I agree with dwaris. The Affinity Suite is pretty solid. One time fee. For now at least.
Discussion
I use both. I bought Affinity Suite to see if I could ditch Adobe; it is quite good, but unfortunately it can't fully compete, at least for my workflows. Talking about basic tools (not fancy AI stuff), Photoshop and Illustrator are without any doubt superior.
But lately I'm finding myself using Affinity more often for some pluses: it is fast, doesn't span useless and memory hungry precesses around, and doesn't try to connect everywhere. It also doesn't refuse to start if I have "only" 10 GB of free space.
I gave up Adobe last year and switched to Affinity and Da Vinci Resolve for video editing. I never really used Illustrator too much so I can't comment about the differences. It was a learning curve for me to switch programs - that part was the most annoying.
I really can't complain about the differences.
The one thing Adobe did really well is After Effects... I miss it. But I'm getting used to Da Vinci Resolve's Fusion.
What Adobe features do you think are lacking in Affinity?
I agree, memory and muscle memories are hard to adapt after a long time (20+ years) using a software, and my memory is for sure still too tied to the Adobe way.
It is not a matter of missing features, but rather the accuracy of the tools or of the UI. Basic example: the cursor sometimes doesn't change when the modificator keys are pressed. Or with Photo I experienced bad antialiasing cutting some parts. I don't use Designer often, so I cannot comment it.
Yea I feel like learning a new program and getting used to it is definitely the most critical for a professional. There are certain shortcuts, commands and habits that just save so much time and adds to the end product.
That is disappointing to learn about the accuracy of tools. I wonder how responsive Affinity is. Maybe its worth bringing it up to their team?