[Locked] Too expensive!

[KarlaBeattyArt]

Adobe CC full version is way too expensive. How do people manage $600 year?

[Abambo]

We are using Inkscape for those who do not need all the whistles and bells of Illustrator. It’s a great product. The same for Gimp.

But I would not like all the cloud.

[jakubkeller]

I don't understand the draw to make everything cloud-based either. I guarantee this is another fad that will go away, and hopefully soon!

We lose ourselves to the cloud, and we are at the hands of these massive corporations. I like to store my stuff, including the software I've purchased, on my own data stores thank you very much.

[Abambo]

Cloud is a buzzword. The Adobe software is working locally with some shared assets called libraries. The 100Gb cloud space are a convenient addition. Nothing special.

[Nancy OShea]

jakubkeller  wrote

I don't understand the draw to make everything cloud-based either. I guarantee this is another fad that will go away, and hopefully soon!

It's not going away.   Creative Cloud is a brand name. It is not cloud-based software.  Most apps like Photoshop and Illustrator are downloaded & installed on your local computer the same as before.  You store your work files on your local hard drive the same as before.   The only difference is the payment model and optional online services which come with it.  You're under no obligation to use the online services unless you want them. 

[dave1021]

Just wondering - do you do much switching between PS/GIMP - Illustrator/Inkscape? If so, how does that work for you? I've transferred PS files to GIMP, but I'm doing mostly simple touch-ups.

[anastazzzja]

Pricing is ABSOLUTELY UNNACCEPTABLE for an individual designer (Im talking from an eastern Europe perspective). I have to save up 1/3 of my above average monthly salary to keep up.

Bills are higher each year without any notice nor reason. Updates add "security" malvare instead of fixing bugs and the "support" is a joke, clearly nothing more than outsourcing a random call center.

Dishonest services like this, with shady goals and even worse attitude must be the worst direction possible that Adobe could have taken. Im sad to say, as I work with these products for more than 10years now and respect and enjoy them very much, Adobe expects us to pay AND support eachother so they can sit back and enjoy the money(? - Im really asking here, what is the point besides money, is there one?). Frankly: Im not fine with that, and dickery like this is already pushing too far in a society around us, it will blow up in Your faces as well, very soon. Fu.

[Abambo]

You are free to use a replacement service.

[ritwikr1510]

Not only for you guys.. it's hard and ILLOGICAL for us students too. We don't even earn, how are we supposed to manage that. And Adobe being the industry Standard we HAVE TO LEARN it's softwares and also given the fact that I am from India here the annual plan costs ₹41000. With that money I can buy a full fledged PC here.. So at the end me and my friends are like screw it.. just crack it..

[Abambo]

There are not only people complaining in India but also in other low income regions. There is no easy way to get this correct for everyone.

[ppinto1982]

Adobe CEO refuses to answer Australian pricing questions - YouTube

[sergiop76835182]

I found this new way to access adobe products extremely expensive for average person.  Rich people and corporations can pay this, but teachers with low income can not afford this.  Despite the discount for first year ONLY, it is very difficult.  We have to pay for every application we use in the classrooms.  Sorry Adobe, but I can not promote your products anymore among my students.

[Abambo]

The discount is also for subsequent years, but there is a discount on the teacher's discount for the first year.

[sergiop76835182]

Our school refuses to help teachers to pay for Adobe subscriptions alleging that they are too expensive.  Do you think it's time to reconsider this model.  Even $240 per year is expensive.  We don't use all the apps, but we have to pay for them.  Professionals who make money using your apps can certainly pay, but not students or teachers who are not making money from using Adobe.

[Abambo]

sergiop76835182  wrote

Our school refuses to help teachers to pay for Adobe subscriptions alleging that they are too expensive. 

Well that is a problem.

May I ask if they pay different software? And do they pay your computer?

I know, it is not easy, but there is more to consider. I agree: Adobe could do an effort. But on the other hand, I see students having no problem to by the most expensive hardware. It's always a trade off. All programs that are used in professional life are expensive. Look at Autocad, Maya, Ansys, ...

(disclaimer: I do not work for Adobe. So I do not endorse ​any commercial action from Adobe. But my experience is that Adobe products are getting cheaper with the subscription model.)

[sergiop76835182]

Yes, they pay for the essential programs that run in our computers, and we pay for some others.  For example, since 2005, I pay $9.99 for every new version of Microsoft Office (that includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.).  The most expensive applications that we renew every year cost no more than $49.99 per year.  The fact, that our school system can pay for the computer, doesn't mean they can pay for every program we consider helpful in education.  You said that student have no problem paying the yearly subscription or expensive hardware, but I'm am so sorry to say that you are very far from reality.  Yes, students in rich school districts may can afford (1% of the population), how about the other 99%.  You are right when you said that programs in professional life are expensive, but you are not talking to professionals, or people who make money from using your applications.  You are talking to people who are promoting and teaching how to use your products.  We are creating and promoting a further market for you.  Our students will be the professionals that would buy your products tomorrow.  That deserve a better recognition from your side.  I promise that making this product more affordable to people, will increase the number of customers and it would raise your margin of profit.  Why BMW, Mercedes Benz, Volvo, etc., are making cars more affordable today?  Because is better to sell 10,000 cars for $36,000 each than 100 for $70,000 each.  I'm glad to mentioned Autocad.  When I was in school, I took a class that required the use of Autocad.  Do you how much I paid for the program?  $0.  It was FREE for students.

[Ned Murphy]

Be aware of your use of the word "your" when answering people in your postings... you are talking to fellow users of Adobe products, not Adobe employees.  Everyone taking part in this discussion so far is a product user like yourself.

