I use a lot, especially when designing stuff for softball t-shirts or for laser engraving.

Great set of features and sensible pricing, updated regularly

Sometimes doesn't export how you'd expect in all formats

I have the whole suite working together: Designer, Photo, Publisher and it helps me stay on a competitive level against other businesses offering the same services.

Affinity Designer is the best Adobe Illustrator alternative that will let you edit SVG, AI, EPS, PDF files with ease. The controls are very intuitive and easy to use, the results are way too good and so far, after all these years there's nothing I regret from using Affinity Designer If you buy a set of tools on the Serif store, you do not have to download them and install them on a certain folder, you just go into the panel, click, that's it. You have it ready to use and installed properly.

The only thing I cannot do in Affinity Designer so far is to get a PNG and trace it into a vector. For that, I have to use Inkspace but everything else: Affnity Designer. Another thing that you may feel limited is that you see templates for Illustrator everywhere but not for Designer. You can still open them but all the layers groups will be merged into a single giant group making you spend some time rearranging things.

I really like the fact that Affinity is a one-time payment software. Unlike Adobe, it doesn't come with an annual subscription, and this factor plays a decisive role in my choice of software. Another of Affinity's strengths is their proximity to users. They attach a great deal of importance to user feedback.And of course, the software's functions are really intuitive and efficient.

On the other hand, what I don't like is the performance, which is really low on Windows, even with a good configuration. The software is not optimised for Windows and you can feel it. That's one of the software's only faults for me, the performance. Version 2 of Affinity has added a huge number of new features. I hope that this point will be improved in the future.

It’s been great overall. One purchase and you jump right in without worrying about renewing payment plans. At first it was a bit of a shock having such a high quality app for a table because it does things that you might not expect it to to do while at the same time not behaving exactly how you would expect. However it’s more because it must compromise in some aspects due to the fact that it MUST take into account both touch only controls as well as mouse and keyboad.

-Purchase once and use forever. You don’t need a monthly subscription fee to access every feature -Accesible price, you don’t need to break the bank to purchase this app -Rich interface and tools

-Interface and interactions may be hit or miss since it’s software built for tablets and may not always play nice when using mouse and keyboard - Slight learning curve when coming from other options

I used to have a very specific workflow that involved the 2 most common image software on the market. These are expensive for the kind of tasks we were doing and a recurrent payment. Affinity Designer (and it's brother, Affinity Photo) replaced these with a one-time payment so we were able to get exactly the same results, same quality and same effiency.

It allows you to do all the advanced stuff you need to do. Of course, there are some industry-standards out there this software will be compared to. Affinity Designer will for sure save you money after you spend some time in the initial adaptation translating all your knowledge from other tools to it. It sounds scary but it isn't. Things are just called differently and some others just have a different shortcut, but all what you know should still apply. A very cool thing I saw is that the developers are always interacting with users and they do listen to the requests! It's very, very lightweight (v. 1.8.5 is less than 500mb). Updates happen frequently but it's up to you to install them. Also it's equally lightweight in terms of resources used when running. The industry standards require everytime more and more ram and cpu while Affinity Designer runs very smoothly on all low-mid range pcs.

The documentation isn't always super super clear. As it's an evolving sofware and features are being added or changed, this is really important. A couple of times i had to rely on youtubers to find how to do certain things.

It been beyond outstanding for us. Super satisfied and I can’t recommend it enough. It was super easy to migrate completely from the Adobe Suite. No hiccups at all.

It is lightning fast! And not to mention super affordable. Here is a piece of software with great customer support and an amazing community behind it. It is very intuitive and the learning curve is not steep at all. In fact, far more intuitive than Adobe Suite.

So far, all good! Maybe how it opens files from the Adobe Suite could improve but it has nothing to do with Affinity as much as how Adobe packages their files.

So far I really love it, very easy to use and very fun to play with despite the confusion of trying to understand and learn this new design software which I feel is worth its value.

I really love how easy it is to just jump right in and start using it with a lot of useful creation tools, profiles, and more. There is a lot of useful functions, brushes, text, designs, shapes and such crammed into it.

