Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Adobe Creative Suite charges

ProjectManager101

ProjectManager101

Suspended
Original poster
Jul 12, 2015
458
722
Hello guys

I have this question and may be you can help me.

I am using one application from the creative suite and I am paying X amount. For a month I will need 5 applications and I would have to pay XX amount. What if I need those 5 applications for just that month and no more until... 4 more months?

Is there a way to switch the packaged monthly?

Thank you.
 
ProjectManager101 said:
Hello guys

I have this question and may be you can help me.

I am using one application from the creative suite and I am paying X amount. For a month I will need 5 applications and I would have to pay XX amount. What if I need those 5 applications for just that month and no more until... 4 more months?

Is there a way to switch the packaged monthly?

Thank you.
Click to expand...

You can turn it off and on as needed. So if after a month you won't need them for another few months turn it off and then back on again once you find that you need to use them again.
 
styymy said:
You can turn it off and on as needed. So if after a month you won't need them for another few months turn it off and then back on again once you find that you need to use them again.
Click to expand...

The 'monthly' price you see quoted for CC is either an annual upfront payment divided by twelve, or the price for a guaranteed twelve-month commitment. Paying month-to-month for either the single application or full bundle packages is significantly more expensive.
 
Jim Campbell said:
The 'monthly' price you see quoted for CC is either an annual upfront payment divided by twelve, or the price for a guaranteed twelve-month commitment. Paying month-to-month for either the single application or full bundle packages is significantly more expensive.
Click to expand...

for "CC Complete" there's also a "monthly plan" that's different than the "annual plan, paid monthly".....$79.99 vs $49.99. (link)

Yes, you pay more but are only signed up for a single month of using it.
 
For the whole creative cloud package, I pay $240 a year.. Much better then the cs5,4,3 days of paying $1400 a year every time an update came out...
 
pwhitehead said:
For the whole creative cloud package, I pay $240 a year.. Much better then the cs5,4,3 days of paying $1400 a year every time an update came out...
Click to expand...

How on earth are you paying so little? The 12-month CC price for me is £548 (which is $856)… I thought the US price was ~$50/mth, which is still $600. CC works out way more expensive than the annual-to-eighteen-monthly upgrade price on my Design Standard CS package.
 
Jim Campbell said:
How on earth are you paying so little? The 12-month CC price for me is £548 (which is $856)… I thought the US price was ~$50/mth, which is still $600. CC works out way more expensive than the annual-to-eighteen-monthly upgrade price on my Design Standard CS package.
Click to expand...


He's probably on a 'student' plan.
 
Jim Campbell said:
How on earth are you paying so little? The 12-month CC price for me is £548 (which is $856)… I thought the US price was ~$50/mth, which is still $600. CC works out way more expensive than the annual-to-eighteen-monthly upgrade price on my Design Standard CS package.
Click to expand...

I work for an educational institution as a video editor... So I pay $19.99 a month and if I were to leave that job, because I was already an existing CC member... I would only have to pay $29.99 a month. So there you have it.
 
pwhitehead said:
I work for an educational institution as a video editor... So I pay $19.99 a month and if I were to leave that job, because I was already an existing CC member... I would only have to pay $29.99 a month. So there you have it.
Click to expand...
I find it hard to believe that you would only pay $29.99 for the whole CC suite. That might be for a limited time, a year at most but later it would increase, unless you were to remain a student indefinitely. If you plan on using the creative suite commercially (as opposed to being a student) then you would have to pay a much higher price.
 
pwhitehead said:
I work for an educational institution as a video editor... So I pay $19.99 a month and if I were to leave that job, because I was already an existing CC member... I would only have to pay $29.99 a month. So there you have it.
Click to expand...

Well, then you weren't paying $1400/yr before CC, were you? Unless your move into education came at the same time as your move to CC, in which case, the saving is as much a part of the edu discount as the CC scheme. For the vast majority of users, CC works out significantly more expensive than the old upgrade cycle.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mw360
Jim Campbell said:
Well, then you weren't paying $1400/yr before CC, were you? Unless your move into education came at the same time as your move to CC, in which case, the saving is as much a part of the edu discount as the CC scheme. For the vast majority of users, CC works out significantly more expensive than the old upgrade cycle.
Click to expand...

My first ever version of Adobe programs I bought was CS5 and up. I bought CS5 because I got a nice discount when I bought my first macbook pro back in like 2007... Before 2007 I never paid for adobe products... It was one of those things I just wanted but never really used the products to make money like I do now. When adobe finally went to CC after the second update to CS6 is when I started paying for the subscription like everyone else. I think instead of people freaking out about the subscription plan being so expensive, they need to look for ways to pay off that year as fast as possible doing freelance jobs. I paid for my subscription doing 1 job when I shot a dance shot and made the cover for their DVD's. I can see peoples argument of having to rent the software, but its not like adobe owns your projects. Yes you cant open your projects without having the software, but there is so many benefits to having a creative cloud account its stupid. I've been using this products since way before adobe bought out macromedia... Even if I had to pay 49.99 a month, I would still be using adobe products and still making money using adobe products too...
 
pwhitehead said:
For the whole creative cloud package, I pay $240 a year.. Much better then the cs5,4,3 days of paying $1400 a year every time an update came out...
Click to expand...

Many don't need the newest features, and probably didn't upgrade yearly back in the CS days. And if they paid educational prices, it could be as little as $600 spread over 2-3 years.

