Adobe Creative Cloud vs Affinity vs DaVinci Resolve
A side-by-side look at Adobe Creative Cloud, Affinity and DaVinci Resolve for filmmakers: what each one can do, what it costs, and where they actually differ.
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Premiere, After Effects, Photoshop and Firefly AI in one subscription
- Price
- From $9.99/mo (Firefly Standard); Creative Cloud Pro $69.99/mo list ($34.99/mo first 3 months for new subscribers)
- Learning
- Steep
- Best for
- Editors who finish in Premiere and After Effects and want generative fill, extends and title or motion work in the same app
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Free pro photo, vector and layout editor from Canva, with paid Canva AI tools
- Price
- Core app free; Canva AI tools inside Affinity need a paid Canva plan
- Learning
- Moderate
- Best for
- Key art, posters and title cards for a film or doc, built without a Photoshop subscription
-
Free pro NLE with industry-standard color grading; Studio adds AI tools and 10-bit
- Price
- Free / Studio $295 one-time license
- Learning
- Steep
- Best for
- Colorists finishing feature films, documentaries and commercials
The short version
Where they differ
- Only Adobe Creative Cloud offers infinite canvas.
- Only Adobe Creative Cloud offers text to video.
- Only Adobe Creative Cloud offers image to video.
- Only Adobe Creative Cloud offers video to video.
- Only Adobe Creative Cloud offers voice / TTS.
- Only Adobe Creative Cloud offers music & SFX.
- Only Adobe Creative Cloud offers custom training.
- Only Adobe Creative Cloud offers mobile app.
All 3 offer: upscaling, desktop / local, free tier.
Feature by feature
Adobe Creative Cloud vs Affinity vs DaVinci Resolve: capabilities
| Adobe Creative Cloud | Affinity | DaVinci Resolve | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | From $9.99/mo (Firefly Standard); Creative Cloud Pro $69.99/mo list ($34.99/mo first 3 months for new subscribers) | Core app free; Canva AI tools inside Affinity need a paid Canva plan | Free / Studio $295 one-time license |
| Infinite canvas | Yes | No | No |
| Node / flow builder | Not confirmed | No | Yes |
| AI agent | Yes | Partial | Partial |
| Chat assistant | Yes | Partial | No |
| Team collaboration | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Text to image | Yes | Partial | No |
| Image editing | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Text to video | Yes | No | No |
| Image to video | Yes | No | No |
| Video to video | Yes | No | No |
| Voice / TTS | Yes | No | No |
| Music & SFX | Yes | No | No |
| Upscaling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Camera control | Partial | No | No |
| Custom training | Yes | No | No |
| Third-party models | Yes | Not confirmed | No |
| Public API | Yes | Not confirmed | Partial |
| MCP server | Yes | Not confirmed | Yes |
| Mobile app | Yes | No | No |
| Desktop / local | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Commercial use | Yes | Not confirmed | Yes |
Each column comes from that tool's own researched page. "Not confirmed" means the vendor doesn't say.
Plans
Pricing compared
Adobe Creative Cloud
| Creative Cloud Pro | $69.99monthly (annual plan billed monthly) |
|---|---|
| Creative Cloud Standard | $54.99monthly (annual plan billed monthly) |
| Single app (Premiere, After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator) | $22.99monthly (annual plan billed monthly) |
| Photography | $19.99monthly (annual plan billed monthly) |
| Firefly Standard | $9.99monthly |
| Firefly Pro | $19.99monthly |
| Firefly Pro Plus | $49.99monthly |
| Firefly Premium | $199.99monthly |
Affinity
| Affinity (core app) | Freen/a |
|---|
DaVinci Resolve
| Free | Freefree forever |
|---|---|
| Studio | $295 (excludes sales tax and shipping)one-time license |
The verdict
Which one should you pick?
Adobe Creative Cloud
Pick it for
- Editors who finish in Premiere and After Effects and want generative fill, extends and title or motion work in the same app
- Agencies and brands that need commercially cleared generative assets for client delivery
- Motion designers who build mograph in After Effects and generate stills or plates in Firefly
Stands out
- Only suite where editing, motion graphics, grading, audio and stock sit in one subscription with Firefly generation layered on top
- Adobe's own Firefly models are marketed as commercially safe (licensed and public-domain training data), and paid plans carry commercial rights
Watch out
- Full suite is expensive: Creative Cloud Pro is $69.99/mo list, and generation is metered on top
- The AI layer is split across Firefly credits, beta agents and partner models, so costs and availability differ per feature
Affinity
Pick it for
- Key art, posters and title cards for a film or doc, built without a Photoshop subscription
- Logo, lower-third and end-card graphics that need vector output and print layouts
- Cleaning up and masking still frames before feeding them to an AI video model as references
Stands out
- The core app is free for individuals with no watermark or trial clock, which is the main gap against Photoshop's 7-day trial and paid-only plans.
- One app covers raster, vector and page layout as switchable studios, so a logo, its print layout and its photo mockup stay in one document.
Watch out
- No video generation or video editing; stills and graphics only
- AI features sit behind a separate Canva subscription, with a monthly allowance that runs out quickly on heavy generation
DaVinci Resolve
Pick it for
- Colorists finishing feature films, documentaries and commercials
- Indie filmmakers who want a professional grade without a subscription
- Editors who need Fusion compositing and Fairlight mixing in the same project as the cut
Stands out
- Full-featured free edition: the free version includes the Cut, Edit, Color, Fusion, Fairlight and Deliver pages, with 8-bit 60fps UHD editing and HDR grading, without a watermark
- One-time $295 Studio license with no subscription, versus Premiere's subscription-only model at $22.99/mo on the annual plan
Watch out
- Steep learning curve: page-based UI with many panels and nodes
- Heavy on CPU and GPU for 4K+ timelines, especially with Fusion and Studio AI
Each column comes from that tool's own researched page, checked against vendor pricing and changelog pages (oldest check: ). Sources are listed on each tool's page.