Adobe applications - cheapest option?

[sparkie7]

I have heard that if you cancel before the 7 day trial period is up Adobe will offer a discount to stay on, is this true? And does this apply only to paying month by month or also if you buy the whole year upfront. Is there an advantage to paying month by month so that you can cancel when a discounted promo is offered by Adobe? ie. payment upfront for one year would suggest that you can’t take advantage of any offers till your one year is up, can anyone clarify

 

[Marsikus]

I have heard that if you cancel before the 7 day trial period is up Adobe will offer a discount to stay on,

It is worth to try. This is quite common marketing trick of commercial software.

 

[vitamanic]

I have heard that if you cancel before the 7 day trial period is up Adobe will offer a discount to stay on, is this true? And does this apply only to paying month by month or also if you buy the whole year upfront. Is there an advantage to paying month by month so that you can cancel when a discounted promo is offered by Adobe? ie. payment upfront for one year would suggest that you can’t take advantage of any offers till your one year is up, can anyone clarify

I've went through the cancellation process so many times preemptively that they're only charging me $16 a month. Just keep doing it with the "too expensive" reason and you'll slowly work your way down to almost nothing over the course of a year.

Obviously don't do it every month... But do it once, then again 3 months later, and again 4 months later, etc.

 

[sparkie7]

I've went through the cancellation process so many times preemptively that they're only charging me $16 a month. Just keep doing it with the "too expensive" reason and you'll slowly work your way down to almost nothing over the course of a year.

Obviously don't do it every month... But do it once, then again 3 months later, and again 4 months later, etc.

Are you on the Individuals plan or Student plan? When you signed up initially which payment plan were you on: Annual - paid monthly, or Annual - prepaid, or Monthly ?

 

[vitamanic]

Are you on the Individuals plan or Student plan? When you signed up initially which payment plan were you on: Annual - paid monthly, or Annual - prepaid, or Monthly ?

I'm on the regular annual monthly plan. I threaten to cancel while still under contract.

There's really no harm in doing so, there's a designated retention section during the cancellation process, you can always 'cancel' the cancellation. I can't guarantee that you'll get the same results as me but it's worth trying.

 

[sparkie7]

I'm on the regular annual monthly plan. I threaten to cancel while still under contract.

There's really no harm in doing so, there's a designated retention section during the cancellation process, you can always 'cancel' the cancellation. I can't guarantee that you'll get the same results as me but it's worth trying.

Awesome thanks. Adobe are currently running a promo with 40% off for:

Offer starts on 4 Nov, 2022 and expires on 13 Nov, 2022. Offer available to first-time subscribers of Adobe Creative Cloud for Individuals All Apps and limited to customers who purchase directly from the Adobe Store or by calling a regional Adobe Call Centre.

I signed up on the Annual - paid monthly plan with a free trial, 7 (or 14 days free trial, can't remember which), so planning on cancelling before the free trial is up, and see if they will discount more

 

[fastmax]

Do you recommend using Adobe bridge with Affinity Photo to work with existing LR catalogs or have another suggestion for digital asset management?

On the MGG podcast there was a recommendation for an app called RAW Power as a Lightroom replacement for DAM. Would be worth checking out for those looking to get off the Adobe Cloud.

RAW Power for macOS

www.gentlemencoders.com

 

[cateye]

I'm on the regular annual monthly plan. I threaten to cancel while still under contract.

There's really no harm in doing so, there's a designated retention section during the cancellation process, you can always 'cancel' the cancellation. I can't guarantee that you'll get the same results as me but it's worth trying.

Just a ++ that I do this as well, and discovered it entirely by accident.

I'm a working designer, own my own firm, and used to pre-pay for my licenses a full year at a time in lump sums, but decided at some point I wanted to switch to paying month-by-month. Called Adobe, they said it's easiest just to cancel and sign up for the new plan you want. Cool, no problem. Went through that process and... what's this? $29.99 a month for a year? ok!

Now every year at the end of my 12 month term, Adobe sends me a notice that it will renew for another 12 months at the usual $59 a month or whatever it is. I go into my account, cancel, and the $29.99 option is there every time as a retention offer. Done it for years. It's kind of a rigamarole to go through each of my licenses to do so, but it's just once a year and worth the savings.

Note you pretty much have to go all the way through to the last step before cancelling, that's where the offer is. I also don't know if this is a business-only offer. I operate as a corporation, not an individual, LLC, etc. and all my licenses are registered as such.

 

[sparkie7]

Just a ++ that I do this as well, and discovered it entirely by accident.

I'm a working designer, own my own firm, and used to pre-pay for my licenses a full year at a time in lump sums, but decided at some point I wanted to switch to paying month-by-month. Called Adobe, they said it's easiest just to cancel and sign up for the new plan you want. Cool, no problem. Went through that process and... what's this? $29.99 a month for a year? ok!

That's great. $29.99 a month is more affordable for sure.

Now every year at the end of my 12 month term, Adobe sends me a notice that it will renew for another 12 months at the usual $59 a month or whatever it is. I go into my account, cancel, and the $29.99 option is there every time as a retention offer. Done it for years. It's kind of a rigamarole to go through each of my licenses to do so, but it's just once a year and worth the savings.

Why wait till end of the year. If there's a promo mid year say, could you not cancel and go for that, or is the promo not as good a deal as you're on? or cancel before 12 months is up and see if they offer your current even better deal, unless your deal is rock bottom

Note you pretty much have to go all the way through to the last step before cancelling, that's where the offer is. I also don't know if this is a business-only offer. I operate as a corporation, not an individual, LLC, etc. and all my licenses are registered as such.

