I guess the day had to finally come. Adobe first came out with their Photography Plan that included Lightroom and Photoshop for $9.99 a month back in 2013. Since then, the price hasn’t changed. What we’ve gotten as part of that plan has increased, but the price never did. But recently, Adobe announced some pricing changes, so I thought I’d write a little FAQ to help answer some questions.
Now… I’m a good news first kind of guy, so I’ll give you that first… you can still get the $9.99 / month price (effectively $120 per year), and the same apps that you’ve always had, for that price. The bad news isn’t really even that bad. Depending on how you pay for that plan, the price could go up for you. It doesn’t have to as you’ll see, but it could.
NOTE: I’m happy to answer questions and hear your thoughts in the comments. However, please don’t ask anything specific to your account with Adobe. Click Here to Contact Adobe for those questions.
Okay… Let’s dive in to the FAQs to clear things up:
Q. What is the deal with the new pricing?
A. Let’s try to break this down and keep it simple. I will use USD pricing for this, so check your specific country if you don’t live in the US.
Starting January 15, 2025, the price of the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan with 20GB storage will increase in all countries.
- Annual billed monthly: Increase of US$5, from US$9.99 to US$14.99 per month
- Annual prepaid: No increase, the price will remain US$119.88 per year
NOTE: This DOES NOT mean that your price will increase on January 15th, 2025 (and it most likely won’t). Please read the rest of the questions before you call Adobe and change something necessarily.
Let’s look at a few different scenarios:
Person A: Subscribed to the $9.99 Photography Plan (LR, LRC, PS + 20GB Cloud Space). But, you pay that $9.99/month, ANNUALLY, at $120 once each year (not $9.99 / month)
Good news! Nothing changes for you. Your price doesn’t go up. You get the same apps and benefits and you’ll continue to pay $120 annually (which works out to $9.99 a month). See, I told you it wasn’t that bad.
I’d say to stop reading here, but you’ll probably want to continue on because this will most certainly get blown out of proportion and your friends will think the sky is falling. This way, you can be the voice of reason in the chaotic world that’s to follow 🙂
Person B: Subscribed to the $9.99 Photography Plan (LR, LRC, PS + 20GB Cloud Space) and pays monthly.
Your plan will stay exactly the same with the same apps and benefits, but you will now pay $14.99 per month – UNLESS you switch and pay yearly. In that case, you’ll pay the equivalent of $9.99 per month ($120 annually).
Person C: Subscribes to the $19.99 Photography Plan (LR, LRC, PS + 1TB Cloud Space) – Nothing changes with your plan and you’ll still be able to pay the same price monthly or yearly.
Person D: Subscribed to the All Apps plan – Nothing changes in your plan.
Q. Well that doesn’t sound so bad Matt, right?
A. I agree. I think many of us knew a change had to come at some point. No company can hold prices steady that long, and I actually thought it would be worse. I never thought there would be an option to keep paying the same price. But… the Petapixel and FStopper tabloid comments/communities of the world will make this very dramatic. I wanted to try to break it down for you to make it as simple as possible, so you don’t get caught up in the drama those communities will start.
Q. When will this change take effect and when will I have to pay more?
A. The updated pricing will be reflected on your next Adobe Contract Renewal date that happens AFTER January 15, 2025. You’ll receive an email from Adobe about the changes approximately 30 days before your contract is up for renewal. Visit the Adobe account page to view or manage your membership details.
In other words, your subscription will NOT be affected UNTIL YOUR CURRENT plan is up for renewal next year. For example, if your annual contract was up on December 10th (it’s before Jan 15th) then you’re good until next December 10th, 2025 – and nothing changes. But on Dec 10, 2025, the changes will take place, so you’ll want to adjust your payment by then.
If you renewed back in October, then nothing will change for you until October 2025. If you renewed back in February of 2024, then your new changes will take place in February of 2025. Adobe has an FAQ with specific links you can read here and all questions relating to dates should be directed toward them.
Q. So wait… after January 15th I’m going to have to pay more?
A. No. January 15th is when the changes go in to effect. Remember, even if you pay monthly, each year you have an annual subscription with Adobe for 12 months. They won’t just go raising your price right in the middle of your contract period. So whatever date that annual contract is up, is when you’ll be subject to any price increase – and Adobe states they will email you 30 days before that.
