4d ago

Adobe Creative Cloud subscriptions are getting more expensive

htxt.co.za

Adobe Creative Cloud subscriptions are getting more expensive - Hypertext

Adobe has announced pricing changes to its Creative Cloud subscriptions that will take effect from the middle of next month.
It cited “continued innovation” as a reason to overhaul the pricing for its creative software suite.
The changes only affect users in the US, Canada, and Mexico for now.

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4d ago

Adobe Creative Cloud subscriptions are getting more expensive

htxt.co.za /2025/05/adobe-creative-cloud-subscriptions-are-getting-more-expensive/

47 comments

It won't stop until creatives stop paying.
There are alternative tools available, but the number of people I have seen not want to learn a new UI is high. Adobe knows this, so they continue to raise prices.
- I mean it's not just not wanting to learn a new UI. It's that a company uses Adobe as it's standard so if you don't have experience with it they won't hire you. And if you try to come in using a different tool they're just gonna end up forcing you to use Adobe.
  
  I wanted to ask why don't they let you pick your own tools and mid sentence I realized it must be because you won't be able to share work with colleagues due to compatibility issues with files.
  Which means it's bigger than the company you work for, but the same for anyone you might want to collaborate with.
  There must be some open file standard for creative stuff.
  Am I correct assuming that?
  
  I mean it's not just file format problems as well. It's also the fact that generally you'll need a professional license for whatever software you're using since you're not using it for personal use and it's probably cheaper and easier to buy a ton of licenses from one company then splitting it between different companies based on what people want. There's also the fact that especially for bigger companies they'll have custom tools and templates already made that work in that software. Some of that is file format for things like templates but any custom scripts or tools would probably have to be rewritten to support other types of creative tools. Plus at the end of the day it's just easier if all of your employees are using the same tools so they can collaborate easier and ask for help on things easier.
  
  Is it the case that most creatives cancel their subs when they get that job? Does the job have a site license (assuming Adobe even allows site licenses)?
  
  Yes, creative jobs near universally provide licenses to creative cloud. Aside from companies not hiring people without that experience, the amount of saved assets and templates, along with the deep integration between apps makes the prospect of a full “migration” a ridiculously expensive prospect.
  The value in these assets is not just in video files or pictures you can easily migrate to another app. It’s the complex scripts and templates that allow creatives to make custom branded content on the fly. Like a lower third that adjusts styling depending on the name you put in, and auto resizes to fit the text, etc.
  
  Is it just me, or does that sound like a monopoly?
  Do any creatives attempt to create assets for another platform?
  I'm really not blaming creatives on this one. Obviously they need to make money. But this seems like a clear case of advantage being taken against one skillset by virtue of monopoly.
  I'd say it seems like the key issue affecting creatives, if AI didn't exist.
  As an outsider: how did we get to a point where every creator is limited to one box?
  
  Oh it very much is, and I’m in no way advocating for it. I just see this discourse a lot online, and I never see the actual reasons why it’s still in such heavy use talked about anywhere. So yea, that’s the actual why behind their huge marketshare despite their shitty tactics.
  You totally can create assets for another platform, but frankly, no one is even close to the level of integration between apps as adobe. Some apps like davinci resolve, and Affinity apps are just now getting to be as good as a standalone adobe app, but there’s still nothing that has the cross-app functionality like Adobe does.
  Like for example updating a PSD file, which automatically updates after effects templates it’s used in, which automatically updates premiere projects that use that template, for example. Even just making motion graphics templates for use in a video editor is clunky at best with other apps. Sure you could do it manually, but time is expensive in these industries, every second counts.
  To answer your question, or the extension of your question “how to we get creators out of this walled garden”, the answer is not better software, or another alternative. What will really fix this issue is better open source standards for formats. Adobe has the benefit of making their own, while nearly every other platform relies on file standards created decades ago that are too inflexible to support these use cases. Just my two cents.
  
  how did we get to a point where every creator is limited to one box?
  US Antitrust has been asleep for decades, and as soon as it opened one bleary eye the oligarchs took over the government.
  
  How many users are actually working in a company that uses Adobe? Aren't most users just casual, or even if they make money of art, working solo? (So, no need to conforme to an industry standard)
  I might be totally wrong tho
  
  I wouldn't be surprised if at this point with the prices they charge, most of Adobe's users are either working somewhere that has it, or are students who want to work professionally with it, or are people in between jobs who need to keep up skills in it for when they can go back to work. Most anyone I talk to who isn't doing things professionally and doesn't plan to go professional will use something like Gimp instead of Photoshop if cost is an issue.
  Outside of this though there's also just the fact that it being the industry standard does tend to cause non-professionals to use it too. Whether it be because they view it as better then the alternatives, or they want to get experience in case they ever want to use it professionally, or they just haven't heard of anything else and the tutorials they were able to find for what they wanted to do used Adobe products.
  Either way though I bet that the majority of the money Adobe makes is from companies buying tons of pro licenses rather than from individual people using it.
- And this is how normie's behaviors and consumption pattern affect everyone
- So what are the best options now? Been away from the photography hobby for a long time. Looking for something to process my Fujifilm raw files and making small repairs to my family history photos.
  
  darktable.org Darktable is like Adobe Lightroom but open source, and I honestly think it's better at this point.
  
  I'm not sure "like lightroom" is true. It has an entirely different paradigm to editing, with modules and such instead of a single state
  
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47 comments