Adobe has once again kicked photographers in the teeth with a huge increase in their subscription charges of 50%. They have also stopped new subscriptions for the cheapest photography plan. What can we do about it?
Admittedly, there hasn’t been an annual price increase since the Photographer’s Plan was introduced in 2013. Nevertheless, Adobe's profits saw significant growth from 2013 to 2023. In 2013, according to online sources, it reported a net income of approximately $1.011 billion. By 2023, this figure had risen to around $19 billion, with a profit margin up from $14.55 billion in 2022, and it is still rising.
Here in the UK, I pay £9.98/month for Lightroom Classic, Lightroom, and Photoshop, plus 20 GB of cloud storage that I don’t use. It’s going up to £14.99. Because the dollar is worth less than a pound, the price is cheaper in the US. Nevertheless, on that side of the Atlantic, there’s a similar percentage increase from $9.99 to $14.99 per month. That’s around a 50% rise.
There’s nothing wrong with a business making a profit. Indeed, my photography business does. However, the main purpose of a business is to provide a product or service to its clients, and the profit becomes a welcome additional outcome. When the aim changes to solely making money and seemingly treating its clients with contempt, people lose their respect for that company and walk away. Increasingly, there are discussions within the photography and wider art industries about doing just that.
My Personal Experience
When I pay a subscription, I expect substantial upgrades each year, whereas the changes have been uninspiringly dull, giving poor results. Its recent lens blur feature in Lightroom is hit or miss at choosing what it considers to be the background, and its AI denoising algorithm is not as good as other apps on the market despite their alleged historic use of our photos to train its AI. Moreover, its generative AI Remove tool gives bad results, often implanting weird elements into the pictures.
Additionally, I received no direct communication from Adobe telling me they were upping the price.
You Can No Longer Sign Up to the 20 GB Plan
Adobe is stopping new users from signing up for the minimal 20 GB Cloud Photographer’s Plan. Instead, they are insisting new subscribers take the more expensive $19.99/month 1 TB plan. Of course, if you take 1 TB of storage, you are more likely to become committed to using it forever as it’s a nightmare transferring it to another service.
Like the big camera companies that produced cheap, low-quality, short-lived DSLRs to hook novice photographers to their brand, Adobe appears to be treating photographers with contempt.
What ways are there around this? Firstly, if you want to get out of the plan, unless you are within a month of your contract renewal date, you must pay a penalty. Adobe's cancellation fee is 50% of the remaining balance of your contract if you cancel more than 14 days after your initial purchase. Therefore, it might be worth waiting for the renewal date before canceling.
However, if you are determined to keep an Adobe plan—and I can see why many people might—you could try telling them you are going to cancel. I did that, and after fighting with their bot, which didn’t understand the simple questions I reworded a dozen times, my query was escalated up the chain of command until I spoke to someone who gave me this reply:
I understand that you wish to cancel the plan. However, if you wish to continue, I will be happy to offer you a discounted pricing of GBP 8.33/month for a year + 3 free months. This means you will be paying the discounted pricing for 9 months only and receive services for 12 months. How does this sound to you?
Like with phone contracts, household utilities, and insurance policies, it’s worth telling them you are going to leave to get a better deal. I save the equivalent of over $1,000 a year doing that.
What Else Can I Do? Jumping the Adobe Ship
If you do cancel, then it’s worth noting that Lightroom Classic’s Library function will still work. However, you won’t be able to develop or open images directly into third-party programs. You can, however, open the image location in your file browser/explorer and open the image in other applications that way.
That’s a bit of a faff. But there are alternatives.
The ON1 Option
So, if you want to keep your workflow sleek and efficient without those extra steps, then the most obvious option is to swap to ON1 Photo Raw. That’s because ON1’s catalog functionality is very similar to Lightroom. Furthermore, in Lightroom Classic, you can export your catalog to ON1. After installing ON1, it’s in the File Menu > Plug-in Extras > Migrate Catalog to ON1 Photo. The migration process can take a long time if you choose to migrate not just the catalog but also Lightroom’s Develop module settings, which can be included too. However, I found these not-quite-perfect translations needed tweaking anyway.
