Adobe Photography Plans and subscriptions explained, with all the changes announced in January 2025
All of Adobe’s professional Creative Cloud applications are subscription only. You can still buy Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements for a one-off fee, but all the rest, including Photoshop and Lightroom, are subscription only.
You can subscribe to individual apps, or the whole Adobe Creative Suite, but the Adobe Photography Plans are by far the best value for photographers.
How do the Photography Plans work?
Each plan comes with various add-on tools, access to mobile apps and an online storage allocation, but the three principal applications for photographers are:
- Adobe Photoshop: still the world’s best (or best-loved) standalone professional image editor
- Adobe Lightroom Classic: the regular ‘desktop’ version of Lightroom where all your images are stored on your own computer
- Adobe Lightroom: the newer and more streamlined web-based version of Lightroom where all your images are stored online on Adobe’s servers
- Read more: Lightroom vs Lightroom Classic: there are important pros and cons, and it’s not simply a case of ‘new’ versus ‘old’.
20GB Photography Plan: up from $9.99/month to $14.99 month
This used to be the best basic option for photographers. It comes with Photoshop on desktop and iPad and both versions of Lightroom, though Lightroom Classic will be the best version to use because it requires no online storage. You can try out Lightroom with this plan but you’ll soon fill up the 20GB storage provided. As of January 2025, though, this plan is no longer available to new users, and existing subscribers will have to pay more. Here are the key products included:
- Photoshop
- Lightroom Classic
- Lightroom
- 20GB cloud storage
1TB Photography Plan: $19.99/month
This used to be a higher-tier Photography Plan option, but now it’s the only one for new users who want both Lightroom and Photoshop. It’s ideal if you intend using Lightroom and its highly convenient all-your-images-everywhere cloud storage, but if you intend using Lightroom Classic, you are paying more for cloud storage you didn’t ask for and won’t use. What you get:
- Photoshop
- Lightroom Classic
- Lightroom
- 1TB cloud storage
1TB Lightroom Plan: up from $9.99/month to $11.99/month
This comes with Lightroom and 1TB storage and that’s it. This is a great option for photographers who can do everything they need to in Lightroom and want their images available everywhere, on any device and don’t need a program like Photoshop. Here’s what you get:
- Lightroom
- 1TB cloud storage
Adobe Photography Plans
• 20GB Photography Plan: now $14.99/month, no longer available to new users
• 1TB Photography Plan: $19.99/month
• 1TB Lightroom Plan: $11.99/month
* A trial version lasting just a few days is available but requires card details and must be cancelled before the trial expires to avoid automatic subscription
** Note that these are annual plans paid monthly. You may have to pay a cancellation charge if you want to end your subscription before the end of the current year
Are the Photography plans good value?
A lot of people object to software subscriptions on principle, hence the constant marketing message of ‘subscription free alternatives’ from rival software publishers.
However, Adobe’s Photography Plans are (or were) a very good deal. Many of us have memories long enough to remember the astronomical cost of Photoshop as a standalone product, and Lightroom used to cost almost as much as a full year’s Photography Plan subscription on its own.
Remember that one-off software licenses aren’t really ‘one-off’ at all. You will have to pay upgrade fees for future version updates, whereas subscriptions include all updates.
- Read more: Subscription software pros and cons
Is there a trial version?
There is, but it only lasts a few days. It’s long enough to make a decision about whether to subscribe, but not long enough to get any serious ‘free’ use out of Adobe’s software.
How do you sign up?
Simply follow the link above and choose a plan. You will download and install the Adobe Creative Cloud app, which is then used to view, download and manage the software included in your subscription plan.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The Adobe Photography and Lightroom Plans are ANNUAL plans paid MONTHLY. Be aware that you are signing up for a whole year, even though you are paying for your subscription month by month. You cannot just drop out at any time. At the time of writing, if you are just two to three months away from the end of your subscription, you can leave without a penalty. If you want to leave earlier, you will be charged a cancellation fee which will be a proportion of your subscription time remaining.