Here’s an example. Let’s say your Annual contract is up on March 20th, 2025 and you pay $9.99 each month right now. Then, come January 20th, 2025, you’ll still pay $9.99 for the month because that is still part of your original contract. Come Feb 20th… same thing. Once March 20th hits, you’ll then start getting charged $14.99 for each month, UNLESS you switch to an Annual Prepaid payment before then. In that case you’ll get charged $119.88 for the year ahead. It sounds complicated but it’s not when you remember that your monthly payment is really part of a 12 month subscription.
Q. It sounds like Adobe is going with the model of pay monthly and your price is more… but commit to pay annually and you’ll get a cheaper price. Is that true?
A. Yep… welcome to 2014 Adobe. The rest of the companies in the world have been treating subscriptions like this (pricing differences for annual vs monthly) for over 10 years, and you’re pretty much the only company that hasn’t.
Q. So wait… if I’m a current Photography Plan $9.99/month subscriber, my rate doesn’t go up?
A. Correct. If you choose to pay your $9.99/month annually (pay $120 once each year), then your price doesn’t go up. Your price only goes up if you pay your $9.99 monthly, and you choose to keep paying monthly. Then your price goes to $14.99 per month.
Q. I pay $9.99 each month now, so it sounds like my price will go to $14.99 per month. Can I switch to pay yearly now, so my overall yearly price doesn’t change?
A. Absolutely. If your Photography plan (20GB) is currently on an annual plan, paid monthly, you can switch your billing to annual plan (prepaid at $120) by visiting your Adobe Account page or by contacting Adobe’s Customer Support. Please do not ask questions here about this process.
Q. Should I call Adobe immediately and change everything?
A. No. Please don’t. There’s no reason. This is Week 1 of an announcement, or pretty close to it. It’s not even Day 1 of a change… it’s of an announcement about a change that happens in a month. Also, Remember that NOTHING changes until January 15th and even then, most likely nothing changes for you specifically until your subscription is up for renewal.
So there’s no point in doing anything today. Maybe log in to your account and look for whatever day your renewal is up. After that, make a note in your calendar to contact Adobe 30-45 days to prior to that if you need to make a change to pre-pay annually. But calling right now would probably lead to a bit of frustration, as I’m sure wait times will be longer and I can only imagine this info is just now being spread through their support channels.
Lastly, if I didn’t make this clear already… do not call or get in an online chat and change anything now. It’s pointless. Your monthly price will not go up until your annual contract date is up for renewal. Please re-read my “Q. So wait… after January 15th I’m going to have to pay more?” question above if this doesn’t make sense.
Q. Matt, you convinced me to get the LR, LRC, PS + 1 TB Cloud plan a while back because you said the cloud space was worth it. So I have the $19.99 plan. Am I right in reading that nothing changes with that plan?
A. Correct. You can still pay that monthly or yearly, but the plan or price doesn’t change and that plan is not going away.
Q. If I pay $120 annually now, will Adobe lock that price in forever?
A. Nice try. Like every other company in the world, Adobe is not going to lock in your price forever – and will not speak to what prices may or may not eventually get changed to.
Q. I’m mad at Adobe. Why are they doing this?
A. I can’t speak for Adobe on exactly why they did it. But when companies raise prices, the “why” is usually to make more money right? The photography plan came out in 2013 at $9.99 a month. Today, 11 years later, it’s still $9.99 a month. I can’t think of anything I paid for in 2013 that is the same price today. And since 2020, most things I buy are anywhere from 30-50% or more than they were back then. Inflation is everywhere. We’ve just had the luxury of not experiencing it with Adobe. And if you decide to pay annually, then guess what… you still get to experience a non-inflation world with your Adobe apps.
Q. I’m still mad, and I’m cancelling my subscription…
A. That’s not a question 🙂 And it’s an silly reaction to not actually having to pay any more. But hey, if you think you’ll be better off piecing together all of the standalone apps you’d need to make you whole from losing LR and PS, go for it. Trust me, you’ll end up spending close to the same money each year by the time you piece all of the apps necessary together, and you won’t get even close to the quality of edits you will with Adobe (not to mention none of your raw edits will be viewable in other editors). But if it’s worth it to save $10-30 a year, go for it.
Q. Is this whole idea that they’re holding the price steady at $120 per year just a big bait-and-switch tactic by Adobe to lure me in and then they’ll jack up the price later?
