Comparison

Adobe Illustrator vs Affinity Designer

On the evidence we track, Affinity Designer leads this comparison with a composite score of 65/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.
Adobe Illustrator35
★Affinity Designer65
Score
vioscaleAI score
Adobe Illustrator35 / 100low · 38%
Affinity Designer65 / 100medium · 52%
Pricing
Free tier
Adobe Illustrator✗
Affinity Designer✓
Model
Adobe Illustratorcommercial
Affinity Designerfree
Price level
Adobe Illustratorunknown
Affinity Designerfree
Transparent
Adobe Illustrator✗
Affinity Designer✓
Integrations
Count
Adobe Illustrator–
Affinity Designer1
Security
Disclosure policy
Adobe Illustrator✓
Affinity Designer–
Gdpr
Adobe Illustrator–
Affinity Designer✓
Trust center
Adobe Illustrator–
Reliability
Status page
Adobe Illustrator✓
Affinity Designer–
Market
Availability
Adobe Illustrator–
Content
Faq
Adobe Illustrator–
Affinity Designer5 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for design & creative software. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Discipline
Raster / photo editing
Adobe Illustrator-
Affinity Designer✓
Vector illustration
Adobe Illustrator✓
Affinity Designer✓
DTP / page layout
Adobe Illustrator-
Affinity Designer✓
Digital painting
Adobe Illustrator-
Affinity Designer✓
Platform
Platform breadth
Adobe IllustratorPart of Adobe Creative Cloud
Affinity DesignerDesktop (macOS, Windows) and mobile (iOS)
Output
CMYK / print production
Adobe Illustrator-
Affinity Designer-
Interoperability
PSD / AI import
Adobe Illustrator-
Affinity Designer-
Collaboration
Real-time collaboration / cloud
Adobe Illustrator-
Affinity Designer-
AI
Generative AI features
Adobe Illustrator✓
Affinity Designer-
Extensibility
Plugin / template ecosystem
Adobe Illustrator-
Affinity Designer-
Pricing
Pricing model
Adobe Illustrator-
Affinity Designer-
Free / open-source available
Adobe Illustrator-
Affinity Designer✓

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Adobe Illustrator

Not documented yet.

Affinity Designer

Leader

A comprehensive design tool that integrates vector drawing, photo editing, and layout capabilities with real-time performance, precision controls, non-destructive editing, and broad export support.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Adobe Illustrator

Subscription
as of verify ↗

Affinity Designer

Leader
FreeFree tier

Completely free with all features included

  • AffinityFree
    • Vector design with pen precision, snapping, and alignment
    • Symbols and constraints for UI component consistency
    • Non-destructive editing
    • Real-time pixel previews
    • Raster and photo editing tools
    • +8 more
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platforms
macOS
Adobe Illustrator–
Affinity Designer✓
Windows
Adobe Illustrator–
Affinity Designer✓
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Adobe Illustrator✓
Affinity Designer–

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

Adobe Illustrator

Not documented yet.

Affinity Designer

Leader
1 total
  • Canva
Independently observed
Still deciding?

Adobe Illustrator or Affinity Designer: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.