ON1 has come a long way in the last couple of years. It’s stable and much faster than the Lightroom Classic/Photoshop combination. Besides giving raw development results that I always preferred over Adobe’s, its image-layered editing tool is a module within the same program, making it far faster to switch back and forth between the different modules than it is switching between Lightroom Classic and Photoshop.
Unlike Photoshop, the layered adjustments, called Effects in ON1, each have a little preview showing what the effect does, making it much easier for beginners than Photoshop.
Also worth mentioning is its Noise and Sharpening panel. I find it far superior to Adobe’s offerings, with its “Tack Sharp” deblur combined with its NoNoise results being spot on.
There’s loads more to this program and, after my extensive tests, I’ll be reviewing the latest iteration, ON1 Photo Raw 2025, soon. It’s an excellent program with an extensive set of tools. Furthermore, it costs far less than Adobe's offering. Although it is available as a far cheaper subscription, they have stuck by their promise of keeping a perpetual license. In other words, you can buy it outright and just pay for an upgrade in the future if you feel it is necessary.
On1 also comes with a mobile app similar to Lightroom.
You can explore the different package options and download a free trial of ON1 Photo Raw by clicking or tapping here.
DxO Photolab 8: Development Software for Serious Photographers
DxO PhotoLab got an update recently and I will be reviewing it soon. There are some very good reasons why photographers who are serious about their art consider this a big step forward. As another perpetual license (one-off payment) alternative to Adobe, it also has some major advantages over its competitors.
I develop photos for different purposes and use different software depending upon what result I am aiming for. All raw development software packages give different results. However, if I want to print photos and have the very best results, then it’s DxO PhotoLab I turn to because of its superior results.
When it comes to developing your photos, you probably want the best possible results too. I had been using Adobe Camera Raw and, subsequently, Lightroom since their first iterations and I was always relatively happy with what I got. Over that time, I built up a reasonable set of skills using those tools. I was happy with them until I started playing with other software and found they were better. However, when I first tried PhotoLab I said “Wow!” out loud.
It’s complex, though not complicated. With advanced algorithms used in its development adjustments, it gives outstanding controls over tone and color that, I think, outshines anything else on the market. Admittedly, Capture One also gives fabulous results, but, like Photoshop, that is also now only available as a subscription that many photographers balk at, and it’s more expensive. Its various DeepPrime denoising options are second to none.
PhotoLab does have presets that are good starting points for developing your pictures. Plus, it has a huge number of FilmPacks that precisely emulate the look of an enormous number of film types from the birth of photography to the present.
Also, the lens profiles are far superior to anything else on the market. For example, uniquely, each focal length setting for almost every lens on the market is individually corrected across its entire zoom range. It's not just one adjustment being applied to a lens no matter the focal length it's set to.
PhotoLab’s PhotoLibrary is a means of accessing your photos via a database. Consequently, you can enter information about the images and quickly search for images. Using the simple search box can find the shot date, file name, IPTC data, rating, and so on.
Although it does not have as wide a functionality as the Lightroom or ON1’s catalog, PhotoLab’s PhotoLibrary is serviceable. Unlike Lightroom, it also doubles as a file browser. It is one area in which I wish there were more functions. However, you can open raw files from Lightroom and ON1 into PhotoLab if you need the additional library utilities offered by those programs.
Editing Software Alternatives to Photoshop
If you want to carry out sophisticated layered edits to your images, other programs will do that. Many Photoshop users cut their teeth on the free and open-source GIMP. That recently got a large update making it less clunky and more user-friendly than before. Its layout is similar to Photoshop, but it is less intuitive and takes a bit of learning. Nevertheless, for someone on a tight budget, it’s an excellent choice.
To access raw files, you will need to install either RawTherapee or Darktable, both of which are also free.
If you are a Windows user, then there is another fabulous free photo editing tool called paint.net available at getpaint.net. (If you want to pay for it, then you can do it through the Microsoft Store.) It has an intuitive user interface, supports layers, and features a large variety of powerful adjustment tools
Affinity Photo is an affordable, popular and well-featured development and editing tool. It also has a raw development tool which gives good results. Many photographers are choosing this option.
In Conclusion
It isn’t just photographers who are disillusioned with Adobe. My son is currently doing his Master’s in digital art, and in the various academic and professional communities he uses, people are voicing their dissatisfaction and singing the praises of alternatives.