A. Good point… the whole bait-and-switch argument has been made before about the $9.99 monthly plan… for about 11 years. So if you consider a fair bait-and-switch time period to span 11 years, then maybe you’re right 😉
Q. How can I find out exactly what plan I have from Adobe?
A. Log in to Adobe’s website and check your account. If you still have questions contact Adobe support.
Q. Are there any other plans affected by this?
A. The Lightroom only plan has a small price adjustment too ($9.99 to $11.99), but I don’t believe that affects most people reading this. That is the only other plan affected.
Q. What about new customers going forward, who aren’t subscribed to the Photography Plan right now?
A. After January 15th, new customers won’t be offered any $9.99 / $14.99 or $120 Annual payment Photography plan option. Instead, starting on January 15, 2025, new customers will ONLY be offered the $19.99 Photography Plan that includes LR, LRC, PS and 1TB of Cloud storage (and remember, that plan’s price has not changed).
However, the $9.99 / $120 annual plan is still available until January 15th, 2025… so tell your friends 😉
Q. What will happen if I cancel my plan one day and try to come back after January 15, 2025. Will I be able to get the same $120 / year plan?
A. No. Like all “grandfathered” programs out there, if you cancel, then you lose your grandfathered-ness. You’ll ONLY be offered the $19.99 per month plan, just like a new customer will. This is how all “grandfathered” programs work everywhere in the world.
Q. Do you think Adobe will ever go back to perpetual licenses, I don’t want to rent my software?
A. (Sigh) 😉
Hopefully this helps answer some of your questions and avoid some of the drama that the internet will undoubtedly start from this. Feel free to leave a comment with any thoughts or questions, but also remember that if you’re going to ask me about anything specific about your account, I won’t be able to help. Thanks!
I love teaching and photography... In that order. I feel that enjoying photography, and photo editing can get WAY too complicated. So my personal mission (and favorite thing to do), is to create education that simplifies the process of taking great photos, and how to edit them to get the results you’ve always wanted.
Thanks for this very detailed explanation, Matt. 👍
January 14,2025
Matt, I just read your FAQ’s which were Very helpful in my purchase of the yearly L, LRMC, PS and storage from Adobe.
Thank you, Rhona. Calgary Alberta
Thanks Matt! This is very helpful!
Hi Matt, thanks for that but I have been hit with what Adobe CS says is a “technical glitch”. I pay monthly through 12/31/25 (12/31/13 initial date). My account is apparently caught in that “technical glitch” that I’m told by CS won’t be fixed (not enough people to bother with), but that I can go through them now to cancel my current plan and renew at the annual fee. I get that there is the apparent anticipation that when I get that 30-day pre-renewal email from them in 11/2025, that AT THAT TIME I will be offered to cancel my current monthly payment plan and renew at the one time annual price, but I am concerned since they wouldn’t/couldn’t guarantee that that will be the case. The agent today told me that even if I could make the change through my account and did that right now, that still requires CANCELLATION of my plan and setting up a new plan with today as my new subscription date, negating my grandfathered status. I’m concerned that anytime after 1/15/25, my option for $119.95 paid annually will go away, and my only option will be the 1TB plan. Any thoughts on that? THANKS!
Thanks, Matt! I found your info to be clear and easy to follow and you answered every question I had. Fortunately, I changed to the 1TB Photography Plan a couple of years ago so nothing changes for me. I am holding a discounted renewal subscription key I got during a 2024 sale earlier this year. I’ll apply that new key when my subscription is up for renewal in Feb. 2025. I was able to do the same thing last year so, if you shop carefully, sometimes you can find deals. Never any huge discount, but a discount none-the-less. Anyway, I appreciate your effort in letting us all know about these changes.
So Matt, I’ve been trying for TWO DAYS to change my plan to annual to lock in the price. I’ve been passed from chat agent to chat agent, and went through 3 different agents on the phone. NONE of them could answer my questions about what happens after one plan is canceled and restarted as annual.
I use Adobe Express a LOT for designing thumbnails for YouTube, featured images for my website, images for slides, images for my online community, banners, etc – all with the same design and branding. We had the basic photography plan and it also included Premium Adobe Express features like premium templates and assets including fonts.
This has been my experience with Adobe over the last 2 days – it’s a dumpster fire!!
