If it can at least duplicate the success of Affinity Designer, which has already been named the number two Mac app for 2014, it’ll be yet another victory for Serif in a short period of time. Serif wants Affinity Photo to be a hit with as many people as possible. That’s a value proposition worth listening to, for sure. In fact, the software maker is downright bold about what it says are several features of Affinity Photo that outclass Photoshop in every way.

Serif isn’t shy about its intentions of taking Photoshop market share away from Adobe.

Releasing Affinity Photo as a free, beta version should help spread the word about it faster than usual, as will the fact that this app isn’t merely trying to be a dumbed-down alternative to Photoshop or just mimic its already well-known features. After the February 9 launch of Affinity Photo, it may turn out to be at least as well-received as Affinity Designer, maybe more so. The latest design tool from Serif, best known for its Affinity Designer tool, Affinity Photo is a Mac-only alternative to Adobe Photoshop. All this may be about to change, as one, prominent challenger is now trying to take market share away from the Adobe graphics editor: meet Affinity Photo. That’s because it’s virtually ubiquitous in photo-editing circles, with its name even being turned into a verb for easy, colloquial reference. Photoshop’s been the king of image editing for a long time now: 25 years, to be exact.

Affinity designer alternative