After a decade as an Adobe customer, these are the reasons I'm finally leaving

I’ve been an Adobe Creative Cloud subscriber for over a decade, and even owned disk versions of Photoshop and Lightroom before Creative Cloud existed. My entire adult life has been lived alongside Adobe. But after huge injections of AI overhaul, untrustworthy price increases, feature changes, and a realization of my use case, it’s time for me to leave Adobe behind. Some people avoid Adobe from the start, and some migrate to fantastic alternative creative tools. It’s a struggle for me to leave, but these reasons are finally becoming too important to ignore.

6

Too many frequent changes

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it

Adobe Creative Cloud benefits from automatic updates compared to the days of disk installation with once-per-year updates. It’s not a bad thing that software updates frequently; it’s good for security, bug fixes, and introducing new or helpful features.

I think Adobe updates too frequently. Every update includes a handful of new tools, which is great in most instances, but along with those new features are popups and guides that get in the way and add bloatware. New tool popups can be annoying to dismiss, remove, or hide, especially when the tool is irrelevant to my workflow.

I like that with open-source software, I’m in control of how, when, and if I update my creative tools. I can even participate in the community testing of release candidates. There aren’t forceful updates or annoying extras that come with the updates.

When GIMP 3.0 released in March 2025, it wasn’t much different from its predecessor, but the updates added important features deeper in the software. I’d notice the features without being bombarded by their announcement. It was my choice to install 3.0 and no punishment for not installing it and continuing with GIMP 2.

5

Removal of choice

It’s the industry standard, after all

Once subscribed to Adobe Creative Cloud, it can feel like the choice of other tools has been stripped away. When paying such a hefty fee each month, I want to get as much use as possible from my Adobe tools. This puts me in a difficult spot, meaning it’s harder to learn or use alternative tools for my inevitable escape, because I’m so roped into defaulting to Adobe.

I started subscribing to Adobe Creative Cloud over ten years ago when I undertook a graphic design degree. As students, we were told we needed to use Adobe tools. All job adverts require Adobe experience as standard. It felt like there was limited choice to get ahead.

Adobe makes it difficult and costly to leave, but also because these were the tools I’d learned and honed my skills in for years, and it feels like a sunk-cost fallacy to leave.

The cost and time investment makes leaving Adobe a difficult decision. My decision now comes after years of disappointment, setbacks, and missing the mark on providing tools for true human creative expression.

4

Increased focus on AI

We don’t all want AI features everywhere

AI features are in everything, not just creative software but phones, productivity tools, and everyday life. I’m not a fan. I don’t mind subtle AI tools that benefit my already-existing workflow, but I don’t need AI generators in all tools. It makes me lose my creative license to create with AI rather than using my own imagination, time, and hard work.

In May 2025, Adobe announced a new Creative Cloud membership: Creative Cloud Pro. This membership largely focuses on AI offerings, giving subscribers unlimited AI credits for video and audio generation, Adobe Express Premium AI tools, and all other AI features found in the suite.

Creative Cloud should focus on human creativity, not AI-based creativity. It feels like humans are not being encouraged or celebrated for creating with Adobe’s software, and it’s disheartening.

3

Increased prices mid-contract

How is that fair?

Adobe Creative Cloud is one of only two subscriptions I pay for. As a budget-conscious person, I find it frustrating when Adobe increases its prices mid-contract.

It’s difficult to budget for increasing subscriptions, even if Adobe provides some warning first. Over the years, I’ve noticed that the price sometimes varies each month. There’s no explanation for that.

A mid-contract price increase might be common, but it’s unfair, and I’m not standing for it with Adobe. The price is already endless with a forced subscription to use Adobe apps, so an increase really hurts.

Open-source tools or the Affinity Suite, for example, help me stay in control of finances while still creating digital creative content.

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2

I don’t need all 20+ apps

I can easily find alternatives to most

Although I have the occasional graphic design or illustration project, I am no longer a professional designer and don’t work in an agency. I don’t need access to over 20 Adobe apps, when on an average day I use three or less.

Not all alternatives offer the same features as Adobe tools, but mostly, it’s possible to replicate your Adobe workflow elsewhere.

There’s Krita, Photopea, or Affinity Photo for photo editing and manipulation. I can use Procreate, Vectorpea, or Inkscape for illustration and graphic design. For video editing, there’s CapCut for short-form or Kdenlive and DaVinci Resolve for long-form videos. Canva is the perfect alternative to Adobe Express. I can get it by using Scribus instead of InDesign.

I typically use Photoshop, Illustrator, and Adobe Express in an average week, with minimal use for Premiere Pro and InDesign a few times a year. All other Adobe tools are unused by me, and I’m paying $60 per month for them.

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1

Creative Cloud isn’t for non-professionals

It’s professional software

Source: Unsplash

I am not the target demographic for Adobe Creative Cloud. I am one person, not a design agency or large corporation needing daily creative output.

I’d love it if Adobe had a smaller subscription for everyday users — the users who don’t want AI implosion and who just tinker around with Photoshop or Illustrator once or twice a week, not users who are making money, or at least a living, from their designs.

Until that’s a reality, it’s best for me to forgo my Adobe subscription. There are countless other tools providing similar results, many of which have minimal AI, are free or have one-time costs, and don’t force heavy software onto my machine for minimal use.

I’ve hit my limit with Adobe

I’ve held onto a Creative Cloud subscription for so long that it feels like second nature. But switching to alternative software allows me to gain $60 in my bank account each month and learn new tools for the same creative results. Adobe’s untrustworthy changes constantly disappoint me and other users, especially independent designers or small teams. While I might not be Adobe’s target demographic, and it won’t miss me when I’m gone, it was good while it lasted — until it was bad, anyway.