Affinity Designer ($50) from Serif Labs is new professional graphic design software for Mac which many are already calling a true competitor to Adobe Illustrator. Serif Labs claims Affinity Designer is “the fastest, smoothest, most precise vector graphic design software available.” Notably, there’s no subscription fee for Affinity Designer, and the Affinity team claims it will be adding new features for free “at least for the next couple of years.”
The current features include impressive real-time performance, including always-live panning and zooming at 60 fps, and real-time pixel preview. Affinity Designer offers full support for PSD, AI, PDF, SVG, EPS, and Freehand files. Full 16-bit per channel editing is offered along with professional RGB, CMYK, LAB, and Greyscale color models, and a number of high quality vector and raster tools are also included, among many other features. Affinity Designer carries an affordable price tag that looks even better at $40 — the special launch pricing lasts until Oct. 9.