[sergiop76835182]

You are right, Ned. Thanks for this reminder.

[Abambo]

Well, I suppose BMW, Mercedez and the like still cost a fortune and I’m not driving one of those.

I’m also paying 100€ a year for my family MS office package, but I do not consider that equivalent to the Adobe products. I took the subscription because my kids needed it and they didn’t get their free version from the school anymore (because basically they left that school system and University does not provide the programs for free anymore). I‘m using office at work, but at home I was using LIbreOffice and it fit my needs. I’m using Thunderbird as an e-mail client and it fits my needs. But I’m using the Adobe programs for my layout and photography works, because it fits my needs. I do not use the MIcrosoft counterpart for typesetting because it does not fit my needs.

As a user and not an Adobe affiliate, I see that it costs some money to keep the subscription of CC. But the money I spend on other things like my mobile subscription, my video subscription, my music subscription etc. are also expensive.

I do not say that it is cheap. I do say that professional programs cost some money and that that money is needed to fund further development. Student subscriptions should fund the administrative costs. Not more, not less.

[edwinorlando]

You are right but not everyone have clients with the budget to afford this cost.

[Abambo]

edwinorlando  wrote

You are right but not everyone have clients with the budget to afford this cost.

I do not know which clients have not the budget to afford this, but I see a lot of clients who want to get their work done for free...

[cs_user]

It's funny, tonight I was actually considering taking the dive and paying $50/mo for everything, but after seeing this post and the explicit realization that $50/mo adds up to $600 a year, I was like: yea..... no.

Good luck Adobe. Thanks for the heads up on Affinity though, hadn't heard about that till now.

[Abambo]

Are you hobbyist or professional?

[alaska_joey]

i agree - prices me right out of the Adobe product world. And the lesser package plans didn't have the programs I wanted: Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and After Effects. So I said Goodbye to Adobe after 10 years.

Now I use Blackmagic's FREE Da Vinci for video, and Luminar for photos -

[kunald57802466]

Accepted. Even a newbie in the field of Web UI/UX designer, who cannot expect a client pretty soon, cannot even manage to give that much per year. Also, we need PS and Illustrator, but if we go with a single app purchase, it will cost $268.8, which is way high for an individual. And if I purchase PS and Illustrator together, I have to pay $580 per year. for what? We didn't ask for storage of 100GB at all.

I guess Adobe is an arrogant org, which just want money and doesn't feel ashamed of themselves for charging this high. Did you ever think what happens to the people who take it as a hobby or a freelance profession? Never.

And what their customer care says? We cannot do anything when I ask them to create a plan for us.

We should rely on the cracking community only. We cannot rely on Adobe for making the products price cheaper around 50-100USD a year.

[Abambo]

kunald57802466  wrote

I guess Adobe is an arrogant org, which just want money and doesn't feel ashamed of themselves for charging this high. Did you ever think what happens to the people who take it as a hobby or a freelance profession? Never.

Just for you to remember the street prices of the different Creative Suite packages:

Estimated street price for the suites is US$2,599 for CS6 Master Collection, US$1,899 for CS6 Production Premium, US$1,899 for CS6 Design & Web Premium, and US$1,299 for CS6 Design Standard.

(Adobe Creative Suite 6 Now Available ) Master was the all-apps equivalent, Production Premium was for video, Design&Web had the non-video tools (including Acrobat Pro) and Standard was basically a 3 App product (Illustrator, Photoshop -- not the extended version -- and Indesign, Acrobat Std), if I remember well. The included programs changed over the course of the years.

Now you would argue, that you would buy the package once and use for an eternity (perpetual). But that is not working as OS upgrades create incompatibilities, so your next computer will probably have trouble running some if not all of the programs. Windows was more permissive here than MacOS.

I do not remember the exact upgrade prices, but upgrading our 4 licenses of differently flavoured software packages was around 5000$. Because it was expensive, we did an upgrade for each second version only. At that time the pressure was increasing, because our files were not anymore compatible and files received could not be opened anymore without major caveats. That where 833 $/year/seat, without the cost for the initial buy.

Now, for a better product I have to shelve out less, I'm more flexible in the license handling -- and I can install on MacOS and Windows at my choice --and I can upgrade at my pace when needed.

These products were never meant for being used for hobby, even that there are some out doing this exactly as a hobby. For me at home, I had the Photography plan giving me access to a full fledged Photoshop for 10$/month.

If you are a freelancer with only sporadic need of an own license you can buy a monthly subscription, giving you the opportunity to cancel for the end of each month. No initial buy.

And what their customer care says? We cannot do anything when I ask them to create a plan for us.

What plan do you want? Call your car dealer and ask him or her to sell you a Mercedes, but you would not need this or that standard equipment, because you would not use it. Oh, and you would love to have the package at a lesser price, because you're not using the car professionally.

We should rely on the cracking community only.

OK, because you cannot afford the Mercedes and do not want to ride a bicycle, you find a dealer for stolen cars who makes you a good price. Using illegal software is...illegal and highly risky, not only from the legal pov. It could cost much more than 10 years of CC subscription at the end of the day.

We cannot rely on Adobe for making the products price cheaper around 50-100USD a year.

Buy the Elements products series or rely on the Open Software community and try to sell your freelance services with those products. I suppose that Adobe needs to pay their people and keep the investors happy. The costs of doing business would drive Adobe out of business at your prices.

Even a newbie in the field of Web UI/UX designer, who cannot expect a client pretty soon, cannot even manage to give that much per year.

How do you pay the rent and your food if you can't expect a client soon? You should change into an employee situation! Web UI/UX designers can rely on free products and that will be highly acceptable in that environment.