Canva's Affinity acquisition means serious competition for Adobe

If it already seemed that Canva was out to challenge Adobe's dominance over design software, today's news leaves no doubt. The company is buying Serif's Affinity suite, a major subscription-free competitor to some of the main Adobe Creative Cloud apps.

The Affinity suite is by no means as broad as Creative Cloud, but it comprises alternatives to three of Adobe's main programs: Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. Unlike Adobe's software, Affinity Photo 2, Affinity Designer 2 and Affinity Publisher 2 are available as one-off purchases rather than subscriptions, making them much more affordable in the long term.

As a web-based design platform, Australia-based Canva has been growing rapidly in recent years. It's been adding a host of generative AI features and expanding its tools way beyond its core logo maker and original focus on social media. It's also been trying to broaden its appeal beyond amateur designers and small businesses to include creative professionals, a move that's cemented by today's announcement.

Buying Affinity Designer, Photo, and Publisher from Serif means it now adds more fully-featured non-web creative apps to its portfolio. The three programs are available for Windows, Mac and iPad and offer many similar features to Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign.

Recently, the integration of Adobe Firefly AI-powered tools such as Generative Fill in Photoshop have given Creative Cloud apps an additional edge over Affinity's options. However, Canva has text-to-image AI tools of its own, so it will be interesting to see if its acquisition of Affinity will lead to such features being added to the programs to help them compete with Adobe's offerings. So far, Canva has said only that it will "accelerate the rollout of new features".

Canva, whose own platform had around 170 million users at the start of this year, says that Affinity's three apps are used by over three million people. That's a small user base compared to Adobe's, but the application of Canva's considerable marketing resources could help promote Affinity among Adobe users who want out of the subscription-based system. And by taking on Affinity's 90 staff in the UK, Canva may also have options for the development of more sophisticated tools for its own online platform.

Canva said in a press release announcing the deal: “While our last decade at Canva has focused heavily on the 99 percent of knowledge workers without design training, truly empowering the world to design includes empowering professional designers too. By joining forces with Affinity, we’re excited to unlock the full spectrum of designers at every level and stage of the design journey.”

Ashley Hewson, CEO of Affinity, whose team is based in the UK, said: “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. 

"Canva’s commitment to empowering everyone to create aligns perfectly with those values. We couldn't be more excited about becoming part of the Canva family and can't wait to see what we will achieve together.”

The strength of Adobe's Creative Cloud continues to be the breadth of its apps. Creatives who also need access to video editing tools like PremierePro and After Effects have no alternative in Affinity, which means an Adobe subscription is likely to continue to be the best deal for those work across many forms of media. Adobe's continual innovation also helps to justify its subscription model since it's regularly adding new features which are automatically available for subscribers.

Neither Canva nor Affinity's developer Serif has commented officially on the value of the deal, but Bloomberg has estimated it to be worth “several hundred million pounds.”

UPDATE: Canva has said that it will continue to offer perpetual licences for Affinity products, and that it will "always price Affinity fairly and affordably". It added that it will soon offer Affinity for free to schools and registered non-profits.

See below for the best prices on Canva and Adobe design software in your region.