Affinity Designer vs Lunacy

Affinity Designer is a professional vector and raster design application originally built by Serif, a UK software company that Canva acquired in 2024. It is used for illustration, logos and brand identity, icons, UI mockups and print layouts, and has long been the most credible alternative to Adobe Illustrator for designers who refuse to pay a monthly subscription. The new unified Affinity app runs natively on macOS and Windows, with an iPad version announced to follow; the earlier Affinity Designer 2 also has a full iPad edition.

The core strength is the persona system: a Designer persona for precise vector work (pen, node, boolean and shape tools, symbols, artboards, constraints) and a Pixel persona for raster retouching and texture inside the same document. Performance is fast even with complex files, and it imports and exports PSD, PDF, SVG and EPS, with partial support for AI files. In late 2025 Canva merged Designer, Photo and Publisher into a single Affinity app and made it free to download, while generative AI features are tied to a Canva Pro subscription.

Affinity fits freelance designers, illustrators, small studios and students who want professional output without Adobe Creative Cloud costs. It is weaker for real-time collaboration and shared design systems, where Figma is the standard, and agencies whose clients send native Illustrator files may still hit compatibility issues. Compared with Illustrator it has a smaller plugin and tutorial ecosystem; compared with Inkscape, which is also free, it is faster and more polished, especially for print work.

Lunacy is a desktop design application made by Icons8, the company behind a large library of icons, illustrations and stock photos. It runs natively on Windows, macOS and Linux, opens and saves Sketch files, and first became popular as the way to work with Sketch designs on Windows. Today it is a general UI and graphic design tool with collaboration features and a free core plan.

The app includes vector editing, components, auto layout, prototyping and an inspection mode for developers, plus built-in access to Icons8 icons, photos, illustrations and avatars directly from the sidebar. AI-powered tools generate avatars and placeholder content, remove backgrounds and upscale images. Because it is a native app it works offline and stays fast on large files, while cloud documents allow real-time collaboration and sharing. Most features are free; a low-cost paid plan adds extras for heavier use.

Lunacy fits Windows and Linux designers, students and budget-conscious teams who want a capable design tool without a subscription, and anyone who needs to open Sketch files outside a Mac. Its plugin ecosystem, community resources and handoff integrations are much smaller than Figma's, and most design teams and developers expect Figma links. Penpot is the open-source, browser-based alternative, Sketch remains the Mac-native original, and Figma is the collaborative industry standard.