Affinity: Final Nail on the Adobe Coffin

Canva just made professional design free. Adobe is buying SEO tools to survive. The king is dead.

Inspiration: The growth of Figma in the recent years. How easy it was to transition from Photoshop to Affinity. The acquisition of SEMRush.

For decades, Adobe wasn’t just a software company. It was a tax.

If you were a creative, you paid the “Creative Cloud” rent. You didn’t own your tools; you leased them. And if you stopped paying, you lost your ability to work.

That era ended this month.

The “Free” Bombshell

We knew Canva acquired Affinity (Serif) to challenge Adobe. We thought they would bundle it.

We were wrong. They did something much more dangerous. They released it to the public for free.

Let that sink in. The only legitimate competitor to Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign—a suite that professionals actually respect—is now $0.

Canva just demonetized Adobe’s core product. They are playing a different game. Canva makes money on the “ecosystem” (enterprise seats, stock assets, print-on-demand). They don’t need to charge you for the pencil.

The AI Disruption (Why “Tools” Matter Less)

Why would Canva do this? Because AI has already commoditized the “tool.”

Look at Nano Banana Pro.

• You don’t need the “Pen Tool” to mask a subject anymore. You prompt it.
• You don’t need “Clone Stamp” to fix a photo. You use GenAI.

Adobe’s moat was “complexity.” You had to spend 1,000 hours learning Photoshop to be good. That was their lock-in.

AI destroyed that moat. If a 12-year-old can generate a commercial-grade banner in 10 seconds on a browser, who needs a $60/month subscription for a tool that takes 5 years to master?

Adobe’s Panic: The SEMrush Acquisition

You can smell the desperation in San Jose.

Instead of fixing their core problem, Adobe just announced they are acquiring SEMRush for $1.9 billion.

This is a classic “flailing giant” move.

• They failed to acquire Figma (and paid a $1 billion breakup fee for the privilege).
• Now, they are buying an SEO tool?

Why it’s a bad bet: Adobe is trying to pivot from “Creative Tools” to “Marketing Data.” But SEMrush is a tool for the search era. As we discussed in my last post, “Googling” is dying. Gen Z searches on TikTok.

Adobe is buying a legacy tool to plug a hole in a sinking ship. It’s like buying a map factory when everyone is switching to GPS.

Conclusion: The End of the “Rent” Era

The “Subscription Fatigue” has finally hit a wall.

On one side, you have Canva + Affinity (Free + Easy). On the other side, you have Blackmagic / DaVinci Resolve (One-time fee + Hollywood Standard).

Squeezed in the middle is Adobe, holding a bill for $60/month.

My Prediction: Adobe won’t disappear overnight. They are entrenched in the corporate workflow. But they are the new Kodak. They own the past, but they just lost the future.

If you are a freelancer or a student, cancel the subscription. The alternative isn’t just cheaper; it’s better.