I'm a Photoshop diehard, but Canva's free tools won me over - and saved me money

Matteo Della Torre/NurPhoto via Getty Images

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• Canva's escaped Affinity tools marque Adobe's subscriptions hard to justify.
• Combining Canva and Photoshop costs fractional of Creative Cloud.
• Adobe's AI limits and instrumentality restrictions propulsion users away.

Oh, Adobe. I've been an Adobe idiosyncratic for a precise agelong time. My superior instrumentality is Photoshop, which I person utilized regular since earlier determination was a World Wide Web.  

I dabble with the different tools successful Adobe's Creative Cloud suite. I chiefly usage Illustrator to make vector designs for my laser cutter, and Lightroom to heighten immoderate RAW-format photos. My woman loved Adobe Express until they wholly changed the UI 1 night. And I utilized Premiere, the Adobe video editing tool, until it crashed much than 100 times during 1 video. I switched to Apple's Final Cut Pro (which has a one-time fee) aft that.

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Photoshop utilized to merchantability arsenic a standalone bundle product. I bought it backmost successful the 2010s for $700. I besides paid upgrade fees comparatively regularly. And then, Adobe launched the Creative Cloud subscription plan, which started astatine $50 per period and is present $70 per month.

I've been paying that each month. It costs much than $800 per year.

A fewer years ago, a credible Adobe competitor, Serif Ltd., released its Affinity bundle suite. Affinity had a photograph exertion that competed with Photoshop and Lightroom, a vector plan instrumentality that competed with Adobe Illustrator, and a leafage layout instrumentality that competed with Adobe InDesign. Each instrumentality was sold for a one-time terms of $50. 

I purchased the Affinity Photo editor, which I recovered to beryllium rather powerful. But I person decades of Photoshop musculus memory. Something I could execute successful Photoshop successful minutes took maine an hr successful Affinity, not due to the fact that Affinity was bad, but due to the fact that I wasn't acquainted with it. As clip savings is ace important for me, I stuck with Photoshop.

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As I've been utilizing Photoshop regular for decades, it has go profoundly ingrained successful my enactment habits. However, I don't usage the different Adobe tools precise often.

And past Canva changed the game, acquiring Affinity successful March 2024. Last month, Canva announced that all of the Affinity apps are present free -- for everyone -- whether oregon not you person a Canva subscription. Canva besides offers a wide scope of features for designers and marketers, besides for free.

If you bash person a Canva Pro subscription, the Affinity tools besides summation AI features, specified arsenic generative fill. The happening is, Canva Pro is $15/month. Not $70 per month.

The subscription mathematics

Let maine beryllium clear, Canva and Creative Cloud are antithetic beasts. Yes, Affinity offers pro-level graphics tools that lucifer immoderate Adobe tools, but Creative Cloud offers almighty prepress capabilities for colour absorption and people pipelines. Creative Cloud besides offers precocious question and ocular effects capabilities done After Effects, arsenic good arsenic enhanced Premiere workflows.

But I jettisoned Premiere years ago. And portion Illustrator is nice, there's nary uncertainty that I tin execute the aforesaid results with Affinity's vector tool.

Also: I thought bundle subscriptions were a ripoff until I did the math

But I can't springiness up Photoshop. It would outgo excessively overmuch time. Fortunately, Adobe offers a $20 Photography plan, which includes Photoshop and Lightroom. On the different hand, Adobe gets highly stingy with its AI usage, giving you a full of 25 "credits" per period -- basically, 25 spins connected the generative capable AI wheel.

If you person Canva Pro, they don't delegate limits to the fig of generative capable actions you tin instrumentality utilizing Affinity. You get it all  -- and by all, I mean video editing, marque management, gigatons of templates, plan tools, mailing tools, signifier tools, and connected and connected and connected -- for $15 per month.

So, I could support Photoshop, proceed to leverage my musculus representation for $20 per month, and past adhd each the Affinity apps, including their AI features and different plan tools, for an further $15 per month. Together, that adds up to $35, fractional the terms of Creative Cloud's monthly fee.

Adobe annoyances

The happening is, Adobe's stinginess has ever seemed unnecessary. It's not conscionable the bounds connected 25 AI credits per month. It's that Adobe limits usage of their products to conscionable 2 computers.

I regularly leap betwixt 3 machines: the 1 successful my office, the 1 successful the household room, and my laptop. If I privation to usage immoderate of the Adobe tools connected each three, I person to uninstall from 1 machine and instal it connected another. It's inconvenient and unnecessary.

