Adobe subscription 50% increase - alternatives?
Discussion
Just had an email from Adobe to say my subscription for lightroom etc will be going up soon by about 50%.
Seems like some heavy gouging and I'm reluctant to pay that much for corporate greed, any good alternatives around or cheaper plan options?
All I really use of the package is lightroom classic, but it was cheaper to get the 'photographers package' than lightroom on its own when they got rid of the one-off purchase option.
Seems like some heavy gouging and I'm reluctant to pay that much for corporate greed, any good alternatives around or cheaper plan options?
All I really use of the package is lightroom classic, but it was cheaper to get the 'photographers package' than lightroom on its own when they got rid of the one-off purchase option.
Edited by GravelBen on Saturday 16th August 10:42
There's lots of alternatives out there. I've been helping someone with GIMP. I tried it years ago; didn't get on with the interface, but it's changed significantly. For free, it's unbeatable. I'm impressed.
I use Affinity Photo2. They offer a trial period. You could give that a go. I recommend it, and not only for the remarkably low price. It's recently changed hands and although they've sort of denied they are going subscription, many doubt it. If they do, I'll keep their latest (you buy it outright) and go for GIMP as well.
Paint Shop Pro was great when I used it. I assume it's stayed up to date. I can't remember why I stopped using it. They used to offer a trial.
Capture One Pro. I've heard good things. Not tried it.
PS Elements.
Read the reviews, see what one suits your needs, and then try a free option.
For me, the interface is the critical point. Forget the, 'you have to buy this/that/the best/get what you paid for (really? With Adobe?/whatever'. You'll be using it on a regular basis. If something irritates you, or you find difficult, it will torment you.
I use Affinity Photo2. They offer a trial period. You could give that a go. I recommend it, and not only for the remarkably low price. It's recently changed hands and although they've sort of denied they are going subscription, many doubt it. If they do, I'll keep their latest (you buy it outright) and go for GIMP as well.
Paint Shop Pro was great when I used it. I assume it's stayed up to date. I can't remember why I stopped using it. They used to offer a trial.
Capture One Pro. I've heard good things. Not tried it.
PS Elements.
Read the reviews, see what one suits your needs, and then try a free option.
For me, the interface is the critical point. Forget the, 'you have to buy this/that/the best/get what you paid for (really? With Adobe?/whatever'. You'll be using it on a regular basis. If something irritates you, or you find difficult, it will torment you.
quite a few alternatives to Adobe, I left them years ago and never looked back.
I tried ON1 at first but it was too resource intensive and became unusable very quickly.
I then tried Capture One free, was very impressed with it and got the Sony version. That was stopped and I got the Capture One pro version and am now on subscription. Its a superb RAW editor especially if you take a lot of photos that benefit from batch processing, more detail extracted than LR, colour rendition better, no need to use a catalogue, lots of different AI assist, skin colour and superb retouch tools, and more besides. I use it virtually for all my editing without needing another editor but it's not a cost saving on Adobe (Not sure about the price rise you mention though)?.
If you don't do much in likes of numbers of shots there is Affinity Photo 2 - RAW editing included then as a PS replacement. It is really good and extremely good value if price is important to you.
I tried ON1 at first but it was too resource intensive and became unusable very quickly.
I then tried Capture One free, was very impressed with it and got the Sony version. That was stopped and I got the Capture One pro version and am now on subscription. Its a superb RAW editor especially if you take a lot of photos that benefit from batch processing, more detail extracted than LR, colour rendition better, no need to use a catalogue, lots of different AI assist, skin colour and superb retouch tools, and more besides. I use it virtually for all my editing without needing another editor but it's not a cost saving on Adobe (Not sure about the price rise you mention though)?.
If you don't do much in likes of numbers of shots there is Affinity Photo 2 - RAW editing included then as a PS replacement. It is really good and extremely good value if price is important to you.
I think it depends what your priorities are. I have Affinity 2 and Dxo photolab (7) , i've tried ON1.
I photograph birds and often use very high isos - producing noise. For processing RAW pictures, getting rid of noise and doing lens correction Photolab is great. However it's poor at getting rid of pesky cars people and wires. Not great at weeding out and organising your pics either. Photolab is much cheaper than Lightroom, but much more expensive than ON1 or Affinity
ON1 is much better at object removal - but, astonishliy, my Android phone (Android 15) is much better at that - better than anything else I've used.No good at RAW processing, so you have to do that first, before object removal. i'll give you an instance of the sort of object removal my phone can do. I have a picture where a car completely obscures one leg of a guy sitting on a bench, Using the "magic eraser" the car gets removed and the guy acquires the missing leg complete with matching jeans and shoes in a completely natural pose. It really is "magic"!
Affinity has only limited RAW processing capability, so although it's a good all rounder, I don't tend to use it.
