More information : Adobe's latest legal clash doesn’t come as a surprise | Creative Bloq
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I get why people are frustrated, but to be fair to Adobe, most of this isn’t hidden if you take the time to read their subscription terms. The 14-day refund window and the 50% early cancellation fee on the annual monthly plan are spelled out in their policy, even if not everyone clicks through the fine print. And compared to old days of boxed software, Creative Cloud actually gives a lot of flexibility, you can cancel online, swap plans, or go month-to-month if you don’t want to be tied down.
It seems like a lot of the current backlash is less about Adobe being “evil” and more about how modern subscription models feel restrictive in general. If you know what you’re signing up for, the system can work fine, it’s just that most of us are conditioned to click “Start Free Trial” without checking the details.
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I just think that Adobe itself it is not so “evil” but the real “evil” is to people that does not read “The Terms of Services” LOL.
I don’t think Adobe is a terrible company that is nefariously tricking people out of their money with convoluted user agreements and sign-up schemes. Once the lawyers get involved (and Adobe has dozens), everything get way too complicated.
My problem with Adobe is two-fold: (1) their subscription model, and (2) ever-increasing software bloat.
I much prefer Affinity’s commitment to old-school licensing. Purchase a license, and you will have the right to use it for as long as you need. When upgrading, you pay more and get a license to use the upgrade forever. With Adobe, as soon as you stop paying their monthly fee, you’re out of luck and no longer have access to some of your files — especially those saved in Adobe’s proprietary formats.
As for software bloat, Adobe, like many software companies, is caught in a cycle of constantly improving, updating, and adding new features to keep the revenue flowing and stay relevant. Unfortunately, this cycle eventually reaches a point where features are added for the sake of adding them, even though few users need them. Let’s take Illustrator as an example. There are so many tools, sub-tools, tertiary tools, menus, sub-menus, options, preferences, windows, effects, generative AI, and other odds-and-ends squirreled away in seemingly random places here and there that a software application that used to be a joy to use is now an exercise in time-consuming frustration.
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The flip side of the subscription model is that you’re always getting the latest updates, cloud sync, and access to the whole suite which would be hard to sustain under a one-time license model.
On the “bloat” point, a lot of these additions come from the top down. Adobe isn’t just thinking about freelancers, but also companies that buy 100,000+ licenses worldwide. If those clients want AI image generation or a specific workflow built in, that’s what gets prioritized. For solo users, it can feel like clutter but for enterprise, those tools are deal-breakers, and they need to sell to their largest customers, so they add for them.
At the end of the day, Affinity’s perpetual license model is great if you just want simplicity, but Adobe’s approach is built around serving both small users and big organisations that demand constant innovation. It’s less “bloat for bloat’s sake” and more the trade-off of being the industry standard.
And I don’t think Affinity is the same level as Adobe in terms of requirements of the software, it’s great for the lower cost and you can probably get by with it. I was beta-tester on the Affinity software and found it lacking and so many feature requests from users were ignored rudely by them, and still haven’t been implemented.
Honestly, I don’t think Adobe’s subscription model was a ploy to keep users hostage it was born from necessity. Adobe Software was one of the most pirated tools out there, and with rising piracy and lagging upgrades, Adobe lost revenue predictability. The switch to Creative Cloud brought stability and reduced piracy risks even if it means newer versions only being supported.
Maintaining so many legacy versions across platforms was a nightmare, and Adobe acknowledged that by ending perpetual licensing in 2013. Sure, it sucks that losing your subscription can lock you out of files but you can usually subscribe for just a month or even start a new trial to pull your stuff out.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Affinity ends up switiching to a subscription model once it reaches mass adoption and have a loyal base and support burdens pile up, and it’s pirated to the nth degree.
P.S. if you don’t have a subscription or it lapsed you can always buy a monthly subscription to get the software again to open the files and grab what you need.
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Even I don’t think Adobe isn’t a evil company, they just evolved from pay for a product than to pay a subscription which more affordable than paying hundred or thousand dollars for a program. And always there are alternatives, this only depends what you want and what you want to use. So it depends on you and not from a company.