Personally, I wish Adobe would drop current prices now that this subscription model has gained acceptance. While I doubt they're in any danger of losing their position on top, that company Serif is coming out with a lot of interesting apps.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JackRoch
MechaSpanky said:
I find it hard to believe that you would only pay $29.99 for the whole CC suite. That might be for a limited time, a year at most but later it would increase, unless you were to remain a student indefinitely. If you plan on using the creative suite commercially (as opposed to being a student) then you would have to pay a much higher price.
Click to expand...

Correct. I'm currently on the $29.99 monthly plan, but that expires in April, one year after it was offered. It's a nice way of easing you back into full price after student/teacher pricing.
 
satchmo said:
Many don't need the newest features, and probably didn't upgrade yearly back in the CS days. And if they paid educational prices, it could be as little as $600 spread over 2-3 years.

Personally, I wish Adobe would drop current prices now that this subscription model has gained acceptance. While I doubt they're in any danger of losing their position on top, that company Serif is coming out with a lot of interesting apps.
Click to expand...

Yeah, if most customers were paying full price every year, Adobe wouldn't have felt the need to go to the subscription model. The subscription model was needed because many users did _not_ need to upgrade continuously (Heck, I'm still on CS6 myself (and I only have that because I could get it at edu discount), and work with typesetters using 5.5).

And I wouldn't expect a price drop from Adobe unless someone like Serif starts to bite into market share.
 
spacedcadet said:
There really should be more flexible packages, it seems to be either Photography, or EVERYTHING. As a print designer I only really need Ps, Illy and InDesign.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. I'd gladly pay € 30-40/month for these three + Acrobat Pro. But € 70/month when I don't need 3/4 of all the apps keeps me on CS6 for as long as possible.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sigmadog
Abiatha Swelter said:
And I wouldn't expect a price drop from Adobe unless someone like Serif starts to bite into market share.
Click to expand...

My introductory pricing ended after two years so it went up to the regular $49.99/month for me. I can afford it, but it was enough pain to make me consider if I was getting good value or if I was simply buying Adobe products because it was a habit. I have a business so I don't like to waste time quibbling about modest expenditures, but I also can't be handing out money just because me and Adobe go way back.

It made me realize, I rarely use my Adobe products. I subscribed just in case I needed them, but when the cost of convenience jumped up to $600/year it hit the threshhold to trigger the "Do I really need all of this" decision. I'm a developer and a Photographer and I have issues with Lightroom so their main value to me is Photoshop, but as projects get more and more complex and visual assets become easier to come by, I spend less and less time using anything serious in Photoshop and so in most months, I was basically paying a lot of money to have an image resizing tool that I was used to.

spacedcadet said:
There really should be more flexible packages, it seems to be either Photography, or EVERYTHING. As a print designer I only really need Ps, Illy and InDesign.
Click to expand...

I'm a freelancer and a full stack Web developer so their code oriented tools should be where I find my value, except that I don't care for any of them and only touch them briefly when a client needs something very specific, which isn't that often. I hate Flash and Dreamweaver and I don't see enough reason to switch to Adobe Edge from Tumult Hype 3. It was really annoying me to think that outside of Photoshop, I was actually paying to keep programs I despise around "just in case."

So, I'm now getting used to Affinity Photo and Designer. I won't lie and say it's a smooth transition. If I could keep my plan at $29.99/month, I'd sweep my discomfort with my habit of always paying money to Adobe under the rug for at least another year and not have to think about it for another 12 months, but when you start to feel like you're getting gouged, you start to make decisions based on pride and you'll do anything to avoid paying anything more than you absolutely have to.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: opeter and spacedcadet
smirking said:
It was really annoying me to think that outside of Photoshop, I was actually paying to keep programs I despise around "just in case."

So, I'm now getting used to Affinity Photo and Designer. I won't lie and say it's a smooth transition. If I could keep my plan at $29.99/month, I'd sweep my discomfort with my habit of always paying money to Adobe under the rug for at least another year and not have to think about it for another 12 months, but when you start to feel like you're getting gouged, you start to make decisions based on pride and you'll do anything to avoid paying anything more than you absolutely have to.
Click to expand...

Have you looked at the $10/mth Photoshop & Lightroom package? Might be a good compromise.

As you alluded to, the presence of new HTML/web based apps like Tumult, Macaw, and Webflow, will lessen the need to rely solely on Adobe products.

I really only need InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop (maybe Muse). Adobe knows these three apps are the cornerstone of the Creative Cloud. If this was offered at $25/month and the complete CC at $40/mth, I'd sign up. Until then, I'll stay on CS6.
 
spacedcadet said:
There really should be more flexible packages, it seems to be either Photography, or EVERYTHING. As a print designer I only really need Ps, Illy and InDesign.
Click to expand...
satchmo said:
Have you looked at the $10/mth Photoshop & Lightroom package? Might be a good compromise.
Click to expand...

Yup, I considered that, but with Affinity Photo being only $50 and me not really needing PS too much as of late, I figured I'd give Affinity Photo a go. It works well, but the workflow is different and causes friction still.
 
pwhitehead said:
For the whole creative cloud package, I pay $240 a year.. Much better then the cs5,4,3 days of paying $1400 a year every time an update came out...
Click to expand...

Why would you have updated every year? There hasn't been a massive update in years to the suite.
 
smirking said:
Yup, I considered that, but with Affinity Photo being only $50 and me not really needing PS too much as of late, I figured I'd give Affinity Photo a go. It works well, but the workflow is different and causes friction still.
Click to expand...

I bought Affinity Photo and it's quite good, but since you can't make opacity and size pressure dependent when using a wacom tablet it can't replace Photoshop for me yet. I also tried Pixelmator, but this one has no propper adjustment layers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back