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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Affinity Photo

    Score8.8 out of 10
    N/AAffinity Photo is a software solution for photography and creative professionals, a fully-loaded photo editor integrated across macOS, Windows and iOS, from Serif Ltd.

    $21.99

    one-time fee

    Microsoft Publisher

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft Publisher is a desktop publishing application available with an Office 365 subscription, or as a standalone download.

    $139

    one time purchase

    Pricing
    Affinity PhotoMicrosoft Publisher
    Editions & Modules
    iPad Edition
    $21.99
    one-time fee
    Mac Edition
    $54.99
    one-time fee
    Windows Edition
    $54.99
    one-time fee
    Microsoft Publisher
    $139
    one time purchase
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Affinity PhotoMicrosoft Publisher
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Affinity PhotoMicrosoft Publisher
    Considered Both Products
    Serif Europe Ltd.
    No answer on this topic
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    92%
    Would buy again
    12 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    10 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    92%
    Happy with the feature set
    12 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    80%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    4 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    83%
    Implementation went as expected
    5 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    Affinity PhotoMicrosoft Publisher
    Small Businesses
    GIMP
    Score8 out of 10
    Adobe InDesign
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Adobe Illustrator
    Score9.4 out of 10
    Adobe InDesign
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Adobe PhotoShop
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Adobe InDesign
    Score9.2 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Affinity PhotoMicrosoft Publisher
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (3 ratings)
    8.4
    (13 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.3
    (5 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.3
    (2 ratings)
    8.0
    (3 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Affinity PhotoMicrosoft Publisher
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Serif Europe Ltd.
    For single-person teams or very small teams, I think Affinity Photo is great as it has a one-off cost and no ongoing subscriptions. If people are familiar with the Adobe products it might take a period of adjusting to Affinity Photo. It might also be overkill for some people's needs. But it does offer everything and room to grow. So weighing up what you need to do with photos and seeing if it fits is important.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Microsoft Publisher is well suited for almost any situation. It is something that I'm sure has far more advanced tools than I use or am aware of, but it is also very simple for entry-level users to create professional documents quickly. I have used it for very involved brochures in real estate scenarios and I have also used it for very simple "Construction Zone" signs at a job site under construction. There are so many uses for this program!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Serif Europe Ltd.
    • Almost all of Adobe Photoshop's features for a fraction of the cost. It was an easy decision for our organization.
    • The interface and most of the features are an almost mirror image of Photoshop. Flat fees instead of high yearly fees are much more desirable for our small team.
    • They have a great support forum for the little one-offs that aren't quite like the Photoshop app, or don't have the same exact name as Photoshop. The forum really helps when this happens. The YouTube support from the company and other users has been very helpful as well.
    • I use Sketch as my primary vector design tool. Affinity allows me to take a .ai, .eps, or other proprietary format and convert it to .svg for use/manipulation with Sketch and back. I can't say enough for this feature. It has helped me stay less pigeon-holed into Adobe products, which have lacked innovation for a long time in my opinion.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Design of my quarterly full color magazine: (usually 28-56 pages in length)
    • Design of the quarterly planning system used by me and others in the annual conference.
    • Design and layout of any document that requires graphics/photos.
    • Simple to use with ample flexibility and strength of features
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Serif Europe Ltd.
    • I have found some of the tools to be particular. I have to click them in a certain order for it to work.
    • Ability to alter or move the icons displayed.
    • Auto-save as you work.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Formatting in general. It's a pain to refine a layout in Publisher in my opinion.
    • Microsoft is so invested in their approach to software and making it look and feel like an Office 365 application that they inadvertantly cripple applications like Publisher.
    • Earlier versions of Publisher gave you a lot more latitude and creative freedom. They were also much easier to work with. Not everything has to look like it's part of Office 365. They did the same ... thing to Access.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Serif Europe Ltd.
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    We use this product 2-3 times a month and have not been able to find a comparable alternative.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Serif Europe Ltd.
    For a regular user of Photoshop, Affinity is a very easy transition. It has all the same features and once you adapt to it, and it provides a quick return on investment.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    There are a few quirks with Microsoft Publisher that make some functions a little tricky for new users at first, but most of our employees are able to figure out the quirks and work around them to use the product for their job. It is relatively high on the scale of usability.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Serif Europe Ltd.
    I don't have direct experience with a member of Affinity's support, but their forum and YouTube videos that other users have made make it relatively easy to find similar features in Affinity that are available in Photoshop or Illustrator. The differences are negligible for our small, yet experienced team.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    While I have not directly used support for Microsoft Publisher, I have used their help files and found them to be useful. I have also found that most answers that I need can be found through simple web searches and chat platforms. In all though, there are very few times when the preloaded help files have not given me the answers that I need.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Serif Europe Ltd.
    I think Affinity Photo is on par with Adobe PhotoShop. They are very similar products with both bringing many features users need. The main reason I picked Affinity Photo was its pricing of it. I didn't require Adobe products all the time. And felt they weren't offering me as much value.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Microsoft Publisher is more for beginners, or for basic needs, anyone with some familiarity with the Microsoft suite should be able to use it easily. If you’re looking to create something more graphic and advanced, you’d probably want to look into something like InDesign, which is not as user friendly if you’re not familiar with it at all. For basic needs the average employee should be able to use Microsoft Publisher with ease.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Serif Europe Ltd.
    • It's been great knowing I have a tool ready to do intensive work if required on photos.
    • Gives me the ability to be more creative with my photos.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • we have invested on our Microsoft license for our team and that has made a very big productivity for making banners and holdings for our projects as making it from third party would cost much higher and the return is very well over the comparison with third-party vendors
    • Functionality is very easy, so we don’t have to train much to get it in production and use it efficiently so we don’t have to invest much on training and learning things and we can work on it directly with a very basic knowledge as well
    • It has functionality to get stored and share things directly to the OneDrive and using curated links, which is very secure and reliable to transfer files without losing picture and banners quality and share them in lossless quality.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots