What Photoshop CC Costs

This is the best info that's come in yet about the cost of Photoshop CC, from Rick Popham. It's accurate as far as I can tell.

"The Photography Plan (PS & LR) $9.99/month requires a yearly commitment which cannot be turned on and off as far as I know. (I've been unable to find any information about that on Adobe's website, but I'd be happy if it were true). You can get an individual monthly single app subscription to PS (or any of the apps) which you can turn on and off, but that subscription is $19.99/month. And yes, you can get a $29.99/month deal which gets you the whole shebang. But this is only available to previous customers who have CS3 or later. The $29.99 price is only good for the first year, after which Adobe will charge you the regular price of $49.99/month."

UPDATE from Rick Popham: "I have a correction to the information about the single app monthly plan: The $20/month price is for a one year commitment. If you want a month to month plan for a single app (that you can turn off and on), the price is $30/month."

I (Mike) subscribed to the one-year plan for $9.99 per month, for which you only get a 50% refund of what's remaining if you cancel.

UPDATE from Mike: I was contacted by Jeffrey Tranberry of Adobe, who says that Adobe will help if you have lost activations due to hardware failure or inaccessability: here's the link for that. Also, he says you can download and install Photoshop CC on as many systems as you like (Mac and Win), but that you can only use it on two of those systems at a time. Furthermore, a recent refinement is that if you log in on one system and want to use Photoshop CC, but find it's already activated on two other systems, you can sign out remotely from one or both of the other two from the computer you're on:

"When you log-in and encounter that you're signed in and activated on two other systems," Jeffrey writes, "you will be asked if you want to deactivate the other systems (similar to iTunes) so you can sign-in and start using the current system immediately. This eliminates lost activations from dead systems or systems you don't have ready access to. Cross platform licenses and roaming activation are both new features of Creative Cloud which hopefully adds a level of convenience not available before."

Mike
(Thanks to Rick and Jeffrey)

Original contents copyright 2015 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

TOP's links!

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Paul Bradforth: "What's not to like? I too am subscribed to this. You'll get every update to both apps without having to worry about a thing! Above all, it's so much easier than going the 'yearly update' route. You'll love it and I'll bet you never even think of cancelling!"

Patrick: "No sense beating a dead horse on the issue. You either like the concept, don't like it but tolerate it, or don't like it and find an alternative. I'm in the last category. I don't begrudge anyone who chooses to go with Adobe's new plan, but at the same time I don't want to be 'sold' or "convinced" how much better it is.

"For what it's worth: 1) Some people actually don't want every update that comes along. I've had plenty of 'upgrades' over the years that have ruined the software in one way or another. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. 2) Some people are very uncomfortable with the overbearing requirement for constant connectivity in this world, and this is simply one more example of it. Call me reclusive, old fashioned, or just plain paranoid. I don't like having to be part of the collective just to perform the same tasks I've always been able to do independently. I could go on. No point."

Comments

[Jim Bullard]

I have the $9.99 plan and as I understand it you can control the automatic annual renewal through your account page. But as you note once you commit to a year you cannot randomly turn it on and off during the year.

[SeanG]

Pixelmator if you're using an Apple/Mac. It's fantastic and modern.

[Rodger Kingston]

For me, essentially a retired person on essentially a fixed income, the important consideration isn't how much per month Photoshop CC costs, but that it's a monthly (or yearly, whatever) payment at all.

My wife and I live quite comfortably in large part because four years ago I made a big sale and paid off every penny we owed.

Now we have only the unavoidable monthly expenses: rent, utilities, food, car costs, etc. Other than necessities, no monthly bills.

This is why, when my CS6 is finally too antiquated to use anymore, I'll switch to an alternative.

[xtian]

Once of the things that concerns me about this whole set-up is that a designer friend of mine told me that she subscribed to the entire CS suite but cannot use it unless she has an internet/wi-fi connection. If that is correct, I think that is insane.

[Anthony.]

What burns my biscuit is that on their website they offer many currencies but not Canadian dollars, so my monthly rate goes up and down and with the recent poor exchange rate I'm paying 30% more than when I started.

[Patrick]

From the website subscription terms:
Creative Cloud for individual

Month-to-Month

The service begins when we confirm your initial payment. We will charge you the fee stated at the time of purchase monthly until you cancel. Once the fee has been charged at the start of each month, that charge is final and no refund is available. The fee is subject to change—but we’ll always notify you beforehand. You can cancel anytime by visiting your Manage Account page or contacting Customer Support. Canceling your membership stops the charge at the start of your next billing term—but your service will continue through the end of your current term.

