It’s official: Affinity, the free design app made by Canva, is coming to Linux.
Replying to users on X asking about possible Linux support, the official account said a version is ‘in active development’, though it doesn’t say when a release might land, or what tooling approach the Linux build will use.
Affinity is owned by Canva, who bought its British developer, Serif, in 2024. They went on to released a revamped v3 of the suite in October 2025, merging three paid apps into a single free app with a unified UI.
Presently, Affinity is available on Windows, macOS and (as of November 3) iPadOS. But while there is no official Linux version right now, today’s news means it’s now a question of when and not want:
You can already run Affinity on Linux via WINE thanks to an unofficial wrapper project. I found that effort impressive, albeit not flawless. There are quirks with signing in to Canva, using hardware acceleration, UI scaling and updates to newer builds.
An official Linux build supported by Canva should mean there are resources to resolve those niggles. And if not? Well, it’s easy to complain at a company with resources, than it is a volunteer working in their free time.
An affinity for Linux creatives
While the announcement of Affinity for Linux is sure to create waves with creatives (many keen to switch from Windows), open-source alternatives to big-tech software don’t vanish once Affinity arrives on Linux.
Having Affinity available won’t mean people stop using Krita or The GIMP or Inkscape or anything else – nor should they. Tools are tools; having the choice to use something is, as I like to say, better than no choice to use it.
Many may prefer to hold out hope that the ArtCraft suite of Adobe software clones, which are being built using LLMs, reach the lofty aims their software factory owner has.
Canva’s Affinity is already real, working software, kitted out with a full toolset people use day-to-day and backed by a company. Established software that runs on Linux makes it easier for people to switch to Linux – and stick with it long term.
Thanks kxkfkfnd