When comparing Alfred vs Affinity Photo, the Slant community recommends Alfred for most people. In the question“What are the best Mac OSX apps for someone that's new to Apple?” Alfred is ranked 2nd while Affinity Photo is ranked 9th. The most important reason people chose Alfred is:
Allows the creation of automated workflows by connecting keywords, hotkeys and actions together without writing code.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Can create custom automated workflows
Allows the creation of automated workflows by connecting keywords, hotkeys and actions together without writing code.
Pro Full keyboard controls
You can do everything using just the keyboard.
Pro Built-in calculator
Alfred is able to handle simple mathematical commands and more extensive expressions alike. Pressing Enter copies the result to the clipboard.
Pro Integrates with 1Password
Alfred allows getting secure and fast access to your 1Password 1Click bookmarks.
Pro Lightweight and smooth
Alfred is a lightweight application for OS X and runs smoothly, even on older devices.
Pro Versatile search
Quickly search for files, applications and web services from the same input.
Pro Productivity booster
Helps speed up your working day one shortcut at a time.
Pro Clipboard history
Alfred offers a clipboard with an extensive history for quick access to your copied text, images and links.
Pro Entry of everything
Pro Allows theming
Alfred allows adjusting colors, fonts, sizes and more to create new themes.
Pro Offers both a free version and a paid version available
The paid version is more customizable, but the free version is still very powerful.
Pro Lifetime updates
Pay once, get updates forever.
Pro Interface will be familiar to those coming from Photoshop
The interface, especially the Photo persona, is laid out in way that's very similar to Photoshop - a panel for icons for tools on the left, a panel for information and settings on the right.
Pro Compatible with Photoshop PSD files
Affinity Photo can import and export .psd files.
Pro Great performance
Uses the GPU extensively for fast speed on any platform.
Pro Supports layer styles
Layer styles allow non-destructively applying effects to a layer.
Pro Personas allow separation of concerns
At a high level the interface is organized into broad groups of tools called Personas. Personas like Photo for in-depth image manipulation, Liquify for warping the image, Develop for basic RAW photo development and Export for exporting. Each persona displays only those tools that are needed for that task.
Pro Powerful effects
Dozens of visual effects available. All run extremely fast with live previews
Pro Non-destructive adjustment layers
Extensive adjustment layers are non-destructive.
Pro Everything is well organized
Easy to find and use tools.
Pro Runs faster than Photoshop's old code
Pro Lots and lots of undo
Pro The easiest, even easier than photoshop
Pro The perfect combination of Photoshop and Lightroom - all in one
Pro Supports Photoshop brushes, shapes, etc.
Pro Many tutorials
But still it does not actually matter which tutorial you're actually watching, Photoshop or Affinity's, they are pretty much the same.
Pro Very, very cheap for such an app
Pro Has an iPad app
Pro Decent functionality, 100% comparable with Photoshop
Pro Much more lightweight than photoshop
Pro RAW file editing
Pro HDR image editing
Pro Powerful, cheap and lightweight
Pro Very modern and intuitive interface
Pro Color correction
Pro Very fast to learn
Takes about 20 mins, it's that easy.
Pro Growing decently fast
Pro Panorama creation
Pro Imports free images from Unsplash
Cons
Con Many features require the $25 powerpack add-on
Features like custom workflows, clipboard history, 1Password integrations and others require the powerpack add-on.
Con Limited selection of plugins
Plugin support was only recently added to AP and not many plugins have been created for the program so far.
Con Can not import gimp or krita files
Free alternatives like GIMP (and Krita) are sort of "go to" apps you can always install and use for simple image editing or graphics on any computer. Affinity's support for Photoshop is great, but having support also for opening and editing GIMP and Krita files would make the versatility and use of this program absolutely superb.
