𝗣𝗔𝗬 ~£𝟮,𝟬𝟬𝟬𝗣𝗔 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗣𝗥𝗢 𝗧𝗢𝗢𝗟𝗦...𝗢𝗥 𝗡𝗔𝗗𝗔, 𝗥𝗘𝗜𝗡, 𝗡𝗜𝗖𝗛𝗧𝗦, 𝗕𝗨𝗣𝗞𝗜𝗦?

𝙇𝙚𝙩’𝙨 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙚-𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙧 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙚-𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙡𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙙𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙧𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙨

There’s a lot of chatter around Canva’s announcement that 𝗔𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿…I already bought it a few years back, never mind. 😅

This is exciting news. In-house teams or big agencies probably won’t switch overnight (or ever), but for 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗱𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀, 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘀, or 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼𝘀, this is a 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲-𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿.

Affinity nails 𝗽𝗶𝘅𝗲𝗹𝘀, 𝘃𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀, and 𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀. But most creators need 𝟯𝗗, 𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼, 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼, 𝗨𝗜, and more.

So here’s a 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗵𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲, 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲-𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸, not just trials.

𝟯𝗗

Industry leaders:

 • Maxon One (Cinema 4D + Redshift + Red Giant): £1.2kpa

 • Autodesk Maya: £1.9kpa

 • Substance 3D Collection: £587pa

 • 3ds Max: £1.9kpa

𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: 𝗕𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 full pipeline – modeling, rigging, VFX, rendering. Or, UNREAL for real-time 3D rendering. Canva has just added a new 3D library

𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝘀: 𝗦𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲.𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗔𝗜, 𝗠𝗲𝘀𝗵𝘆.𝗮𝗶 

𝗦𝗲𝗺𝗶-𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲: 𝗦𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲.𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 free tier

𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝗶𝗰 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻

𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign (£599pa via Adobe CC) 

𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: 𝗔𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗦𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗲 (Photo, Designer, Publisher) 

𝗔𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲: 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝘃𝗮 and 𝗙𝗶𝗴𝗺𝗮 both with free account tiers

𝗨𝗜/𝗨𝗫

𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿: 𝗙𝗶𝗴𝗺𝗮 – YAY! (free tier still beats XD & Sketch) 

𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻-𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗻𝘂𝘀: Penpot (self-hostable, unlimited)

𝗩𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼 𝗘𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴

𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱: Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve 

𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀:

 • 𝗗𝗮𝗩𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲 (4K/60fps, no watermark)

 • 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗖𝘂𝘁 𝗔𝗜 (8K, AI auto-edits)

 • 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁 (text-based editing)

 • 𝗩𝗘𝗘𝗗.𝗶𝗼 (AI captions & translation)

𝗠𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝗶𝗰𝘀 & 𝟮𝗗 𝗔𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿: After Effects, Toon Boom 

𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀:

 • Blender (Grease Pencil)

 • Unreal Engine (new motion tools)

 • Cavalry (Free version, node-based)

𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲:

You no longer need costly pro tools to deliver pro-grade work. 

Blender+Affinity+others=a £0 creative empire.

Is the loathed subscription era over for indie creators? 

Who’s making the switch? 

I will stick with Adobe for now. There is a new player in town: aggregated AIs, including Adobe Boards, Figma Weave, Comfy, and Luvian. This is a new creative pipeline. I need to keep my options open...for now!

Drop your favorite free tool below 👇

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