1. I tried to change my plan online and got an error message that said to contact support.
2. Did that, went through 3 chat agents and none of them could confirm with 100% certainty that my Adobe Express designs and files would remain intact after the plan change. So after 90 minutes on the chat yesterday I was told they’d have an Adobe Express technical expert call me today.
3. Adobe calls me today but it’s the SAME person I was chatting with yesterday. He has no additional information so I was like “why did you call me then?” So he transfers me to a person who supposedly can help me with Adobe Express to confirm and address my concerns.
4. That guy has no clue what my issue is, wasn’t told anything – so I have to start over AGAIN for about the 5th time to explain it. He tells me go here, click this, click download to save your work. All that does it download one single finished design. I need editable templates. Even he can’t tell me how to do that. So I finally give in and say okay let’s just change over the plan. I get transferred back to account support.
5. I can’t get the same guy so now I am starting over AGAIN once more with a new guy. He confirms I want to cancel my monthly plan and go to pay annually – yes I confirm. THEN he says I need to go to a web URL payment portal – I lost my you know what, stars with S! They have my credit card on file already. So I hung up.
6. Adobe called me back and I missed the call, and didn’t really want to talk to them again.
7. I went to Adobe Express because I needed to download a banner for my community, now it says I needed to upgrade to download and to pay to get Adobe Express Premium. So I go to my Adobe Account – now I have NO plan. They cancelled it!
8. I went and signed up for the 20gb plan paid annually myself and did that online successfully.
9. Go back to Adobe Express and assumed that would solve the issue – NOPE! Now I have to pay another $9.99 USD per month to get Premium to address the designs and fonts I have used on ALL of my designs.
So at the end of the day I talked to about 7 different agents, they all assured me nothing would change – yet it did! I pay in CAD$ because I’m in Canada so my plan has now gone from $12.99/month or $155.88/year to that plus another $12/99/month they want for Adobe Express premium. Or I have to edit all my designs and change all my branding.
So my plan just doubled in cost. They were very sneaky about it and now I get why they were all dancing around my questions about Adobe Express. They had always planned to do that and I suspect that even if I had kept paying monthly, after January 15th that would have changed too. Perhaps!
But the thing that makes me even madder now is that my plan was set to renew January 13th so if I had just let it go, I possibly would have had that plan until January 13, 2026. I’m SO NOT HAPPY now.
I contacted Adobe today and was told that my photography plan plan will increase from $14.68/month (CAD with tax) to $21.55! That’s a significant jump in price! I’m on an annual that is paid monthly with my renewal date in September. The chat agent said nothing about locking in the price by switching to paying full price annually. I am definitely not a power user and was sure that the increased capabilities of the products would draw a price increase eventually. That day has come. This is waaaay more product I need, especially with a price jump like that.
Hi Valerie. I’m not sure what to say other than it’s unfortunate the person you spoke to gave you wrong information. First, you don’t need to change anything until next September. And at that point, you’ll be able to switch to a yearly payment to keep your same price. Maybe try calling back in September when your plan is up for renewal.
Thank you for this explanation, it is the best explanation I have found!!!
APPARENTLY my monthly plan end date is Dec. 25th, so info is just in time! I have now changed to an annual plan, paid annually. $155.88 CDN
Just for info, I am in Canada and I have been paying 14.XX for the past year.
Thanks. Just for other people reading this… you didn’t have to make any changes to your plan until December 2025. There was no reason to do anything now. But glad you are taken care of. Thanks!
Thanks Matt! When I first started back in 2014 I had the annual plan. Then suddenly it changed to monthly. Have no idea why but it wasn’t a big deal. With this latest info I have updated to the annual plan. Merry Christmas!
thank you, thank you, thank you for this excellent explanation!
Hi Matt thanks for the heads up on this. I’ve actually updated by plan now for two reasons, firstly I prefer to have subscriptions paid annually and secondly my subscription is due at a time of year when I’m likely to be away travelling so may not see or take note of the renewal email.
Followed the link to the Adobe faq page and the second question details the process to follow, took about 2 minutes to complete including logging onto my account. It treats it as cancelling one subscription and starting a new one so get all the new starter welcome emails but your apps carry on working as normal.
Matt- Thanks for making this all understandable. I’ll just switch to annual payments when the time comes. The package is sure worth the $120 per year.
