Serif Reviews

I've been using Serif software for almost as long as I've had the Internet. I was a bit upset when they discontinued their website design program, and wasn't sure how I would take to the new graphic design and publishing programmes, but I love them!

Compared to other companies, their software is more affordable and very powerful. I'm still learning, but have no complaints so far.

Like so many others, I came to Affinity after becoming disillusioned with Adobe's subscription pricing. I might have come for the value, but I have stayed for the software. It is fabulous — a real joy to use.

I use all three apps — Photo, Designer, and Publisher. I have Photo and Designer on both my Mac and iPad, and can't wait until the long-promised Publisher iPad version comes out.

All the apps can be interlinked to share functionality. They have a common interface so once you've learned to use one, you are a long way towards using them all.

Functionally, they do everything I need and more. I would say I am an enthusiastic amateur rather than a professional user, but I do push the programs beyond just simple functionality. They are all highly performant. So much so that I was even able to use them satisfactorily on an ageing 11-year-old laptop when my main machine was unavailable for a month. I have not found anything I did in Adobe's equivalents that I cannot do in the Affinity apps.

The support team are also very helpful. There's an active user forum, and having posted there a few times I've received good support from the developers, who even went to the trouble of analysing my files and diagnosing a problem. It turned out to be a bug and within a couple of days they had fixed it and made a beta available publicly. I never got that kind of support from Adobe.

To bring it back round to where I started, you get all of this performance, functionality and support for a very reasonable one-off price. I almost feel guilty for not giving them more money when they come out with major new features!

Highly recommended.

Photo app started off great, but since version 9 plus, and I include 10, plus updates, the thing keeps crashing and taking down my edits. The Beta works ok.
I've been on the forum, with others complaining about the same thing, but all we're getting is denial of the problem, and a blag about hardware acceleration. Even had the nerve to ask me to get crash reports, like this dysfunctional wreck of an app hadn't taken up enough of my time, already, I've literally paid them to waste my time and effort.
Luckily it's a one-off payment, and quite likely to stay that way - I can get free apps that do a better job.
Hi, thanks for the reply but I've been on the forum with lots of others complaining and the only resolution offered was the BETA version which is constantly being updated. Lots of people are complaining, and I have the same problem on two devices, one an expensive latest model 16G Ram laptop just a few months old.
It worked before version nine, that should give you enough clues to just get the update right.
The BETA only works on one device, now, and it isn't the brand new ASUS zenbook I brought less than a year ago.

I love the look of the Affinity products, they look more professional than their Page Plus, Photo Plus, etc predecessors. Other than the odd photo enhancement I haven't really done anything useful with any of them in almost a year of owning the products. The reason is that I'm a long term (10+ years) user of Page Plus, and everything familiar in this has been thrown out. I tried putting my monthly magazine together using Designer but in the end I gave up as I was looking up how to do quite literally everything, even the simplest task such as adding columns to a page. If you have no experience with anything else and have the time to teach yourself how to use it then you will probably love Designer, Photo etc. In this case, previous experience is a distinct disadvantage, hence why the products have hardly been used.

Designer, Photo and Publisher, got them all and i'm very happy with all of them. There are some functions that i miss compared to Adobe Products but on the other hand, after using affinity products, its clear how much photoshop lacks an intuitive interface. affinity's UI is just so much better. and after considering that you can PAY for affinity (no stupid renting / cloud models here) i think its the far more better solution (if you can live with some restrictions (just DYOR before buying))

When i bought affinity i really thought i found an alternative to Adobe. I later found out that Affinity Designer does not have DWG nor DXF import function which is vital for my workflow. This was quite a disappointment. However, I give Serif a 2 star rating not for the lack of the functionality but for the inability to implement a function that users have been asking for, begging for, since 2015!

Life-savers: I'm struggling to understand why there are any negative reviews on here at all, bit shocked really! These guys are great; the software is amazing, what's going on? I can only conclude Adobe have been busy writing negative reviews.
If you really want awful service, useless customer service and over priced products - stick with Adobe. I have all 3 Affinity applications and used them every day. Over the last 2 years Serif have really upped the game with this triad and really tried to really raise the quality bar. There are a ton of training videos on-line (all free) so again, I’m not sure people are moaning. Keep up the great work, Affinity products rock!

I have just switched to using the Affinity suite of products after over 20 years of using only Adobe products, as I got sick of all the pointless additions to the Adobe applications, useless apps they bundle there main applications with, bugs that never get fixed and most of all the total greed of these out of touch Silicon Valley Pirates!

in the Middle of a Pandemic Adobe stick their prices up almost 50%, and Serif drop theirs by 50%.

That was the end for me, and although I have heard the Serif customer support is a bit useless ( I haven't experienced it yet so it's only what friends have told me) Compared to Adobe they seem like my kind of company.

For me I was happy with photoshop from 20 years ago, all the additions in the past 20 years, haven't made a difference to the way I work!

