Thinking about using Affinity for digital planners but not sure if you need Publisher or Designer? Let’s break it down!
The ultimate question… Affinity Publisher vs Designer. Which is better for Digital Planner creation, Affinity Designer or Affinity Publisher? And hands down Affinity Publisher is the tool to make digital planners.
Which is Best for You?
Choose Affinity Publisher if…
- You need Hyperlinks
- You want to use Data Merge for dates and Hyperlinks
- You want Professional Layouts
Choose Affinity Designer if…
- You Only need graphics
- You don’t need to hyperlink
| Feature | Affinity Publisher | Affinity Designer |
|---|---|---|
| Best For | Multi-page documents, digital planners, layouts | Graphic design, illustrations, logo creation |
| Can It Make Digital Planners? | ✅ YES – full layouts, text formatting, hyperlinks | ❌ NO – does not support multiple pages or hyperlinks |
| Hyperlinks & Clickable Tabs | ✅ YES – can add hyperlinks & anchors for navigation | ❌ NO – no hyperlinking options |
| Data Merge for Automated Dates | ✅ YES – auto-generates planner dates & links | ❌ NO – no data merge feature |
| Works with Affinity Designer? | ✅ YES – can import Designer files & add to layouts | ✅ YES – can create graphics for planners but not full layouts |
| Best Choice for Planners? | 🎯 YES – Affinity Publisher is made for structured, interactive planners! | ❌ NO – Designer is for graphics, not planner creation |
If you decide to use Affinity Publisher for digital planners, I’ve got a beginner-friendly course that walks you through everything—without the overwhelm!
Why Affinity Publisher is the Ultimate Winner for Digital Planner Creation
One of the questions I often get is: I have Affinity Designer can I use that to make a digital planner? And the honest answer is: You can for part of it, but you can’t do all the work in Affinity Designer.
When it comes to digital planner creation, Affinity Publisher reigns supreme! Not only can it include hyperlinks in your finished product, but it’s also perfect for eBooks, magazines, mockups, and even social media data imports.
Affinity Designer is NOT a tool for creating digital planners; it makes great graphics. Affinity Publisher is the tool for making digital planners.
But wait, there’s more! You can switch between “personas” and use the most useful features of all Affinity Software tools right from within Affinity Publisher.
What About Affinity Designer?
Affinity Designer is not to be underestimated, as it is a powerful vector-based illustration tool that can help with many aspects of digital planner creation, including creating printables, stickers, buttons, and social media graphics.
However, when it comes to creating an interactive PDF that can be used as a digital planner, Affinity Designer falls short. Plus, it can’t merge dates and hyperlink pages and this makes it the less desirable choice for digital planner creation.
Let’s break this down even more below.
What is Affinity Publisher Good For?
Affinity Publisher is the hands-down winner for digital planner creation because of its ability to include hyperlinks in your finished product, but it’s also good for many other aspects of digital business including:
- eBooks
- Magazines
- Digital Planners
- Mockups
- Social Media (data imports)
Affinity Publisher is similar to Adobe Indesign, it is a professional publishing tool with similar features. What makes Publisher an ideal choice is that you can switch between “personas” and use some of the most useful features of all the Affinity Software tools right from within Affinity Publisher.
What is Affinity Designer Good For?
Fear not if you already have Affinity Designer because it’s also amazing and powerful software. It is a vector-based illustration tool, it can help with many aspects of digital planner creation and creating your digital planner business.
Here are just a few of the things you can create with Affinity Designer:
- Repeatable Patterns
- Printables
- Stickers
- Mockups
- Buttons
- Planner Rings
- Social Media Graphics
Affinity Designer is more of an Adobe Photoshop, Gimp, or Adobe Illustrator alternative. It’s meant to allow you to create original artwork or graphics. It’s not meant to create an interactive pdf that can be used as a digital planner.
As a matter of fact, you can only export one PDF page at a time from a Designer meaning a planner with a large number of pages could take even longer to create.
Affinity Publisher vs Designer – Adding Dates to Your Planner
Another area where Affinity Publisher shines is its ability to merge dates and hyperlinks into your planner. If you find adding dates to your planner painful, you are not alone!
One of the biggest perks of using Affinity Publisher is the data merge to import all the dates and hyperlinks in your planner. It takes a bit of planning for big planners (pun intended), but it can save you hours.