For us photographers, there are plenty more options available that do as good or an even better job of processing our photos than Adobe’s offerings, and certainly at less cost.
If you are happy with what Adobe has to offer, like the results, and are okay with the huge price increase, then that’s great for you. However, there are a lot of unhappy people who are opting for alternatives.
December is a good time to think about swapping to another program or challenging Adobe on their price because, in just under a year, you will be in time for the excellent Black Friday deals that usually happen every year.
--- "Adobe has once again kicked photographers in the teeth with a huge increase in their subscription charges of 50%."
50%!!!! OMG! What a way to sensationalize the increase. I suppose just saying 5 bucks per month and only it affects the monthly plan wouldn't have been as dramatic. :D
EDIT: To avoid the $5 increase, switch from monthly to pre-paid. This is the kind of information that should have been in the article. Existing users have an option keep the lower rate.
--- "They have also stopped new subscriptions for the cheapest photography plan."
--- "Adobe is stopping new users from signing up for the minimal 20 GB Cloud Photographer’s Plan. Instead, they are insisting new subscribers take the more expensive $19.99/month 1 TB plan."
False. The 20 GB plan is there. Both of the $9.99 plans are still there.
https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/plans.html
{attached image}
EDIT: To see the $9.99 Photography plan, click on the "Photo" category on the left pane.
--- "option is to swap to ON1 Photo Raw"
And, they are running a sale on their bundle 77% off $49.99 (reg 219.99). But, it ends today, Dec 23.
You won't see the changes live until Jan 15, 2025. You're still seeing the old pricing and plan until then. Please take a look at the press release. This is what they say about the plan.
"We will continue to support this plan for existing customers, however this plan will no longer be available to new customers."
https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2024/12/15/all-new-photography-innovat...
Yep. I'm aware of that. But, according to Ivor they have stopped it, "They have also stopped new subscriptions for the cheapest photography plan.". They haven't stopped anything and they are not currently trying to.
50% are 50% regardless of the price. You sound like an Adobe employee.
And, 5 bucks is 5 bucks regardless of the percent. He only used 50% as a melodramatic doomsday scare tactic.
No, I'm not an Adobe employee. Though, sometimes, I'm like a shepherd tending to a flock of sheep. :D
.
Eddie, you gave us useful and true information in your post, and yet 4 people gave your comment a thumbs down. I can not wrap my head around why anyone would have given you a thumbs down. Are people really so shallow that they just want to be upset with Adobe, and don't really care about useful solutions?
Honestly, 5 bucks every month is a considerable amount of money for me, given my annual income. There is no way I could ever just absorb that kind of an increased expenditure. At $10 / month, Adobe was already too much for me, and this 50% increase - an additional $5 every month - just makes it so far out of reach for me that I have no hope of ever being able to afford it.
But, the info you wrote in your comment is accurate and could be quite helpful to those who have more money than I do. You offer helpful suggestions, and for people to downvote your suggestions is just ..... weirdo behaviour.
For the record, those who unfairly downvoted your useful, informative comment were:
V V
winzehnt gates
Jeff Jones
Bert Nase
.
Thanks, Tom! And, yes, people are really that shallow that they'll hate on Adobe and anyone that sides with them.
Just curious, since you are already paying $120 a year, why not just pay upfront so you don't have to worry about it for a year?
And, what's it about Adobe that has you locked into them? For me, I was content with Affinity Photo, but, I needed Photoshop for batch editing with specific retouching plugins. The action I created can retouch an image in less than 20 seconds, whereas it takes me about 10-25 minutes per image.
Hey Eddie,
I always enjoy conversing with you ...... you have a bit of an "edge" to what you write, but so what? The actual content that you write with is what matters, not the overall tone or attitude behind it. Many people don't seem to get that.
Anyway, you asked:
"Just curious, since you are already paying $120 a year, why not just pay upfront so you don't have to worry about it for a year?"
Actually, I am not already paying $120/year. Why? Because I have not yet gotten to the point where I can afford to spend that much for editing software.
I've wanted "the real Photoshop" for years - ever since I saw what Brooke Shaden is able to do with it. That was back in early 2015, almost 10 years ago, but I still haven't been able to afford it.
