Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Affinity Designer VS openCanvas

Compare Affinity Designer VS openCanvas and see what are their differences

Affinity Designer logo Affinity Designer

Professional creative software, exclusively for Mac.

openCanvas logo openCanvas

openCanvas, popularly abbreviated as oC, is a popular Japanese image editing program.
  • Affinity Designer Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-21
  • openCanvas Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-07-31

Affinity Designer features and specs

  • 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 of Affinity Designer

  • 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.

openCanvas features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    openCanvas is known for its intuitive and easy-to-use interface, which is welcoming for beginners and efficient for advanced users.
  • Real-Time Drawing
    The software provides real-time illustration features that allow users to see the evolution of their work, enhancing collaborative and solo work experiences.
  • Event Function
    openCanvas's unique 'Event' function records users' drawing processes and allows for playback, which is useful for educational purposes and reviewing one's own art techniques.
  • Variety of Brushes and Effects
    It offers a wide array of customizable brushes and effects that afford artists creative flexibility in their projects.
  • Layer and Filter Support
    The program provides comprehensive layer support and filters that enable complex and detailed art creation.

Possible disadvantages of openCanvas

  • Limited Platform Availability
    openCanvas is primarily available for the Windows platform, which limits its accessibility for macOS and Linux users.
  • Learning Curve for Advanced Features
    While the basic tools are easy to grasp, mastering the more advanced features of openCanvas may require a significant time investment.
  • Limited File Format Compatibility
    The software supports a limited range of file formats, which may necessitate additional tools for file conversion and sharing outside of its native format.
  • Lack of Regular Updates
    openCanvas does not receive updates as frequently as some other digital art software, potentially leaving users without the latest features or improvements.
  • Less Community Support
    The user community is smaller compared to other mainstream digital art platforms, which can mean fewer resources and tutorials available online.

Affinity Designer videos

Illustrator vs Affinity Designer - Review and Comparison

More videos:

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

openCanvas videos

[Steam] openCanvas 6 & 7 - Introduction Trailer

More videos:

  • Review - OpenCanvas 7 Part 1

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Affinity Designer and openCanvas)
Graphic Design Software
Digital Drawing And Painting
Image Editing
91 91%
9% 9
Design Tools
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Affinity Designer and openCanvas

Affinity Designer Reviews

Figma Alternatives: 12 Prototyping and Design Tools in 2024
Affinity Designer has recently released version 2 of the app for professional photo editing, illustrations, and graphic designs. It’s used by millions of designers worldwide for prototyping, mind mapping, and other visual content.
5 Figma Alternatives for UI & UX Designers
And last but not least, the area in which Affinity Designer excels is its licensing system. You only pay for the software once ($60 + a free trial) and can use it on your Windows or macOS devices.
Source: stackdiary.com
10 Best Adobe Illustrator Alternatives
if you are looking for an editing tool that can switch between vector, export, and pixel modes, Affinity Designer is a perfect choice.
The best digital art software for creatives in 2020
Not only that, last year's upgrade (here's our Affinity Designer review) saw Affinity add support for the Apple Pro Display XDR monitor, and tweak the program to run faster than ever on new Macs. While this is a dedicated vector tool, you can switch to a pixel environment if you wish. A new version (Affinity Designer 1.9) is currently in Beta so watch this space for a new...
The best software for digital artists
Affinity Designer has everything you need to create custom designs and illustrations. With Affinity Designer, you have precise control over curves, brush stabilisation options, advanced blend modes, and best of all: one million+ per cent zoom. No, really… it’s true! In fact, this might just be our favourite feature.

openCanvas Reviews

We have no reviews of openCanvas yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Affinity Designer seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 47 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Affinity Designer mentions (47)

View more

openCanvas mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of openCanvas yet. Tracking of openCanvas recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

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

Sketch - Professional digital design for Mac.

Krita - Krita is a professional FREE and open source painting program. It is made by artists that want to seaffordable art tools for everyone. Concept art. texture and matte painters, illustrations and comics.

Inkscape - Inkscape is a free, open source professional vector graphics editor for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

ibis Paint X - Drawn with + ibisPaint

Adobe Illustrator - Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor.

Clip Studio Paint - The artist's software for drawing and painting.