There aare free trials of ON1, Affinity and Photolab, (and other options) so I'd give them all a try
I photograph birds and often use very high isos - producing noise. For processing RAW pictures, getting rid of noise and doing lens correction Photolab is great. However it's poor at getting rid of pesky cars people and wires. Not great at weeding out and organising your pics either. Photolab is much cheaper than Lightroom, but much more expensive than ON1 or Affinity
ON1 is much better at object removal - but, astonishliy, my Android phone (Android 15) is much better at that - better than anything else I've used.No good at RAW processing, so you have to do that first, before object removal. i'll give you an instance of the sort of object removal my phone can do. I have a picture where a car completely obscures one leg of a guy sitting on a bench, Using the "magic eraser" the car gets removed and the guy acquires the missing leg complete with matching jeans and shoes in a completely natural pose. It really is "magic"!
Affinity has only limited RAW processing capability, so although it's a good all rounder, I don't tend to use it.
There aare free trials of ON1, Affinity and Photolab, (and other options) so I'd give them all a try
I got my 12month Adobe Creative Cloud package (Lightroom & Photoshop) through an Amazon Black Friday Sale. Just checked the order and it was £62.99 back in Nov 2024. I will see how much it is in the same sale this year, but it seems a much cheaper option than paying a monthly subscription.
djsmith74 said:
I got my 12month Adobe Creative Cloud package (Lightroom & Photoshop) through an Amazon Black Friday Sale. Just checked the order and it was £62.99 back in Nov 2024. I will see how much it is in the same sale this year, but it seems a much cheaper option than paying a monthly subscription.
The 20GB plan was retired at the start of this year alongside these price increases, it's just the 1TB plan now, so expect a hefty bump up even if it is black Friday. eltawater said:
djsmith74 said:
I got my 12month Adobe Creative Cloud package (Lightroom & Photoshop) through an Amazon Black Friday Sale. Just checked the order and it was £62.99 back in Nov 2024. I will see how much it is in the same sale this year, but it seems a much cheaper option than paying a monthly subscription.
The 20GB plan was retired at the start of this year alongside these price increases, it's just the 1TB plan now, so expect a hefty bump up even if it is black Friday. Thanks for the suggestions, I'll have a look at those other options though it looks like Capture One is even more expensive than Adobe.
Good suggestion re looking out for a sale price via other retailers on annual subscription, I didn't realise they did that. How does that work when you're already subscribed? Do you have to cancel your existing subscription then activate a new one, or does it just stack onto your account and activate automatically as a renewal?
The email says my 20GB photography plan is going up from ~NZ$19/mo ($230/yr) to ~NZ$29/mo ($350/yr), which at least is significantly less than the 1TB photography plan (NZ$39/mo) which is the only way they offer it to new subscribers now.
Lightroom with 1TB is listed at ~NZ$23/mo ($276/yr) but it doesn't say if that is about to go up as well - might be a better option for me now as I'm generally quite happy with what Lightroom can do (especially with developments like ai denoise and masking etc) and have only used Photoshop once in a blue moon. I only got the CC package originally as it was cheaper than Lightroom alone.
I don't use their cloud storage at all, I wish I could remove that from the package instead of being forced to pay for something I never use in order to get what I do use.
Good suggestion re looking out for a sale price via other retailers on annual subscription, I didn't realise they did that. How does that work when you're already subscribed? Do you have to cancel your existing subscription then activate a new one, or does it just stack onto your account and activate automatically as a renewal?
The email says my 20GB photography plan is going up from ~NZ$19/mo ($230/yr) to ~NZ$29/mo ($350/yr), which at least is significantly less than the 1TB photography plan (NZ$39/mo) which is the only way they offer it to new subscribers now.
Lightroom with 1TB is listed at ~NZ$23/mo ($276/yr) but it doesn't say if that is about to go up as well - might be a better option for me now as I'm generally quite happy with what Lightroom can do (especially with developments like ai denoise and masking etc) and have only used Photoshop once in a blue moon. I only got the CC package originally as it was cheaper than Lightroom alone.
I don't use their cloud storage at all, I wish I could remove that from the package instead of being forced to pay for something I never use in order to get what I do use.
Edited by GravelBen on Monday 18th August 00:02
GravelBen said:
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll have a look at those other options though it looks like Capture One is even more expensive than Adobe.
Good suggestion re looking out for a sale price via other retailers on annual subscription, I didn't realise they did that. How does that work when you're already subscribed? Do you have to cancel your existing subscription then activate a new one, or does it just stack onto your account and activate automatically as a renewal?
The email says my 20GB photography plan is going up from ~NZ$19/mo ($230/yr) to ~NZ$29/mo ($350/yr), which at least is significantly less than the 1TB photography plan (NZ$39/mo) which is the only way they offer it to new subscribers now.
Lightroom with 1TB is listed at ~NZ$23/mo ($276/yr) but it doesn't say if that is about to go up as well - might be a better option for me now as I'm generally quite happy with what Lightroom can do (especially with developments like ai denoise and masking etc) and have only used Photoshop once in a blue moon. I only got the CC package originally as it was cheaper than Lightroom alone.
I don't use their cloud storage at all, I wish I could remove that from the package instead of being forced to pay for something I never use in order to get what I do use.
