# Affinity Designer 2 vs Affinity Photo 2 Published January 1, 2026 · Updated August 10, 2026 Affinity Designer 2 and Affinity Photo 2 are both Graphic design on a Mac, so the pick depends on workflow. One free download, two specialised workspaces. Default to Designer for vectors, Photo for photos, and switch mid-task when the job changes. As of October 2026, both install with brew install --cask affinity-designer and brew install --cask affinity-photo-2. In 2026 this is a workflow routing choice inside one free studio, not a buying decision. Designer wins for vectors and prepress. Photo wins for RAW and raster finishing. Most real projects use both personas on the same machine and often in the same file pipeline. ## Head to head | Factor | Affinity Designer 2 | Affinity Photo 2 | | --- | --- | --- | | Price | Paid | Paid | | Open Source | No | No | | Replaces | — | — | | Best for | design, vector, illustration | photo editing, design, raster | | Install | brew install --cask affinity-designer | brew install --cask affinity-photo-2 | | Category | Design & Creative | Design & Creative | ## Affinity Designer 2 Professional graphic design software Install: `brew install --cask affinity-designer` [Affinity Designer 2 on Bundl](https://bundl.run/apps/affinity-designer-2) ## Affinity Photo 2 Professional photo editing software with a one-time purchase model, no subscription required. Install: `brew install --cask affinity-photo-2` [Affinity Photo 2 on Bundl](https://bundl.run/apps/affinity-photo-2) ## Features - **Core Strength.** Equal at what each is built for; the divide is vectors versus pixels. - **RAW and Photography Workflow.** Photo decisively for any RAW or stack/merge workflow. - **Vector Precision and Symbols.** Designer decisively for scalable brand assets and icon systems. - **Print and CMYK.** Designer leads for prepress composition; Photo contributes CMYK assets to it. - **Raster Painting and Retouching.** Photo excels at deep raster work; Designer's Pixel Persona covers lightweight needs. - **Pricing and Access in 2026.** Tie, one install gives both personas free. - **Performance on Tahoe and Apple Silicon.** Both excellent; both use the same native engine. - **File Interchange.** Both strong in their domains; unified file format (.afphoto/.afdesign legacy still opens) simplifies collaboration. ## FAQ ### Are Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo still separate purchases? No. Since October 2025 they are personas inside one free unified Affinity app from Canva. You download one app and switch personas in the toolbar. ### Is the unified Affinity really free? Core Designer, Photo, and Publisher toolsets are $0. A Canva account is required to download/activate. Generative AI studio features inside Affinity require Canva premium (Pro/Teams). ### Which should I use for logos? Affinity Designer persona, artboards, symbols, constraints, global colours, and true CMYK vector output are built for brand systems. ### Which should I use for photos? Affinity Photo persona, Develop, HDR merge, focus stacking, live filter layers, and retouching tools live there. ### Can I switch mid-project? Yes. One click in the toolbar switches personas without exporting. Vector layers stay editable when you hop to Photo, and raster layers stay live when you hop back to Designer. ### Do I need two files? No. Modern Affinity saves unified files; legacy.afdesign/.afphoto still open. Many teams keep one master and export PDF/SVG/PSD as needed. ### What about CMYK printing? Designer persona is the composition surface for CMYK with PDF/X, but the shared engine means Photo assets can be placed directly into a press-ready layout. ### Has performance changed since they unified? The engine is shared and still native Apple Silicon with Metal. Launch is shared (~2s on M4), and persona switching is instant. Tahoe 26.x is fully supported. ## Sources - [Introducing the all-new Affinity, free for everyone](https://www.canva.com/newsroom/news/all-new-affinity/) - [Why we made Affinity free](https://www.canva.com/newsroom/news/affinity-free/) - [Affinity official site](https://www.affinity.studio/) - [Affinity help](https://affinity.help/) - [Affinity tech specs](https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/photo/full-feature-list/) - [macOS Tahoe](https://www.apple.com/macos/macos-tahoe/) - [Canva pricing](https://www.canva.com/pricing/) ## Related - [Affinity Designer 2 vs Adobe Creative Cloud](https://bundl.run/compare/affinity-vs-photoshop) - [Affinity Designer 2 vs Adobe Illustrator](https://bundl.run/compare/affinity-designer-vs-illustrator) - [Affinity Designer 2 vs Inkscape](https://bundl.run/compare/affinity-designer-2-vs-inkscape) - [Affinity Photo 2 vs Adobe Photoshop](https://bundl.run/compare/affinity-photo-vs-photoshop) - [Affinity Photo 2 vs GIMP](https://bundl.run/compare/affinity-photo-2-vs-gimp) - [Affinity Photo 2 vs Pixelmator Pro](https://bundl.run/compare/affinity-photo-2-vs-pixelmator-pro) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://bundl.run/#organization", "name": "Bundl.run", "url": "https://bundl.run", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://bundl.run/og-image.png", "width": 1200, "height": 630 }, "description": "The Ninite for Mac. 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