After announcing a pricing change that effectively doubled the price of Photoshop, Adobe is temporarily discounting one of its photography subscriptions. Sales from the software giant tend to be rare, but the discount comes the day the company eliminated its most affordable photography plan.
Effective January 15, Adobe no longer offers a 20GB Photoshop-Lightroom combo to new subscribers. (Current subscribers can, however, keep the plan, though will need to pay annually to avoid a price hike.) While Lightroom can still be had for about $12 / £12 / AU$19 a month, eliminating the 20 GB plan effectively doubles the price of Photoshop, as the only Photography Plan that includes the longstanding photo editor now costs about $20 / £20 / AU$29 a month, twice the cost of the former $10 plan that’s no longer offered. That plan does, however, include 1TB of cloud storage rather than 20GB.
Adobe, however, is running a temporary discount on the Lightroom-Photoshop plan. From now until February 26, the 1TB photography plan is 25% off for the first six months, making the cost about $15 / £15 / AU$23 a month for the first six months. After that, the cost is back to about $20 / £20 / AU$29 a month, and because the subscription is for an annual plan, fees apply if canceling before the price hike.
While the 20GB plan is no longer available directly from Adobe, retailers like Adorama and B&H in the US and Amazon in the UK appear to still be offering the plan for a one-year subscription at the previous rate via a download code card.
A representative from B&H said that those codes will still be honored, but won't be restocked once current supplies runs out. An Adorama representative has said that the download cards will be available through March 21. Licenses from US retailers need to be added to an Adobe account with a US mailing address, and cannot be used outside the US.
The cost of Photoshop has long been a hotly debated topic, as the very first version launched in 1980 cost $895 – which is about $3,500 when adjusted for inflation. The switch from a lifetime license to a recurring subscription in 2013 further fueled the debate. But photographers, including myself, were largely unhappy with the announcement of the price hike.
For starters, the original announcement was hidden at the end of a blog post published on a Sunday as if trying to slide the increase under the radar. But the announcement also came shortly after Adobe announced record revenue, with 12% year-over-year growth for its digital media segment that includes software like Photoshop and Premiere Pro.
At the same time, the company has drawn criticism for its pricing structure. After an FTC complaint, the company now clearly describes the plans as “annual, paid monthly.” That means that, while you can buy month-to-month, you’ll face cancellation charges if axing the subscription before a year is up, or, for longstanding users, if axing after the sign-up anniversary has passed.
Adobe said it has introduced new features to Lightroom and Photoshop without changing the price for more than a decade. The company says the updated plans are to “better reflect the value that the apps deliver.”
As a current subscriber, the pricing update makes me feel a bit trapped. I can continue to keep the previous price, as long as I pay for one year at a time on my renewal date. But if I dare cancel the plan to go try a Photoshop alternative, I’ll be faced with a subscription that’s twice as high as my current subscription. And, of course, those cancellation fees.
Those that missed the January 15 price hike deadline can at least ease into the new higher plan with a 25% discount for the industry-standard photo editor. The discount is expected to end on February 26. And, for now, a few outside retailers appear to still list the 20GB plan including Adorama and Amazon UK.
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Before you jump on the Photoshop deal, you may want to consider the list of best photo editing software or the best laptops for photographers.