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I cognize that Adobe has worked retired the actuarial tables for AI credits, due to the fact that you tin bargain much by signing up for their Firefly Pro plan, for different $20 per month. That gets you 4,000 generative AI credits alternatively of 25.

Basically, you tin person Photoshop for $20/month, but hardly immoderate AI. If you privation your Photoshop and your AI, too, you tin get it for $40/month by adding successful Firefly. Or you could spell the afloat Creative Cloud by ponying up $70 per month.

Canva + Affinity + Photoshop

I'm going to springiness the $35/month Canva + Affinity + Photoshop attack a shot. Worst case, I tin conscionable re-up my Creative Cloud subscription.

But what astir you? Is this attack for you? Here's what I'd recommend.

• For mundane creators and marketers: Canva gives you design, publishing, and analytics. Affinity fills the "I request a existent desktop editor" for immoderate graphics tools. And if you're similar me, you tin adhd Photoshop for $20/month.
• For students, hobbyists, and low-budget freelancers: Canva has a zero-subscription attack to Affinity, a escaped mentation of Canva, and a reasonably inexpensive Pro upgrade.
• For tiny teams: Canva offers marque kits, editing comments, approvals, and email tools astatine a reasonably debased price. Affinity handles immoderate of the bigger edits. By contrast, Adobe has enormously almighty squad tools, but they get precise costly precise quickly.
• For graphics specialists (broadcast, VFX, prepress): Adobe nukes Affinity, particularly erstwhile it comes to After Effects and Premiere pipelines, colour management, and enterprise-wide squad coordination.

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But if you bash dump the Creative Cloud apps and leap implicit to Canva, you get rather a lot.

• Vector, layout, and photograph editing: The Affinity apps efficaciously regenerate Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop for each but the astir arcane tasks.
• Social marketing: Canva has an epic ton of templates, designs, and selling tools. Adobe Express, which comes with Creative Cloud, is connected that path, but it's not determination yet.
• Interoperability: Canva's apps tin unfastened astir Adobe formats, truthful you're bully there.

Think astir it. You mightiness prevention immoderate money.

My originative stack

Now that I've dropped Creative Cloud, here's what my idiosyncratic originative stack looks like:

• Photoshop: High-performance photograph editing - $19.99/mo
• Affinity: Line creation illustration, positive AI photograph editing - free, but AI comes with Canva subscription
• Canva: Wide scope of template-driven plan tools, marque tools, selling tools, and an tremendous originative plus library, positive AI features - $15/mo
• Final Cut Pro: Professional video editing - one-time acquisition (years ago) of $299
• Autodesk Fusion: CAD plan instrumentality - escaped for non-commercial and acquisition use
• Eagle: Asset absorption instrumentality - one-time acquisition of $34.95
• CleanShot X: Annotated screenshot and surface signaling - one-time acquisition $29
• Audacity: Audio editing - escaped and unfastened source

Obviously, what you take volition alteration from the database above. There are besides immoderate crossovers here. For example, Affinity's photograph features are comparable to those of Photoshop, but I'm inactive paying for Photoshop due to the fact that it's truthful ingrained successful my musculus representation and productivity patterns.

Canva has immoderate basal video editing tools that tin decidedly bash the job, but I similar the professional-level Final Cut Pro for each its power. Canva besides offers cloud-based plus management, whereas Eagle simply stores files connected my section server. I similar it due to the fact that it's precise fast.

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You don't truly request to wage for CleanShot X if you privation screenshots oregon surface recording. The Mac and PC person autochthonal screenshot tools, and QuickTime offers surface signaling capabilities. However, I truly admit the exertion and annotation features successful CleanShot, which I usage often with ZDNET articles. Those annotations tin beryllium done successful tools similar Canva, Affinity, oregon Photoshop, but they're highly accelerated successful CleanShot, which aligns with my taxable of clip savings.

The bottommost line

The bottommost line, though, is this: Since each but Photoshop and Canva are one-time payments (with an occasional upgrade fee), I present person a reasonably low-cost operation for an enormously almighty originative stack.

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What astir you? Are you sticking with Adobe's Creative Cloud, oregon bash Canva's escaped Affinity tools marque you reconsider that monthly bill? Have you tried combining Canva with Photoshop, oregon are you acceptable to driblet Adobe entirely? How important are AI tools successful your originative workflow, and bash limits similar Adobe's 25-credit headdress substance to you? What's successful your originative stack? Let america cognize successful the comments below.

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