Free Photoshop alternative for iPad: Affinity is now free on iPad too, so what still costs money

For most jobs, the best free Photoshop alternative for iPad is now Affinity. Canva's Affinity for iPad puts photo editing, vector design, page layout and sketching in one free app. The catch: you sign in with a Canva account, and the AI tools need a paid Canva plan.

This guide sorts the free options by the job you actually do on an iPad: photo editing, vector work, page layout or painting. For each one you'll see what is free as of November 2026, what costs money, and which iPads it runs on, so you can pick one app instead of installing five.

Is Affinity for iPad free? Yes, if you sign in with Canva

Affinity for iPad is free for individuals. Its product page says you can use every tool in the Sketch, Pixel, Vector and Layout studios without a subscription, and that the app gets free updates. The App Store listing shows it as a free download with in-app purchases, sold by Canva Pty Ltd, at 1.9 GB.

The app needs iPadOS 18.0 or later, according to the App Store listing. That is a lower bar than Pixelmator Pro, which needs an M1 or newer chip (more on that below).

Affinity for iPad free Canva account: what the sign-in buys you

You need a Canva login to use Affinity. The Affinity product page tells you to "use your existing Canva login or create a free account," and says a free account opens all of the vector, layout and pixel tools. Nothing in the core toolset is held back for paying users.

What a paid plan adds is the Canva AI Studio. Affinity describes it as the place for jobs like removing grain, sharpening blurry shots and cutting out backgrounds, and it is unlocked by a Canva premium plan: Pro, Business, Enterprise or Education. Inside the Affinity app, the App Store listing prices Canva Pro at $18.00 a month or $143.99 a year, and Canva Business at $25.00 a month or $250.00 a year.

If the account requirement bothers you, note one line Affinity puts in writing: "Your content in Affinity isn't used to train AI features." Teams that need single sign-on are pointed to Canva Enterprise or Canva Education.

Affinity vs Photoshop on iPad: what the iPad version still lacks

Affinity on iPad is not the full desktop app yet. The Affinity FAQ lists what is missing at launch: Books, Batch, Data Merge, Quick Adjustments, the Info and Scope panels, macro recording and the Astrophotography Studio. Affinity says more features will arrive over time.

The file story is better. Affinity says it opens PSD, AI, INDD, IDML, PDF and SVG files with layers and structure kept, exports to JPEG, PNG, WebP, PDF, SVG, EPUB and INDD, and uses the same .af files on iPad and desktop. It is candid about the limits: smart objects and advanced filters in PSDs may flatten, and Illustrator appearance stacks and effects "may flatten or simplify."

The best free Photoshop alternative for iPad, by job

"Photoshop alternative" covers four different jobs on an iPad. Here is what is free for each one today.

Photo editing: Affinity's Pixel studio, or the free Photoshop app

For photo work, Affinity's Pixel studio covers non-destructive edits, which means the original stays intact while you adjust, and its product page lists PSD import with masks, groups and adjustments preserved in most cases. That is the strongest free option if you edit layered files.

Photoshop on iPad is also a free download, but the tools people reach for first are paid. The Photoshop App Store listing puts the Remove Tool, Content Aware Fill, Object Select, the Magic Wand, advanced blend modes and extra export formats under premium, along with 100 generative credits for adding or removing objects. The free tier is a useful viewer and light editor. It is not a free Photoshop.

Best free vector app for iPad

Affinity's Vector studio is the clearest answer here, because nothing in it is paywalled. Its Sketch Studio also lets you draw by hand with the Apple Pencil and keep working in the same file. Affinity says its brush library has over 350 editable brushes that respond to pressure, tilt and barrel roll.

If you used Vectornator, now called Linearity Curve, check its limits before you rely on it. Linearity's pricing page describes the free plan only as having "usage limits" and "basic export options", without numbers, so we can't tell you what the free tier lets you export.

Free InDesign alternative for iPad

Page layout is where Affinity has almost no free competition on iPad. The Layout studio supports print-ready output, including books of up to 500 pages, according to Affinity's product page. It also opens InDesign INDD and IDML files, with page structure, text frames and basic styles carried over.

