Adobe, Affinity (Canva), Autodesk, Maxon and the like are all very commercial corporations, with pricy subscriptions, user data hoarding and increasingly prominent (de)generative AI functionality.
In case you want to have a look around for possible replacements, here’s a list of free or reasonably priced alternatives…
This is a Wiki post, so Blender Artists users starting with Trust Level 1 can edit the post to modify it.
Please…
Adjust the date when you modify the wiki.
Add a label to new additions.
Keep the order alphabetical.
Keep an eye on possible inappropriate entries, such as obvious self-promotion.
Tips for additions or broken link notifications are welcome. Just reply to this thread, or you can or add / fix it yourself if you’re a Blender Artists Trust Level 1+ user. Thanks.
Footnote: this started as a thread about the Affinity suite changes, hence the initial replies.
I read it 10 minutes ago and am VERY unsure what to think of it. Subscribtions are not on the table for the current version. But who says v3 will be without Subscribtions?
And did I tell everyone I know about the wrong suite of tools to buy and learn?
Only happy that it wasn’t Adobe, Autodesk, Maxon or Facebook/Meta.
Cool. So it happens again. We really need a good open source contender for a Photoshop and Indesign Alternative.
I said it before and I say it again: Open Source software really is the only form of Software where everybody benefits from investments in the software and where time spent learning the software is most safe.
Every improvement helps everybody - not just the few existing subscribers.
Open Source will never be vanish or be sold from one day to the next.
So … let’s see where this goes, now. Affinity software is not strong enough for gathering subscription fes, I think. But continue as is is also rarely happening after a buyout.
Yes, I really tried getting away from Adobe and can say Affinity was able to make up for 90%, but is a lot more cumbersome in some areas. But, you can usually get the same results. I think Canva+Affinity could be a force to be reckoned with, if they make the right choices.
The Affinity press release shows exactly the same “We’re so excited and grateful” bullshit as Pixologic wrote when they had sold themselves to Maxon. It’s predominantly a case of commercial self-interest, as usual.
The FAQ is also reminiscent of the ZBrush FAQ after the Maxon take-over: there’s no explicit “There won’t be a subscription”.
Maxon introduced subscriptions faster than you could process the Pixologic take-over.
The sad thing is that we already have a VERY fair subscription model for commercial applications that actually works really well: Jetbrain’s implementation.
Every 12 month subscription has a fallback to a perpetual license of the last major point release before the most recent one (so in many cases you could go back a bit). And if you actually stick to paying each consecutive year gets cheaper, three years in a row.
Fairest subscription model in my opinion. Just apparently not the preferred one by the industry.
So we now have Inkscape, vector only or Krita, which should be getting better vector tools to be able to compete with Affinity. But, Krita is a rasterised application in the end.
@Metin_Seven you forgot about these in your Mastodon post:
Penpot https://penpot.app/
And Graphite https://graphite.rs/
Graphite is still very much in the works and can expect to get a desktop based app in the future.
danggity dang a dingalong. Thanks for offering up alternatives, @Metin_Seven. Affinity Publisher was my home for printing jobs. I guess it’ll stay this way if they let me keep my license, until something better/foss comes up.
Well that’s not the best of news. Not that I own the apps yet, not had a pressing need, but it was always nice to know it was there as a solid, long term option vs Adobe.
Should we start a ruffle to guess on which date the ‘Affinity Subscription’ will be announced… haha.
Totally ! I guess they’re planning to announce it once the dust settles. I give it approximately a year. Let’s insert a bit of randomness to keep it interesting : february 18th, 2025.
@anon49703451 Inkscape has changed a lot recently, you might want to give it another try if you haven’t. I personally have some gripes with the navigation and transformations, but I’m so spoiled with Blender…
This is a Wiki post, so Blender Artists users starting with Trust Level 1 can edit the post to modify it.
Please…
label to new additions.
Most recent edit: July 18
Order = alphabetical 
Tips for additions or broken link notifications are welcome. Just reply to this thread, or you can or add / fix it yourself if you’re a Blender Artists Trust Level 1+ user. Thanks.
Footnote: this started as a thread about the Affinity suite changes, hence the initial replies.
I just recently bought the full V2 package too…