Affinity Designer VS Illustrator | All You Need To Know

Affinity Designer and Adobe Illustrator are currently the two heaviest hitters in the world of premium vector design software. Despite the fact that they both function in a way that is fundamentally similar, they also have a lot of differences between them, and those differences are significant enough to make choosing between them a real dilemma. In this video we'll be comparing the two.

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[gregorioportela]

I switched from illustrator to affinity design and I don't regret it, simple to use but powerful, long live affinity

[chriskatt]

I'm changing from Adobe to affinity. I had to use the Adobe Cloud for the last 4, 5 years for college. Almost 1000€ spend at this time as a student with the 50% discount.
Got affinity in a sale last month for 120€ for the universal license. So basically InDesign, illustrator and Photoshop with lesser specialized features. Which a lot of people don't use.

Illustrator had a lot of features I won't use anymore or haven't used in all the time. For the 3d part I will learn an other program. Which one I don't know yet. Maybe blender, maybe something on the iPad.
For the missing tracing tool...I haven't had really good experience with it. It was easier and faster to redo the object that to clean up after the tracing.

But it seems like affinity is really a good alternative for private use. And I'm happy to finally go away from Adobe.

[DesignWho]

I hate learning new software. But this time I'll gladly do it

[MrZendude]

I love Affinity! Period. Their design workflow for standard stuff like even copy paste and other things are so well thought through and intuitive. They have not only come out with something more cost effective but also better thought through at the same time. The one-time purchase model is so so affordable and realistic. I really wish they start to make video editing apps. Huge fan!

[vveles]

The shape builder tool was the only true must-have for me. Thanks to Designer V2 I'm all set now. Having said that, true vector brushes, a blend tool equivalent, and vector pattern creation would be *extremely* nice to have.

[NOIPA]

I just got Affinity recently, and the two most important tools that are missing for me are the blend tool and the gradient mesh tool. I don't care about image tracing since the results are often pretty meh, but was really disappointed when I found out that Affinity didn't have those two tools. Granted, I don't use them that often, but they really come in handy when needed.

[WalkingHeadPro]

everyone needs to continue to boycott adobe. I am moving to affinity asap

[fullnerd]

I love Affinity, but it really needs a brush expand option. I tend to use affinity for social posts, detailed illustrations and things like letterheads. Anything like logos or complex vector shapes, I make in illustrator and they can be used in both. Affinity is so close to replacing Illustrator for me, then I can be done with Adobe once and for all, except photography where lightroom still makes life so much easier.

[eneacreativedesign]

Great comparison, thanks. I've never had Illustrator, but I'm currently learning Affinity Designer, and I kinda like the program.

[longroth]

Affinity rocks! I still have one copy of Illustrator for plugin support for printers and plotters, and that's about all I use it for anymore, they still kind of have you locked into their environment with that yet. I use Affinity for everything, have been for a few years now, it's quicker and more efficient, as a designer it has all the tools I use daily. If you get the universal license you have access to all Affinity software for any device, including ipad. If equipment manufacturers ever get on board with adding support for their devices with Affinity, there won't be much of a need to pay that subscription price. V2.1 is in beta and should be out soon, even more features that were once only found in Illustrator.

[dottieanderson]

I really appreciate this video! I'm looking for cheaper alternatives to Illustrator and wanted to know exactly what I'd be "missing" with affinity. This helps a lot and I'm going to go check out your article now. Thank you!

[vector-modus]

You are doing great content for AD community.

[kiranvijay]

Have been using for 2 months. Switched from illustrator, and i think this was the best move. Affinity is not resource hungry like adobe, one time purchase, and comparatively cheaper considering the features it has.

[fenri]

It strikes me as kind of weird to hear that Affinity Designer does not have an equivalent to gradient meshes, seeing as Inkscape, a totally free vector graphics program, does actually have that tool! But I guess it might be missing because the devs figured that for any kind of complex gradients, you're probably gonna want to switch over to the raster workspace anyway.

[meinhendl]

Over 20 years ago I bought both PS and AI for Windows for expensive money. Then came the cloud, I didn't like this version at all. A little over 2 years ago I quit and gave away my laptop. A month ago I bought a Macbook and just wanted to do photo editing. Somewhere there was still a love for graphics and somehow while searching I found Affinity Designer as well as Photo. Bought both and very happy with them. practice a little and have fun with it. A really good software and the price/performance ratio is very decent. When I think about the fact that I paid the equivalent of around €600 each for the two CS6 versions around 20 years ago. really recommended and independent of the cloud!

[Taruil]

Affinity Designer for illustration is great :), I like this program very much.

[KevinNapier-zjeu]

Don't forget Adobe is going to also charge you a 40$ cancelation fee even if your doing a month to month subscription. Snakes.

[digitalsketchguy]

I purchased the Affinity suite for £119 which is great value. Designer now has a shape builder tool and vector flood fill tool which places it very close to Illustrator. However, it's missing gradient meshes - which I can live with. I would love Affinity to come out with an Animate CC killer. That would be the icing on the cake.

[jsserch]

Image tracing is a deal breaker for me. I use that all the time

[joseguevara]

For the few differences that can be achieved in a free software like Inkscape for me there is no justification to pay that amount of money for using A Illustrator. With some months of payment you can get the whole set of Affinity in one payment and create whatever you desire. And complement with plugins that are amazing.