What is the best Adobe photography plan for you? These days, if you want to use Photoshop, Lightroom, or both, you can no longer buy these Adobe tools for a one-time payment—you have to subscribe to them. The good news is that there are three excellent Adobe photography plans to choose from.
Whichever plan you choose, you’ll have access to the software of your choice to download across multiple devices. You’ll also get regular free updates whenever Adobe introduces a new feature or tool, adds support for new cameras, or completely revises the software. Plus, you easily access parts of Adobe Creative Cloud, such as Adobe Portfolio, Adobe Fonts, and Adobe Stock, without ever having to leave the Photoshop or Lightroom interface.
So these are the similarities between the three planes. But what are the main differences and how do you choose between them? Read on and we’ll explain everything you need to know about each Adobe photography plan.
The Adobe Photo Plan (20GB) is the standard plan that’s best for most photographers. It includes Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, Lightroom, Lightroom Mobile, and Photoshop for iPad.
Why are there two versions of Lightroom for the desktop? Lightroom Classic is an older version of the software, the one that was sold on a physical disc, which focused on storing your photos on the desktop regularly. If you used Lightroom before 2017, this is the one you know.
The software now simply known as “Lightroom” is a more modern, streamlined program designed around online photo storage using Creative Cloud. It doesn’t have all the tools of Lightroom Classic, but its streamlined interface is fast and efficient, and it’s great for working on the go in lots of different places and on different devices.
Its “web-first” approach brings key benefits. This means that your complete photo library, as well as all your albums and edits, is available everywhere, and you can edit and download images in their full resolution. Plus, because your images are stored in the cloud, Adobe’s Sensei AI technology can automatically recognize and ‘tag’ many different types of subjects.
Note, however, that with Adobe Photography Plan, you will only get 20 GB of cloud storage, which equates to around 4,000 JPEGs. If you need more, the next Adobe Photography Plan on our list might be more suitable for you.
To get the most out of Lightroom’s web storage, you need plenty of online storage space, and that’s what the 1TB plan is designed for. 1TB is equivalent to around 20,000 DSLR RAW images or 200,000 JPEGs, and you can expand your storage capacity beyond that in the future if you need to.
Like the regular photography plan, you also get access to Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop on the iPad, Lightroom Classic, Lightroom, and Lightroom Mobile. However, if you’re only interested in Lightroom, this might be overkill. In that case, you can still get 1TB of storage for less money by opting for the third plan on our list.
The Adobe Lightroom plan costs the same as the standard Photography plan, but comes with 1TB of cloud storage for your photos. Be aware though that Lightroom Classic and Photoshop are NOT included in this pack.
It’s the best Adobe photo plan for photographers whose editing needs are modest, and covered by the increasingly powerful tools of Lightroom, but who want to be able to access their photo library and all their images anywhere, and on any device.
So which one to choose?
Do you prefer storing and editing your footage on your own computer and/or external hard drive? So you’re better off with the regular Photography plan (20 GB)because you’ll get Photoshop and both versions of Lightroom for a relatively low price.
If you want the flexibility offered by cloud storage, however, the Photography plan (1 TB) is the one you need, even if it is more expensive.
That said, if you’re willing to ditch desktop storage altogether and can live without Photoshop, the Lightroom package is an affordable alternative with the same amount of 1TB cloud storage.
The premium option
These three Adobe plans are all aimed at photographers who are only interested in software for editing and organizing images. However, if you are also interested in other creative pursuits, such as video editing, audio editing, special effects, 3D modeling, illustration, or graphic design, there is a fourth option that might interest you. Full Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps plan gives you access to over 20 applications to use, including not only Photoshop and Lightroom, but Premiere Pro, Premier Rush, After Effects, InDesign, Illustrator, and more.
Read more:
• Download Photoshop for free
• Download Lightroom for free
• Lightroom vs Classic Lightroom
• Adobe Photoshop vs. Lightroom Classic
• Best photo editing software
• Free Photoshop Templates for Photographers
• Free Photoshop Brushes for Photographers
• Free Lightroom Presets
