Xara vs Affinity Photo: Which One Is Better in 2024?

Both Xara Web Designer+ and Affinity Photo are essential tools for businesses and designers. Xara simplifies website creation without coding, while Affinity Photo offers advanced photo editing capabilities. We'll compare these two to determine which one excels in usability and features for professional use.

A Quick Overview of Xara and Affinity Photo

What is Xara?

Xara provides creative tools for web design, photo editing, graphic design, and content creation. Their products are designed to be user-friendly, catering to both individuals and businesses.

One unique feature of Xara Web Designer+ is its "What You See Is What You Get" (WYSIWYG) approach, ensuring the design interface matches the live website. Additionally, the tool offers extensive customization options, allowing users to create professional-quality content without technical expertise.

What is Affinity Photo?

Affinity Photo is developed by Serif (Europe) Ltd, a company known for creating professional-grade software for creative and photography professionals. The company offers a suite of products, including Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher, and provides a Universal Licence for access to all their software across multiple platforms.

Affinity Photo offers real-time adjustment layers for non-destructive editing with immediate feedback. It also provides cross-platform compatibility with 100% file format compatibility, allowing users to work seamlessly on the same project across macOS, Windows, and iPad.

Features of Xara and Affinity Photo

Similarities

When comparing Xara Web Designer+ and Affinity Photo, it's clear that both platforms offer robust features tailored for creative professionals. Despite their different primary functions, they share several key similarities that make them stand out in the market.

• Design Flexibility: Both platforms provide extensive design flexibility, allowing users to create intricate and customized designs.
• User Experience: They emphasize a seamless and intuitive user experience, featuring drag-and-drop editing and responsive templates.
• Performance Optimization: Both tools offer performance optimization features, such as on-page SEO and image optimization.
• Integration and Plugins: They support various integrations and plugins to enhance functionality, including eCommerce tools and marketing widgets.
• Cross-Platform Compatibility: Both Xara and Affinity Photo ensure their software is available across multiple platforms, enabling seamless work on different devices.

Differences

While Xara Web Designer+ and Affinity Photo both cater to creative professionals, their feature sets are tailored to different needs. Xara focuses on no-code website building, while Affinity Photo excels in advanced photo editing. Here are the key differences:

• No-Code Website Building: Xara allows users to design websites without any coding knowledge, a feature not available in Affinity Photo.
• Real-Time Adjustment Layers: Affinity Photo offers non-destructive editing with immediate feedback, a feature absent in Xara.
• Responsive Templates: Xara provides templates that automatically adjust to different screen sizes, which is not a focus for Affinity Photo.
• Advanced Retouching Tools: Affinity Photo includes tools like Dodge, Burn, and Inpainting Brush for detailed photo editing, which Xara lacks.
• Plug-ins: Xara supports various plug-ins for eCommerce and email marketing, while Affinity Photo allows custom brush imports but lacks extensive plug-in support.

User Interface and Usability

Xara Web Designer+ offers an intuitive user interface with drag-and-drop editing, responsive templates, and mobile views, making it accessible for users without coding knowledge. The user experience is streamlined, allowing for quick website prototyping and deployment, with integrated SEO and performance features. Overall, Xara's usability is enhanced by its focus on ease of use and comprehensive design tools.

Affinity Photo, on the other hand, features a redesigned user interface tailored for professional photo editing, including real-time adjustment layers and advanced selection tools. The user experience is optimized for speed and precision, with features like super steady pan and zoom and cross-platform compatibility. Affinity Photo's usability is geared towards detailed photo editing and professional workflows.

Neither company has a clear advantage in user interface and usability; it depends on the specific needs of the user.

Collaboration

Collaboration with Xara Web Designer+ is not explicitly highlighted on their website. The focus is on individual capabilities like drag-and-drop editing and responsive templates, which may imply ease of use but do not directly address teamwork. There are no specific features mentioned that support collaborative efforts.

Affinity Photo also lacks explicit collaboration features on its promotional page. While it emphasizes 100% file format compatibility across different platforms, which could aid in teamwork, there are no dedicated tools or user feedback provided to support collaborative workflows.

Neither company appears to have a clear advantage in collaboration.

Xara and Affinity Photo Pricing

Xara offers a range of subscription plans, starting with a free plan and going up to $20 per month for the Scale Plan, billed annually. Discounts are available for students, teachers, and non-profits. The pricing structure is flexible, catering to different user needs with options for annual savings.

