Affinity Designer Reviews in June 2026: User Ratings, Pros & Cons

Smart and light vector tool

What do you like best? Great control, well thought out interface, multiple artboards, and great price for something that rivals Adobe Illustrator. What do you dislike? Erratic Illustrator file import has caused trouble for me and there have been issues with a laggy system, but I think they have addressed that issue. Recommendations to others considering the product Switching from Illustrator is straightforward although you might have a small learning curve with combining shapes. What ...

All the benefits of Adobe, with no subscription model!

What do you like best? In a niche dominated by Adobe, newbie Affinity is creating awesome products that DON'T require a subscription. Affinity designer is a vector image building software, but it also allows you to edit illustrator vector files as well as pixel files. If you are familiar with Illustrator, you will pick up Designer's tools very simply. There are pens tools, shape tools, text tools and many more. They also allow you to export many different file formats including illustrator ...

The best replacement for Adobe Illustrator

What do you like best? I like that there was almost no learning curve while switching from Adobe software. Pricing is affordable and I love that there is no subscription based. I love it. It works as you expect, it has all the features that vector and graphic works requires. It has also artboards. Synced with iCloud. I love that the interface is customisable on a deep level. What do you dislike? The conversion from AI when importing, sometimes (!, does not import, but it is not an issue I ...

A Home Run From Serif, Affinity Designer Blew My Expectations Out of the Water.

What do you like best? I bought this software after using Adobe Illustrator for about three years. Prior to switching to Illustrator, I had used Serif vector design products (Drawplus SE Pro and Drawplus X4 which offered very basic functionality in comparison. I bought Affinity Design expecting a tradeoff, no monthly subscription fees, for reduced options. I was expecting Affinity Designer to be an evolved version of DrawPlus X4, and after buying the software it quickly became apparent ...

Unstable and has only basic features

What do you like best? The program is a redesigned version of Serif DrawPlus that looked dated in the end. Designer looks better. Perhaps it sports a little more clumsy interface though. What do you dislike? Affinity Designer has been rebuild from scratch but after year of development is has disappointingly few advanced features. There is no precision tools, no really useful perspective tools, no mesh gradient, no knife tool and no shape building tools. It is all very basic. It is very ...

Really impressive

What do you like best? Basically this design app does absolutely everything I need and a whole lot more. Loads of very powerful tools for designing websites and producing mockups. Support for multiple artboards and the different persona's offer a very well organised way of working. What do you dislike? I can't honestly think of anything I don't like about the app. Recommendations to others considering the product I have found the video tutorials hosted on YouTube and Vimeo really useful. ...

Powerful tool at a great price

What do you like best? Actually what I find I really like about Affinity is that it has all the tools I used in Adobe Illustrator for a fraction of the price. What do you dislike? I haven't found anything yet that I don't like. What business problems are you solving with the product? What benefits have you realized? Affinity Designer makes it easy to design and layout any print layouts I need for my clients.

Powerful with beautiful interface. Alternative to Adobe products

What do you like best? Feature rich, smooth bug free interface, works well and does what I need What do you dislike? Kind of a compromise between two types of programs and once in a while you notice that. Usually though, the usefulness and quality of the product is surprising. Recommendations to others considering the product Much cheaper than Adobe products but still fits the bill, depending on your needs. RGB and CYMK conversion, vector, Adobe formats. Has a lot for a small pricetag ...

Very effective Illustrator alternative

What do you like best? Affinity Designer is $50, opposed to the thousands of dollars you will have to pay to use Adobe Illustrator. Where Illustrator is clunky and counterintuitive, Affinity Designer is just as feature rich, but more intuitive. What do you dislike? If you are coming from Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Designer will have somewhat of a learning curve because there are some features that the two do not have. What business problems are you solving with the product? What benefits ...

Excellent alternative to Illustrator

What do you like best? Great and simple UI with Pixel and vector based Editing What do you dislike? Workflow between after effects and Affinity isn't ideal What business problems are you solving with the product? What benefits have you realized? Icon and vector graphic manipulation for digital media project and animated videos