I understand that my current subscription (monthly pay) will ‘expire’ on October 11, 2025… and currently my plan page shows no way for me to convert to annual pay as of now. You say I’ll still pay $9.99 a month until then and can convert THEN. Perfect. My question is what guarantees me that they will allow me to convert to a yearly plan at $120 THEN… and not bake in an increase? I see nothing on their site encouraging me, or mentioning a grandfather clause, of course, and I only have your word that you contacted someone at Adobe who told you these things… but they could be just workers, who knows. I’m happy waiting until August or so to convert, but basically it would be the same thing as converting today…although it might mean canceling and restarting on an annual pay plan now since I don’t have a button to change mine. Since we know that they are raising prices…just fine with that, btw…. I’m just not convinced that it WILL remain $120 for an annual pay plan next October when my contract is due. And yes, I’ve watched and read everything you’ve written…and all the comments. Just seems like starting my annual now instead of then makes enough sense since they are listing the $120 now and it’s the same as paying monthly until then…..
Matt, Thanks for the update, and sorry about your frustrations with people not happy with Adobe. By the way, I note that many “perpetual” license plans come out with updates every year, and want you to buy the new version. So what’s the difference between that and “renting” software? I don’t see it, and agree that Adobe’s Photography plan is still a great deal.
How can i find out when my current contract expires
When will it be necessary to renew for one yearly payment contract
Thank You
If I cancel my $9.99 plan how will this affect Lightroom classic the standalone desktop application? All my photos are on external hard drives not in Adobe cloud.
Yes Matt, I do not intend to switch right now, but I just wanted to know how to switch when the time comes. I don’t see an option on the Account page – so where should I go to change the billing option from monthly to annual later next year? Maybe I am just missing something.
Hi Joe. When the time comes contact Adobe if you don’t see a way in your account. Thanks
Matt,
Thank you a million times over. I understand the fear with so much greed everywhere these days, but Im soooo tired of people acting like chicken little without doing ANY research before they tell us the sky is falling!
I like Adobe products and the constant innovations and improvements. I’m willing to pay the money annually, and if you do the math…except for a free program, they ALL get you in the end. (Sorry Topaz, but it’s true).
Rant managed!
Thanks for the information Matt, I think that you just saved me about £5 per month. Nothing heard from Adobe yet to me. Now paying lump sum per year and had to go through a Chat feature to get it changed as it was not too clear how to do it on Manage my account.
Glad to help. Just remember that I wrote NOT to change anything right now. You don’t have to change anything by Jan 15th. Check the FAQ again and you’ll see I recommend against doing anything right now.
I was paying £9.98 monthly and tried to change may payment method to annual on my Adobe account page. Since then, it’s been a nightmare; Adobe cancelled my current plan (which was not due to renew until Nov 2027 due to redemption codes) and charged me £119.99 and put my renewal date back to Dec 2025!
After spending 90 minutes on their chat facility They’ve finally agreed to refund my money & issue new redemption codes. This apparently will take 5-7 days. I asked if my ‘new’ plan will be shown as paid annually but the guy on the chat said they were unable to do this and also said it would make no difference as annually paid plans will also increase on renewal. He could of course be wrong…
Hi Les. I really tried to say over and over again not to do this. If you read the question “https://mattk.com/adobe-2025-pricing-update-faq/” you’ll see you didn’t have to do this. Not sure if you can change back but changing anything today in unnecessary for anyone that is reading.
Thanks Matt, unfortunately I jumped the gun before reading this. Hopefully Adobe will sort this out and then I’ll carry on extending via redemption codes from Amazon if still available 😉
Thx. Very clear and easy to understand.
There doesn’t seem to be any way to contact Adobe by phone and their virtual chat bot is useless. I simply don’t remember my auto renewal date since I’ve been with them for so long and want to know what it is. Haven’t found a way to get that so far. I guess I could wait on their email but I’m the type who doesn’t like last minute surprises. I aways like to know where things stand. If you have any info on a phone number or a way to find the info I’m looking for without the virtual chat bot I would appreciate your sharing it. Thanks.
Cannot convert from monthly billing to annual on your account page but can do easily by contacting adobe either through chat on their web site or on the phone and they were very helpful in making the change
Even though it is not time to change my account setting from monthly to annually (current plan runs through September), can you tell me where I can make that change? It does not appear in the Adobe Account page.
