# Affinity Photo 81 Hacker News commenters recommended Affinity Photo and 41 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 11 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Recommended as a capable, cheaper, non-subscription alternative to Photoshop that is now free, with a similar workflow for many users. Critics mainly point to the license check and the recent move to Canva. ## Why people recommend it - Free, non-subscription alternative to Photoshop (5 comments): "Affinity 2 was software you buy and install." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50265468)) "Now that Affinity is free, you will have many more clients and small studios sending you material in their formats." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45922981)) "I happily paid for their software as it's worth what they were charging for and not subscription based." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47826450)) - Feels faster and more stable than Adobe (3 comments): "Affinity is in many ways even better version of Adobe suite, faster, more stable, allowing to be more creative." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50246906)) "V3 is just so much slower than V2, nevermind V1, and it's using a lot more system resources now" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49961804)) "I don’t exactly love them, but they’re better than the unending nightmare you suffer with Adobe." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47666841)) - Easy to switch from Photoshop (3 comments): "Happily paying Affinity user here. It took a little getting used to but I haven’t used Photoshop in YEARS." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50005844)) "it took me no time to adapt from Photoshop + Wacom tablet to Affinity Photo + Wacom tablet" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49967128)) "i personally like affinity better than the FOSS photoshop alternatives, mostly for UX reasons" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49961366)) - Works across iPad, Mac and Windows (2 comments): "the whole point of me buying Affinity was that I could open the same project on iPad and Windows" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49960132)) "I'm attached to my iPad and won't switch to Android in part because Affinity is not available there" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46755830)) ## What people warn about - Requires license check or internet verification (2 comments): "Affinity 2 was software you buy and install." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50265468)) "now it has to connect to the internet and take many seconds each time to "verify my license"" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45799646)) - Owned by Canva, seen as funnel to subscriptions (3 comments): "They basically use it as funnel for people to buy Canva subscription (online sharing, ai features)." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50018184)) "I enjoy using Affinity, especially the updated version after it was acquired by Canva." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48968150)) "I do agree that Affinity seems to get some traction, but they're practically funded by an AI company" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49733150)) - Slower and heavier in version 3 (2 comments): "V3 is just so much slower than V2, nevermind V1, and it's using a lot more system resources now" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49961804)) "Their workflow, for my needs, would have made me take ~6hrs more time than the similar workflow in Photoshop." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47266142)) - Wine and Linux support is partial (2 comments): "the best we've ever gotten is Affinity allowing some shortcut editing and it partially working under Wine" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50011300)) "Wine does support Affinity now, if your Adobe muscle memory isn't a personal law of physics." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49523254)) ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.affinity.studio/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Affinity Photo", https://hackerapproved.com/p/affinity/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).