Paying intermittently for lightroom

[Blas5CC3]

Hi! I'm a student with a budget a little tight, and I want lightroom for scanning negatives mainly. So, if I pay lightroom one month, then don't pay for two or three months, do all the settings I made (like plugins, profiles, presets, etc.) stay there and work when I pay again? Or does lightroom lose any settings I made and I have to start anew?

[dj_paige]

If you don't pay every month, you lose access to the software. There is no plan where you can only pay when you need to use the software.

Lightroom Classic does not lose anything when your subscription expires or is not paid; the software still works (except for the Map module and the Develop module) and all of your work is intact.

[ManiacJoe]

Lightroom is a yearly subscription. You can play once at the full amount or in monthly installments, but there is no monthly pay as you go.

[Conrad C]

If you're mainly scanning negatives, then you might try one of the open source, free Lightroom alternatives such as DarkTable or LightZone.

[Rob_Cullen]

And a warning-  TBMK -A subscription to Lightroom is a 12month Contract. If you cancel the subscription you are liable for 50% of the remaining months of the contract. So: Use 1 month & cancel- you must pay for another 5.5 months!

[Blas5CC3]

But lightroom specifically says you actually can pay month to month without having to pay due to cancelling

[richardplondon]

It is important to be very clear about the differences between Lightroom, and Lightroom Classic. The widely used Photography bundle includes Lightroom, Lightroom Classic and Photoshop - on a yearly renewal basis. Otherwise you can get all these applications among many others, within an "All Apps" plan which can be on a yearly or a monthly renewing plan. Monthly plans cost about 50% more per month, than yearly plans cost per month. 

Those are the only two ways to subscribe to Lightroom Classic. 

Lightroom (non-Classic) is available in the Photography bundle, in All Apps, or else on its own.

Adobe subscription prices are often stated per month, as well as per year. But those are just two billing alternatives, in the case of an annual plan. So you can have either "Annual plan - prepaid" or else "Annual plan - monthly installments".

The original Adobe Photoshop Lightroom passed through various slight name-changes, but is now called "Lightroom Classic". Under current naming, what is now called "Lightroom" (without the Classic) is a more recently introduced, cloud-centric system. That requires signing-in to an active subscription (for both the desktop version / the web based version of the software) in order to work. Photoshop is the same so far as requiring an active subscription in order to operate.

Lightroom Classic is different: it has some cloud-based working options, and uses sign-in over an internet connection for licensing - but is otherwise purely based around locally-stored files and Catalog. While you have an active subscription everything works; if that ever terminates, your local image library and the software do carry on working. You can still access all your edited images and output them as usual; but further brand new editing is restricted, unless/until a paid subscription is once again active. 

[dj_paige]

But lightroom specifically says you actually can pay month to month without having to pay due to cancelling

Exactly where does it say that? Give us the link.

Because I see you have to pay monthly and are liable for 50% of the rest of the contract if you decide to end the subscription. https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-lightroom/pricing-info.html