Adobe Photoshop vs Affinity Designer
- ✦ Photo Editing
- ✦ Layer-based Design
- ✦ Generative Fill (AI)
- ✦ Vector Design
- ✦ Raster & Vector Hybrid
- ✦ PSD/AI Import
Adobe Photoshop and Affinity Designer are both Design Tools tools. Compare features, pricing, and ratings below to find the best fit for your team.
When to Choose Adobe Photoshop vs Affinity Designer
The question that matters: “In what situation will I regret choosing A over B after 3 months?”
One Camera RAW preset syncs white balance, contrast, and saturation across a full shoot folder via batch processing - no individual file opens required.
One Affinity Designer file holds 16px, 24px, 32px, and 64px icon artboards. Batch export reduces handoff from 12 separate files to one organized master.
Content-Aware Fill selects and removes objects or reflections from product shots, cutting post-production time 65% on catalog-scale batches of 200+ images.
Generative Expand fills extended canvas edges with contextual backgrounds. One 1200×628 asset becomes Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn crops in seconds.
Affinity Designer's PSD/AI import preserves layer structure and effects intact, cutting file conversion from 4-6 hours per project to under 30 minutes.
Pricing Comparison & PlansHigh· Verified May 29, 2026
Adobe Photoshop Plans
Paid plans only
Creative Cloud All Apps
$90/moBest for: This comprehensive plan includes Photoshop and all other Creative Cloud applications
- ✓All 20+ Adobe Creative Cloud applications (e.g., Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro)
- ✓100GB cloud storage
- ✓Full Firefly AI access
- ✓Adobe Fonts
- ✓10 free Adobe Stock images/month
Photography Plan (20GB)
$11/moBest for: This plan is ideal for photographers needing Photoshop and Lightroom with cloud storage
- ✓Photoshop
- ✓Lightroom
- ✓Lightroom Classic
- ✓Mobile versions of apps
- ✓Adobe Portfolio
Photography Plan (1TB)
$22/moBest for: Designed for professional photographers requiring extensive cloud storage alongside Photoshop and Lightroom
- ✓Photoshop
- ✓Lightroom
- ✓Lightroom Classic
- ✓Mobile versions of apps
- ✓Adobe Portfolio
Photoshop Single App
$23/moBest for: Perfect for users who only need Photoshop without other Creative Cloud apps
- ✓Photoshop desktop, web, and iPad
- ✓100GB Creative Cloud storage
- ✓Adobe Fonts access
- ✓Generative Fill, Harmonize, Generative Upscale
- ✓Adobe Express Premium plan
Photoshop for Teams
$24/user/moBest for: Tailored for businesses and teams needing Photoshop with collaborative features and centralized management
- ✓Photoshop desktop, web, and mobile
- ✓1TB cloud storage per user
- ✓Enhanced AI selection tools
- ✓Generative Fill improvements
- ✓Advanced layer management
Creative Cloud All Apps for Teams
$70/user/moBest for: Provides all Creative Cloud apps for teams, offering enhanced collaboration and administration
- ✓All 20+ Adobe Creative Cloud applications
- ✓1TB cloud storage per user
- ✓Full Firefly AI access
- ✓Adobe Fonts
- ✓Adobe Stock integration
Affinity Designer Plans
Paid plans only
Affinity Studio
FreeBest for: This free plan provides core design functionalities
- ✓Fully-featured toolsets (Pixel, Vector, and Layout studios)
- ✓Customizable studios
- ✓Non-destructive editing
- ✓Pixel-perfect export
- ✓Image Trace
Canva Pro (AI Features for Affinity)
$12/user/moBest for: This plan offers advanced AI features integrated with Affinity
- ✓Generative Fill
- ✓Generative Expand
- ✓Generative Edit
- ✓Generate Image
- ✓Generate Vector
Capability Breakdown
4 differences found across 18 standardized features
- •Photo Editing
- •Layer-based Design
- •Generative Fill (AI)
- •Generative Expand
- •Neural Filters
- •Object Selection
- •Content-Aware Fill
- •Camera RAW
