Let’s be honest, Photoshop isn’t cheap. Most of us have probably complained about the cost of Photoshop, and Adobe products in general at some point in our careers. The fact is that none of us could do our job without it. It’s an advanced application meant for professional users. It is used by people in all walks of life, from photographers to web designers; but is it worth the $699 price tag? In this article, we will take a balanced look at whether or not Photoshop costs too much, not enough, or if it is priced just right.
Before we get started let’s take a look at what inspired this article. A few months ago, former Digg CEO Kevin Rose (@KevinRose) posted the following tweet:
He’s not alone in that sentiment, of course. In addition to Rose, other users feel the price tag is way too high. When I posed the question about Adobe pricing on Twitter user @cothrift replied with, "Photoshop’s price is steep, [and] the constant updates every year makes affording it hard." Another Twitter user, @BreRoz responded, "I think the software is expensive but I’ve been lucky enough to have had my employers provide it for me. I don’t know if I would be able to get it otherwise."
Right now, the latest version of Adobe Photoshop CS5 sells for $699 to buy or $199 if you upgrade from a previous version. If you are lucky enough to be eligible for student or educator rates you’ll be shelling out $199 for the full "Extended Teacher and Student Edition." But are these prices worth it? As usual, there are two sides to the story.
If you look at it from a business standpoint, you can argue that such pricing levels are justifiable based on the amount of Research and Development that goes into constantly building up and improving the product. Designers are continuously pushing the envelope with their creations, which translates into needing bigger and better products.
Secondly, the chances of a designer making that money back – and then some – are high so this can be viewed as a professional investment. If you have doubts, calculate your ROI…how many projects will you have to land in order to make your money back based on your current hourly or project rate? If you’re able to spare the initial investment then your upgrades down the line are about a third of the cost.
Todd Hemker, co-owner of the design company Yellowshed breaks it down this way: "It’s not like there’s a formula for it – but if I were buying Photoshop as a stand-alone application the initial cost is $699 and the average lifespan of any particular version is roughly two years and we don’t purchase every upgrade. If you use it daily, for example, that brings the cost to under $2.00 a day." Or roughly $60 a month. Chances are most designers, freelance or not, make at least $60 a month or the equivalent. "However," he concedes, " if we were just out of school and working as freelance designers – there’s no way we would be able to put down that kind of cash!"
Now that he’s a more established designer, Hemker’s solution is to buy the bundled pack. Adobe’s Creative Suite 5 Standard costs $1299 to buy and $499 to upgrade from a previous version. The Suite includes the latest versions of Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator and Acrobat Pro. If purchased separately, all of these components would cost around $2440, nearly double the Suite price. So if a person uses both Photoshop and InDesign, they would essentially receive Illustrator and Acrobat free if they get the Suite. Bulk pricing at its finest, right? Who doesn’t love a "Buy 2-Get 2 Free" deal?
Finally, when compared to other apps like Logic Studio, Pro Tools, Final Cut Pro, the cost is about the same or more leading some to believe that Photoshop is getting a bad rap because it’s the big kid on the block.
The Flip Side
Chances are, however, if you’re a freelancer or a small design firm owner, $1299 – or even $699 for that matter – isn’t pocket change, especially for those just starting out. Many designers turn to alternatives that don’t have the full capabilities of Photoshop. But in reality, there are very few legitimate alternatives to Photoshop on the market and most designers are faced with either paying the full price, pirating a copy, or not buying it at all.
It’s no secret that software piracy – whether it’s Microsoft products or Adobe’s – is a huge problem that these companies are taking a hard stance on. For example, Adobe’s "Anti-piracy initiative" takes the position that software piracy doesn’t just hurt the company, but it hurts retailers ("they may have to limit their selection to titles that won’t be devalued by pirated copies floating around on the Internet.") as well as the consumer. While there are no hard stats on piracy rates specifically for Adobe software (c’mon who’s going to admit to that?), companies DO have their ways of smoking out the culprits. Gregory Fair was convicted a year ago of selling $1 million in pirated Adobe software and sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison and was ordered to pay the company $743,098 in damages according to the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), of which Adobe is a member. In other words, these companies aren’t taking piracy lying down.
A couple of designers (who shall remain nameless, of course) privately responded to my inquiry on Twitter that as design students or new freelancers, they have had to turn to getting their copy from "non-official" places. Many schools require that their students own their own version of Photoshop. So they need it to pursue their education; and at its current cost, they said, they simply can’t afford it.
Over all, it may seem as if small business owners and freelancers are getting the short end of the stick, but not just with Adobe Photoshop. In response to consumer pressures and increased competition, Microsoft has lowered the price of their MS Office Suite of products over the last few years…for their home users. The standard student and home edition is a respectable $149 yet their professional edition for businesses is a huge jump at $499 with the difference being the addition of Outlook, Publisher and Access. That begs the question, if Adobe were to follow suit, would this cut down on piracy problems and increase legitimate sales?
So what is a freelancer or small business owner to do? Do you think lowering the prices on these products will increase sales and cut down on piracy issues or is it worth paying "elite" prices for what some consider an "elite" product?
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You get what you pay for… PS isn’t some crap software… it’s what help me create my living. Spending the initial $700 bucks and the $200+ on upgrades every year or so isn’t such a bad thing. I do wish there was cheaper multi-licensing options.
I don’t think anything has already suggested this, but… what about if Adobe offered monthly payments? It might sound odd, but, it would help those who cannot pay the whole amount immediately. It is much more manageable to pay $60 each month for 1 year than $700 in one day. Students and freelancers who are just starting would be able to take advantage of the software and wouldn’t have to rely on pirated versions until they’ve established their businesses.
