Affinity

Free (in-app purchases apply) Affinity Photo, Designer and Publisher rolled into a single app

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Affinity Photo is one of the leading Photoshop alternatives, doing almost everything that the Adobe program does at a fraction of the price and with no subscription. The program's developer Serif was bought out by graphics giant Canva, and Affinity Photo has been reborn as part of an all-in-one Affinity application, combining photo editing with vector drawing and page layout tools – like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign all rolled into one.

Although Affinity Photo is one of the best photo-editing software apps, it’s also a design tool for projects where photography is a component – and this is true of new owner Canva, too. So how come it is completely free, in perpetuity, with no strings? The catch is that you can download Affinity with a basic free Canva account, but to access Canva's more advanced Al tools, such as Al object masking, generative Al or upscaling, you'll need a paid Canva subscription. But Affinity is powerful enough for most and it's free, with no watermarks or restrictions on time or features. All you need to do is sign up for a free Canva account, and then you can download the app. For more advanced generative Al features, you will need to subscribe to a paid Canva plan.

That's the only limitation – though for photographers who don’t use generative Al much, it’s not a limitation at all.

Interface and usability