I have slowly been able to increase my annual income by dribs and drabs. I have finally gotten up to where I could afford $8 per month, so I thought that if things keep going well for me I would be able to afford the $10/month plan in another 2-3 years. BUT now that they are putting it from $10/month to $15/month for new subscribers, I just don't see any world in which I will ever be able to afford it, moving forward. I mean even if in 10 or 15 years I can finally earn enough to be able to shell out $15/month, they will most likely raise it again, putting it just out of my reach.
Ugh. So many things in life are that way. At least here in the US, things are not set up so that a low-income person can live as good as a mid-income or high-income person. So there are things, such as Photoshop and Starbuck's coffee and a TV subscription, that I will just never be able to enjoy. I am simply priced out of a lot of things that middle-income people get to have.
I mean I used to have Netflix and watched it all the time because I don't have any other kind of TV service like Dish or cable or whatever, so Netflix was my sole means of quality entertainment. But when they upped it from $8.99 to $11.99, I had to cancel it and get Peacock instead because that is only $5.99. But trust me, that has led to a lot of evenings where I long for something exciting to watch, but I just don't have access to anything but YouTube videos and the rather poor programming on Peacock. I mean I really love Coffeehouse Crime YouTube channel, but now that I have seen all the episodes I am growing tired of it. A few dollars per month really does make a fairly big difference in the quality of one's life, in both entertainment and in the ability to edit photographs.
Middle-class people may think that $5/month is negligible, but there are those of us who live way way way below the middle-class level, and to us, $5 each month is something we have to think long and hard about, and strategize around, etc.
I do have Photoshop Elements that I got from B&H late in 2019. It was via one of those "Deal of the Day" mega-discounts. It is the 2020 version of Elements, and I use it from time to time when I need to do cloning that can not be done with the main program I use, which is Apple's "free" program, called, simply, "Photos" (formerly iPhoto).
The main reason I would love to have the real Photoshop is because of the new feature that lets you expand the canvas and then automatically fills in the new area. As a wildlife photographer, I often shoot too tight, and then wish later that I had shot wider, so that I wouldn't chop legs or wings or antlers off of my subjects, or have my subjects so awkwardly close to the edge of the frame. And a friend who is well-off and has the latest Photoshop showed me what the new feature does to his photos and I thought it was freaking amazing! I think it's called "generative fill" or something similar to that.
You also asked,
"And, what's it about Adobe that has you locked into them?"
I am not locked in to Adobe at all, because the only Adobe thing I have is that old version of Elements, and I don't even use it all that often.
But if I ever do shell out money for a "latest and greatest" kind of editing software, I think I would like it to be Photoshop, for two reasons:
REASON ONE:
I have a VERY hard time learning how to use technology. I actually think I have learning disabilities that have never been diagnosed, because I simply can't learn how to do things by following instructions. I have to be SHOWN personally how to do things before it actually "clicks". And I know a lot of people personally who have and use Photoshop, and who would be glad to invite me over and show me how to use it. I can't think of anyone I know who has any of the other less-popular editing programs that Ivor always talks about.
REASON TWO:
Is that "Generative Fill" thing (or whatever it's called) that I mentioned 5 paragraphs ago. What my friend showed me was amazing, and he shoots wildlife just like I do. Using that feature where you expand the canvas and it automatically fills everything in, in such a realistic and high-quality way, would be a game-changer for me, and it would immensely expand the enjoyment I experience from photography. I just don't know of any other editing software that could do what that does, just as good and just as easy.
Ah, I see. Great context of where you are coming from.
Unfortunately, come January, for new users, the cheapest plan with Photoshop looks to be $19.99/mo. But, who knows, down the line, they may add that specific function to Lightroom which is staying at $9.99/mo prepaid.
Something to consider if you are open to outside of Adobe, right now for $49 bundle (reg $219.99) one time payment, ON1 has a sale until the end of this year.
Their AI expand is pretty similar to Photoshop's.
https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxtJP8gmQRSa2kd2gC-OEsDK-Huu9-dpwr?si=tVUKZIf...
Great article - I am finding some products are still available and hidden from most users, unless you dig.
I just found that Adobe Acrobat classic is something you can buy for a 3-year term at $540, where as the subscription model would be $720 - $838 depending on the version associated. I wonder if LR classic and some others are still available. Paying $60/ mo. + tax (USD) tor the full suite is expensive... $720/yr. assuming they don't raise the prices during that 12-month term... sheesh Adobe!