Well done Serif, one thing though.... PLEASE DO NOT SELL THE COMPANY TO ADOBE!!! OR ANY OTHER AMERICAN TAX DODGERS!

What makes their software really good is that it works together well. The photo and illustration tools work seamlessly with the desktop publishing. Good stuff. I'd love to see them work on audio and video production in the same way and give Adobe and Apple and others a run for their money too.

Purchased their software for Windows 10 but wanted to use it on a Windows 10S machine which requires downloading from the Microsoft Store. Serif were uninterested and responded with a one line email saying there's nothing they are prepared to do

Terrible technical support.
Have used Serif software for years, fortunately I've never had to deal with technical support until now.
Asked if I could change the email address my account is registered to and received a blunt answer (basically no using a few more words) from an apparent tech support named.
I then explained that I do not have access to the email address anymore as the account has been removed, domain changed and that I have just taken over this department, to which I got a response of 'as suggested before, afraid not.'

Absolute joke of a technical support and I will be finding an reputable and friendlier company to spend my money with.

The experience with Serif Support was potentially one of the worst experiences I've ever had with customer service. My problem wasn't solved and they send me to deal with Apple Support. As far as I'm concerned, Apple Support is on top of their software, while apparently Serif is not. One other thing really got me thinking is that their representative didn't bother to say 'hello' or 'thank you for the message' or 'I'm sorry to hear this'. I know this is all secondary but, if you don't know how to solve the problem, it really pays off to be polite.

The credit where the credit is due – I was a happy user of Designer since 2014 and Publish since its early days. The development of all tools was really promising, sure it had its flaws but which software doesn't? But because of this experience, I suppose it's time to hang out at Adobe Cloud again.

To begin with as much positivity as possible, AFFINITY programmes are preferable to their major competitor in that they are purchased at very reasonable price rather than paying for periodic lease. In the hands of anyone adept in their use, judging by the fulsome praise on Facebook and other venues, they are clearly powerful creative tools. However, from the viewpoint of a beginner expecting ease of use comarable to similar graphics adesign and editing applications, Photo Designer and Publisher all suffer from the 'One Size Fits All Syndrome'! All three are available in either Windows or Apple Mac version. All come with multiple 'Persona' settings. Each Persona has a vast array of tools, settings and menus. Many menus are hidden 'Dropdown from Dropdown' format. All come with bells and whistles. And with bells and whistles on most such bells and whistles. All three programmes have been repeatedly updated, leading to changes in settings. Thus, anyone installing a programme for the first time, or follwing an update, is assumed to know intuitively how to navigate a virtual 'Hall of Mirrors' labyrinth.
Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer both offer an (optional) accompanying hardcover 'Workbook'. Serif has evidently gone to great expense to produce these elegant publications. Each opens with tens of pages of 'Welcome' (Designer~71pgs, Photo~85pgs). All doubtless factually irreproachable, but totally lacking an iota of explanation. Neither context nor application intelligible to any user lacking intuitive insight is offered. Knowing what CAN be done is of very little use without finding out HOW to do it!
The 'Welcome' pages are redolent with self-congratulory 'Buzzwords'. For example(s); 'amazing''exciting''powerful''unique''copius''ideal''dynamically''comprehensive''inspiration''award-winning''impressive''wealth of''global standard' etc. Who is Serif trying to convince?
True, the 'Help' tab does offer 'Tutorials'. However, these are presented in seemingly random order. There is little or no 'Where to go Next' gradation from 'Entry Level' to 'Grand Master'. The demonstrations are usually Apple Mac expositions, and while the Windows version frequently performs the function in question somewhat differently, no emphasis is placed on this. Again, tutors seem supremely confident of their ability to install their skills in the brain of tutees, regardless of their level of prior experience. They tend to move rapidly from point to point, menu to (frequently subsidiary dropdown) menu as if to say 'Look! I know how to do it, I've shown you I can do it, now you can go and do it too!'. Space does not permit examples of attempting to follow the Workbook instructions for Designer in particular. Suffice it to say I dimly remember my (1990s) introduction to Photoshop. I was in a classroom. The tutor introduced graded exersises demonstrating the scope and capability of that very complex software. But with Affinity it seems that no such 'Entry Level' > 'Improver' > 'Expert' graduated tuition was thought necessary. What a pity. Otherwise I might not have felt the impulse to write this very negative revue! As it is, I feel like a learner glider pilot whose Fairy Godmother, with the all best intentions in the World, has turned a pumpkin into a Jumbo Jet, sat me in the pilot's seat and shouted 'You're CLEAR FOR TAKEOFF!'!

BEWARE DO NOT BUY SERIF THEY HAVE STOPPED MOVIE X6 FROM WORKING...........SCAMMERS.

I purchased Affinity Photo and I am totally satisfied with it.
It's a great product and I can now move away from Adobe!

The company is very helpful and accommodating.
Great work!