Not very friendly to 3d Artists and Game Developers in my opinion. The software is somewhat confusing compared to others so I am stuck having to learn something new since it doesn't follow traditional methods which might not be such a bad thing aside from the confusion of trying to use it more due to the different toolset profiles. It also appears to lack filters and affects so that means I would have to use, create, or go get another software to use alongside it and I was really hoping to have an all-in-one tool. This has left me with a design of getting Affinity Photo or going back to Krita.

When Adobe switched to subscription service I was very frustrated as I don't use Illustrator often enough to make it worth the cost...but I do occasionally need a full featured design program. I searched through many options, but finally settled on Affinity. It has been a great replacement and the one time purchase is a perfect solution for our company. If they had a replacement for Lightroom, I would be able to leave Adobe behind completely!

Affinity designer has all the priority features I look for in a design program. I hate switching to new software, but I found Affinity to be a fairly easy transition from Illustrator. Occasionally I can't find a tool I wanted in the spot I assumed it should be, but a quick search solves that problem. I love the way the tool bar is laid out and found all the main tools I wanted were easy to access. This is now my go to design program and I love that it is not a subscription based software.

While some designers fault Affinity for not having certain features I found that all of the vital features I needed are included.

It is good for what it is, but I felt as paid software they could have had more functionally

Well cost was a factor, ease of use, simple UI

Lack of needed features. The layers functionality was confusing No auto trace which was the huge disappointment for us

Very positive with solid forum based support and very responsive Staff members.

I chose the Affinity Suite as the alternative subscription model for Adobe CC suite wasn't giving me great value. Designer is a very close match to Illustrator for what I use it for.

As with every new tool, there are subtle differences, but it's not a difficult process to learn and the training material is available.

My overall experience with the whole Affinity brand is supremely positive. Every aspect of their service: from the products they provide to the support, tutorials and workbooks they offer is of a supremely high standard. I'm incredibly excited to see how this brand evolves and will definitely be purchasing any product they add to their catalogue in the future.

Designer is an incredibly deep application that can satisfy just about everyone's demands for digital illustration. It has a phenomenal feature set and works on multiple devices, thus enabling the user to maximize their output and enhance their workflow. The accompanying Workbook is a brilliant way to familiarize the user to the capabilities of the software, and as the only viable alternative to Adobe Illustrator, anyone making the transition will feel right at home - you can even open up your Illustrator projects in Designer! Another great function is the seamless integration with Affinity's other applications - Publisher and Photo. I have only scratched the surface of this application but am astonished at what can be achieved. I can't recommend it highly enough and think that there is nothing on the market than can compete at this price range. Five stars!

Since making the transition from Illustrator, I've honestly not looked back once. There is nothing in my workflow that Designer isn't capable of performing. As such, I have no cons and can't think of any reason not explore Designer and its capabilities.

Overall it’s OK but the price point is very low so it makes it somewhat worth it.

Affinity designer is super cost-effective. It’s easier to use than most designer software’s. They have a lot of support on their website and tutorials on YouTube.

There are a couple issues that we’ve had while using affinity designer. The program tends to frequently close out by itself. Sometimes I’m unable to download the updates without it crashing. We have to use affinity in conjunction with our Roland BN-20 however some of the add-ons within affinity aren’t compatible and aren’t recognize in versaworks. There aren’t enough tutorials to really grasp everything within affinity. I think it needs a little more work and to be easier to use.

We use Affinity Designer for a myriad of things - from designing logos and graphics for websites, to making merch design for our web comic. The great UI and amazing performance are an upgrade from our previous vector design software.

Affinity designer is the software I was waiting for as long as I remember. It has all the options of the mainstream competition, but for the fraction of the price. The best part of it is that Affinity Designer does what it does perfectly. But, the thing that attracted me to the Serif software, Affinity Designer and it's sister products Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher, is not only that. They offered their software for absolutely free for three entire months when the COVID pandemic started, and then for another three months later on. All the time, their price was down to 50% as well. They were not only the best, but the most human and kind. And that is the kind of company I want to give my money to.

A solid bitmap tracing option would be nice.