What I don’t like to see is those morons that says “I am free from Adobe !” and they said "I found Affinity Software or this software (even they use open source or something similar) which is great ! now I am not paying more subscriptions on anything else ! and after they do the slash they said “Finally I made a mistake and I have to recognize that … there is not design software like Adobe !” (LOL they blame themselves !)
You never really “own” software, you’re paying for a license to use it. Adobe just happens to run on a subscription license. It’s a lot like Netflix or Disney+: you keep paying to access what’s on offer, even if you don’t personally use every feature, some call Netflix games on the mobile app ‘bloat’.
Affinity, by contrast, sells perpetual licenses. Buy once, and you can use that version indefinitely. But here’s the catch, as time goes on, they’ll have more and more versions floating around on different machines, and supporting them all will become unmanageable. Eventually, older versions stop working because of hardware and OS progression, and Affinity won’t keep supporting outdated systems forever. On top of that, once piracy ramps up, they’ll face the same pressure Adobe did to rethink their model.
It’s really no different from what happened in the music and film industries. Once piracy became rampant, the solution was to make things more accessible via subscription. Pay to play, stop paying, and you stop playing.
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May be … Affinity is like a USA President : “Buy One and We will make Graphic Design Great Again !” LOL
They can be a little bit slippery though.
If you want JUST Photoshop, that’s going to cost you £21.98 a month (after 3 months at £9.98). It’s advertised right at the top in big text. So 1 year of that would be £227.76. The second year without the introductory rate would be £263.76.
Scroll down and you’ll find the “Photography” package in amongst all the others. That includes Photoshop (as well as Lightroom, which I’ve no use for) for a slightly smaller £19.97 a month. A year costing £239.64.
In the long term, enticing people with an introductory offer but gouging them more over the long term, while the cheaper option is a short scroll away, just seems a little bit nefarious. Yeah it’s only a small difference each year, but it’s like some kind of inobservance tax.
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Guess after year 1 you can always switch to another plan.
I often get discounts on my Sky package, bringing the bill down for 6–12 months, but I’ve also had times when offers ran out and the price went up. Same with Apple TV got 3 months free, forgot to cancel, and got billed. That’s on me to manage.
I’m not saying Adobe’s way is perfect, but they do give you options. It’s up to the buyer to choose the right package and keep on top of renewals. I wouldn’t put it all back on the company just because I didn’t notice the terms or final cost.
Same as at a supermarket, I always check the receipt. Offers don’t always scan right, or something gets double-charged. That’s consumer responsibility.
And in fairness, Adobe has been good when I’ve reached out. If you forget to cancel or need to end early, they’ll often help with refunds or let you finish the subscription without penalty, or they could help you switch plan without penalites etc. It’s always worth reaching out.
Broadband companies NEED to be contacted at the end of your contract here, or they double the price for the sheer “f-you” of it.
Mine caught me out by sending me an email telling me my contract was coming to an end, but not to worry, the price won’t go up. Then in the small print at the bottom was a line saying “but it will a few months after” which I didn’t see.
3 months later I’m on the phone telling them I want to renew the contract.
They basically double the price to incentivise you to lock in for another year, which is different to how I see it happening with Adobe.
I get what you’re saying Adobe’s pricing is structured so that the monthly rolling plan looks really unappealing once the intro rate ends, which nudges people into the annual plan instead. That’s less a reward for loyalty and more a penalty for wanting flexibility, so I can see why it feels sneaky.
That said, this is pretty common in subscription industries, Sky, mobile contracts, streaming services, they all work on “make the long-term plan look like the better deal.” The difference with Adobe is just how steep the jump is if you stay month-to-month.
Personally I see it as part of the subscription landscape. Companies design plans to push you toward their preferred option, and it’s on us as consumers to pick the one that makes the most sense and keep an eye on renewals. Adobe could maybe be clearer, but I don’t think it’s unique to them.
I’m a community expert on the Adobe forums – but that’s my only affiliation. I don’t have to “defend” anyone and it’s certainly never expected of me at all; it’s just my perspective from using the software over the years.
I started on perpetual licences back in the late 1990s. Before Adobe’s subscription model, I was buying Quark, Corel, Photoshop, then later Illustrator and InDesign when it became mainstream around 2000.
