people get a bit lazy with their opinions when they rely solely on Doctorow’s points. Hoping I haven’t done that here heh.

…But also look! It’s the thing! This is always how it starts! I’m so tired of the cycle 🥲

Show threadValery 🍁✨Nov 3
@hank Yeah I hear ya. Judging from what I've seen I'm hoping this ends up being more of a situation like Audacity post-Muse acquisition, where they use it as a funnel to their other products and continue to keep it free and make improvements. But it's hard to not recognize patterns.
Show threadMark JonesNov 3

@hank great post with this bit resonating with me:

“If Canva actually wants to make a “shift to generosity”, they should make a Ulysses pact and open source Affinity.”

Show threadiantompkinsNov 4
@hank Requiring a Canva account is a big dealbreaker for me. And it’s free? I haven’t read the Canva TOS, but I’d bet money they sell your personal data. It’s all terribly sad.
Show threadHenry WilkinsonNov 4

@iantompkins I cover this in one of the footnotes, along with how to opt out.

But yes, it's a little odd that "free" local software needs to be "licensed" by signing in... Why exactly this is the case will only be discovered over time!

Show threadiantompkinsNov 4
@hank Interesting, thanks for the footnote. It really feels like they’re putting their foot in the doorway so they can force it open later. I hate to be so pessimistic, but 20 years using Adobe products has left me pretty jaded.
Show threadHenry WilkinsonNov 4
@iantompkins I feel similarly 🥲