We have a spreadsheet that makes this even easier. And of course I wouldn’t sell the spreadsheet without teaching how to use it. The Plan Wizard Excel Dates | Anchors | Hyperlinks makes it a breaze to add the dates and hyperlinks using Affinity Publisher. Designer just can’t handle this process.
Affinity Designer does not have the ability to merge the dates and hyperlinks making it the less desirable choice for creating digital planners.
Affinity Publisher vs Designer – Hyperlinks In Your Planner
Affinity Publisher also wins here!
Affinity Designer does not have the ability to hyperlink pages.
The main reason a pdf can be called a “Digital Planner” is the hyperlinks, so without the ability to hyperlink, Affinity Designer can’t do the job. It’s just not that kind of tool.
Affinity Designer is, however, one of the best vector graphics editors I’ve seen it doesn’t matter which affinity version it is.
But Affinity Publisher not only does hyperlinks but it does them with style. With other tools, you are left guessing how many hyperlinks you have, where they are, and what they link to.
However, Affinity Publisher has an amazing hyperlink manager that lets you see all your hyperlinks and test them prior to export.
This useful feature can save hours testing your digital planner before you send it out in the world.
Exporting Your Digital Planner
If you’re wondering if both tools can export a pdf, the answer is yes! Both Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher can export in several formats including PDF, so have no fear, you can use Designer to create printables. It is a great option for that!
The one disadvantage of Affinity Designer is that the PDF exports are single-page exports, so a multipage printable created in Affinity Designer will require merging after the fact.
Both tools allow for the export of the following common file formats:
- EPS
- JPEG
- SVG
- PSD
- PNG
- TIFF
- GIF
I highlighted PDF above because, in the printables and planner world, that is the most important format. But the other formats are equally important for things like planner rings where you will want to export a transparent PNG to get the amazing effect of planner rings.
The Key Differences in Affinity Designer and Publisher for Digital Planner Creation
Affinity Publisher wins hands down! It has amazing master pages and table creation features, which make creating monthly, weekly, and daily digital planner layouts a breeze. Affinity Designer does not have either of these features, making it less convenient for digital planner creation.
The three biggest features that make digital planner creation a lot easier in Affinity Publisher:
- Master Pages
- Table creation
- Data Merge.
The majority of planner layouts use a table format of some kind and the table designer in Affinity Publisher is a real winner making monthly, weekly, and daily planner layouts much easier!
Making these differences a big deal when you are considering making a digital planner, and making Affinity Publisher the perfect choice for planner creation.
Affinity Products – Compatible With Your Devices!
Affinity products including Affinity Publisher, Designer, and Photo have amazing device compatibility. They are compatible with Mac OS and Windows and there is an iPad version as well.
This means you get the desktop version as well as the iPad version for one low price. You can choose one or all with the universal license (this gives you all the tools – Publisher, Designer, Photo, and all the platforms).
Cost-Effective Solutions
Affinity Serif offers a one-time, no-subscription model that is extremely cost-effective. With the 30-day free trial, you can try out Affinity Publisher and see if it’s the right tool for you.
Whether you’re looking to purchase one of the tools individually or the entire product suite, Affinity has affordable options for everyone.
The universal license which is a perk of the new version- has the entire product suite on all the devices (Including the iPad version) for 164.99 (US Dollars) at the time of writing this. If you already have one of the tools in the suite, you can upgrade for a mere 123.74 (US Dollars). This is a one-time purchase for a software suite powerhouse!
If you are looking to just purchase one of the tools, you can do that too! When you purchase individually you choose your platform and anyone of the desktop apps are 69.99, the iPad apps individually are 18.49 each. All are very cost-effective.
We chose the universal because it allows us to install it on all of our machines and iPads.
Want to Learn Affinity Publisher for Digital Planners?
🎨 No fluff, just step-by-step guidance to get started!
Making Your Choice!
Affinity Publisher is our hands-down choice for digital planner creation it doesn’t matter if you are making the planner for yourself or selling it in your shop. No design or art degree is required, and with Affinity Publisher, you have the power and flexibility to create stunning digital and printable planners.
If you want to get started with Affinity Publisher make sure you check out the Affinity Publisher – Basics for Digital Planners mini-workshop. It may be the best $9.00 you spend because it will save you hours and help you understand where to start with Affinity Publisher to make a digital planner.