[Geoff Wittig]

When Photoshop CC was first announced it came with a take-it-or-leave-it $20 per month charge for access that instantly doubled the retail cost for consumers like us, compared to the previous upgrade cycle. And it quadrupled the cost for those accustomed to upgrading every other version. It's classic monopoly behavior: doubling prices because you can. I presume it was only a 'lower than anticipated take-rate' at the $20/month price that compelled Adobe to offer us starving photographers the $9.99 deal.

I can remember a sinking feeling waaaaay back when Microsoft started requiring on-line 'activation' of their software, because the end-game was obvious. "How can we extract more money from our customers for the same product?"

[Lindsay Bach]

No reason to cancel: I came into this kicking and screaming soon after the Lightroom/Photoshop package was offered. So far, at least, Adobe has made good on its promise of regular updates and the price hasn't changed. I had a licensed CS6 and Lightroom when I came in, to which the service added the CC versions. Adobe regularly provides updates for both the CS6 and CC versions. BTW, I typically do my raw processing in Lightroom before taking the images to Photoshop CC through the "Edit in" function for additional "under-the-hood," pixel level editing-- and because Photoshop is where my favorite plug-ins live (e.g. PhotoKit Color and Sharpening tools). Then, with a click of the Save button, I bring them back to Lightroom as tiff files. I will sometimes do this multiple times. I still print, however, only from CS6 since, as a Canon printer user, that is where I have kept the native Canon Print 16 bit plug-in rather than trying to update the drivers to suit the ongoing changes to CC.

[Joe Holmes]

"Once of the things that concerns me about this whole set-up is that a designer friend of mine told me that she subscribed to the entire CS suite but cannot use it unless she has an internet/wi-fi connection."

From what I understand, the CC applications check in once a month over the Internet to look at your subscription, number of installations, etc. If it fails to connect, you still have a grace period before the applications stop working. See Terry White's summary here: http://bit.ly/19LLrsF

But if you mean that your designer friends doesn't have any Internet at all, that's kind of unbelievable.

[Eamon Hickey]

@ Geoff Wittig

I don't want to get into a debate about the CC model in Mike's wonderful house, but just a couple of small thoughts.

How much it costs any specific person to have a CC subscription vs. the previous perpetual licenses depends a lot on the angle from which you're viewing it. For example, if you do not own a perpetual app that you can upgrade, and must invest the full perpetual license price up front ($700 for many of the CS6 apps), the math changes dramatically from your example, which was for a person who already qualifies for upgrade pricing (and already paid $700 at some point in the past).

On the much more important question of monopolies: It doesn't seem to me that photographers have much to worry about re: monopoly behavior at the moment. There's plenty of active competition in software for photographers, especially amateurs. I know Photoshop well and like it a lot, so I continue to rely on it, but I'm not required to. I don't have to deliver and collaborate on files in PSD format (and I even make a portion of my living shooting and publishing pictures).

Professional graphic designers are in a different boat with Photoshop and especially with InDesign, both of which are pretty much required for them to make any money at their craft.

[Rob L]

120 bucks a year for a constantly supported workflow tool would be fair. 120 bucks a year for Photoshop and Lightroom is not a lot of money. Adobe was in a pickle, as Photoshop had gotten 'good enough' for so long that it was hard to justify new upgrades for many photographers - and you need need new revenue to keep improving things. Frankly, although I do have some issues in not owning a permanent release, this method means there will be an Adobe, the other way was going to kill them.

[Terry Donnelly]

Internet/wi-fi connection is a problem: I teach classes in Yellowstone's Lamar Valley; remote and unconnected. Without that connection participants can't verify subscription or activation status. It needs to be done prior to leaving "civilization" - frustrating.

[Rick Popham]

@Terry Donnelly: Yes, this is one of the things that frosts my butt about Adobe's verification system. Even if you pay for your subscription a year upfront, it still wants an online check every month. And as far as I know, there's no way to tell when it wants to check or how much time you have left until you're shut down.

I won't travel with a CC app on my laptop for this reason. Adobe needs to be more transparent.

[Arg]

It's interesting that people have to issue updates to their first comments on this topic. It indicates that Adobe have done a terrible job of making the information clear and easily understood and in the right places.

[Matthew C.]

It's very useful software with a great workflow, but the Adobe RAW conversions are getting further and further outpaced by other vendors' RAW software.

[ctein]

Dear xtian,

There are inter-app integration and project management features that use Adobe's servers. It's quite possible your friend, if she's using a lot of the suite, is running those kind of complex multi-app projects. If you want to take advantage of those features (you don't have to), you have to be connected, because having a central server to manage the files is part of that functionality.

But, individual apps (at least all the ones I've tried) run standalone and don't require a web connection, and there's nothing to keep you from manually saving stuff and reopening it in other apps. The Cloud-based features are a convenience layer on top of that.

pax / Ctein