Adobe Express vs. Affinity Designer

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe Express
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Creative Cloud Express (formerly Adobe Spark) is a task-based, web and mobile product used to create and share rich multimedia content – from social media posts and stories to invitations to marketing materials like logos, flyers and banners.
$0
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
Adobe ExpressAffinity Designer
Editions & Modules
Free
$0.00
Premium
$9.99 / $99.99
per month
Teams
$9.99
per month per user
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe ExpressAffinity Designer
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsContact Adobe directly for Enterprise pricing plan details.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe ExpressAffinity Designer
Considered Both Products
Adobe Express
Chose Adobe Express
Express has put all the tools a design agency will need for day-to-day operations, production, and creation. And with the addition of the Calendar, scheduling these posts is a breeze and very important in a designer's tool belt. We used other products before and found ourselves …
Chose Adobe Express
Adobe Express is a mighty little program. To be clear, it won't do everything you can do in Illustrator or Premiere, but it will do about 75% of it, which is plenty about 75% of the time. It's not going to replace the Creative Cloud programs for pro users, but it will allow pro …
Chose Adobe Express
I use Adobe Express and Canva equally, due to the types of features that are/aren't available (need for overlap), and due to the team licensing features/access.
Affinity Designer

No answer on this topic

Best Alternatives
Adobe ExpressAffinity Designer
Small Businesses
Pexels
Pexels
Score 8.1 out of 10
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 7.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Pexels
Pexels
Score 8.1 out of 10
GIMP
GIMP
Score 8.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Pexels
Pexels
Score 8.1 out of 10
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 7.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe ExpressAffinity Designer
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(254 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.5
(17 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.2
(29 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
7.0
(13 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
6.4
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
9.5
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Professional Services
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe ExpressAffinity Designer
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
Every team I work with gets the Express welcome and walkthrough and becomes a permanent Adobe Express user. I have my own workflow when creating content for social, and it is great when others I am working with can hop on and follow the same workflow. We can collaborate on projects, schedule posts, and manage brand assets easily from our own devices. As long as we have access to the same files, we can build campaigns faster and more easily, onboard new designers, and scale our impact on social media.
Read full review
Serif Europe
I first started to use Affinity related tools with Serif in 2004. When these tools became available, I started using them, and much to my surprise of the people that use Affinityit is now universally accepted. More people will use this in the future due to the total cost and value it brings.
Read full review
Pros
Adobe
  • I have used Adobe Express to help maintain my creative catalogs and files, brand management by saving my color scheme palettes, to have full access to its free assets and huge template library.
  • The main business issue is brand consistency and accessibility, and Adobe Express helps greatly with both of those by providing an option to create brand libraries for various projects, and it has a huge Adobe font catalog to accommodate basically every brand and project scope.
  • I like how I am able to create a project folder for storing various iterations of a graphic or logo, and being able to view thumbnails of each iteration below the current graphic that I am working on. Plus, it also allows for easy thumbnail rearrangement for exporting selected images in the order of my choice. And it has many editing tools such as a generative AI tool using prompts to help create original art, and both the Effects and Animation tools have many options for colorations and animations. Plus other awesome and easy to use tools such as the Quick Action tool that easily removes backgrounds, and other tools like the Resizing, Quick Replace, Translate, Bulk Create.
  • Another feature of Adobe Express that I like is its ability for video creation and editing which is available via a mobile device or desktop computer. The footage editing process is very easy and allows for only one track for both video and audio.
  • Adobe Express allows for the project assets to be either imported via ones on file systems or straight from the Adobe Royalty-Free assets which includes; videos, audio/music, graphics, photos and even a voice overs capability using a "Text-to-Voice" option. And after the video has been created Adobe offers its very easy "Download" option, where you can select what file type that you want the project to export as.
Read full review
Serif Europe
  • creating vector graphics
  • manipulating shapes and curve tools
  • vector brush strokes
  • Exporting persona
Read full review
Cons
Adobe
  • It could have a search bar which searches through other Adobe products (esp for Stock images, videos, audio) from within Adobe Express.
  • It could make it so switching between Adobe products from within Adobe Express almost like a tab function is smooth.
  • It could partner with other companies to allow for company specific events in exchange for valuable products or programs.
Read full review
Serif Europe
  • LITTLE UNDERSTANDING OUTSIDE OF AFFINITY MARKET
  • HOW NEW THE TOOLS ARE
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
I foresee Adobe Express becoming the "go-to" platform for everyone except professional, high-level designers. It is a relatively easy-to-use tool that allows users to create a wide variety of visuals quickly. Because it is a template-driven tool, the in-house design team has the ability to make brand kit available to keep visuals on point
Read full review
Serif Europe
No answers on this topic
Usability
Adobe
The user interface is pretty straightforward to use. It has easy to navigate navigations, and the canvas UX is also pretty good. One thing i would like to add it to use shortcuts to add elements on canvas. Like if I am on canvas and I press 'T' on my keyboard the text box should be added automatically
Read full review
Serif Europe
Coming from Photoshop and Illustrator, the transition was pretty smooth and most tasks translates well. There was a bit of a learning curve with certain tasks, like masking images, but nothing too steep. The align tools are excellent and the use of personas (especially the Export persona) adds a lot of functionality when exporting slices or working with different formats. The interface is user friendly with frequently used tools easily available
Read full review
Support Rating
Adobe
Overall, the Adobe Creative Cloud Express is worth a try and may be a good fit for many organizations and businesses. At a monthly rate, the cost is not prohibitive, but the tools are somewhat limited and not necessarily worthwhile when compared to standard applications and software that are often available free or through a package of services commonly found on workplace computers.
Read full review
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
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Adobe
I think Adobe Express is a bit behind Canva, but as an Adobe Community Expert, I try to provide as much feedback as I can to help improve Adobe Express. ADobe Express does a better job than InShot and a few other apps, but isn't quite there against Canva, I'm sorry to say!
Read full review
Serif Europe
Affinity Designer stacks up really well against Illustrator, especially for the kind of work I do. While Illustrator might have more niche features that Affinity does not but It does covers the core functionality I need for vector design. And without the ongoing subscription cost. I chose Affinity Designer primarily because it's a one-time purchase, which makes a big difference for my small business.
Read full review
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Adobe
Adobe Creative Cloud Express is included with an Adobe Creative Cloud account. Our company has a corporate team membership so it is nice to have a professional and powerful tool that anyone on our team can use for free. The pricing structure of giving the tool away for free will be fundamental to users utilizing the tool. Similar tools, such as Canva, cost significantly more but do not offer the same features
Read full review
Serif Europe
No answers on this topic
Professional Services
Adobe
The professional services for Adobe Creative Cloud Express is top notch and should be highly commended. I am thoroughly impressed with how far Adobe has come. In the past, I had several issues with how something were handled, but in the past few years things have been better than ever and they get no complaints from me
Read full review
Serif Europe
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Adobe
  • Positive: Time and working for a nonprofit with minimal staff this is essential.
  • Negative: There are certain features that I need to find in other Adobe products like layer masking.
  • Positive: It makes content creation less intimidating for our newer staff.
Read full review
Serif Europe
  • Positive - I can now do more than ever before
  • Positive - I can do it for less cost
Read full review
ScreenShots

Adobe Express Screenshots

Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of