Adobe Tests Doubling the Price of Photography Plan With Photoshop and Lightroom

[pavinder]

Everybody seems to be completely missing the point.

The $9.99 plan comes with 20GB of online storage.
The $19.99 plan has 1TB of storage.

So you're simply paying an extra $10/month for 980 GB of storage, which for those who need it (Lightroom CC users with large collections perhaps) the price may be quite reasonable. For those of us who don't use the cloud for photo storage, we don't need this extra space, so we don't pay for it and we stick with the cheaper (non-storage) plan. Easy.

 

[WinstonRumfoord]

Are they serious?!

I understand charging for software but Adobe are greedy especially considering they have some pretty strong competition now.

Not just increasing the price...oh no...we're going to double it! Well that's the decision made for me.

A sane move would have been to up the price to $11.99, or really anything that wasn't an instant TWO HUNDRED PERCENT INCREASE.

 

[JosephAW]

Still have my purchased versions of older CS installed on desktops. Never upgraded to subscription model.

 

[Mahasamatman]

Interesting. Adobe.com for the UK has three options for Photography plans:

1. All the apps (both versions of LR and Photoshop) plus 20GB of storage for £9.99
2. As for 1 but with 1TB of storage for £19.99
3. Lightroom only plus 1TB of storage for £9.99

So the early comments I read about "If they force me to the £19.99 scheme, I'll leave" seem to be based on FUD rather than anything Adobe has in terms of pricing on their site.

I'm currently on plan 3 and see no reason to move to either of the other schemes as I never really used any of the capabilities of Photoshop and PS Express/Fix on my iPad Pro work well enough for the additional edits I do.

 

[anthb]

But Capture 1 is either a serious one off price or no different to Adobe at GBP 20.00 a month so how is that being touted as an alternative (on cost alone)?

 

[LordVic]

I just wish Adobe would bring back a perpetual license for Lightroom.

I'm amateur as can be. Last time I bought lightroom i used the same version fine for like 5 years. I definitely got my moneys worth. This new SaaS model means that over those same 5 years, I'm going to end up spending nearly 3 times what I used to pay for.

 

[mytdave]

I switched to Pixelmator a long time ago, never looked back.

 

[Mahasamatman]

But Capture 1 is either a serious one off price or no different to Adobe at GBP 20.00 a month so how is that being touted as an alternative (on cost alone)?

£299 outright or £20 per month with no offline storage doesn't qualify as an alternative IMHO.

 

[notabadname]

I’ve been a Creative Cloud subscriber for a long time. The end is coming - soon apparently.

 

[Momof9]

I have the 9.99 sub. when I look at- site, I still have the ability to select the storage size, which affects the pricing. I see the same pricing whether signed in or not.

 

[Mahasamatman]

In the UK we have:

https://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud/photography/compare-plans.html?promoid=952G4WLC&mv=other

 

[joueboy]

As a Fujifilm shooter moving to Capture One was the best decision and my photos is rendered beautiful.

 

[doctor-don]

As a serious hobbyist, I can justify the $10/month rate. I cannot justify twice that. I would probably go LR only for that price then find a PS alternative.

Terrible decision. They'll drive so many away to C1, Skylum etc...

Since Graphic Converter first was available, that's practically all I have been using to edit my photos. I have used PS for special effects, but the cost was pretty high (CS3). $9.99 PER MONTH is ridiculous! Doubling the price is beyond ridiculous.

 

[nt5672]

Still on Photoshop CS6 and Sierra. I don't know what I will do because I know I will eventually need to upgrade.

Thats me. Keep the old computer around just to run Adobe when needed.

 

[Bigj6362]

As a serious hobbyist, I can justify the $10/month rate. I cannot justify twice that. I would probably go LR only for that price then find a PS alternative.

This is exactly what I did. five months ago I dropped Photoshop and went Pixelmator Pro. During my transition away from Aperture I skipped over LR and went Capture1. I'm done being raked over the monthly subscription coals.

(and let this be a warning to any other company I pay subscription fees to. I will drop you like a hat if you try things like this.)

 

[doctor-don]

The comments are going to be filled with a lot of upset users.

Photographer: Doesn't blink at spending $1500-5000 on a new lens, or $3000-5000 on a new camera body, or $300-800 on a new tripod, or $400-900 on a new flash, or $150 a pop on new UHS-II SD cards, or $800-3000 on a Thunderbolt RAID setup and SSDs, or $3000-7000 on a new Mac, or $800-2000 on a second and third display, or thousands of dollars on lighting equipment and backdrops and travel and paying models and grips.

Also photographer: Freaks out at having to pay Adobe a couple hundred bucks a year to edit, organize, share, and store all of their photos.

Y'all suck.

You have more than doubled the costs - at the lower end of what you think photogs pay. The only ones who pay your prices might be ones who employers pay for their equipment.