- •Brushes
- •Masks & Channels
- •Smart Objects
- •Actions & Automation
- •3D
- •Cloud Documents
- •iPad Version
- •Generative AI (Firefly)
- •AI image generation
- •Desktop, web, and mobile access
- •Lightroom (Photography plan)
- •Adobe Express Premium
- •Admin Console (teams)
- •Asset reclamation
- •Company-owned libraries
- •1TB Cloud storage (teams)
- •20+ Creative Cloud apps
- •Vector Design
- •Raster & Vector Hybrid
- •PSD/AI Import
- •Pen & Node Tools
- •Typography
- •Color Management
- •Non-destructive Effects
- •Artboards
- •Symbols
- •Grids & Guides
- •Export Personas
- •iPad Version
- •GPU Accelerated
- •Pixel-perfect Zoom
- •Master Pages
- •Vector Shapes Library
- •Advanced Layer Management
- •Shape Building Tools
- •Gradient Map Editor
- •Texture Brushes
- •Customizable Keyboard Shortcuts
- •Live Shapes
- •Align and Distribute
- •Snapping Controls
- •Shape Boolean Operations
- •Vector Crop Tool
- •History Panel
- •Pixel studio
- •Layout studio
- •Vector studio
- •Export persona
- •Canva AI Studio integration
- •Free updates
- •No subscription required
Strengths & Limitations
Evaluative strengths and weaknesses: not feature lists
- +Multiple pricing tiers (3 plans) to match different needs
- +AI-powered features built in
- −Adobe Photoshop can sometimes feel complex at first due to the number of tools and options available.
- −Adobe Photoshop's interface needs to be user-friendly.
- +Completely free; no subscription or one-time cost
- +Unified vector, pixel, and layout tools in one app
- +Full-featured iPad version for mobile workflows
- +Integrated Canva AI for generative design tasks
- +One-time file format, no forced cloud storage
- −No variable font support, limiting advanced typography
- −Lacks advanced vector tracing (Image Trace equivalent)
- −Limited plugin ecosystem compared to Adobe Illustrator
- −No native animation or motion design capabilities
- −Collaboration features are less mature than cloud-native tools
At a Glance
Recent Price History
Adobe Photoshop updated "Creative Cloud All Apps for Teams" from $89.99/mo to Custom
Price change · May 29, 2026
Adobe Photoshop removed the "Photography (1TB)" plan
Plan removed · May 29, 2026
Adobe Photoshop added a new "Photography Plan (20GB)" plan (Custom pricing)
Plan added · May 29, 2026
Adobe Photoshop removed the "Photography (20GB)" plan
Plan removed · May 29, 2026
Adobe Photoshop updated "Photoshop Single App" from $22.99/mo to Custom
Price change · May 29, 2026
Affinity Designer removed the "Education & Non-profits" plan
Plan removed · May 29, 2026
Affinity Designer added a new "Affinity Studio" plan at $0/mo (Free)
Plan added · May 29, 2026
Affinity Designer removed the "Affinity Designer 2 (Mac/Windows)" plan
Plan removed · May 29, 2026
Affinity Designer removed the "Affinity V2 Universal License" plan
Plan removed · May 29, 2026
Affinity Designer removed the "Affinity Designer 2 (iPad)" plan
Plan removed · May 29, 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Comparisons
Sources & Data Trail · Adobe Photoshop
- 1.Official Pricing Page·Source of verified tiers(Checked: 2026-05-29)
- 2.Official Website·Official vendor website
- 3.G2·G2 verified reviews · 4.6/5 · 13,317 reviews
- 4.Capterra·Capterra verified reviews · 4.8/5
- 5.TrustRadius·TrustRadius verified reviews
- 6.PeerSpot·PeerSpot enterprise peer reviews
- 7.StackShare·StackShare developer community
Sources & Data Trail · Affinity Designer
- 1.Official Pricing Page·Source of verified tiers(Checked: 2026-05-29)
- 2.Official Website·Official vendor website
- 3.G2·G2 verified reviews · 4.5/5 · 246 reviews
- 4.TrustRadius·TrustRadius verified reviews
- 5.PeerSpot·PeerSpot enterprise peer reviews
- 6.StackShare·StackShare developer community