What a lot of people forget is that the “buy once, own forever” model was never really that simple. Yes, technically you owned CS6 or CS5 outright but in practice, you had to upgrade every 2–3 years. If you didn’t, you ran into exactly the same lock-in problem we talk about now: you’d get files you couldn’t open, or features missing, and often had to ask someone else to down-save them for you.
Those upgrades weren’t cheap. A new standalone Photoshop licence was about $699 / €700, and the full Creative Suite Master Collection was $2,500+. Even just staying on the upgrade cycle meant dropping a few hundred euro every 18–24 months. It worked out not far off what the subscription costs today, just in bigger, lumpier payments.
So when Creative Cloud came in, I didn’t see it as Adobe suddenly holding files hostage more like them spreading out the same costs into a predictable monthly fee. It’s definitely not perfect, and I totally understand preferring Affinity’s perpetual model for simplicity. But having lived through both sides, I actually find the subscription easier to manage than getting stung with a €700 upgrade bill every couple of years.
At the moment I am using 2023 versions of InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator (and a few other apps).
I have 2024 downloaded, and 2025, but only use them if it needs be.
Next year, I’ll start using 2024 for production and have 2025 and 2026.
I like working with a few versions prior as it suits my workflow.
And being able to have two versions ahead available for whatever reason is helpful.
Anyway, so where I am a glorified moderator on the Adobe Forums - I have nothing but my own thoughts on this.
I remember the lump sum payments every two or 3 years.
And the subscription model is just easier.
Affinity is defintiely cheaper, can’t deny that.
But this never Adobe vs Affinity.
IT was about people feeling like Adobe are thieving them - when the options they choose are their choice and they’re not reading the T&Cs.
And I find that comparible to a lot of subscription models.
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That is why I still keep old hardware and operating system versions (some of which are virtual), just in case.
This means that I can still run the CS5 and CS6 versions of Adobe software (and even Freehand 11😂).
I paid for them once, and I am still eligible to use them, just as I am with the current Affinity software on my current hardware.
(I think I liked Adobe’s non-rectangular splash/about screens the most.)
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Ha good on you.
I remember selling the bixed versions on and having to do a license transfer.
Any computer that had them are long gone.
Need a new windows laptop actually. Windows 10 wont be supported soon.
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In the US- for an Individual license-:
Currently a subscription to the full Creative Cloud Pro suite is $780 to $1260 depending on how you pay (monthly, yearly by month, or pre-paid yearly.) Plus tax. That’s a lot of powerful software for the price.
If you bundle singly the Creative Cloud versions of Acrobat, Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator, just like the original Creative Suite releases, you’re looking at about $1032 - $1620 per year (plus tax.)
Either way, assuming you were paying the ~$750 and did the old CS upgrades as they came out (about $1054 today) the subscription price is about the same for far more software - assuming you use it all.
If you are paying for a CC-Pro Business subscription though, the price hikes up about 50% more than an Individual license. Be sure you need all those bells and whistles. There is no intermediate between Individual and full Business.
As a printer we use the Business subscription for the dashboard only because we now have enough seats to sort of warrant that feature. We don’t need all the collaboration crap, and because we use our own secure servers, we don’t use the Libraries or cloud storage.
Waste of money.
But what can you do?
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Do you think the legal clash is warranted though? Do you think it’s confusing or do you think it’s clear enough if you read through the options?
I’ve disagreed with Adobe’s pricing structure and software decisions numerous times, but I’ve never viewed them as an unethical company that’s been out to gouge and mislead its customers.
They’re out to make a profit, of course. Still, I also recall that during the pandemic, they offered two months of credit to existing Creative Cloud customers who requested it, which was greatly appreciated at the time, as I found myself between jobs and building up a freelance business clientele. They then followed up with a significant discount for a year when I requested it, which was also greatly appreciated.
As an essential suite of software for professional graphic designers, the cost is reasonable and tax-deductible in the U.S. as a business expense. I’m in the position now where I can easily get by with using the Affinity software, but I haven’t yet convinced myself to let my CC subscription lapse.
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I think that everything can be good or everything can be bad but what we cannot forget is the valuable collaboration of Adobe to the Graphic Design environment and their tools.