Hi all. I’ve got a couple of videos to share if you want to learn more about the Adobe Pricing Changes. Before you dive in to them, let me reiterate something that seems to get missed…
DO NOT CALL ADOBE TODAY AND CHANGE YOUR PLAN!!! Please read my FAQ here and/or watch one of these videos. There is no reason to change anything today and if you do you’re most likely going to cause yourself more issues than anything. You don’t have to change anything until your annual renewal date approaches, which could be as much as a year out for many of you.
Anyway, the first video below is a shorter video where I just tell you about the changes and what you should expect, and who it affects. Again, please watch the part where I explain what the January 15th date really is, because this seems to be misinterpreted by everyone.
The bottom video is a full podcast with Blake Rudis. He and I dive more in to it the changes, with some overall thoughts and advice. Enjoy!
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.
Hi Matt, just to be clear the Plan is grandfathered, but not the price. Adobe will increase the Annual Prepaid Plan at the end of the 12 months. My price will increase by $20.50 in 12 months when my current contact expires.
Hi. This is not true. Adobe has not indicated a price increase for that plan yet. I’m sure it’ll come eventually but there have been no indications of how much or when. Also, I did mention in my FAQ that the price would never be grandfathered in forever (although right now no price change or timeframe has been mentioned, and what you’re seeing is the cause of something else). See below:
“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.”
The 20gb plan already is gone!
I went to their website and clicked Compare Plans and it’s front and center: https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography/compare-plans.html
I just changed my plan of 9.99 a month to yearly. But then it looks like they want me to re-download the apps again.
Should I download them or are they going to stay the same on my desktop?
Hello. Thank you so much Matt. I received a notice from Adobe on Dec 2, 2024 that my monthly subscription will be $29.11(CAD) for the photographs 1TB plan. That is $349.32 (CAD) per year. That set off a big panic….
After watching your “excellent” tutorial, I spoke to Adobe agent who was very courteous and helpful and changed to yearly subscription of $239.88 (CAD). Which is at old price. Thank you so much for your help with very informative video.
Cheers. Mike
Hi: I called Adobe and asked to change from monthly to annual, because I found their site to be opaque, but the quality of the line was bad and I did nothing. In the follow up email, they said: Please note as we presently the yearly plan Photoshop which you are looking for the price USD 119.88 per year is not available. (not my English!). So now it is even more opaque! I really don’t understand where I should be looking to make this change. Any ideas?
Thank you for the information. I updated my Photography Plan to the annual plan and retained the $9.99 price for another 12 months. I found out about this from a post on Blake Rudis’ Facebook page. Many thanks and have a great wonderful Happy New Year!
Hi Matt, I have been an Adobe Photoshop user for 11+ years. I use the Photography (2GB) plan, billed monthly. Today on the Adobe site when going to Manage Plan I was only given the option to CANCEL my current plan. On the Adobe chat support I was told the only option I had to keep the plan (2 GB) plan was to cancel my current plan (and lose my ‘grandfathered’ status!!!) and re-subscribe to a new plan with an annual payment. If I previously had the annual plan I would not have to cancel and re-subscribe! This seems so unfair and not at all as I understood how you described in your recent YouTube video. Why are the monthly subscribers being punished? Thank you for all your excellent videos!
Hi Molly. The fact that you were able to sign up means you’re grandfathered in. That plan will not be offered after the 15th. But the fact you signed up for it means you’re okay.
Hi Matt, I was not able to sign up unless I was willing to relinquish my grandfather status. . I was told by the Adobe support person that I would lose my grandfather status, but that would be the ONLY way that I could switch to an annual pay basis for the Photography (GB 2) plan. I was hoping you could clarify why I am being told by Adobe that I will lose my grandfather status and must sign up for an entirely new plan just because I want to switch to an annual payment plan. Thanks so much.
Hi Molly. I can’t clarify anything Adobe told you because I don’t work for them. But… my guess is that the word “grandfather” is being used incorrectly by their support. The photography plan at $120 per year is going away on Jan 15th. Yet you were able to sign up for that plan. So you’re grandfathered in right? Whether you have been a subscriber for 11 years or not, grandfathered in doesn’t change. If you signed up on Jan 14th, 2025 or Jan 14th 2013… you’re still part of the same $120 year plan and would be grandfathered in. That’s my take at least 🙂
Thank you!
Thank you so much for that. I didn’t realise I could have an annual subscription and save so much
Matt,
Thanks for the informative video. I went into my Adobe account in order to see my current plan. I have a dumb question. How do you determine how much storage space is currently being used by the account? Is it worthwhile for me to go from 20 GB to 1 TB or downsize from 1 TB to 20 GB. In a cursory look through the website, I couldn’t find my usage level. Perhaps I will do what Donna did, and call up customer service and review my plan.
In any case thanks for your video; as you can imagine, I have been on auto pilot with respect to Adobe billing.