I wonder if they offer it to individuals as well

 

[Canubis]

Amazon is also running regularly promos where you can buy a 1 year license at great discount. Both for student and standard license. I'd keep my eye out for it on Black Friday and during holiday season.
Got mine from Amazon Germany end of last year for just around 100 bucks for a full year (directly sold by Amazon/Adobe as it said, so should be legit and could redeem it without issues.)

 

[sparkie7]

Amazon is also running regularly promos where you can buy a 1 year license at great discount. Both for student and standard license. I'd keep my eye out for it on Black Friday and during holiday season.
Got mine from Amazon Germany end of last year for just around 100 bucks for a full year (directly sold by Amazon/Adobe as it said, so should be legit and could redeem it without issues.)

Thanks for the tip 👍

 

[cateye]

Why wait till end of the year. If there's a promo mid year say, could you not cancel and go for that, or is the promo not as good a deal as you're on? or cancel before 12 months is up and see if they offer your current even better deal, unless your deal is rock bottom

Good question. To be honest, Even then usual $59 is hardly a drain given I make money with CC, so getting it for ~$30 a month felt like a decent enough gift, and easy enough for me to manage once a year, that I haven't been motivated to try pushing it lower. But you never know, perhaps there's a $19.99 offer lurking in there somewhere.

 

[sparkie7]

Good question. To be honest, Even then usual $59 is hardly a drain given I make money with CC, so getting it for ~$30 a month felt like a decent enough gift, and easy enough for me to manage once a year, that I haven't been motivated to try pushing it lower. But you never know, perhaps there's a $19.99 offer lurking in there somewhere.

If you think that’s a fair monthly outgoing that’s all that matters

 

[ignatius345]

I use mainly Adobe Illustrator, Indesign, Photoshop, Acrobat. What's the cheapest way to get the newest versions. I think Adobe Creative Cloud is for all the applications, so may not use all of them and is there a non-subscription option?

Any advice appreciated

If you know anyone who's a teacher or works in education, see if they'll facilitate you getting an education price. It's a very solid discount.

 

[usagora]

If you’re using them to make money - it’s just a cost of doing business, consider it as such & don’t worry about it.

Yeah, and that's pretty cheap. The software we use at work costs us about $3000/year.

 

[Marsikus]

Yeah, and that's pretty cheap. The software we use at work costs us about $3000/year.

Some kind of CAD?

 

[usagora]

Some kind of CAD?

No, it's management software, but there are multiple services included in the subscription price as well (just like with Adobe Creative Cloud being multiple products).

 

[sparkie7]

If you know anyone who's a teacher or works in education, see if they'll facilitate you getting an education price. It's a very solid discount.

I did think about that, but then it will be complicated as you'll be using their email address to login, and if there are any issues you have to liaise with them to change passwords etc., they have to forward you any emails from Adobe etc.. might be more hassle than it's worth

 

[ignatius345]

I did think about that, but then it will be complicated as you'll be using their email address to login, and if there are any issues you have to liaise with them to change passwords etc., they have to forward you any emails from Adobe etc.. might be more hassle than it's worth

You can actually change the email address after the fact, as it turns out. I know because my wife was doing some teaching and I got her to sign me up through her institutional email. I later changed the contact address to my own and it was fine. It's been like 2 years since I changed it.

All this said, that customer retention thing people talk about above also sounds like a good way to get a discount.

 

[sparkie7]

You can actually change the email address after the fact, as it turns out. I know because my wife was doing some teaching and I got her to sign me up through her institutional email. I later changed the contact address to my own and it was fine. It's been like 2 years since I changed it.

Ok, that's good to know!

All this said, that customer retention thing people talk about above also sounds like a good way to get a discount.

Yep, that's the route I'm going

 

[sparkie7]

It's been like 2 years since I changed it.

Doesn't the Education / Teacher discount only last for the first year only? Then reverts to normal pricing. Or did you cancel and get your wife to sign up again?

 

[ignatius345]

Doesn't the Education / Teacher discount only last for the first year only? Then reverts to normal pricing. Or did you cancel and get your wife to sign up again?

No, it's been one continuous run for a few years now, at $359/year (+tax) for several years now. I do see that the first year was only $239 but then it jumped up the next year. But I also see that full price currently is $600/year so maybe $359 was full price then but I'm grandfathered in somehow? Not entirely sure, but also don't want to rock the boat by checking in with them...

 

[Born2Run]

I have heard that if you cancel before the 7 day trial period is up Adobe will offer a discount to stay on, is this true? And does this apply only to paying month by month or also if you buy the whole year upfront. Is there an advantage to paying month by month so that you can cancel when a discounted promo is offered by Adobe? ie. payment upfront for one year would suggest that you can’t take advantage of any offers till your one year is up, can anyone clarify

When I would use Adobe I was paying about £30 per month, but if I tried to cancel they would offer me a few months for free and then I would pay 1 month, and then try to cancel again where they would give me some more months for free...and so on, until I discovered Affinity and dropped Adobe so fast!

 

[sparkie7]

When I would use Adobe I was paying about £30 per month, but if I tried to cancel they would offer me a few months for free and then I would pay 1 month, and then try to cancel again where they would give me some more months for free...and so on, until I discovered Affinity and dropped Adobe so fast!

How do you find Affinity. My problem is having to learn a whole new set of applications and not being able to share with files in the industry who require Adobe files

 

[edubfromktown]

How do you find Affinity. My problem is having to learn a whole new set of applications and not being able to share with files in the industry who require Adobe files

I am also finding it a big challenge to learn a new application. I started with LR3 and have been brainwashed into convenience/familiarity and task/workflow efficiency to some extent haha