Affinity Photo 2: Professional Photo Editing and Digital Painting Without a Subscription

Affinity Photo 2 is the most capable and widely used alternative to Adobe Photoshop available today, offering professional-grade photo editing, RAW processing, and digital painting tools for a one-time purchase price that represents exceptional value compared to Photoshop's ongoing subscription cost. Developed by Serif and first released in 2015, Affinity Photo has matured into a genuinely professional application used by photographers, digital artists, illustrators, and designers worldwide who want Photoshop-level capability without Photoshop's subscription model.

The version 2 release, which arrived in 2022, brought significant improvements to performance, interface, and feature depth, and the application has continued to receive updates through 2025 and into 2026. As of early 2026, Affinity Photo 2 is available for Windows, macOS, and iPad, with a one-time purchase price of $69.99 for desktop and $18.49 for iPad. There is no subscription, no monthly fee, and no feature gating based on payment tier. You buy it once and own it.

The Case for One-Time Purchase

The subscription model that Adobe introduced for Creative Cloud in 2013 transformed the economics of professional creative software in ways that many users found unwelcome. Paying $54.99 per month for the full Creative Cloud suite, or $20.99 per month for Photoshop alone, means that a professional who uses Photoshop for ten years pays over $2,500 for the application, and stops having access to it the moment they stop paying. Affinity Photo 2's one-time purchase model means you pay once and own the software permanently, with free updates included.

For artists and photographers who use photo editing software regularly but do not need the full Adobe ecosystem, Affinity Photo 2's pricing model is significantly more economical. The $69.99 one-time purchase pays for itself within a few months compared to a Photoshop subscription, and the software continues to work indefinitely after purchase.

Photo Editing Capabilities

Affinity Photo 2's photo editing capabilities are genuinely professional and cover everything that most photographers and digital artists need. The Develop persona handles RAW processing with support for files from all major camera manufacturers, including Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, and others. The RAW processing engine produces high-quality results with good detail retention, accurate colour rendering, and effective noise reduction.

The Photo persona is the main editing environment, offering non-destructive editing through a layer-based workflow that will be immediately familiar to Photoshop users. Adjustment layers, live filters, blend modes, masks, and selections all work as expected, and the application's performance on modern hardware is fast and responsive. The non-destructive editing model means that all adjustments are stored as instructions rather than being applied permanently to the image data, allowing changes to be modified or removed at any point in the editing process.

Focus merge, HDR merge, and panorama stitching are built-in features that handle common photographic compositing tasks without requiring additional software. The focus merge feature is particularly useful for macro and product photographers who need to combine multiple images with different focus points into a single sharp image.

Digital Painting Tools

Beyond photo editing, Affinity Photo 2 includes a comprehensive set of digital painting tools that make it a viable option for digital artists who work in a painterly style. The painting tools include a wide range of brush types with customisable dynamics, a mixer brush that blends colours on the canvas in a way that simulates traditional paint mixing, and a full set of selection and masking tools that support complex compositional work.

The Pixel persona provides the primary painting environment, with tools organised for efficient painting workflows. Brush performance is good, with low latency on capable hardware, and the brush engine supports pressure sensitivity, tilt, and rotation from compatible styluses including the Apple Pencil on iPad.

For digital painters who also work with photographs, the combination of photo editing and painting tools in a single application is genuinely useful. The ability to work with photographic reference, composite elements from multiple sources, and paint directly on top of or alongside photographic material in a single workflow is something that dedicated painting applications like Procreate or Clip Studio Paint do not offer.

The iPad Version

The iPad version of Affinity Photo 2 is one of the most capable photo editing applications available on the platform, and at $18.49 it is exceptional value. The iPad version supports the Apple Pencil with full pressure and tilt sensitivity, making it a viable option for digital painting on the go. The interface is adapted for touch input while maintaining access to the full feature set of the desktop version.

The iPad version supports the same file format as the desktop version, including native Affinity files and PSD files, making it easy to move work between devices. For artists who use an iPad for initial sketching or painting and a desktop for finishing and output, the seamless file compatibility between the iPad and desktop versions of Affinity Photo 2 is a significant practical advantage.

Photoshop Compatibility

Affinity Photo 2 has strong PSD compatibility, reading and writing Photoshop files with good fidelity. Layers, adjustment layers, blend modes, masks, and most other Photoshop features are preserved when opening PSD files in Affinity Photo 2, and files saved from Affinity Photo 2 in PSD format open correctly in Photoshop. This compatibility makes it practical to use Affinity Photo 2 in workflows that involve collaboration with Photoshop users or that require PSD output for clients or printers.

The compatibility is not perfect, and some Photoshop-specific features, particularly those involving smart objects, certain adjustment types, and some blend modes, may not translate exactly. For most practical purposes, however, the PSD compatibility is sufficient for professional use.

Learning Resources

Affinity Photo 2 has a substantial ecosystem of learning resources, including official tutorials from Serif, a large community of third-party tutorial creators on YouTube, and active user forums. The official Affinity tutorials are well-produced and cover both basic and advanced features, and the third-party tutorial community has grown significantly as the application's user base has expanded.

The application's interface is designed to be familiar to Photoshop users, which means that photographers and digital artists with Photoshop experience can typically become productive in Affinity Photo 2 relatively quickly. The learning curve for users with no prior photo editing experience is moderate, comparable to learning any professional creative application.

The Bottom Line

Affinity Photo 2 is the most compelling alternative to Adobe Photoshop available today, offering professional-grade photo editing and digital painting capabilities for a one-time purchase price that is a fraction of Photoshop's ongoing subscription cost. For photographers, digital artists, and illustrators who need professional tools but object to subscription pricing, Affinity Photo 2 is the obvious choice. The combination of capable photo editing, solid digital painting tools, strong PSD compatibility, and a one-time purchase model makes it one of the best value propositions in professional creative software.