Hi Steven. I googled “how do I find out how much storage space my adobe account is using” and it came back with a number of results that should help: https://www.google.com/search?q=how+do+I+find+out+how+much+storage+space+my+Adobe+account+is+using.&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS980US980&oq=how+do+I+find+out+how+much+storage+space+my+Adobe+account+is+using.+&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRiPAtIBCTExNDA2ajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Thank you, Matt, for the heads up! If I didn’t subscribe to your periodic e-mails, I wouldn’t have even known about the price increase! There was no easy fix in the online account, so I had to talk with customer service support via chat. The annual plan, paid monthly, had to be cancelled. Then I was enrolled in the prepaid annual. I asked if I could get a pro-rated credit for the current month cancelled. The rep gave me an extra month for free on the annual plan.
Thank you Matt
Great info, very informative.
Well explained.
Good morning to both of you,
Thank you for this important and pertinent information. Since there is nothing like acting now, and since I have always been on a monthly payment schedule, I decided to change my plan right away to an annual plan (normally renewing end of March.. but you never know sometimes email reminders gets lost in the multitude of emails that we receive everyday !)
So now I can put it behind me..
Have a great Holiday Season. and keep up the good work
What are the odds of Adobe completely scrapping the $119.88 plan in 8, 12, or 18 months? I’d say they are probably pretty high.
Kind of sounds like what people have been saying about the $9.99 plan since 2013… yet somehow that 9.99 plan made it 12 years 😉
So while you say the odds are high, I’ll put my money on odds being low based on past experience.
Thank you so much for trying to make this topic as transparent as possible, Matt! I haven’t found anything comparable anywhere else. In particular, your discussion with Blake was really helpful for me to find out how to move forward.
I’m on the $9,99 plan with monthly billing. However, I have not paid monthly rates since years, instead I have redeemed prepaid annual subscriptions (discounted at Black Friday or Prime Day). My next billing date is only August 2026.
As per Adobe’s “Change your plan” dialog, the process for changing from monthly to annual billing involves ending the active (monthly) subscription and starting a new (annual) one. I was unsure if for the 20GB plan this would also work after Jan-15. However, with the examples you give in the video (around 16:30) I understand that “ending” is different from “cancelling” and I can wait until summer 2026 to take action to change the billing for my plan.
I was able to switch through Creative Cloud. It was quite clear on how to switch and just took a few clicks. I get a $5 refund for this month and was billed for $129.77 plus tax.
Sorry, that included tax.
Thank you so very much for this awakening info.
It wasn’t easy to make the change from monthly to annual payments (no option to do this from your account), had to contact customer support. He had to cancel the account and create a new one effective today to make the change. Everything worked out just Yabbadabbado! Thanks again to both of you, Matt & Blake!
Merry Christmas
Claude
Thanks for the information. Maybe I misunderstood some of it. Maybe others have also.
I see below that someone commented similar to mine,and you answered them by writing: I’m not sure how many more times I can write this and stress it… why are you changing anything now? Please read this question in my Q&A Blog post “Q. So wait… after January 15th I’m going to have to pay more?” https://mattk.com/adobe-2025-pricing-update-faq/
How many more times? Why changing anything now? Because you said the change had to be made before January 15. You made it sound like, if you wait until January 15, you would be stuck with the $14.?? greater storage plan while if you switch to the annual payment on the 9.99 plan BEFORE Jan 15 you get the same 9.99 per month only paid annually. I guess that’s true, but the only way to switch from the monthly 9.99 plan to the same plan paid annually is to CANCEL THE CURRENT 9.99 plan and then change to the same plan paid annually before January 15.
It is not simply a matter of going to your 9.99 account and changing to paying annually. Adobe does not even show the 9.99 Lightroom and Photoshop account option any more. What is needed is to cancel the 9.99 account and then sign up for the same account choosing the annual payment option. I was afraid to just do that on my own so I, like several others, got help \working directly with an Adobe representative to make the change. It’s taken me a while to write this so I will be interested in seeing how others are handling it.
Hi. I didn’t say the change had to be made before Jan 15th. The change starts on Jan 15 and will affect your account on your first annual renewal date after Jan 15th. Watch the top video around 3:45 and you’ll hear me explain this. Thanks.
I contacted Adobe directly. I am on the Photography Plan (20GB) and I have been paying monthly. My contract is up in October. I put this question to the agent directly: to lock in my current price, do I have to change to the pay annually plan before January 15 or can I wait until my contract is about to expire in October? Without hesitation he said it has to be done before January 15. So I gave him the go ahead to cancel my current plan and sign me up for the pay annually plan. My credit card was charged the correct amount and since I had been paid up for all of December I was given a refund for the the days remaining in the month on the old plan.. All was very smooth. Now I have lots of buttons in the Manage Plan section of my account like others have noted.
Sorry if I am adding more confusion to the issue but I am just reporting what Adobe told me. Interesting that Matt got a different answer from Adobe than I did. That in itself causes a lot of confusion. I decided to go with what Adobe said to me personally just to be safe. It is nice to be paid up for a year anyway. Don’t have to think about it anymore.
