Affinity Designer vs Illustrator for Logos: Free vs Paid

Affinity Designer vs Illustrator now means a free app against a subscription. Affinity Designer became part of Affinity, free since October 2025, while Illustrator costs US$22.99 a month. Pick Affinity to draw, convert and export a logo at no cost; pick Illustrator if someone needs an editable .ai file.

	Affinity (by Canva, formerly Affinity Designer)	Adobe Illustrator
Price (US, November 2026)	Free with a Canva account; Canva AI tools need a paid Canva plan	US$22.99/month on the annual plan, billed monthly; 7-day trial
Platforms	Windows, macOS, iPad	Windows, macOS, iPad
Own file format	.af	.ai
.ai files	Imports them if saved with PDF compatibility; no AI export	Opens and saves them
Logo exports	PDF, SVG, EPS, PNG	AI, PDF, EPS, SVG; PNG and DXF via Export As
CMYK	CMYK/8 document format, PDF/X-1a export	File > Document Color Mode > CMYK Color
Pantone	Pre-supplied Pantone colors, used as spot colors	No Pantone books since October 2023; paid Pantone Connect plugin
Automatic image conversion	Vector menu > Image Trace	Window > Image Trace
Internet	Once, to download and activate	For activation and subscription checks

What happened to Affinity Designer?

Affinity Designer, Serif’s vector graphics editor, was replaced in October 2025 by Affinity, a free app from Canva that also covers photo editing and page layout. Wikipedia records that Designer was discontinued that month in favor of the freemium Affinity by Canva, after Canva bought Serif in 2024; Affinity Designer 2, sold under a perpetual license, had come out in November 2022.

The new app has three studios, Vector, Pixel and Layout, and Affinity’s download page says that if you only want one set of tools, you can stay in one studio. If you bought Affinity Designer 2, Serif’s V2 page says your license remains valid but the V2 apps “won’t receive future updates.”

That’s why many comparisons in search results are out of date: written before October 2025, they describe a paid app.

How much do Affinity and Illustrator cost?

Affinity costs nothing, while Illustrator costs US$22.99 a month in the US, on an annual plan billed monthly. Affinity’s download page shows “$0, free,” and its FAQ answers “Is Affinity really free?” with a “Yes!” that covers every tool in the Pixel, Vector and Layout studios and all export features. You need a Canva account to download it, and a free one is enough. What you pay for is Canva AI: Generative Fill, Generative Expand, Generate Image/Vector and the other AI tools inside Affinity require a premium Canva plan.

Illustrator is sold by subscription: on November 2, 2026, Adobe’s US page shows that US$22.99 price for Illustrator alone, which also comes bundled with other Adobe apps in Creative Cloud Pro. Adobe’s 7-day trial gives you the complete app, and billing starts on day 8 unless you cancel.

Can you use Affinity and Illustrator on an iPad?

Yes, Affinity and Illustrator both run on an iPad now. On November 2, 2026, Affinity’s download page lists Windows, macOS and iPadOS, and its iPad page says the app is free on the App Store; a few desktop features, such as Batch and Data Merge, aren’t on iPad at launch. Adobe says its iPad app is included in an Illustrator or Creative Cloud Pro subscription.

Can Affinity open and save Illustrator .ai files?

Affinity opens .ai files but doesn’t save them. Affinity’s vector design page says it imports Illustrator files saved with PDF compatibility enabled: shapes, paths and layers come in cleanly, while appearance stacks, masks and advanced effects may flatten or simplify. The same page lists Affinity’s exports as PDF, SVG, PNG, JPEG, TIFF and WebP, with no AI. To hand work to someone in Illustrator, Affinity suggests a PDF or SVG, which “does not preserve full editability.” Affinity’s own format is .af, a file type missing from the list of formats Illustrator opens.

Illustrator opens and saves .ai files, and File > Save As also offers PDF, EPS and SVG, according to Adobe’s format reference (last updated October 21, 2026), which advises always keeping an .ai working file. If an .ai refuses to open in Affinity, our guide to the AI file covers the usual causes and what to ask for instead.

That makes the .ai file the clearest line in any Affinity vs Illustrator choice.

Do Affinity and Illustrator handle CMYK and Pantone colors?

Affinity and Illustrator both prepare a CMYK file, the four inks used in print; on Pantone, they differ. Affinity’s print guide, dated March 31, 2026, has you pick CMYK/8 as the color format when you create the document, or switch later through Document > Setup > Convert Format/ICC Profile. A Soft Proof adjustment layer then previews the print on screen, based on the output profile you choose. In Illustrator, the switch is File > Document Color Mode > CMYK Color, which converts the whole document.

Pantone spot colors are where things changed. Since its October 2023 release, Illustrator ships no Pantone color books: Adobe’s help explains that Pantone colors now require buying a Pantone Connect license, used through a plugin, though files that already carry Pantone swatches keep working. The free Affinity, by contrast, comes with Pantone colors: on November 2, 2026, Affinity’s Help Center says its pre-supplied Pantone colors become a global spot color in your document palette when applied, and the Honor spot colors option keeps them in an exported PDF. Either way, you can write the Pantone number on your order; our Pantone page for logos shows how to find yours.

