Affinity’s ‘Free’ Isn’t Generosity. It’s Seeding an Ecosystem.
Everyone’s talking about how Canva made Affinity “free.”
But that’s not the real story.
The real move wasn’t generosity — it was strategy.
And it has nothing to do with killing Adobe.

For decades, the design industry was shaped by one invisible force: file formats.
Adobe didn’t win because Photoshop was perfect — it won because .psd, .ai, and .indd became the creative language the world spoke.
Figma didn’t dominate because it was prettier — it standardized .fig as the language of collaboration.
And now Canva’s playing the same game — with a new format: .af
🗂️ One file.
⚡ For photo, vector, and layout.
A single container that merges three workflows into one.
That’s not a feature.
That’s an ecosystem play.

Most people saw “Affinity is now free.”
But what really happened is that Canva removed the last barrier to adoption.
Because every .af file created now is a seed — a node in their growing network.
Each designer who downloads Affinity isn’t just using a free app;
they’re unknowingly stepping into Canva’s ecosystem.
Free isn’t generosity.
Free is distribution.

Here’s the quiet part no one’s saying out loud:
This isn’t just a play against Adobe — it’s a defense against Figma.
Figma owns teams.
Canva is trying to own pipelines.
And Affinity is the missing bridge — the pro-grade offline creation tool that feeds Canva’s cloud-native collaboration system.
💻 Adobe is desktop.
🌐 Figma is browser.
⚡ Canva just became both .

And here’s the real kicker — the next creative lock-in won’t be subscription.
It’ll be convenience.
Adobe trapped users through pricing.
Canva could trap them through simplicity.
Because once .af becomes universal — used by millions of everyday creators, not just studios — switching out becomes harder than ever.
You’re not stuck because you’re paying; you’re stuck because everything just works. 🤷
Freedom can become the new lock-in — just packaged better.

This move isn’t about winning the pros.
It’s about winning everyone else.
The freelancers. The startups. The creators who design once a week, not eight hours a day.
🎯 Adobe builds for experts.
👥 Figma builds for teams.
🌍 Canva’s quietly building for the next billion creators.

So, while the world debates whether Affinity will “kill Adobe,” Canva’s already playing a different game:
They’re not fighting for software dominance —
They’re building the default creative language of the next decade.

Free isn’t the story.
The file is.
Because whoever owns the format…
owns the future of design.