I went from a monthly subscription for Lightroom to an annual one, bought from Amazon, and it just effectively stacks up in your account. So when you cancel the monthly one, the annual one kicks in at the end of the active month. Good suggestion re looking out for a sale price via other retailers on annual subscription, I didn't realise they did that. How does that work when you're already subscribed? Do you have to cancel your existing subscription then activate a new one, or does it just stack onto your account and activate automatically as a renewal?
The email says my 20GB photography plan is going up from ~NZ$19/mo ($230/yr) to ~NZ$29/mo ($350/yr), which at least is significantly less than the 1TB photography plan (NZ$39/mo) which is the only way they offer it to new subscribers now.
Lightroom with 1TB is listed at ~NZ$23/mo ($276/yr) but it doesn't say if that is about to go up as well - might be a better option for me now as I'm generally quite happy with what Lightroom can do (especially with developments like ai denoise and masking etc) and have only used Photoshop once in a blue moon. I only got the CC package originally as it was cheaper than Lightroom alone.
I don't use their cloud storage at all, I wish I could remove that from the package instead of being forced to pay for something I never use in order to get what I do use.
Edited by GravelBen on Monday 18th August 00:02
GravelBen said:
All I really use of the package is lightroom classic, but it was cheaper to get the 'photographers package' than lightroom on its own when they got rid of the one-off purchase option.
If all you need is an alternative to Lightroom, then there are many alternatives out there, some with a one-off payment.I'm using Adobe Bridge at the moment, but I'm running up against its limitations. I also organise and catalogue my images in other ways as well, with folders, cross reference files and that sort of thing. I'm considering opting for one of the LR alternatives. I can't recommend any as I haven't tried them, but most appear to have trial periods. (OT: I'd appreciate the views of users of alternatives perhaps as much as you.)
If, as you say, you hardly use PS and shun the supplied storage, it seems as if you've picked an expensive route.
Fallingup said:
PS and LR are so good now they've integrated AI capabilities. I don't think there is an alternative.
I didn't consider LR because of the cost. However I thought I'd get a trial and see if it really was worth the cost, having tried several of the alternatives.. I have to say I was disappointed. For the business of editing photos (but not cataloging them) I find Photolab both easier to use and simply better. The AI object removal in LR is very disappointing - ON1 is significantly better and my Android phones (Android 15 and 16) are in a totally different league.After some research ON1 Photo Raw looks like the best value alternative, I'll download the trial and have a play around with it over the weekend.
DXO Photolab gets the best reviews for raw processing and denoise etc, but at5x 4x the price of ON1 I'll only go that way if I find ON1 really isn't good enough.
DXO Photolab gets the best reviews for raw processing and denoise etc, but at
Edited by GravelBen on Friday 22 August 10:29
GravelBen said:
After some research ON1 Photo Raw looks like the best value alternative, I'll download the trial and have a play around with it over the weekend.
DXO Photolab gets the best reviews for raw processing and denoise etc, but at 5x the price of ON1 I'll only go that way if I find ON1 really isn't good enough.
I'd probably go along with that. I can only justify the cost of Photolab because bird photography means that noise reduction is a big deal - and Photolab is widely regarded as the best at that. That said the 5x price difference only applies if you get ON1 at its lowest discounted price and pay full proce for Photolab. Get photolab when it is discounted, as I did, and the difference is only half that. Still difficult for many to justify, I'd agree.DXO Photolab gets the best reviews for raw processing and denoise etc, but at 5x the price of ON1 I'll only go that way if I find ON1 really isn't good enough.
I've realised the 5x the price wasn't a fair comparison, I saw the listed price for ON1 and a sign-up link for a 50% discount, but the listed price already had a discount applied - so its more like 4x, still significant but not quite as much difference.
Current prices are NZ$413 ($240 USD) for DXO Photolab (unless I find a discount somewhere) vs NZ$102 for ON1 with.
So comparing with the current basic LR 1TB plan, ON1 costs about 4 months of LR and DXO costs about 18 months of LR - neither seems too bad in those terms.
Current prices are NZ$413 ($240 USD) for DXO Photolab (unless I find a discount somewhere) vs NZ$102 for ON1 with.
So comparing with the current basic LR 1TB plan, ON1 costs about 4 months of LR and DXO costs about 18 months of LR - neither seems too bad in those terms.
First go at processing in ON1 - seems capable of good results, very different interface to LR which will take a while to learn my way around - can guarantee I haven't got the best out of it on a first attempt.
Whisky Creek Falls by Ben, on Flickr
ISO160 so not really a test for noise reduction, I'll try a high ISO test shot later and see how that goes.
Whisky Creek Falls by Ben, on FlickrISO160 so not really a test for noise reduction, I'll try a high ISO test shot later and see how that goes.
singlecoil said:
I'm still paying £9.99 a month for PS. It has LR as well but I don't use it. I'll bet there are untold legions of hobbyists who could only dream of a hobby that only cost £10 a month.
If that was what regular cusomers were paying there would be far fewer looking for alternatives. Currently LR is £11.99/month and PS £21.98/month. (though there is a "New customers only" half price offer for 3 months on PS).Message Board | Photography & Video | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff