Creatives fear the worst as Affinity's website is paused

Creative software company Affinity's website has been temporarily paused, along with the ability to purchase the software and post on its official forums – leading to intense speculation from designers online.

Affinity was purchased by Canva (an online creative publishing tool) in May 2024, and so far there haven't been any major changes to the software's model. Up until this week, you could still buy a one-off subscription, and the tools remain as powerful as ever. Does this move mean that the acquisition has led to something different altogether for one of our top graphic design software picks?

A message has appeared Affinity.com declaring "Creative Freedom is Coming. Sign up to be the first to know. True creative freedom is just around the corner. October 30". Creative freedom sounds good, right? But discussion online seems to fear the worst, as everything from a subscription model to AI credits is suggested as being a possible future business model.

The same message was posted on X, with Affinity explaining the disabled store with the following statement: "We’re making space for what’s next. This short pause lets us transition cleanly without confusion between versions. Existing customers keep full access to their apps. This only affects new purchases and trials." See the post below:

Designers over on the r/graphic_design subreddit are not feeling hopeful.

"No announcements, no migration plan seems to exist.. just purchase option(s) gone, support scattered, and the mobile app missing when you go to search for it," one user says.

"I really, REALLY hope it's just us thinking the worst, but the fact that they also shut down the official forums says a lot...there was a decade of software and design support in there," adds another worried creative.

"I knew the Canva acquisition would be bad and again, until they say something I'll keep my fingers crossed, but I have the awful feeling I'll have to abandon yet another software and company I loved, which I already started to love less as soon as they decided to sell."

With many professional creatives feeling that Adobe has left them behind in their new AI-based business model, users are concerned that the Canva acquisition means a new Affinity model will go the same way. If Affinity leans into the AI capability offered in Canva, will the software be providing the right kind of product for professional designers? After our glowing review for Affinity 2, we hope any changes are handled sensitively – and we do have this pledge from Canva and Affinity, created in 2024, to offer hope. This promises fair pricing, accelerating Affinity, that it's accessible for all and community led.

"Instead of continuing to build actually viable competitors to illustrator and InDesign for actual professional use they will add AI? I would very much love for real competitors to exist," someone speculates.

There are also discussions over what the phrase 'creative freedom' means in this instance, and some are worried that the 'future forward' language further points to an increase of AI.

But it's not all gloom – some would embrace a move to more AI inclusion.

"Optimistic POV here," another comment begins. "Affinity 2 was released in 2022. It seems clear to me that this is announcing the release of Affinity 3, which will likely include Canva's AI tools to rival Adobe's Gen AI. I'm looking forward to seeing this big update! They probably pulled the ability to purchase the software so that people don't get screwed buying Affinity 2 right before the new one is released."

Whether this is going to end up being good news or not, this strategy isn't the best way to enact a major update or change for a brand people are bought into. The mysterious approach has made their user base nervy, and promoted a lot of negative online chatter. A steer on the type of update creatives can expect would have been better than this vague, supposedly suspense-building statement that apparently is going to have users waiting for almost a month without answers.

Affinity had no comment at this time.

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