Software Alternatives & Startups

Affinity Designer VS CSSBackgrounds

Compare Affinity Designer VS CSSBackgrounds and see what are their differences

Affinity Designer

Professional creative software, exclusively for Mac.

Rating
0 reviews
CSSBackgrounds

Free background patterns and gradients made with pure CSS. Pick dots, stripes, grids, checks and more, adjust the colors and size, then copy the CSS or Tailwind classes.

Rating
0 reviews
Pricing
Free

Which is more popular?

Based on our record, Affinity Designer seems to be more popular. It has been mentioned 47 times since March 2021.

social mentions
47 vs 0
Graphic Design Software popularity
100% vs 0%
alternatives listed
240+ vs 13

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

Affinity Designer
CSSBackgrounds
Website affinity.serif.com cssbackgrounds.com
Pricing —
Free
Company — 2026
Listed in

About Affinity Designer and CSSBackgrounds

In their own words, as submitted to SaaSHub.

Affinity Designer
CSSBackgrounds

No description of Affinity Designer yet.

CSSBackgrounds is a free library of background patterns and gradients made only with CSS. No image files, so they load fast and stay sharp at any size. What's inside 36 CSS patterns: dots, stripes, grids, checkered, geometric and textures 26 CSS gradients: mesh, aurora, conic, rainbow and...

Read more about CSSBackgrounds

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

Affinity Designer 7 features
CSSBackgrounds 0 features
  • Cost
    Affinity Designer is a one-time purchase, which is significantly cheaper in the long run compared to popular subscription-based alternatives like Adobe Illustrator.
  • Performance
    Affinity Designer is known for its smooth performance and stability, even when working with large files or complex designs.
  • Cross-platform compatibility
    The software is available on both macOS, Windows, and iPad, allowing for a seamless experience across different devices.
  • User Interface
    Affinity Designer features a modern, intuitive, and highly customizable user interface, making it easier for both new and experienced users to adapt.
  • Advanced Vector Tools
    Offers a wide range of vector editing tools, which are on par with industry standards, making it a powerful tool for professional designers.
  • Regular Updates
    Serif, the company behind Affinity Designer, frequently releases updates that add new features and improve performance.
  • Seamless Integration
    Affinity Designer offers seamless integration with other Affinity products such as Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher, enhancing overall workflow.

Possible disadvantages

  • Learning Curve
    New users, especially those transitioning from Adobe products, might find the interface and tools slightly unfamiliar, leading to a learning curve.
  • Limited Third-party Plugin Support
    Affinity Designer has limited support for third-party plugins compared to Adobe Illustrator, which can restrict additional functionalities.
  • Community and Resources
    While growing, the community and available resources for Affinity Designer are not as extensive as those for more established software like Adobe Illustrator.
  • Lack of Cloud-based Features
    Affinity Designer does not offer built-in cloud storage or cloud-based collaboration features, unlike some other industry-leading design software.
  • Interoperability with Adobe Files
    Although it offers some compatibility, Affinity Designer may struggle with fully maintaining formatting and layers when importing/exporting Adobe Illustrator (AI) files.

No features have been listed yet.

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

Affinity Designer 3 videos + Add
CSSBackgrounds 0 videos + Add

Illustrator vs Affinity Designer - Review and Comparison

More videos

  • - Affinity Designer Review
  • - A DESIGNERS Review : Affinity Designer on iPad Pro 2018

No CSSBackgrounds videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
Affinity Designer
CSSBackgrounds
100% 100%
0% 0%
0% 0%
100% 100%
100% 100%
0% 0%
0% 0%
100% 100%

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing Affinity Designer and CSSBackgrounds.

What makes your product unique?

CSSBackgrounds's answer:

Everything is pure CSS. Most background sites hand you an image file; here every pattern and gradient is a few lines of code with nothing to download. You get live controls for colors and size, the choice of CSS, Tailwind, HTML or PNG output, and colors set as CSS variables, so you can retheme a background later (dark mode included) by changing one line.

What's the story behind your product?

CSSBackgrounds's answer:

I've run SVGBackgrounds.com since 2018, and the most common thing people want is a nice background they can drop into a site fast. A lot of that can be done with CSS alone now, so I built a free sister site for it: no images, no account needed, just copy and paste the code.

Who are some of the biggest customers of your product?

CSSBackgrounds's answer:

It's free and brand new, so no big names yet. It's built for indie developers, designers and small agencies.

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

CSSBackgrounds's answer:

Web developers and front-end designers building landing pages, hero sections, cards, portfolios and app UIs who want a subtle texture or a bold gradient without hunting for stock images or adding page weight.

User comments

Share your experience with using Affinity Designer and CSSBackgrounds. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

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Reviews and articles

External articles and on-site reviews we used to compare the two products.

Affinity Designer no reviews yet
CSSBackgrounds no reviews yet

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We have no reviews of CSSBackgrounds yet. Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

Affinity Designer 47 mentions
CSSBackgrounds 0 mentions

View more

Tracking CSSBackgrounds since Nov 2026.

Alternatives to Affinity Designer and CSSBackgrounds

When comparing Affinity Designer and CSSBackgrounds, you can also consider the following products.