Photoshop has been under fire lately due to some controversy surrounding its new fine print, and now Canva-owned Affinity Photo is looking to capitalize with an impressive-looking new trial offer for its photo-editing software.
A new six-month trial of Affinity Photo, which you can also get for its Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher software, covers Mac, Windows and iPad versions. There's no obligation to purchase and, best of all, you don't need to provide your payment details when signing up for the trial.
Free trials are nothing new, but they don't usually last for six months, and this is for the software we currently rate as the best Photoshop alternative. One reason is that it's also possible to buy Affinity Photo as a one-time purchase, rather than an ongoing subscription.
You can currently get 50% off Affinity Photo when you buy it outright, bringing it down to $35 / £35, though it’s unclear whether this offer will still be available at the end of a six-month trial. Still, both are good deals for an editing software that offers a clean interface, a good range of tools, and PSD file support.
To check out the free six-month offer, head to the official Affinity trial page. You'll get access to full versions of the software for desktop or iPad, and you can also sign up for the offer if you've already taken one of Affinity's trials.
Is it worth registering?
Right now, you can only get a seven-day free trial for Photoshop, so Affinity Photo's six-month offer certainly seems like a good deal, especially if you're a beginner or starting from scratch.
Both Affinity Photo and Photoshop have a learning curve, so it’s nice to have an extended free period to see if it works for you. As a photographer, I’m already tied to Adobe workflows and use add-on apps like Lightroom Classic (which is included in Adobe’s Creative Cloud photography plan), so the trial doesn’t have the same appeal for me.
But if I were a beginner or hobbyist just getting started with photo editing and didn’t want to be tied to subscription software in the future, I would definitely consider this trial of Affinity Photo. It may not have some of Adobe’s latest AI-based tools, like Generative Fill, but it’s powerful enough for most situations, and you only need a free Affinity account to start the trial.
It's also refreshing to have a trial that doesn't ask for payment details up front, as it's easy to forget these and then spend a ton of money on tech subscriptions.