What you described is exactly what happened to me. If I had cancelled my monthly 9.99 plan on my own, there is no similar plan with an annual payment shown on the Adobe website. I contacted Adobe thru Chat and they switched it for me. I’ve had the Lightroom/Photoshop monthly plan since late 2013. Now I have the same plan paid for annually at 119.88.
Allen, did they cancel the old plan (with the monthly billing) and create a new one (with an annual billing)?
I did the same thing, getting help making the change thru Chat. I did NOT know that they were going to cancel the old account and create a new one. I mean, it worked out just fine, but now my plan says I’ve had it since December 2024 instead of when it actually started which was sometime around 2013 or 2014.
Hi Matt, Thanks for the info, although I’ll admit I’m still a bit confused. There’s an article on PetePixel which states. “Anyone unaware of the price changes ahead of January 15, 2025, including those who are not active subscribers, have less than a month to lock into the cheapest annual Photography plan at $119.88 a year.”
It’s the comment “less than a month” that is the issue. I pay for the 20G package monthly, renewal is August so I assumed that I could wait until say July 25 before making the jump to the annual payment for the same package, but the PetaPixel statement seems to contradict that.
Any thoughts, Thanks.
Hi Derek. Petapixel could be one of the worst photography sites on the internet. You’re looking at nothing more than a photo tabloid magazine. Not sure how to say it but they’re wrong and I’ve even verified this with Adobe. Please read the “Q. So wait… after January 15th I’m going to have to pay more?” Question in my Q&A blog post. https://mattk.com/adobe-2025-pricing-update-faq/
And stop reading Petapixel… 😉 You can’t get any worse of a website and negative community than that one.
It has to be done before Jan 15. If you switch to the annual payment plan now you won’t be be billed monthly. The annual payment will start when you switch. Contact an Adobe rep and tell them you want to switch your plan to an annual payment and they will help you do that. I contacted Adobe thru Chat. I agree with Matt about PetaPixel but in this case they are right.
Hi…This is incorrect. Please read my FAQ and do not contact Adobe until your subscription is up for annual renewal.
Hi Matt. Thanks for the useful information. I’m on the $9.99/mo plan. When I go to Adobe, “Manage Plans,” the only option I have is to cancel my plan. But, I could go and sign up for annual prepaid plan for $119.88/yr. My question is whether I should cancel my current plan first and then sign up for the prepaid plan, or the other way around? My plan doesn’t renew until November 2025, but if I understood you correctly, I would need to sign up for the $119.88/yr plan before January 15, 2025. Thanks!
Adobe created confusion on their Creative Cloud website by not creating a method to update from month to month subscription to prepaid annual subscription. The Adobe FAQ said there was a button in Manage Account to switch, but it did not appear for me. I had to contact Adobe directly to switch. Support had to cancel my subscription and create a new prepaid annual subscription and charge my credit card.
I had to do the same as you.
Like Don, I saw no option to change my monthly subscription to annual by going into My Account. I’ll probably have to contact Adobe support like you did. Was it a seamless transaction for you? I’ve read some comments on their forum that users who called Adobe were faced with agents trying to upsell them and spending 30 minutes on the phone to get their subscription changed from monthly to annual.
I also had to call. Representative understood quickly, helped me cancel the monthly and start the yearly. Even stayed on with me to ensure everything worked. No sales or upselling at all – not even a mention. Funny though – after it was all done – now there is an upgrade option on my account page – technology!
I navigated to “Manage Plan”, and there is only a single button for canceling my plan. There are no other option for changing the plan from monthly to annual. I guess I will be calling Adobe Support as well.
I’m not sure how many more times I can write this and stress it… why are you changing anything now? Please read this question in my Q&A Blog post “Q. So wait… after January 15th I’m going to have to pay more?” https://mattk.com/adobe-2025-pricing-update-faq/
It sounds like they are doing that because Adobe is telling them they can’t wait for their expiration date. I’m a Capture One user who has become disenchanted by their total focus on tethered studio products.
I’ve been considering switching back to LR but I’m really not sure I can trust Adobe not to pull the rug out from under me.
Hi James. Just curious… what has Adobe done to give you reason to think they’d “pull the rug out from under” you? With nothing but the same/low price over a decade and constant improvements to look back on, I’m just wondering why the future with Adobe would seem so bad? Thanks.
Great podcast and I am glad that I watched it.
Hey Matt. So, after watching your youtube video, I went ahead and converted my monthly subscription to an annual payment. Thanks for getting my attention on this matter.
Thanks Matt. Clear instructions. Worked flawlessly. BTW, I first heard about this today in your podcast with Blake (the first podcast I’ve ever listened to – and it paid off). I’m now an annual pre-paid subscriber!
Thank you for this clarification. I was paying $9.99/month. I cancelled and resubscribed at the $119.88 annual rate.