Canva goes big on AI — and makes Affinity free

Posted: 9 June 2026 · Category: Design & Creative

What changed

At Canva Create 2026 in Sydney on 16 April, the Sydney-built company made two announcements worth an Australian small business owner's attention.

The first is Canva AI 2.0. Canva is recasting it as an agentic "work platform" — you describe what you want, and it acts across a whole design rather than spitting out one flat image. It runs on the Canva Design Model, Canva's own in-house foundation model built to understand the structure and hierarchy of a real design. The practical upshot: the output comes back as layered, editable files, not a locked picture you have to recreate by hand. Canva AI 2.0 launched as a research preview for the first one million users who sign up from the Canva homepage.

The second is bigger for your wallet. Canva has made the Affinity professional design suite — photo editing, vector, and page layout — free for everyone. Affinity is the serious alternative to Adobe's Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, and it used to cost money up front. Canva says more than a million people signed up in the first few days after the price dropped to zero.

Canva is also threading its AI through Affinity and opening it up to outside tools. That includes an AI Connector for Claude — Anthropic's assistant — which lets professionals automate repetitive production work, like renaming layers or batch-editing images, by describing the task in plain language. The connector is free during its beta.

One honest caveat. Canva AI 2.0 has drawn reported concerns about intellectual property and training data. Industry analysts and legal commentators have flagged questions about what the Canva Design Model was trained on and where liability sits if an AI-generated asset resembles someone else's protected work. Under Canva's terms, that risk largely sits with you, the user — not with Canva. If you sell client work, read the fine print before you ship AI output.

What it means for Australians

A genuinely professional design suite going from "paid" to "free" is a real cost win, and it lands on home soil — Canva is an Australian company built in Sydney.

For an Australian small business, the maths is simple. Adobe's Creative Cloud photography and design plans run into hundreds of dollars a year in AUD. Affinity now costs nothing. If you have been paying an Adobe subscription mostly to crop product photos, lay out a flyer or build a logo, free Affinity removes that line from your monthly outgoings. That is money back in the business, no GST to reclaim, no renewal to forget to cancel.

Canva AI 2.0 matters too, but with eyes open. The promise — describe a brochure, get back an editable, on-brand draft — saves time for owners who are the marketing department by default. The IP question is the part to treat seriously. If you are generating assets for a paying client, or anything that goes near a recognisable brand, logo or character, you carry the legal exposure, not Canva. For internal social posts and quick mock-ups, the risk is low. For commercial work you on-sell, get advice and keep records of what you made and how.

A note on data: this news post does not change our reading of where Canva stores Australian customer data, or its opt-in approach to using Free and Pro content for training. We cover both in our full review.

Does it change our recommendation

Not yet — but it strengthens the case for keeping Canva in the toolkit, and it adds a free heavyweight beside it.

Our Canva Magic Studio review scored the AI design layer 19/25 and still stands. Canva AI 2.0 is a research preview, so we will not re-score on a preview — we score what Australians can actually rely on today, not a sign-up waitlist. Once Canva AI 2.0 is generally available, and once the IP and training questions are clearer, we will test it properly and update the score.

Free Affinity is the more immediate story. It deserves its own review, and it is now on our queue. For now: if you are an Australian small business paying Adobe largely for design basics, downloading Affinity and trialling it costs you nothing but an afternoon. That is the rare announcement where the honest advice is just "go and try it."

Frequently asked questions

Is Affinity really free now?

Yes. Canva has made the Affinity professional design suite — photo editing, vector and page layout — free for everyone. It's the serious alternative to Adobe's Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, and it used to cost money up front.

What's the saving for an Australian small business?

Real money. Adobe's Creative Cloud photography and design plans run into hundreds of dollars a year in AUD. If you've been paying Adobe mostly to crop photos, lay out flyers or build a logo, free Affinity removes that line from your outgoings.

Is Canva an Australian company?

Yes — Canva is built in Sydney. The Canva Create 2026 launch on 16 April, where both announcements landed, was held in Sydney too.

Is there a catch with Canva AI 2.0?

Yes — intellectual property. Analysts and legal commentators have flagged questions about what the Canva Design Model was trained on, and under Canva's terms that risk largely sits with you. If you sell client work or touch a recognisable brand, read the fine print and get advice.

Sources

• Canva Newsroom — "Introducing Canva AI 2.0: Reimagining how the world creates": https://www.canva.com/newsroom/news/canva-create-2026-ai/ (checked 9 June 2026)
• Canva Newsroom — "Introducing the all-new Affinity: Professional design, now free for everyone": https://www.canva.com/newsroom/news/all-new-affinity/ (checked 9 June 2026)
• Canva Newsroom — "Why we made Affinity free, and how we'll keep it that way": https://www.canva.com/newsroom/news/affinity-free/ (checked 9 June 2026)
• Affinity Help Centre — "AI Automation with Claude" (AI Connector setup): https://www.affinity.studio/help/ai-connector-setup/ (checked 9 June 2026)
• Canva — AI Product Terms: https://www.canva.com/policies/ai-product-terms/ (checked 9 June 2026)

The AI Directory Australia is independent. We review and score AI tools for Australian users — AUD pricing, AU availability, data residency, GST. We don't write ads; affiliate links are disclosed and sponsored content is labelled. Edited by Adam.