Affinity Designer is a great one-time purchase software for graphic design. It has more features than the free program I was using previously and has allowed me to create more detailed designs for use in my business.

I don't have any formal training in graphic design so learning a new program can be difficult. I tend to turn to Youtube for tutorials and unfortunately there aren't a lot of tutorials for Affinity Designer compared to some of the other major design programs out there.

Time saving: - Repetitive tasks: There are some intuitive features I'm learning about, while I was creating a template for printable stickers, I discovered after one 'duplicate' was dragged under the last, the next one would go to the space under that one (with just using the duplicate again). Saving time as I learn more and more.

This is the easiest to learn in graphic design software. I like that I can edit parts of a design and link or embed the update. I have created book covers (for print), e-book templates, and recently a sticker series (convention logo sticker items for event items). It has helped me save time (revising templates instead of building from scratch with each one), and I was able to create exactly what the client wanted. I've also created marketing graphics for social and launches of books and media (for clients). I can create custom templates to save time with each project (and there are a lot of built in custom templates already).

The main thing I like the least is that the Affinity software is not 'one' integration. It is three different programs. This is not my favorite thing for a few reasons, but, mostly I wish they were one, because I have started at least three projects in the wrong one (of the three I have).

Even though it has some restrictions, I love using Affinity Designer and use it instead of Illustrator about 90% of the time. I switch back to Illustrator only when I have something I can't achieve with Affinity Designer. But the app gets updates pretty regularly so I'm hoping that it will only get better and better with each update.

The interface felt so easy to handle, uncluttered, and user-friendly after Illustrator. Even though Affinity Designer lacked some features that Illustrator has, it became my favorite drawing app very quickly and is still after using it for more than a year daily.

I'm hoping that Affinity will introduce an image trace feature soon. This feature is not only important for tracing images (which I don't really do) but also for using some custom vector brushes. For example, I bought some lovely watercolor vector brushes for Affinity Designer from a website just to realize that what I draw with them in Affinity Designer doesn't become a real vector image. When I tried the Illustrator version of the same brushes in Illustrator, I could get true vector drawings. Then I realized how important image tracing actually is.

I love this tool for graphic design. The learning curve is short, the tool itself is inexpensive (no recurring cost) and I look forward to use it on a daily basis - it's so intutive.

The best thing about Affinity Designer is not that it is feature rich, but that it has all the essential features for designing/illustration. This software can be bought for a low price (one-time) unlike Adoble Illustrator which demands you pay monthly license fee. The software is easy and intutive to use and I was able to learn the essentials within a week or so. You get basic photo editing features like selection tools for cropping, blending modes, etc.

Certain useful features like gradient map, 3D, mockups, etc. that are available in Illustrator may not be available with Affinity Designer. But I am OK with this - too many features make us forget essential ones. Besides, the magic wand tool available in Affinity Photo is not available in Affinity Designer - for precise cropping of people, etc. I wish Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo were a single software.

Wonderful. The quality is absolutely on par with Illustrator and works without a hitch on my Macbook Pro M1. No stutters or jitters.

I love Affinity Designer so much! I been using it on a daily basis for 5+ years now. The price of $50 is absolutely mind blowing for what this is able to do. It's comparable to other products in its category for 1/10th of the price. I have not had any instance of something that could be done in Illustrator that can't be done with Affinity.

The only thing about the product that I don't like is that the art board is not transparent. This becomes an issue because I am not able to view anything outside of the work area and unless I find it in the layers tab, I won't be able to locate anything I put on it.

I have used Affinity designer for a number of years and the product has exceeded my expectation for the price of the software. It continues to receive useful updates and remains a strong competitor to other design software offerings.

I love that the Affinity Designer software is a one time purchase and has not become a subscription product like many others have. The product has all the features you need for advanced design work any is a great value for the price that you pay. There is a full range of features and instruction on using the various tools is more and more widely available.

Sometimes I find that the tools in Affinity are not quite as intuitive as some other design software programs but generally a quick internet search will provide the instructions I need to get over the hurdle.

With the exception of a few missing features and performance issues that would be nice to have, the experience has been excellent.