Great article, and it expresses my anger and frustration with them exactly. When I started with Adobe many years ago and there was a problem I simply called their customer support and got actual English speakers who could walk me through the remedy easily. Now you can't even get actual customer support. When you pay what we pay, you expect them to support the product they sell. Canon does. Epson does, and there are a few others. It seems that Adopee is getting too big for their britches, as we say in the South. But what happens when you get too big for your britches in real life is that you lose your britches! What Adopee needs is real competition that will force them to be real again and service their product at a reasonable price. BTW, I purchased both Photoshop and LR many years ago on disc and so have them installed on my hard drive, so I am immune to price increases as long as I can live with the older versions... and I can.
Many companies are jumping to that mode of Customer Service. I call it Flim-Flam customer service. The reps are trained to be polite, caring and tolerant, but meanwhile they don't solve any of your problems. Usually they read a script they received from magement that is meant to take you around in circles without solving anything. The quicker they get you to hang up out of frustration, the better....
Nathan McCreery wrote:
"Adobe is getting too big for their britches, as we say in the South. But what happens when you get too big for your britches in real life is that you lose your britches!"
Actually, what actually happens when a successful corporation gets too big for their britches is that they get bigger, newer, and better britches.
Huge for-profit corporations rule the roost of this world that we live in, and whether we like that or not, it is the reality that we face.
You speak of Adobe needing "real competition". Hmmmmmm. Do you know what will happen if there is ever another editing service that actually threatens Adobe's dominance? Adobe will just buy the competitor and absorb them into themselves. Just like Meta does, just like Google does, just like General Motors does, etc. That is the way of the world and it will not change because our voices do not matter, even when millions of us band together our voices still do not matter. They really don't. Anecdotes of a small concession being made here or there is not evidence of our voices mattering.
FWIW I just logged onto my Adobe account which will renew in a couple of months at the same price it's been for years, $119 + change. As for the 20 GB of storage who cares, I never use it anyway. Not sure where this 50% increase is coming from. While I have not tried ON1 it appears to be a pretty good deal at $49 today, I have tried Affinity and found it sorely lacking compared to Photoshop capabilities. I also use DXO Photolab, it's good and a relative bargain but does come with steep learning curve. More importantly my results with DXO has not lived up to the hype, meaning I still get better results using a combination of LR, PS and Nikon NX Studio when needed. Granted those results are at least partially due to having used PS since the mid 90's and Lightroom since its inception. Understand too PS has so much depth and complexity many of its exceptional features either go unnoticed or are unknown.
No one likes price increases myself included but for now if it's still only $10 per month (paid annually) I consider it a bargain for what I get from it.
Greed never seems to stop. It jumps from generation to generation...
lol greed blah blah
Well what do YOU call it?
I still see the $9.99 option on the Photo page, so I'm not sure what you're seeing.
But even if it was $14.99, that is still less than I pay per month for Netflix and I get absolutely zero business benefit out of Netflix while Lightroom and Photoshop are constantly in "productive" use on my system. I pay less and get far more value out of Adobe's photography plan than I get out of any other business expense that I have.
The new pricing doesn't come in until January the 15th, come back then and have a look.
Dave good point - and perhaps meaning there might should be pricing for those who make money with Adobe products vs those who do not.
One way around this is to renew every year with a Black Friday deal. This year is cost me £63 which is half price at £5 per month.
It does make me wonder about people who are happy to pay £7/8 for a coffee and bun and baulk at a monthly payment for what may be crucial software for their work flow and income for the price of 2X coffee and buns! I just think people like to get angry at stuff. Of course what you do have to remember is good old Ivor has an agenda when it comes to things he doesn’t use like anything Adobe or full frame and non-OM. Check out his previous offerings! He loves to put the boot at any opportunity. May your stockings overflow with gifts. Ho ho ho.
You do have to laugh!
“Admittedly, there hasn’t been an annual price increase since the Photographer’s Plan was introduced in 2013. Nevertheless,”
Kinda makes his argument null and void. Neverless indeed.
It is unfathomable to me to pay £7/8 for a coffee and a bun. Goodness gracious! Don't people realize how much that adds up to over the course of a month or a year?
