Editor › Compare › PhotoAIA vs Affinity Photo: Free Either Way
Why use PhotoAIA when Affinity is free?
Affinity is the stronger editor and, since Canva made it free in October 2025, it costs nothing either. PhotoAIA’s remaining advantage is narrow but real: it needs no installation and is the browser editor with true ICC CMYK, which matters on locked-down machines and for quick checks.
The honest situation
On 30 October 2025 Canva merged Affinity Photo, Designer and Publisher into a single free application. That removed price as a differentiator for PhotoAIA, and Affinity additionally has 16 and 32-bit support, RAW processing, a mature vector and publishing toolset and a decade of trust.
Pretending otherwise would not help anyone. What survives is the delivery model.
What PhotoAIA still offers
- Nothing to install and no account — open a URL and edit.
- Runs on machines where installing software is not permitted, and on Chromebooks and kiosks.
- Files stay in the browser; nothing is uploaded and nothing is used for AI training.
- Real ICC CMYK separation, soft proofing and plate inspection without launching a suite.
Side by side
| PhotoAIA | Affinity Studio | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free (AI extras need Canva Pro) |
| Install | None | Desktop install required |
| Account | None | Canva account |
| Bit depth | 8-bit editing (16-bit TIFF passthrough) | 8/16/32-bit |
| RAW | No | Yes |
| Real ICC CMYK | Yes | Yes |
| Maturity | Public beta | Ten years |
Choose Affinity if…
You can install software and want the more capable editor. Choose PhotoAIA when installation is impossible or inconvenient, or when you want a fast browser-based CMYK check.