Hi. I’m not sure how many times I could write it, but there is no reason to change now. Wait until September. 🙂
I can see how some people would view a nearly 50% increase to the monthly plan excessive, given the current market share of adobe with over 30 M subscribers. I do subscribe annually, which as I understand it the price point will not change. The $120 plan per year is certainly not bad, given what some other services charge per year. Given the fact that prior to subscription pricing that LR and PS were $600- $700, I think we are still fortunate.
I changed to the annual billing and will be refunded for the unused portion of the month paid for on the monthly plan.
I did the same, switching from monthly to yearly to retain the effective $9.99/month price. Adobe made it very easy to make the change in the account management section. Today, I received my refund for the unused portion of the current month.
Thank you, this is most useful. I will change to pay annually when my plan comes up for renewal. I know may object the their pricing, but for me it’s value for money.
When Adobe implemented subscriptions, a big justification was that they needed a reliable flow of cash to produce a reliable flow of improvements. Their current materials confirm that they were able to deliver improvements (some more valuable than others). But listing what they were able to do with the revenue they already raised is not a legitimate explanation for a price increase. It is more like a sleight of hand to keep us from seeing their action clearly. The increase (for those who miss the grandfathering window) may be justified by general inflation for salaries and utilities and by the cost of new AI services. And they might use it to increase shareholder “value” (transfer subscriber money to stockholder pockets, an aspect marketing would not publicize). I don’t disparage the changes. I just like to think clearly about what is going on. Thanks for providing accurate information to help us.
Hi Robert. I tend to agree with you. But I doubt there’s a company in the world that would increase a price and just write to their customers… “Hey… it’s inflation and frankly… we want to make more money now”. Elon Musk is probably the only person that would actually come out and say it but my guess is 99.9% of companies out there would do the same thing. Tell customers all of the value they’ve delivered to them over the years while maintaining the same price. Can’t fault them for it. If you and I were the owners we’d probably do the same thing.
Thanks for the FAQ and the video. I logged into my account and saw that my original invoice date was December 1, 2013, so I was already past the annual renewal date for my monthly 20GB plan. When I changed to the annual renewal, it cancelled the existing subscription, informed me that I would receive a credit for the unused portion of this month, and started a new annual plan. This was disconcerting, and then the Creative Cloud app popped up and started updating Photoshop. However, Lightroom and Photoshop are working as expected, so it seems to have gone OK, in case anyone else needed some reassuring.
Hi Mike. I covered this in my FAQ. You didn’t have to change to annual until next December, when your annual contract was due again. You essentially did it a year early.
Excellant article. Good explanation of new plan.
Thank you. Do you know if this price increase is worldwide? I am in South Africa and have not been notified and there is no way to change my plan to an Annual Upfront payment on my profile.
Thnaks
I need to get help from Adobe much like others in this group.
Suggestion… Wait until the month your subscription is up. No reason to do it right now.
Thank you Matt for the clarity with these different plans and the applicable pricing changes. Already taken the necessary action for me!
Have a great Christmas and here’s to better images in 2025!! 🎄
Thanks Matt – as usual, your information is most helpful. I didn’t see any mention of those of us in a unique situation where we are paying $120/yr but get 1 TB of space as we were previously grandfathered in. So, if I update my subscription from monthly to annual, I assume that nothing else changes and I will retain 1TB of space but at the $120/yr subscription rate. Can you confirm?
Hi. I can’t. You should contact adobe with specific questions.
@Bob i.
The status of your account should be tied to your Adobe ID in this case and not to the plan chosen. We do not anticipate you will be affected. If it goes unexpectedly, contacting support is your option.
Rikk
Thank you both!
Hmmm, just for giggles, Adobe’s stock price has dropped 15% over the past week and a half over investors’ concerns about Adobe’s AI implementation. Guess they have to raise revenue somehow.
Thanks for publicizing this, as I got no email from Adobe warning of the change to my monthly plan. While I think the changes are reasonable, it would have been nice if they had notified monthly users on the photography plan. Also, they don’t make it easy to update from monthly to annual – there was no way to do it in my account. I had to call and cancel my monthly plan and resubscribe with annual billing.
I was able to switch plans online (from monthly to annual)….took a little digging and clicking around my account, but it’s possible to do online!