I do complain about the prohibitive price of Adobe, but I do so honestly, and my complaints are consistent with the way I use money in other areas of life.
I am an avid coffee drinker, consuming at least 3 liters of the stuff every day. I admit, I am addicted to the wonderful taste. However, even thought I travel extensively, I have gone years without buying a cup of coffee. I make my own.
I travel with an electric plug-in coffee pot in my car. I buy a large can of ground coffee at Walmart or a grocery store, and only buy when it is a particularly good price. Then I find rest stops along the highways that have electrical outlets, and use the electricity there to brew my coffee. I have two large thermosses (is the plural "thermi"?) and two 20 ounce travel mugs that I pour the freshly brewed coffee into, and that carries me thru the day.
My coffee costs me less than 8 pennies per 12 ounce cup. Yes, I get more than 8 cups worth of coffee for each dollar I spend. And yet I am always on the lookout for bargains on discontinued brands and out-of-date coffee, so that I can sometimes "score big" and manage to get it for even less than 8 pennies per cup. This is what I need to do to be able to drink the amount of coffee that I drink.
That £7/8 that you speak of is what I rely on to provide me with two weeks of coffee. To spend that much at one time for one cup and a bun, would be one of the most wasteful uses of resources that I can possibly imagine.
People just want something to bitch about and think prices should remain the same for decades. To say Adobe hasn't delivered on updates and quality is to well...just lie. If you don't like the prices and plans they offer, just go to the competition and don't give me any BS about how you're just too "embedded with their ecosystem to just leave (Tony)". Just leave already b/c they are not forcing you to keep their service. I'm sure you haven't kept your photography prices the same for well over a decade, so why should Adobe or any other company for that matter?
Oh for crying out loud, just leave already. Like they say, "this is not an airport, you don't need to announce your departure" from Adobe. Go pay another company for their services and be done with it. We seen a few articles already on this site about the price increase. Did you really expect a company to keep the prices that low for that long in the first place? Show me what other product has kept the same price for over 12 years, with new features and updates like the Adobe photography plan? I'll wait...
He probably never head of inflation or business expenses.
I pay for my Adobe plan once a year. If you choose to continue with this, the price will not change.
I also have DXO's software, and the price is not lower with these. Paying for the license again becomes relevant every time there is a significant update.
I got an offer from DXO on Black Friday with a 50% discount if I upgraded. However, the price with a 50% discount was the same as I paid for the licenses as new. So I want to say that the other software companies are not better at marketing than Adobe.
I dropped Adobe because they have acted arrogantly this year, but the main reason I dumped the software was pretty simple, Adobe put junk all over my computer, CC files, library files and a whole host of other c**p. Just try removing it and you'll see how many files and folders it installed and that's on a MAC I dread to think the pollution it causes on a Windows system.
lol
I tried to change to yearly paying but can't. But two weeks ago I got an email from Adobe that my new plan for one year will go on for 9.99! To be sure I looked into my account but I have to option to change it to yearly paying. So if they continue my plan, will they just cancel this contract 7 weeks later? I would expect a mail with an explanation and a link how to keep my plan.
Anyway, thanks for showing alternatives. I know try DxO. What I doesn't like is that they don't have an option to show images in subfolders! That's a nogo as my images are that way organized. The interesting thing is that DxO PureRaw put's their results in subdirectories in LRc. And! PureRaw 4 results are significantly better than in DxO Photolab. Seems I have to look into ON1 also.
I also tried Radiation 1 but results are not satisfying for me. Wanted to try Rel.2 but their's no test version out. And then I find the price as greedy as Capture One (which I used some years in addition to LRc, which I used from the very first beta release on, but my loyalty is now limited).
I've so far lived 'Adobe-Free'. On Canon's DPP, Rawtherapee, Gimp, Affinity Photo 2, and Topaz Photo AI. I mix and match their uses, when certain things I feel a photo(s) needs. Affinity I strictly use for stacking and Panoramas. Rawtherapee is really good at 'Local Contrast' and has great fine tuning light tools, with the 'Tone Equalizer', and 'Tone Mapping'. Gimp is what I use for most other normal editing purposes. Topaz of course these days I'm really using the 'Remove AI' tool a lot for repairing and fixing issues, not as much actual removes as the tool is called. I shoot RAW, but edit in TIFF-16bit, and never output to jpeg until I'm finally ready to post.
