Who Really Got The Middle Finger From Canva?

affinity by canva public responseGenerative AI

I’ve been repeatedly hearing how Canva gave Adobe the middle finger but I don’t feel like it was Adobe that Canva gave the middle finger to. Personally, as a long term user of Affinity, I feel like it was those of us that left Adobe (because of the subscription only pricing) and stood by Serif/Affinity using what started out as a weak alternative to Photoshop, weak but with good potential.

Eventually, with the release of version 2 we finally saw the makings of an actual Photoshop contender. Let’s be real, Affinity photo was never an actual substitute for Photoshop but for the majority of users like myself that weren’t really using Photoshop to its full potential, Affinity Photo 2 was exactly what it seemed to be and exactly what we were looking for. Affinity Photo version 2 was a reasonably priced alternative offering a perpetual license software instead of a subscription only service forcing users into an overpriced lifetime commitment - further infuriating users with additional hidden fees when attempting to cancel Adobe’s already overly bloated subscription only fees.

So why do I say Canva is actually giving existing users, as well as new and future users the middle finger? Well, first of all let’s start with the massive elephant in the room that somehow no one seems to see. Canva has openly, publicly, right underneath our noses, managed to take a perpetual licensed software and turn it into a subscription only based service with apparently not a single person noticing. Not only are people overlooking this, but somehow they seem to be grateful?

Yes, they’ve managed to hide it by offering the previous version for free. Free forever, according to their claims. But here’s the thing, if we look closer at this offer of the Affinity suite free - what do we see? What Canva is offering for free is last years Affinty photo and the rest of the suite which they have stated they will no longer be supporting or updating. And to be honest, I’m being very generous when I say last years model because I purchased the Affinity Photo 2, Affinity Publisher 2, and Affinity Designer 2 package in the year 2022 and their have been little noticeable improvements to the package over the years.

Canva says they’re offering optional features, AI features that no one is obligated to pay for but what they’re really doing is using photogrphers and designers distrust in AI to hide their true agenda. The truth of the matter is, and this is just my opinion, but what I’ve noticed as the one single common ground that every current Adobe alternative seems to be offering is AI. AI selection tools, AI masking tools, etc., AI production tools to speed up workflows in general. So let’s call the free Affinity by Canva what it really is, a scaled down free version for those that don’t opt for the subscription service.

The subscription service brings me to my next point. For now, Canva is charging $120.00 a year for their AI tools for Affinity by Canva (For Now). I’m not going to go into how safe of a bet that this price will go up once everyone is not looking over Canva’s shoulders any longer as to what’s coming next. Instead I’m going to compare the current price of continuing to use Affinity by Canva by those that are not comfortable using an Adobe alternative that no longer is comparable to other current alternatives and choose to pay Canva their subscription only fee.

The bottom line is Photoshop is an editing software/app and has no file management capabilities as is the case with Affinity photo as well. Now, I can’t speak for designers as I’m a photographer so I wouldn’t know what (if any) additional apps a designer may or may not need, but as a photographer I used Lightroom for file management with Photoshop for primary editing. That being said, I’ve been using On1 with Affinity Photo 2 as my Lightroom and Photoshop alternative. I preordered On1 2025 at 50% off and later I preordered On1 2026 at something like 60% off and I don’t remember what I paid for Affinity because it was an upgrade from version one, but whatever I paid is offset by the fact that it was a perpetual license that I haven’t needed to purchase again in the following 4 years.

Now that Canva has changed Affinity to a subscription service only means Affinity will need to be purchased on an annual basis like Photoshop. So if someone is using this pairing at On1’s current cost of $99.99 and Canva’s current annual price of $120.00 this totals $220.00 a year if you’re using a file manager at a similar price of approximately $100.00. This can be offset by the fact that On1 is a perpetual license as is the other Adobe (and now Affinity/Canva) alternatives but if Canva gets away with this how many other perpetual license software will fall suit to this new trend? That being said, Adobe’s photographers plan is currently $239.88 annually which you have the option to pay $19.99 monthly for 12 months, that’s the Lightroom and Photoshop package. With Affinity Photo now a subscription only service - how much are we really saving for a Lightroom and Photoshop alternative if you’re a photographer looking for an alternative for Adobe and their subscription only policy?

I’ve recently heard of “enshitification” relating to the current subscription streaming services and how they’ve made things worse then they were with cable. I am certainly no expert on the subject, in fact I only know what I’ve recently heard. What I do understand is that there are three stages of “enshitification”, the user-centric phase, the business-centric phase, and the profit-maximization phase.

Since 2013 we’ve seen the three stages from Adobe, great for users, great for the supplier with their subscription fees, then great only to shareholders. Canva’s been manipulating their current platform since 2013 when Adobe started with the subscription only and as Adobe’s stock fell Canva eventually became worth more than Adobe. Then Affinity’s lure was a perpetual license in answer to Adobe’s subscription only platform with a false claim that it will always be a perpetual license. Now Canva has taken away the perpetual license option with a subscription only platform. If I’m understanding this correctly, wasn’t this the second stage of “enshitification” for Adobe? If I’m correct, how long before Canva enters stage three - all about the shareholders - raising prices exponentially? I’m just saying, big companies don’t take loses on purpose without a long term game plan to get it back - think about it.

The key takeaway here is we need to treat Canva’s subscription only policy for Affinity the same as we did Adobe and find perpetual license options because if we let Canva get away with this, once they have us locked in (fully committed) just as Adobe did -they will raise the prices. We need to let them know we won’t fall for another subscription only service, this is probably the only way we can protect our right to perpetual licenses (by only paying for perpetual licenses).

I don’t know the right decision, but I think allowing Canva to get away with this bold move by paying the subscription fee is the wrong decision. Even going back to Adobe for some might be a better choice, at least we’re not letting a second company get away with dissolving a perpetual license opening the door for more companies to do the same.

But, before going back to Adobe consider this, more and more Lightroom alternatives are including more and more features every year that only Photoshop used to be able to do. Many of the Lightroom alternatives are now using tools like layer masks for example. With the constant improvements of these perpetual license Lightroom alternatives, how many of us still need the level of photo manipulation that only Photoshop could provide in the past?