Affinity Designer is very affordable alternative that does most things as well as Adobe Illustrator (and a few things it does even better!) The UI is actually more intuitive than Illustrator in most ways, and those who come from Photoshop or Illustrator will have absolutely no problems adjusting to it. Affinity Designer is perfect for UI design, and illustration.

Unfortunately Affinity Designer is missing some of the more advanced features available in Illustrator, though none of these will be a deal-breaker for most users. The Affinity suite of apps also seems to have some (mostly non-critical) issues with memory management. Complex files can cause the software to become rather sluggish even on high-end computers. Adobe Illustrator is not immune to this, but this seems to happen with less complex files with Affinity Designer.

For the price, you honestly just can't ask for more. I haven't used everything it offers, and I know it's probably a few steps behind adobe, but it does everything that I need it to, and it does it well.

I have been looking for software like inDesign and Photoshop without breaking the bank. I wanted software that was functional, easy to use and set up, and something that didn't require a subscription. When I found Affinity, I was blown away with how good it was. And the fact that the publisher software works hand in hand with the photo software is a very nice touch. Coming from Adobe, the learning curve was relatively low, and I could open my old adobe files and pick up where I left off. Very, very happy with my purchase.

If I have to include cons, I'm going to have to be nit-picky. I wish I could safe natively to other file types (I can export to indesign file types, or photoshop file types, just not with the save function) but that is very minor. In some documents, exporting to a PDF took some time, although it was a very large document and not normal to do under any piece of software. Overall though, these are very, very minor issues.

Affinity Designer is not just an alternative to Adobe Illustrator. In my opinion it is a superior competitor and does so without the onerous subscription model forced on Adobe users.

I've been using Affinity Photo, Designer and now Publisher for years. I have consistently found their products to be far superior to the alternatives from Adobe in terms of performance, UI and the tools available. Given that they were originally designed specifically for the Mac, their performance and usability has always outstripped Adobe.

There aren't any real cons to Designer. The only criticism I have of the overall creative suite from Affinity is that there is, as of now, no solution similar to Lightroom. The main focus of my business is photography, so being able to organize and make basic adjustments would be wonderful.

I think it far surpasses Adobe at a great price point. While there are some things that are convenient with Adobe, it does not warrant the price. While it may not be the most popular too for graphic design, it is still one of the best by far.

I started looking for something cheaper than Adobe. While Adobe has the market corned, the price is very high considering it is a subscription based service. I started looking into Affinity during the pandemic after downloading the iPad app. After some research, I decided to take the plunge and try it out. The price was only $50 with no subscription, which I could easily stomach. The price itself is a huge selling point. I began using Affinity designer and found it far more used friendly than Adobe Illustrator. Because there is no cloud services or extra software, your computer's power goes directly to the app. Plus, because there is an iPad app, you can easily switch between devices.

If you are used to Adobe products, it will be a learning curve moving to Affinity. you do not have access to Adobe fonts and will need to install font files from either another website or buying them from Adobe. You will also have to think about cloud storage for your projects. I use Google Drive and all of my projects and data sync perfectly.

but my experience with affinity is very very positive and it's my first designer software and it really worked well for me. many many thanks to them.

when i was starting my career as an animator, so i need a program in which i work to create vector designs and illustration to animate. so i have 2 options in front of me adobe illustrator which is very popular and affinity designer. i have seen the interface of both, and i find affinity designer very easy and simple to create these illustration. it is less confusing for beginners. affinity has a better interface than adobe illustrator. i like it's features and they provided 2 different sections like design persona and pixel persona. it is very helpful for me. yes using affinity i have started my career and now i am successfully running my firm.

there is nothing to dislike about but as the area which they need to focus is exporting and file compatibility with other software's. this is the only one thing which i find little hard to deal with using affinity as i am using adobe after effects for animations and only eps and png files are supported so it's increases the work while exporting and also there is one problem with export. when exporting and submitting to websites like shutterstock it is unapproved because of rasterization problem and if i select nothing will be rasterized then it will remove all the effects like if i have choosen the transparency effect so it will remove the effect and give me solid color. so that's something i can't figure out till now.