I don’t mind switching to the annual plan and keep the same pricing when it’s time to renew it in September 2025. I would pay $120 then. At least that’s what I thought it would happen when I tried to switch. It appears that’s not the case. If I switch now, Adobe will charge me $120 now, rather than in September 2025. It’s not the end of the world if I have to pay now but it just doesn’t seem right that Adobe wants my $120 now. So I will wait until September.
Great information….thank you for providing this. The Adobe plans are very reasonably priced for the great stuff you get!
Hi Matt,
Thanks for this explanation. My question is:
If I change from $9.99 per month to a yearly plan of $120 per year but say in three years I want to go back to my original paying monthly 20GB Photoshop/Lightroom plan will it still be available? Or will I have to go for the new 1TB plan?
After January 15, 2025, the $9.99 paid monthly will no longer be available for new subscribers or for previous subscribers who switched to annual payment. If you wanted a monthly plan in this situation, you would be paying either $14.99/month for the 20GB plan or $11.99/month for the 1TB plan.
How do you know for sure when uyou signed up for Adobe Photography Plan? I found an order date… would that be the start of the contract?
Thank you, Matt, for the detailed information. I did go and change it to a yearly plan.
Timely review thanks. My £9.99 /month, Photography plan, is up tomorrow 18 Dec. I logged in and followed a link to save 33% for next year by paying annually. I’m guessing I could have had nearly another year at pay monthly. Then I would forget to change. Done now though. Change and charge immediate, and got a tiny refund (64p) for the one day.
In India I am paying 318 rupees monthly that is about 3.75 dollars for the photography plan. So is that going to change too?
I don’t know how I did it, but I pay $108 per year. And my account shows next payment in October 2025 for that amount. Guess I will watch it after the 15th of next month to see if it changes or if I got grandfathered in with the current price. An increase of $11 per year is doable compared to what I pay for other subscriptions.
Thank you for posting the information. 🙂
Hello Matt
Thanks for explaining Adobe’s pricing changes, I’m a person (A) paid for monthly many years, i thing i pay upfront $119.88 still great deal
But next year maybe Adobe completely discontinued existing subscriber person (A) or change price again
I don’t know maybe before Jan15th manage subscription and upgrade 1 TB Plan
I knew Adobe crease the price, actually i was waiting last year, do you have any advice for me, do you think i should stay on the current plan or switch to the 1 TB plan, thank you Matt
All my account information states that I have the Photography Plan billed at $9.99/month. My plan is yearly, billed up front. Is this the same as the $120/year annual plan? I cannot find any place on my account pages that will let me change from the monthly to the annual billing. The Manage Plan page, does not allow for any change to my billing cycle, contrary to all the comments I read on all the help web sites. How and where do I do this to assure that I will stay on my current plan?
You need to contact Adobe either via chat or phone. I had the same issue and was changed to yearly via chat
Matt, I had not even heard this yet. For what you get this has always been a great deal. I will definitely grandfather and go yearly before January 15. I will just need to find out how to get rebated on what I paid for already through November 2025 since I paid through a third party. I assume Adobe will help me with that. Thanks for this video.
Hi Marcy. Maybe re-read the FAQ. You won’t need to do anything until Nov 2025 and I would definitely suggest you wait a bit for the news to settle and Adobe’s website to catch up. Nothing changes for you for nearly a year. Thanks! 🙂
Matt, Since I posted the first comment, I realized the issue I have is that I did not hear this from Adobe, I heard it from you. Did Adobe notify anyone that you are aware of? I’m surprised I did not hear anything from them. Thank you again for posting this video.
Hi. My post contains links to their Help page, which also states they’ll let you know of a price increase 30 days before your annual contract is up. You won’t hear anything from them until that point which could be nearly a year away depending on when your contract is up.
This answered my question. Thanks for all this, Matt!
Matt, Since I paid through a 3rd party (B&H) and my subscription is still listed as monthly with my next $14.99 payment in November, I thought I might be Person A and a half. I spoke to Adobe and I do still fit Person B until October. Thanks for all your help.
There is an important change you didn’t mention in your video. The Lightroom (1TB) plan charged at the yearly $119.88 will expand to include Lightroom Classic. That’s a big deal.
Just watched your youtube and I agree with two things– you’ll get creamed with trolls if you don’t turn off the comments, and, I’m getting so much more than when I started with the $10 plan!
