Adobe’s Latest Price Hike Means It’s Time to Switch to Alternatives

Adobe is known for offering some of the best creative software available, but are its non-transparent price increases hitting the final straw for users?

Adobe Increased Its Photography Plan’s Price

In an article from Adobe at the end of 2024 about innovations in photography and photo-editing software, it subtly mentioned that Adobe’s Photography Plan—which includes both Photoshop and Lightroom as a package—will severely change in price and availability from January 25th 2025.

Giving users just over one calendar month to figure out their new plan for Creative Cloud payment choices, the statement released on December 10th buried the lede on the information, making it difficult and confusing to find or understand the news.

Adobe already has a negative reputation for its frustrating payment and subscription options—and sadness for long-term users who can no longer outright own their Adobe products. Adobe made its first major price change in years. Luckily, it only applies to the Photography plan, with a more subtle—two dollar per month—price change to Lightroom’s solo plan. The solo Photoshop plan remains unchanged.

Adobe’s New Price Plans

The statement announced a $5 price-hike to the Photography 20GB plan’s monthly subscription option, which previously sat at $9.99 per month (or $119 throughout a year), taking it up to $14.99 per month. This monthly 20GB option is only available to existing subscribers of this plan.

Simultaneously, the change also sees the end of a 20GB cloud storage offering for new customers from January 25th 2025, meaning all plans going forward offer 1TB as standard, except the yearly Photography plan.

All new subscribers now have the option of the yearly Photography 20GB plan, at $119.99 per year—which, if divided by twelve, works out the same over a year as the previously priced monthly plan. Users can change plans altogether to the solo Photoshop or Lightroom plans or to a Creative Cloud All Apps plan—alternatively, they may decide to opt for an alternative software like Affinity Photo or Photopea.

Despite Adobe’s announcement, with a pricing table, it’s still confusing to figure out the full prices for each plan. This may be a regional difference, or a sly wording nuance being used.

Adobe’s Pushing Users Away

Over the years, Adobe has removed the ability for users to own any software, and it has begun to push people away. While it’s not difficult to subscribe to Adobe software, it isn’t always a realistic, affordable option, especially for those who dabble with creative software just for fun.

There’s been a noticeable rise of people looking for free or open-source alternatives to Adobe’s most popular tools, like Photoshop, but there are also swathes of people committing to moving to Affinity software — which applies a one-time payment to own the software — for stability and financial security.

Adobe could see better retention results if it offered subscriptions for parred-down versions of its software—similar to Photoshop Elements. Many creative people dislike AI and prefer using software without AI features rather than just not using the AI features within the software they pay for. Adobe could benefit from offering non-AI versions of Photoshop, Lightroom, and Illustrator for lesser price thresholds.

Is Photoshop Still Worth Paying For?

While Adobe Photoshop is, undoubtedly, one of the most expensive options for creative software, it does come with a history and development that’s often worth paying for—if you use all the features.

If you’re a fan of AI and happy to use it within your workflow, then the price can often be justified with the addition of all the great Photoshop AI features now and in the future, including the upcoming Generative Workspace in Photoshop.

If you’re a hobby editor or looking to learn the craft, then Photoshop is an expensive experiment. There are many other cheaper options, as well as a huge number of completely free (and good) software options. It’s better to start using free programs before investing in a year’s minimum contract with Adobe.

Alternatives to Adobe Software to Save Money

There are a growing number of reputable open-source alternatives to most Adobe software. To replace the Photography plan, you can use GIMP as a Photoshop replacement and DarkTable as a Lightroom replacement. Or Inkscape, Krita, and Photopea to replace Photoshop, and RAWTherapee to replace Lightroom.

We’ve curated a list of Photoshop alternatives including free options; we also have alternative options for Lightroom and photo editing tools. And if the price hikes have annoyed you enough, you might be interested in seeing alternatives to almost every Adobe software available, just in case it’s time you want to switch.

Adobe knows what it’s doing with the price increases. Adobe is also aware that as a software suite, no one offers what it can. It’s the industry standard, which sadly keeps users attached hook, line, and sinker to keep paying the growing fees to be an Adobe subscriber.