How much does Photoshop cost?

Believe it or not, buying Photoshop used to be as simple as heading into a store and picking up a boxed copy. These days, if you want to use Photoshop, you’ll need to sign up for a subscription. Some subscriptions are only available yearly while others can be paid monthly, but no matter what, you’ll only get access to Photoshop for as long as you’ve got an active subscription. While Photoshop Elements is still available as a one-time purchase, if you want the full Photoshop experience, you’ll need to subscribe.

Get Photoshop on its own

If you just need photo editing

Adobe would prefer that you purchase more than one of its applications at once, so you’ll find a lot of bundles on your way to the Photoshop page. If you only want Photoshop, however, you’ve got a few options. Photoshop on its own still comes with Adobe Fresco, Photoshop Express, Adobe Express, and Adobe Firefly, so you should have everything you need to get started. If you only want to pay monthly, you’re currently looking at $34.49 per month. With this monthly plan, you cancel at any time with no penalty.

If you need a year of Photoshop, you have two options. The first option is to pay $22.99 per month for 12 months in a row. You could also pay the $263.88 for a year of service upfront. With the monthly payments, the benefit is that you’ll have multiple smaller payments instead of a single large one, but luckily it works out to the same cost as the annual amount. It’s important to remember that you only have 14 days to cancel, or you’re on the hook for a penalty. If you cancel after 14 days and before the end of your year, you’ll have to pay a penalty of 50% of the remaining cost of your subscription. Adobe claims that it deserves this cancelation fee because it gives customers a discount for signing up for the yearly plan.

Get Photoshop as part of a bundle

Get the right tools for your job

If you are interested in a year of Photoshop, you can save some money with a bundle. For starters, the Photography (20GB) bundle comes with Photoshop and Lightroom for $9.99 per month for 12 months. That’s $119.88 in total, which you can also pay upfront if you want. Like other Adobe yearly subscriptions, there is a significant penalty for canceling early. This plan comes with 20GB of cloud storage, so you can work on your project from whatever device you’ve got handy. You also get 100 monthly generative credits, plus resources like tutorials to help you make the most of the software.

If you’ve worked in Photoshop for a while, you know that 20GB isn’t all that much storage, especially as resolutions climb and projects gain more layers. You can get the same bundle with 1TB of cloud storage for $19.99 per month or $239.88 per year.

Of course, you can also pick up Creative Cloud with all of Adobe’s apps. Monthly, this comes in at $89.99. Considering how much software you’re getting, this isn’t a bad price, but most people won’t recoup that cost unless they’re using these products every day. If you sign up for a yearly plan, you can pay $35.99 per month, or $395.93 for the whole year. Keep in mind, this plan also has early termination fees, so do the math before signing up for the whole year, especially if you’re not using a lot of these apps.

Take advantage of student discounts

Learn how to use Adobe products for less

A lot of software companies offer student discounts and Adobe is no different. In fact, students can get the full Creative Cloud package for $19.99 per month for 12 months. That’s $239.88 for the whole year, which may be a lot for a student, but if you’re going into video production, photography, or graphic design, this software can be one of your most important educational tools. Luckily, there are also quite a few Adobe Photoshop alternatives you can try later on if you want to save some money. While it’s cool to have access to Adobe’s full suite, most people won’t use all of the programs. It’s also important to note that this discount is only available for the first year. After that, you’ll go up to the full price, so don’t forget to stop any renewals, or request a refund within 14 days of renewal.

Photoshop Elements doesn’t need a subscription

For more basic photo editing

If you don’t need all of Photoshop’s features, like Photoshop’s best plugins, and really only need basic features, Adobe Elements could be a better pick. There are free solutions that match many of Photoshop’s features, such as GIMP, but they’re not all that friendly to new users. Photoshop Elements 2024 costs $99.99 as a one-time fee, and isn’t sold as a subscription. If you’ve got an older version of Photoshop Elements, you can upgrade to the new one for $79.99.

You can buy a boxed copy of Photoshop Elements, but you’ll still need an account and download to use it. Photoshop Elements is a consumer-level tool that has plenty of features for most customers. However, if you’re doing more advanced photo editing professionally, you may need the full package.

Don’t skip the fine print

The most important thing to keep in mind about your Adobe subscription is whether it’s a yearly plan or a monthly plan. Some Adobe yearly plans look like monthly plans since they only charge your card monthly, but you’re on the hook for the full year. If you cancel early, you’ll need to pay a fee, which works out to 50% of the remaining payment according to Adobe’s support page. Unsurprisingly, some customers were unaware of the cancelation fee, and the issue has even been noticed by the FTC.

For the time being, make sure you know which plan you’re signing up for to make sure you’re not stuck making payments for something you aren’t going to use for the rest of the year. Also, keep in mind that you have 14 days to cancel your plan after initiating it, so if Photoshop ends up not being the solution you need, you can cancel without a fee. This also gives you some breathing room to request a refund if you forget about your auto-renewal and no longer need the software.