Adobe’s Photography Plan Sees Major Price Hike: Nearly $200 Increase Annually!

Adobe has revealed substantial alterations to the subscription structures for its well-liked Photography Plan, which encompasses the editing tools Photoshop and Lightroom.

Starting today, new subscribers to the package will encounter considerable price hikes; nonetheless, current users will be exempt from the price surge, provided – they convert to an annual, one-time payment to maintain their prior rate.

Consequently, Adobe has eliminated the ‘base’ Photography Plan that previously charged $171.84 AUD annually for 20GB of online storage.

Presently, new subscribers will be required to pay $371.84 per year, or $30.99 on a monthly basis, although this now includes 1TB of cloud storage. The earlier 1TB plan cost $343.07 annually.

On a monthly basis, if an existing user persists with their 20GB plan, the fee will rise from $14.29 ($171.47 per year) to $23.99 per month ($287.88 per year); however, this can be averted by switching to an annual, prepaid plan, which should remain at $171.47 per year. If you are currently subscribed to a monthly 20GB plan, be alert for an email from Adobe notifying you of the forthcoming changes to your plan.

Thus, the prior most economical entry into the Photographer’s package was $14.29 a month ($171.47). This will now rise to $30.99 a month ($371.84), effectively an increase of nearly $200.

On the Adobe FAQ page regarding the Creative Cloud Photography (20GB) price changes, the company has stated, “The Creative Cloud Photography plan (20GB) will cease to exist as of January 15, 2025, and will no longer be accessible to new subscribers. However, Adobe will continue to honour existing subscriptions until users choose to cancel.”

Under the heading of What is the price change for the Creative Cloud Photography plan (20GB), it mentions, ‘Annual prepaid: No increase, the price will stay at A$171.47 per year’.

Interestingly, upon reviewing my personal Adobe 20GB Photography Plan subscription profile page (which I have had since 2014), it currently indicates that my upcoming payment due in May 2025 will be for $191.93 – an increase of nearly $20. While it’s not a significant or unreasonable hike, there appears to be some inconsistent messaging. We have reached out to Adobe for clarification on this matter.

Simultaneously, the Creative Cloud Annual Prepaid package, encompassing the entire suite of Creative Cloud applications, has also experienced a rise. For new users, it has escalated from $871.07 to $1,163.88 annually (with 100GB of cloud storage); however, it is presently offered at a discounted price of 50% off for 3 months, making it $1,018.38. For existing subscribers, the price will climb to $959.90 yearly.

In a declaration on its website, Adobe articulates that the price increments for its Photographer’s Package are a result of the augmented value that has been introduced since its inception over a decade ago.

“Since its introduction over ten years ago, the Photography plan (20GB) has preserved its competitive pricing, while consistently enhancing to include highly desirable applications like Lightroom for mobile, Photoshop for iPad and the web, among others,” states the declaration.

“Recent enhancements to your membership feature tools and functions such as Select Subject, Remove Background, and the Contextual Task Bar in Photoshop and Lens Blur, Denoise, and numerous Premium Presets in Lightroom and Lightroom Classic.”

“Moreover, we are dedicated to empowering photographers and continuously innovating across our platform, including Lightroom Classic.”

At the same time, Adobe has also heavily invested in AI technology through its Firefly software, marketed as a standalone product for $7.95 monthly, offering 100 monthly generative credits for creating AI-generated content.

The updated 1TB Photographer’s Package incorporates Firefly and additionally includes 500 generative credits. On the original 20GB plan, users received only 250 credits. For instance, one utilization of the Generative Fill function in Photoshop consumes one credit. 

However, to further cushion the impact of the increases, Adobe is administering a temporary promotion on the Lightroom Photoshop plan. From now until February 26, the 1TB plan is offered at a 25% discount for the first six months, pricing it at $23.23 a month for the initial six months of the year-long contract.

So, who requires 1TB of cloud storage?

Ultimately, the worth of the package and whether users can endure the increases hinges on the amount of benefit they will derive from the additional storage provided by the 1TB offering.

‘Adobe Lightroom’ (the mobile, online,and app version) has been a notable achievement for Adobe, attracting a new wave of younger users and content creators who depend on cloud storage to retrieve their images across devices or remotely via any browser.

Numerous professional ‘legacy’ users, or as Adobe labels them, ‘power users,’ favor Lightroom Classic. While it does provide cloud storage, Classic is mainly crafted for the extensive processing of images – which can range from dozens to hundreds or even thousands of images.

Transferring thousands of images from a solitary shoot to the cloud is unrealistic, diminishing the significance of 1TB of cloud storage.

Is the Photography Plan 1TB still a worthwhile investment?

Time is one of our most precious assets, and in recent years, the newest AI enhancements to Lightroom and Photoshop have considerably decreased the time invested in post-production.

Functions like Denoise, Background Selection, Detecting (masking) People’s body parts (such as teeth), and Generative Fill have expedited the editing workflow significantly. Therefore, in this context, it remains a sensible value.

Interestingly, aside from having access to Lightroom and Photoshop, the Photographer’s Plan also includes various lesser-known additional apps such as: Adobe Fonts, Creative Cloud Libraries, Behance, Adobe Firefly, Bridge (already free), along with two exceptionally handy web applications – Adobe Portfolio and Adobe Express.

Adobe Portfolio empowers users to design professional-grade, easily constructed, template-driven websites. It is especially favored by photographers, designers, artists, and other creatives eager to showcase their projects in an appealing and user-friendly manner.

In fact, acquiring a basic WIX template website will cost you $192 annually, thus we could argue that the inclusion of Adobe Portfolio is an excellent offer for photographers seeking an easily constructed and managed personal website.

Adobe Express (previously known as Adobe Spark) is a user-friendly, all-in-one application tailored for generating a diverse array of visual content. It streamlines graphic design, video editing, and content production, making it approachable for users of all expertise levels.

Accessible on both mobile and desktop platforms, Adobe Express is perfect for crafting social media posts, flyers, banners, logos, short videos, complete web pages, and beyond.

Lightroom Alternatives