Publishing · head to head
Affinity Publisher vs Kobo Writing Life
Affinity Publisher
Publishing
Desktop page layout application, free since the Affinity range was relaunched by Canva
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Kobo Writing Life
Publishing
Rakuten Kobo self-publishing platform paying a 70% royalty with no delivery fee deduction and no upper price cap, a materially different structure from Amazon KDP
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Affinity Publisher it cannot open native InDesign documents, only IDML exports, so inherited client archives either come across imperfectly or have to be rebuilt from scratch.; Kobo Writing Life kobo overall market share is smaller than Amazon Kindle in the US specifically, so an author relying only on Kobo reaches a smaller US audience than KDP alone would.
- They diverge on capability: Affinity Publisher covers Master pages and text flow, Kobo Writing Life covers Free publishing.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Affinity Publisher and Kobo Writing Life actually diverge.
| Attribute | Affinity Publisher | Kobo Writing Life |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free, no licence fee | Free to publish; Kobo earns a royalty share rather than a fee |
| Platforms | macOS, Windows, iPadOS | Web |
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Publishing).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Affinity Publisher
- Master pages and text flow
- Prepress output
- Unified application
- IDML import
- Data merge
- Cross platform files
Only in Kobo Writing Life
- Free publishing
- 70% royalty, no price ceiling
- No delivery fee
- Automatic price matching
- International reach
- Direct payment threshold
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Affinity Publisher
- Freelance designers and small studios that cannot justify a monthly page layout subscriptionnot Kobo Writing Life
- In-house marketing teams producing brochures, reports and price lists for commercial printnot Kobo Writing Life
- Print buyers who need to check and correct supplied artwork without a design suite licencenot Kobo Writing Life
- Schools, charities and community publishers where a zero licence cost decides the toolnot Kobo Writing Life
Kobo Writing Life
- An author with a long or image-heavy ebook wanting to avoid the delivery fee that would apply on KDP at the same pricenot Affinity Publisher
- An author pricing a book above $9.99 who wants the 70% royalty without hitting the price ceiling that would apply on Amazon before its July 2026 expansionnot Affinity Publisher
- A wide-distribution author targeting Canadian, UK or other international markets where Kobo has stronger relative reach than in the USnot Affinity Publisher
- An author who wants to understand that price-matching to other retailers may automatically change their Kobo price without a manual updatenot Affinity Publisher
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Affinity Publisher
- It cannot open native InDesign documents, only IDML exports, so inherited client archives either come across imperfectly or have to be rebuilt from scratch.
- There is no scripting or plugin interface, so studios that automate catalogue or variable data production still need InDesign alongside it.
- Signing in through a Canva account is now part of using the free application, which is a problem for regulated or offline environments that forbid cloud accounts.
- The roadmap belongs to Canva, and the 2025 relaunch already reset the licence model that earlier perpetual buyers paid for, so long-term direction is outside your control.
- Commercial printers and freelance collaborators still expect InDesign packages, so handoff usually means delivering flattened PDFs rather than editable files.
Kobo Writing Life
- Kobo overall market share is smaller than Amazon Kindle in the US specifically, so an author relying only on Kobo reaches a smaller US audience than KDP alone would.
- Automatic price matching to other retailers means an author discounting on one platform can see their Kobo price change without a deliberate action, which requires active monitoring to avoid unintended royalty impact.
- The requirement to price at least 20% below any physical edition to qualify for 70% is easy to overlook and can silently drop an author into the 45% tier if a print edition price changes without an ebook price adjustment.
- Below the qualifying threshold, the fallback royalty is 45%, not the 35% floor on KDP, which sounds better but is a smaller total addressable audience given lower Kobo market share, so gross revenue comparison still favours evaluating both platforms together.
- As with any single-retailer self-publishing tool, relying solely on Kobo concentrates risk in one platform policy and market position rather than spreading across a wide-distribution strategy.
Pricing, plan by plan
Affinity Publisher
Free- AffinityFree
- Free for everyone since the 2025 relaunch
- Layout, vector and photo tools in one application
- Requires a Canva account to sign in
Kobo Writing Life
Free- 70% royalty tierFree
- Applies from $2.99 USD (or currency equivalent) with no upper price cap
- No delivery fee deducted, full 70% kept
- Ebook must be priced at least 20% below any physical edition list price
- 45% royalty tierFree
- Applies below the $2.99 threshold
- No delivery fee deducted
Which should you pick?
Choose Affinity Publisher if
- You need master pages and text flow.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on macOS, Windows, iPadOS.
- You also want prepress output.
Choose Kobo Writing Life if
- You need free publishing.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want 70% royalty, no price ceiling.
Questions people ask
- Is Affinity Publisher or Kobo Writing Life better?
- Neither clearly leads. Affinity Publisher starts at Free and Kobo Writing Life at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Affinity Publisher or Kobo Writing Life?
- Affinity Publisher starts at Free and Kobo Writing Life at Free.
- Does Affinity Publisher or Kobo Writing Life run on more platforms?
- Affinity Publisher runs on macOS, Windows, iPadOS. Kobo Writing Life runs on Web.
- Can I use Affinity Publisher for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Affinity Publisher best used for?
- Affinity Publisher is most often used for freelance designers and small studios that cannot justify a monthly page layout subscription, in-house marketing teams producing brochures, reports and price lists for commercial print, print buyers who need to check and correct supplied artwork without a design suite licence, schools, charities and community publishers where a zero licence cost decides the tool. Of those, freelance designers and small studios that cannot justify a monthly page layout subscription and in-house marketing teams producing brochures, reports and price lists for commercial print are not what Kobo Writing Life is typically brought in for.
- What can Affinity Publisher do that Kobo Writing Life cannot?
- Affinity Publisher covers Master pages and text flow, Prepress output, Unified application, IDML import. Kobo Writing Life covers Free publishing, 70% royalty, no price ceiling, No delivery fee, Automatic price matching.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Affinity Publisher: Is Affinity Publisher really free now?
Yes. Since the 2025 relaunch the unified Affinity application is free. Artificial intelligence features need a paid Canva plan.
Kobo Writing Life: Does Kobo Writing Life charge a fee?
No. Like KDP, it is free to publish; Kobo earns its share through the royalty percentage on each sale.
Affinity Publisher: Can it open InDesign files?
Only IDML interchange files, and complex layouts lose fidelity. Native INDD files cannot be opened at all.
Kobo Writing Life: Is there a price ceiling on the 70% royalty?
No. Unlike KDP, which caps the 70% band at $12.99 as of July 2026, Kobo 70% rate has no upper price limit, only the $2.99 lower threshold.
Affinity Publisher: What happened to the perpetual licences people bought?
Canva made the relaunched application free to everyone, which superseded the paid version 2 licence model.
Kobo Writing Life: Does Kobo deduct a delivery fee like Amazon?
No. Authors keep the full 70% regardless of file size; there is no per-megabyte delivery deduction.
Related pages
More on Affinity Publisher
More on Kobo Writing Life
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