 

[mollyc]

Since Graphic Converter first was available, that's practically all I have been using to edit my photos. I have used PS for special effects, but the cost was pretty high (CS3). $9.99 PER MONTH is ridiculous! Doubling the price is beyond ridiculous.

I am in Photoshop literally almost every day. I shoot 5-7x a week on average, and generally edit as I go. For me, $10/month is NOT ridiculous. While you may get by with other programs, I've been using PS for nearly 20 years and am not looking forward to having to find another workflow. You may pay $10, $20 or a $100/month on something that I wouldn't find value in, but that doesn't mean it is inherently ridiculous.

That said, it looks like Adobe has already backed away from their "test" as most people are now easily finding the $10/month option again, rather than it being hidden.

 

[Lee_Bo]

The comments are going to be filled with a lot of upset users.

Photographer: Doesn't blink at spending $1500-5000 on a new lens, or $3000-5000 on a new camera body, or $300-800 on a new tripod, or $400-900 on a new flash, or $150 a pop on new UHS-II SD cards, or $800-3000 on a Thunderbolt RAID setup and SSDs, or $3000-7000 on a new Mac, or $800-2000 on a second and third display, or thousands of dollars on lighting equipment and backdrops and travel and paying models and grips.

Also photographer: Freaks out at having to pay Adobe a couple hundred bucks a year to edit, organize, share, and store all of their photos.

Y'all suck.

I might....MIGHT...have $2000 total invested in all my gear. So yes, $120 a year, to me, is a lot of money. As a hobbiests photographer I don't sell my photos so this isn't a source of income for me.

 

[skinned66]

So how are you liking SaaS?
[doublepost=1556888044][/doublepost]

I might....MIGHT...have $2000 total invested in all my gear. So yes, $120 a year, to me, is a lot of money. As a hobbiests photographer I don't sell my photos so this isn't a source of income for me.

My CS6 stuff still works, is paid for and never once increased in price. Sure the up front cost was more, but it was not recurring and it was a long term purchase at the time.

 

[Lee_Bo]

The bottom line is Adobe is like Apple. They will raise their prices to whatever they want and people will still pay it.

 

[maverick28]

"We are currently running a number of tests on Adobe.com" - haha, nice try.
That's how they call a price increase now - "running tests". Whomever thought that up was smart.
I just wonder if they work along these guidelines https://blog.hubspot.com/service/price-increase

An excerpt:
"
1. Announce the price increase directly to customers.
Imagine if your Spotify Premium bill increased from $9.99 to $14.99 per month without your knowledge or consent. You would be pretty mad, right?

It's completely unfair for a customer to suddenly find out there has been a price increase in their product. If a price increase occurs, make sure you go through your list of all customers who use that product and let them know about the change. If possible, it's an added bonus to address each letter to each individual customer to further personalize the process.

2. Let customers know well in advance.
You should provide your customers with plenty of time to come to terms with the price increase. They may need to re-assess their budget or consider alternative options, so you should keep them in the loop as soon as you're made aware of the situation. Additionally, you should encourage them to make one or more orders of the product before the price increase kicks in.

3. Remind them that higher prices mean better quality.
It can be confusing to customers why a price increase would be necessary, especially if they've been purchasing the same product for months or years. This makes it vital that you stress the importance of product quality.

Typically, products increase in price to match higher operating costs, increases in hires, or increases in prices of materials. To ensure the same level of high quality, sometimes you have to raise the price.
"
..the rest follows

 

[MMM.PWR]

Safest thing to do is to just buy a years worth ahead. That’s what I just did. Now if the price does go up I won’t have to deal with it until this time next year, when maybe there will be clearly equal or better options.

 

[Dranix]

Photoshop stand-alone used to cost $699 ($349 for education pricing), Lightroom 6 $149.

$9.99 per month or $119.88 per year with the Photography Plan, gave a false sense of the true cost of the apps, and made it more accessible for many. Even at double the price for the subscription, it’s still much more affordable than it used to be.

But this is only valid for people wanting that ****** Photoshop - pure Lightroom users are ****ed.

 

[2013.1]

The comments are going to be filled with a lot of upset users.

Photographer: Doesn't blink at spending $1500-5000 on a new lens, or $3000-5000 on a new camera body, or $300-800 on a new tripod, or $400-900 on a new flash, or $150 a pop on new UHS-II SD cards, or $800-3000 on a Thunderbolt RAID setup and SSDs, or $3000-7000 on a new Mac, or $800-2000 on a second and third display, or thousands of dollars on lighting equipment and backdrops and travel and paying models and grips.

Also photographer: Freaks out at having to pay Adobe a couple hundred bucks a year to edit, organize, share, and store all of their photos.

Y'all suck.

They would freak out if they had no choice but to rent their lenses.

 

[travelsheep]

I made the big switch last year.

Now running FCPX, Pixelmator Pro, Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher.

Never looked back.