I’m a bit confused about switching to the yearly. My contract date is January 13 (2013 was my first year) but I’m not being offered the opportunity to switch to yearly billing, only to cancel. Also, I haven’t gotten an e-mail notice from Adobe even though I’m inside the 30 day window of my anniversary. I guess I’ll have to spend some time on the phone with them. So it goes.
Hi Kent. Please see the “Q. When will this change take effect and when will I have to pay more?” question above. Since none of this takes place until Jan 15, you shouldn’t have to worry about it. Thanks.
I’m on the Lightroom only 9,99 paid annually plan. It’s due in october 25.
Will I get to use also LrC on january 15th 2015 or only after the yearly renewal
I didn’t see Adobe announce any changes to your plan except price. But you should contact them if you have more questions. Thanks.
Thank you Matt for addressing this so clearly. We both know there will be a lot of mistaken information and knee jerk comments and this is a nice way to head some of that off.
Merry Christmas.
I just got off the phone with Adobe. The info I got differs wildly from this. I am currently on the $9.99+tax monthly.
My subscription runs until August 2025. The rep quoted me a new plan would be $191.88 annually or $19.99 a month before tax. I asked “$191.88. Do you mean $119.88?” She said no. She didn’t seem to have any idea what I was talking about.
Welcome to Adobe help desk. I would do my best to avoid calling them. Just reread what Matt wrote.
Disregard my first comment. I finally found the 20GB PS/LR plan. But it is not obvious. You have to specifically go to “Photo” plans. Searching PS plans and going under “All” plans yields only the 1TB option, and selecting the 1TB option does not give an alternative option for the 20GB plan.
Or just google search “Adobe 20GB photography plan”. I found it much faster that way 🙂
Adobe Phone Number 1 800 833 6687
Hi Matt, I tried to switch from monthly to annual paid my Photography 20GB plan, but going into my account I do not have that option. Any idea why this? Thanks.
Hi Serban. Please contact Adobe Customer support. Thanks!
Typical of Adobe, screw the pooch! Same for me no option to change payment plan. Is there anyone at Adobe that is thinking about what they are doing. The people developing the products are great but the people that implement things are bozos.
Can they shoot themselves in the foot again?
Thanks for the heads up as too hopefully keep our price the same.
I believe there is a glitch in the website. I have them all the time and it doesn’t make me a bozo does it? 😉 You have arguably over a month, and probably much longer than that before this actually impacts you, so I would just wait until they sort it out and maybe refrain from calling people you don’t even know names? 🙂 Thanks!
This is my situation too Matt. Thanks. I’ll check with Adobe Customer Support. Merry Christmas to you and family.
Stan
Page, Arizona
I just accomplished that change this evening. I was able to go to Adobe Support from the account page, deal initially with a chat bot, but then dealt with a person (I think) on the Chat and got everything done in a couple of minutes. They will cancel your existing plan and start a new one today at the $119.88 price.
The support person said that I need to cancel my $10/month Photoshop plan and start a Photography Plan. I told her I’d do more research and come back. I didn’t understand that different names for the plans, and they seem exactly the same. Am I missing something?
Thanks for the heads up.
Great stuff. Thanks!
Thanks for explaining Adobe’s pricing changes, Matt. This should clear up any confusion there might be about the changes.
Thanks Matt for a clear and specific overview. Outstanding attention to your clan!
Any changes to the student versions
I tried to change my plan from the $9.99 paid monthly to billed annually and I don’t see a way to do it. I can’t find a phone number to call next week so I get this done before the price change.
I tried the same and could not do it from my account, strange!
It’s not right under the “Welcome to your account” at the top? That’s where mine is. It is NOT under “billing and payment,” which seems like the logical spot and is where I looked first. They actually made it so obvious (at least on my account), that I didn’t even see it right away.
The phone number is 800-585-0774. I just called and switched, but to go from monthly to yearly they had to cancel my current subscription and start a new one that is billed yearly. Thankfully, there was no disruption caused by doing that.
Prior to subscriptions, I paid $299 every 12 – 18 months to upgrade Photoshop to the latest version, $99 per year to upgrade Lightroom each year
Those doing the math are not upset about the subscription model. But when I point out this major cost savings, people tell me “yeah but I don’t get to own the software!”
You never did. You had a license that could be revoked at any time, for any reason, with no refund.