GIMP vs. Affinity Designer

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
GIMP
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
GIMP is a free, open-source graphics software. GIMP, or General Image Manipulation Program was developed in 1996 and has continued to be updated by volunteers since then.N/A
Affinity Designer
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Affinity Designer is a vector graphics software developed by Serif (Europe) Ltd, replacing the former Serif DrawPlus. It is designed for professional illustrators, web designers, game developers, and other creatives.N/A
Pricing
GIMPAffinity Designer
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
GIMPAffinity Designer
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
GIMPAffinity Designer
Best Alternatives
GIMPAffinity Designer
Small Businesses
Venngage
Venngage
Score 10.0 out of 10
Venngage
Venngage
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator
Score 9.3 out of 10
GIMP
GIMP
Score 8.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator
Score 9.3 out of 10
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator
Score 9.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
GIMPAffinity Designer
Likelihood to Recommend
9.7
(14 ratings)
9.3
(8 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
4.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(2 ratings)
8.9
(7 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(6 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
GIMPAffinity Designer
Likelihood to Recommend
GIMP Development Team
GIMP is great for anyone ranging from personal use to a small business. But, if you are a large business and have a sufficient budget, I would recommend you to opt for an expensive paid software like Photoshop, that would provide not only great features but also public recognition. Its great for beginners wanting to start editing photos, there is a small learning curve that could be gotten used to in no time.
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Serif Europe
Best suited: Creating on the go. The app is the same on desktop as it is on mobile. All the tools and shortcuts exist on both platforms, no need to learn more than one workflow to get my work done
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Pros
GIMP Development Team
  • GIMP has a large number of tools at your disposal for manipulating any type of image and exporting in any necessary format.
  • GIMP does a great job of making everything intuitive so that even a new user can layer images or make an image transparent in little time.
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Serif Europe
  • its is helpful in creating vector designs
  • it offers wide variety of brushes making it perfect for illustrations.
  • it provides us varies options for exports like eps, svg, png and jpeg and many more making it versatile.
  • we use to export our design with press ready pdf for print production where all the internal design and export done with Affinity Designer.
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Cons
GIMP Development Team
  • GIMP should make the font tool more intuitive. Make it easier to change fonts during edit process without resetting the typeface selection.
  • Build in selection/move ability within tools like the typeface tool... I.e. don't require toggle between selection tool and typeface tool when wanting to move a line of type within a layer. Likewise with shapes, etc.
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Serif Europe
  • the new Affinity Designer suite lacks the original compatibility.
  • the brushes and spray tools needs improvement
  • Sometimes when we are dealing with big files say more than 10mbs it crashes often or slow down.
  • One of the major weak point is export time it takes quite longer time if compared to illustrator but for big files only.
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Likelihood to Renew
GIMP Development Team
Capability, open architecture, compatibility with Photoshop plugins, wide platform coverage; To me, as an open-source, freely available application, it's the nest-in-class.
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Serif Europe
No answers on this topic
Usability
GIMP Development Team
I interface GIMP with other software--I need to. I generally use the major calculation, CAD, word processing, and photo editing programs. In my office, my use of this software is not limited to computer-aided design. However, I am sure that if I needed this software for other purposes, it would have no interface problems.
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Serif Europe
Because the software is great. I have forced myself to learn it. I highly recommend to others. This is a game changer. Adobe is evil for going all subscription and not giving anyone the option to purchase lifetime versions of Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign it is CRIMINAL
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Support Rating
GIMP Development Team
We have never needed to use the support functions for GIMP. Any queries we have or had about whether GIMP could complete a task we have used Google and YouTube. There is a wealth of information, guides, and forums dedicated to GIMP and how to perform certain tasks with the application.
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Serif Europe
I have not had much opportunity to go directly to support, but the training modules that are employed by the company are fantastic. I also find that if I need to understand something, there is always another user ready and willing to share their secrets. As this tool becomes more accepted local communities will also start to organize
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Implementation Rating
GIMP Development Team
As simple as can be. Download from GIMP website and install.
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Serif Europe
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
GIMP Development Team
Online services like Canva are fine for quickly designing brochures and marketing materials, videos, etc. They're user friendly and fast if you have a good connection. But if you're in production mode and need to do a lot of photo manipulation at once, without being connected to the web at all times and just want to focus, GIMP is the go-to product for you
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Serif Europe
First, Affinity has a much more attractive licensing model for users: Buy it once, use it forever. That's great and means one less recurring cost for a company. But I can go further, and as I've mentioned in other questions, Affinity has a very refined and polished interface, as well as superior performance, especially compared to Adobe's tools. On our team, we use Figma as the main tool focused on Product Design, and where it falls short, we complement it with Affinity. Price and product quality are the factors that make this choice happen.
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Return on Investment
GIMP Development Team
  • GIMP is freeware, which allows organizations that are not graphics-centered to use the powerful toolset without spending money on very expensive alternatives
  • GIMP is fairly easy to learn and does not require extensive user training (especially, if used for basic tasks)
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Serif Europe
  • Perfect for professionals. The price is insane for a professional tool.
  • I am able to fit the price of Affinity Designer into our business budget.
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ScreenShots