Affinity Photo, on the other hand, provides a one-time purchase model with no recurring subscription costs. The desktop version is priced at $69.99, while the iPad version costs $18.49. Affinity also offers a Universal Licence for $164.99, covering all their software across multiple platforms.

Overall, Affinity Photo's one-time payment model may be more cost-effective for long-term use, while Xara's subscription plans offer flexibility and additional features.

Comparing Xara and Affinity Photo to Piktochart

Piktochart transforms complex ideas into captivating visuals that inform and engage your audience. With Piktochart AI, you can create stunning infographics, reports, and presentations in seconds, perfectly aligned with your brand. No design experience required.

Pros of Piktochart

• AI-Powered Design Generator: Piktochart's AI-powered design generator allows users to create stunning visuals quickly and effortlessly, making it a standout feature for those needing fast, professional-quality designs.
• Extensive Template Library: With a wide range of templates for various use cases and industries, Piktochart saves users time and effort by providing ready-made designs that can be easily customized.
• Customizable Video Tools: Piktochart offers a suite of video tools, including a screen recorder, social media video maker, and video to text converter, all of which are customizable to fit specific needs.
• Comprehensive Visual Tools: From infographics to brochures, Piktochart provides a variety of visual tools that cater to different content creation needs, ensuring versatility and flexibility for users.
• Accessibility Features: Piktochart includes features like automatic transcription, making it easier to reach a broader audience and ensuring content is accessible to everyone.

Piktochart's Pricing

• Free: $0 (Free forever)
• Pro:
  • $29 per member/month (billed monthly)
  • $14 per member/month (billed annually, save 52%)
• Business:
  • $49 per member/month (billed monthly)
  • $24 per member/month (billed annually, save 52%)
• Enterprise: Custom Pricing (Contact for details)

What Are Others Saying?

Xara Reviews

Overall, users have given Xara a rating of 4.8 out of 5. While many appreciate its customizability and ease of use, some find it difficult to navigate and expensive.

"The interface is not intuitive, making it hard to find features." - John D., 3.5/5

"The cost is too high for the features provided." - Sarah L., 3.0/5

"Tagging issues make organizing content frustrating." - Mike P., 3.8/5

Find more of Xara reviews on G2!

Affinity Photo Reviews

Affinity Photo has an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5. Users appreciate its features and affordability but find the learning curve and limited tools frustrating.

"One-time hefty purchase, limited texting tools." - Saniya S., 4.0/5

"Color picker is not intuitive." - Peter R., 3.0/5

"AI background removal, disorganized menu layout, frequent crashes." - Pritam S., 3.0/5

Find more of Affinity Photo reviews on G2!

Piktochart Reviews

Our users have given Piktochart an overall rating of 4.4 out of 5. They appreciate the platform's ease of use and the quality of its templates. Here are some of the sentiments from our customers:

• "Easy to create content even if you're not a designer." - Jessica D.
• "My Go-To for ALL Professional Presentations!" - Jennifer K.
• "Piktochart offers good looking pre-built templates for creating graphics." - Meenakshi J.

Find more of our reviews on G2!

Why choose one over the other?

Why Choose Xara Over Affinity Photo:

• Xara is ideal for small business owners and non-technical users who need to create and manage websites without coding knowledge. Its drag-and-drop editing and responsive templates make it easy to design professional websites quickly and efficiently.

Why Choose Affinity Photo Over Xara:

• Affinity Photo is perfect for creative professionals and photography enthusiasts who require advanced photo editing tools and high performance. Its one-off payment model and cross-platform compatibility make it a cost-effective choice for detailed photo retouching and complex compositions.

Why Choose Piktochart Over Affinity Photo and Xara:

• Piktochart is best suited for educators, marketers, and small business owners who need to create engaging visuals quickly without advanced design skills. Its AI-powered design generator and extensive template library make it easy to produce professional-quality infographics, presentations, and videos.

Xara, Affinity Photo, or Piktochart: Which is the best platform for you?

Whether you're a small business owner, a creative professional, or an educator, Xara, Affinity Photo, and Piktochart each offer unique strengths tailored to different needs. While all three platforms are excellent choices, we believe Piktochart stands out for its ease of use, AI-powered design capabilities, and extensive template library. Give Piktochart a try and see how effortlessly you can transform complex ideas into captivating visuals.