Can Affinity turn a JPG logo into vectors like Illustrator’s Image Trace?

Yes, Affinity can: the current app has its own Image Trace, listed on its download page among the highly requested features added to the all-new Affinity. Per Affinity’s Image Trace page, you place the pixel image (a JPG or PNG), choose Image Trace from the Vector menu, watch a live preview and adjust its edge threshold and curve fitting tolerance controls before applying it. The result is editable vector paths, not pixels. Image Trace is not among the Canva AI tools that need a paid plan.

Illustrator’s Image Trace lives under Window > Image Trace. Adobe’s help, updated February 26, 2026, describes two families of presets, Enhanced and Legacy, and says the Enhanced ones build in gradients, shapes, transparency and auto grouping, depending on the preset. The preset that suits a logo, and the Expand step that follows, are in our Illustrator Image Trace walkthrough. Our guide to vectorization software weighs both apps against other programs and online tools.

Affinity Designer vs Illustrator: which suits your logo job?

Affinity Designer for logos now means the Vector studio of the free Affinity app. Neither it nor Illustrator wins every case; here is how five common situations play out.

• A club or shop logo to clean up once, with no budget. Affinity. It’s free, it converts a picture with Image Trace and exports PDF, SVG and EPS. A year of subscription is hard to justify for one logo.
• The order form or the agency asks for an .ai file. Illustrator, even if only for the 7-day trial. Affinity imports .ai files but has no AI export.
• Business cards with a Pantone color. Affinity. Both handle CMYK, but Affinity’s Pantone colors come free as spot colors, while Illustrator needs a paid Pantone Connect license. You can also write the Pantone number on the order.
• You already own Affinity Designer 2. Keep it while it does the job. The free Affinity opens your V1 and V2 files, but Affinity’s Help Center warns that V1 and V2 can’t open documents created in the new app.
• Your designer sends layered .ai files full of effects. Illustrator. Affinity may flatten appearance stacks, masks and advanced effects when it imports them.

What file should you send your printer from Affinity or Illustrator?

From Affinity or Illustrator, send your printer a vector file, one that draws the logo as shapes rather than as a mosaic of tiny colored squares: a PDF, SVG or EPS in which every letter has become a shape, with nothing behind the logo. Ask whether the printer wants CMYK before you export.

From Affinity

1. Keep the .af file as your master copy.
2. Convert all type to outlines, as Affinity’s logo hand-off guide recommends, so no font goes missing.
3. Export through File > Export > Export and pick PDF/X-1a:2003, which Affinity’s print guide calls the safest option for most printers.
4. For several formats at once, the same hand-off guide suggests slices for SVG, PNG at 1x and 2x, EPS and PDF, exported in one go.

From Illustrator

Use Type > Create Outlines on the text, set the document to CMYK if needed, then File > Save As to make the PDF or EPS, and keep the .ai alongside it.

Need a vector logo without a Canva or Adobe account?

Depixelise turns an existing logo into a vector file with no Canva or Adobe account and nothing to install. It never asks for a card and puts no watermark on the result, so the files work with whichever printer you choose. It accepts PNG, JPG, WebP and SVG files weighing up to 10 MB. In about ten seconds our server removes the background and redraws the shapes; the converted logo then appears large on screen, with 400% and 800% zoom levels to inspect the edges.

Four files arrive in your inbox, 100% free: the SVG, a PNG 2,000 pixels across with a transparent background, a single-ink black version and an all-white version for dark backgrounds and fabrics. The pack contains no .ai or .af file, and the converter offers no point-by-point editing: open the SVG in Affinity or Illustrator for that. If your source image is tiny, the converter enlarges it before rebuilding the shapes, so zoom in on small text and thin lines before you use the files.

FAQ

Do Affinity or Illustrator run on Linux?

No. Affinity’s download page lists Windows, macOS and iPadOS, and Adobe’s technical requirements for Illustrator cover Windows and macOS only. Inkscape, a free vector editor, offers a GNU/Linux version on its download page. Our Inkscape vs Illustrator comparison sets it against Illustrator for a logo.

Can you install Affinity and Illustrator on more than one computer?

Yes, with a difference. Affinity’s download page says you can install it on as many devices as you like. Adobe lets you download its apps on any number of devices, but its activation policy, updated September 25, 2026, allows you to be signed in on two at a time and to use the apps on one at a time.

Do Affinity and Illustrator work offline?

Affinity needs the internet once, to download and activate it with your Canva account; after that, its download page says there’s no requirement to be online, though help, lessons, stock libraries and Canva AI need a connection. For Illustrator, Adobe’s requirements list an internet connection and registration as necessary for activating the software and validating the subscription.

Is Affinity Designer as good as Illustrator for logos?

For a logo, the free Affinity covers the same basics as Illustrator: drawing tools, Image Trace, CMYK, and PDF, SVG and EPS export. Illustrator stays the one to use when someone wants an editable .ai file, or when a designer’s .ai relies on effects that Affinity may flatten on import.