Two gaps matter for production work. GREP styles, anchored objects and tables from InDesign files may need manual fixes, and Data Merge is not on iPad yet. If you build catalogs or personalized mailers from spreadsheets, keep that job on a desktop.

Painting: Affinity for iPad vs Procreate and Fresco

Painting is the one job where Affinity is not the obvious pick. Procreate costs $12.99 once on the App Store and runs on iPadOS 16.3 or later. Its site promises "no subscriptions," and Procreate has taken a public stand against generative AI: "Creativity is made, not generated." If you only paint, $12.99 for an app built for that is a fair trade.

If you want painting at $0, Adobe Fresco is the other option. Adobe's Fresco page calls it "a free professional level painting and drawing app" for iPad with Apple Pencil support, unlimited layers and vector, raster and live brushes. Affinity's Sketch Studio is the better choice only if your drawings need to end up in vector or layout work, since all four studios share one file.

Is Photoshop on iPad free? The app is, the useful tools are not

Photoshop on iPad is a free download with paid upgrades. The App Store listing shows these US in-app subscriptions as of November 2026:

• Photoshop Mobile & Web: $7.99 a month or $69.99 a year, covering iPhone, iPad and the browser.
• Photoshop on the iPad: listed at $6.99 and $9.99 a month, and $49.99 and $69.99 a year.
• Adobe Design Mobile: $14.99 a month or $149.99 a year.
• Photoshop Mobile Firefly: $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year.

The listing doesn't say which of the duplicate iPad prices applies to whom, so check the price shown in the app before you subscribe. The app needs iPadOS 18.0 or later.

The strongest argument for paying is compatibility. If clients send you layered PSDs with smart objects, Photoshop opens them as Photoshop files, while Affinity warns that smart objects may flatten. If that is your daily work, the subscription may cost less than the hours spent repairing files.

Pixelmator Pro on iPad is a subscription, not a free app

Pixelmator Pro is Apple's photo and graphics editor, and on iPad it comes as part of Apple Creator Studio. After a one-month free trial, new subscribers pay $12.99 a month or $129 a year, and the plan also includes Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro. Students and educators pay $2.99 a month or $29.99 a year after verification.

The hardware bar is higher than Affinity's. Apple lists an iPad with an M1 chip or later, the iPad (A16) or the iPad mini (A17 Pro), running iPadOS 26 or later. Skip it if you're on an older iPad or don't need the video and audio apps in the bundle.

Photopea and Canva cover the quick jobs

Photopea runs in the browser, so it works in Safari on an iPad with nothing to install. Its site says it opens and saves PSD files and reads AI, PDF, SVG, INDD, Figma and about 40 other formats. A Premium account removes the ads. It is a good fallback for a one-off PSD fix, but a browser tab is not a touch-first app.

Canva is not a Photoshop alternative, but it is now part of the same story. Affinity exports straight to Canva, so one practical split is to build the asset in Affinity and do the templated social posts in Canva. The Canva iPad app is free with in-app purchases and needs iPadOS 15.4 or later.

When Affinity is the wrong choice

Affinity is the default pick for a free all-in-one app, but skip it if one of these fits you:

• You need AI cleanup daily. Background removal and noise reduction sit behind a Canva premium plan, so the "free" app stops being free for that workflow.
• Your clients send complex PSDs. Affinity warns that smart objects and advanced filters may flatten, so Photoshop is the safer bet.
• You only paint. Procreate's one-time $12.99 or the free Fresco app is built for that.
• You won't create a Canva account. Affinity requires one. Photopea runs in a browser tab instead, with nothing to install.
• You run batch jobs or data merges. Those features are not on iPad at launch.

What to do next

Install Affinity first. It costs nothing, it covers photo, vector and layout in one app, and you'll know within an hour whether it handles your files. Then add one specialist only where Affinity falls short: Procreate or Fresco for painting, a Photoshop plan for heavy PSD work.

To compare more options side by side, Upfynd lists 1,040 products in Design Tools and 285 in Photography as of November 6, 2026, each with pricing and similar products on the listing. New design apps show up on the launches board first, ranked by upvotes. If you make an iPad design app, you can list it on Upfynd for free.