Edit: for Astro I use other software called Autostakkert. Then gimp after that is finished.
Lol, don't count someone else's money. It's a bad unethical habit. I bet you always want to make money at whatever you do, right?
For a professional to gripe about Adobe prices is rediculous and embarrassing.
I pay $60/month for all the apps they have. And if I paid twice as much, it would still be a great value for me as a pro.
Adobe (like the rest of corporate America) needs to adopt the idea of making their product/service so good for the price that folks NEVER want to leave (meaning EVERYONE wins, customers and stockholders alike).
But instead they make their customers hate them and CONSTANTLY look for alternatives just to make another nickel. This corporate culture is misguided and SUCKS.
Who hates them? I certainly don't. I have the Photo bundle; I pay for it; I use it. Usually when I can't do something it's because I have yet to learn how to do it in LR or PS.
Hate them? For what? They charge money and they deliver a product. You don't like the product, go elsewhere.
It would be like hating Ford. Go drive a Toyota.
--- "But instead they make their customers hate them"
No. It's misinformed articles like this that does that. It gets some of you all riled up over nothing. Relax.
The only people that one would expect to be up in arms are new users (no active Adobe account) that require Photoshop. From Jan 15, 2025, It appears the lowest price is $19.99/month.
No one's forcing people to stick with Adobe. If they're really that overpriced and terrible, go use an alternative and spare the rest of us.
i can totally understand a hobbiest being upset or frustrated with the price increases.. at the same time adobe has added a lot of really nice features in the last 12 months. the "remove"/ai generative fill feature in lightroom is better than I expected. The noise reduction is very good too. Prices on everything are going up.. gas.. food.. you name it.. developers and people working at adobe expect higher salaries.. it all trickles down.. and yes adobe absolutely is making a profit on every sale.. that's their job.. and what the share holders expect. If you look at their pricing compared to capture one, luminar, and OnOne.. they are all about the same.. (with the same price increases next year)
as a semi-professional (I make a little money).. lightroom and photoshop are essential to what I do. I've tried other tools.. all have some cool features.. but I haven't found anything that incorporates organization (catalog) with the editing features, along with regular updates with new features that are useful. If that costs me an extra 5.00 a month.. i just add an additional 2.00 to my "expenses/equipment" line item in my contracts for 2025. and we all move on.
i don't want adobe to stop doing what their doing.. and I hope other companies step up and compete.. Capture One and Luminar are pretty impressive. but I want adobe to keep innovating.. and if they have to add "50%" ($5.00) more a month to keep good developers and people excited to work for them and to innovate.. i can work with that.
Not disagreeing with your points, but I'm a hobbyist (with two kids in college), and I have no issue with the price increase. I remember 25 years ago, when $15 (in 1999 dollars - more than $28 today) was about what you would pay for one roll of film and processing.
How do you feel about CaptureOne as an alternative?
For me, Capture One > Lightrooom. I switched back in 2014 and have never looked back.
C1 is more comparable to Lightroom than Photoshop so just depends what you are needing.
Edit: There could be a steep learning curve. However, they have a "Migration" workspace layout to try to mimic LR so it's somewhat familiar.
(Disclaimer: I work at Adobe, all opinions are my own)
I'd like to clarify some things that the author either failed to mention or is misrepresenting altogether, starting from the top.
While the monthly rate for the Creative Cloud Photography Plan 20 GB is changing starting on Jan 15, 2025, you can retain your current equivalent monthly rate if you choose to switch to the annual Pay Up Front plan. But, you do not need to do this before January 15, 2025, as you will receive an email from Adobe about 30 day prior to your plan renewal date with your specific pricing change details. This is an important piece of information that the author failed to mention.
The author states that he did not receive direct communication from Adobe regarding the pricing change. I can't comment specifically about his situation without knowing the date that the author's plan is due for renewal. However, as stated in our FAQ (https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/faq/ccpp-20gb.html) about the pricing change that the author would have benefitted from reading and linking to, "Adobe will send you an email 30 days before your plan renewal date, at which point you can choose to switch to an annual, prepaid plan to lock in the lowest rate by paying upfront for the year." Of course, you can also learn more about the pricing change and all the new features and innovations added to Lightroom over the past ten years by checking out this Adobe blog post: https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2024/12/15/all-new-photography-innovat...
The author misrepresents the ability for a new customer to sign up to the Creative Cloud Photography Plan 20 GB. While this plan will no longer be available for new users to sign up to (or existing customers who opt to cancel or switch plans) AFTER January 15, 2025, it is still currently available for new customers.
Finally, the author fails to mention that there is also the Lightroom 1 TB plan that new customers can sign up to if they do not want/need Photoshop. And as of January 15th, 2025, all current and new subscribers to the Lightroom 1 TB plan will also get access to Lightroom Classic. Also, while subscribers who opt to continue paying monthly for this plan will see the rate change when their plans renew (as of January 15th, 2025), they have the option to pay the annual rate up front, which will be at the current monthly equivalent rate. This is the same scenario I mentioned above for the Creative Cloud Photography Plan 20 GB.
Thank you, Brian, for providing some balance.
You don't seem to have any trouble paying for cameras and lenses to do your photography. Apparently you agree the people that create those tools deserve to earn a living. Why don't the people who provide the software tools which are equally important to your photography also deserve to make a living?
We do want all of the people who actually work to earn a living. At least a modest living where they earn enough to be able to afford the absolute necessities.
But we do not want corporate executives and investors - a.k.a. people who do not actually work - to make a living at our expense.
When you rail against "investors", remember that there are many working-class people whose life savings is invested in stock market-based retirement plans (what are called 401(k) plans in the US). Those people are investors, who own stock in companies, either directly or through mutual funds, without taking an active role in managing or doing actual work at the companies they are invested in. But this is an important factor in both the individual's and society's overall prosperity.
Likewise, venture capitalists serve a useful purpose in an economy, by providing seed money for business startups where the required outlay is more than what a few people can reasonably raise on their own.
Certainly, a couple of people sitting around their parent's kitchen table with laptops could bootstrap themselves to become the next Adobe, but seed funding from venture capitalists (as well as the advice and networking opportunities that VC's provide to startups) is a big help.
I'm not saying there aren't predatory investors (private equity) or too much focus on stock price at the expense of customer experience and employee quality of life, but I wouldn't agree that all "investors" are parasites.
I don't think that all investors are parasites, either. But in principle, I am against well-off people making even more money than they really need at the expense of the lower classes. I mean if some guy is a millionaire because he charges low-income people a few bucks more than he really has to for the things that he sells them, then that is somewhat parasitic in my opinion. I am hovering right around the official poverty line, and I sure as hell don't want any of the dollars that I spend to go toward making a millionaire a little wealthier than he/she already is.
I keep reading comments that say nobody has reason to complain when a subscription costs 'only' £10 per month. In 2015 I purchased a standalone copy of Lightroom for £120. It was mine to keep for as long as I wanted to. I used it for 5 years. During that same 5 year period Adobe also offered a subscription version for 'only' £10 per month. Both those subscribers and I were using the same product. The difference is I paid £120 for mine while they paid a whopping £600 over the same period. Adobe in their wisdom realised they could make a much bigger profit if they removed the standalone version from the market. In spite of this, many on this forum seem to prefer it this way. Can somebody please tell me how you are better off being on a subscription? Is there some error in my calculation?
It is because a lot of people have way way way more money than they actually need to live on, so they don't mind spending a few dollars extra here and a few dollars extra there just for convenience and for upgrades that they may not even need.
"Both those subscribers and I were using the same product".
With regard to Lightroom, those subscriber were (and probably still are) using the latest, most up to date version of it and were (and probably still are) getting Photoshop as a part of the deal.
You're doing neither.
Good questions. I also started with Lightroom "perpetual" versions 5 and 6 (I had to upgrade when a macOS change broke 5), and begrudgingly moved to the subscription version after an unhappy detour to ON1.
In theory, one of the promises of the subscription model is that the companies can focus their development efforts on improving performance and adding useful features that their customers want (I said "in theory", whether that's achieved or not is a separate discussion).
Under the buy-once model, companies have to constantly chase the "gee-whiz" feature of the moment in order to get existing users to upgrade. Remember all the fuss over "sky replacement" a couple of years ago?