I like this idea. I would also like to see the trial periods increased. maybe if they offered 120day trials it would give people a little more time to build up the funds. Use the product to make money and then it can pay for itself. :)
Actually Adobe already offers this option in Australia. Some type of monthly subscription – I don’t know if they stopped doing it but last time I checked it was there (last year)…
Hey can’t afford it just wait a few years. Seriously, Gimp is starting to close the gap and it’s totally free. Face it eventually adobe will have no choice but to drop the prices or face the very real possibility of losing the market completely. Being Gimp is freeware and open source it will surpass Photoshop eventually. The only thing it needs are good code crunchers. One day and I know someone right now that is serious sick of the prices he is a code happy cruncher and loves Gimp. He has pointed out there is nothing photoshop will be able to offer that a good coder couldn’t add easily to Gimp. Be aware it’s only a matter of time. Save the cash wait a few years or if you need something do a search or 2. Besides most design companies like to see diversity in potential employees experience other the software out there now. Soon the only thing Photoshop will have is name brand status but they will lose users like gang busters.
Just how I see it from the gutters enjoy and keep on keepin on
The problem is that isn’t useable in a proffesional workflow at all.
For Print it’s not useable because CMYK is missing. Filter are slowly. Many filters are missing don’t have good preview or alot of other problems. Wacom support for Intiuos isn’t really great ( believe me ).
If you look in the future its better to keep an eye on pixelmator if you are a mac user. ;-)
Once you start working professional in design you need Photoshop, and you will earn quickly money so the price shouldn’t be a real problem to everyone. Also the workflow with the other Adobe Products are a great thing which speed up your workflow (time is money). Nobody has time to play a round with progs like gimp I loose more many during trial and error process than If I buy directly photoshop.
JMHO
What I mostly hate on Adobe is the licensing System.
I bought the Adobe Design Premium CS3 a few years ago, paid nearly 3500$ here in Switzerland. You are ONLY able to install the software 3 times and only on 1 desk, this is ridiculous.
After 2 Windows Resetups and one hardware change, I wasn’t able anymore to reinstall my purchased software. I fought 6 months with support and dealers and didn’t got a new key!
Sure, there is an option to deinstall the software and give the installation free again, but try this when your windows unrestorable crashed – no way.
So, what i think? As a buyer you get limited on all possible ways, as a pirate you have all doors open. This shouldn’t be this way!
When I buy a software, I want to install it on 3 Systems. Work PC, Notebook and 1 reserve and most of all – no hardware hash change checks and unl. installations.
I really hate this company, it’s just too big and we are forced to buy it, because as a webdeveloper i always get my sourcefiles as psd or ai.
There is no need to buy the GREAT adobe products. Ofcourse many says there is. But is it true? The answer is quite subjectiv. If working on some creative artworks there is NO need. If the only thing that matters all day is how quick can you separete objects from background, huh. Then I advice to change the job. You know, my words are just a reply for your words, they don’t mean anything directly about you, it’s all in general.
I use – in 99% – only free, in most cases open source – tools. They’re good. Good enough to make everything. The only bad thing is that in some points you need to spend more time, converting to cmyk for egzample, but – as I said – if the job is creative there is no need to converting to cmyk hundrets of times in an hour. There are plugins for cmyk for gimp, there is scribus with cmyk. Some app’s from kde and so on.
There is blender for 3D – which is in my opinion at least as good as commercial 3D content apps. Lot of free renderers, modelers, etc. It is always posible to create own workshop using only free soft – espesially until you’re a “ultra- hiper- skilled” guy working on a “ultra- hiper- hollywood” productions.
All my words means that I totally disagree adobe’s prices. This soft is just not good enough for such prices. But that’s just my opinion. Peace :)
Yeah. I totally agree with you: Adobe licensing contracts (all software makers’ contracts, by the way) are way too biased against the user. If I purchase any merchandise, I should be able to resell it for some other reason.
We cannot do this with software – even if you uninstall it from your computer.
Once you bought the software it’s yours for life.
In a aggravating detail, Brazilians are forced to pay more than premium taxes – imposed by our local government; so instead of this $699 the article refers to, Brazilian designers are supposed to pay close to $1400.
Yeah you are right, but a full backup from your disk would help ;-)
Restore, deregister Adobe product if you want to back going with the restored version.
No way photoshop should cost so much, their profit margin is way too high. Should not they release student version that costs less? I love free and open source tools, and GIMP gets my job done nicely. Sometimes it may need a few tweaks, but that certainly is not worth $699!
That price is too much for any software in my opinion. $199 sounds way more reasonable.
As a a young 11 year old, I found a copy of Photoshop 6.0 in a box around the house. It totally changed my life, I wanted to upgrade so I quickly found the Adobe website. I then almost fainted due to the hefty thousand dollar price at the time (seven years ago).
What Adobe has done here is revolutionary, and I think the price should be high. Think about it, when you start a retail business, you have to pay for a lot of things. So why should the tools for web design be cheap? That would encourage more people to become web designers and therefore increase competition exponentially.
Seriously, if Photoshop were free, every computer-literate person would know it. And the rest of us would be history. But then the price doesn’t seem to stop most people from getting a hold of it. Pirated copies are being spread everywhere. So no matter what you do, it can’t be changed.
Sure the price is ridiculously expensive, and I could never pay to upgrade. However, people need to understand that if you want to be a serious graphic designer, you have to be a serious graphic designer.
dude, due to piracy, most computer-literate people DO know it. i can’t think of a person who hasn’t at least dabbled in it. they aren’t pro in any way, but i bet you (due entirely to pirated software) there are more 14 year old girls on livejournal (tumblr now) with more design intuition AND technical ability than there are well designed national ad campaigns.
I like products from Adobe. And I do not regret the money to buy software
I believe that the price tag for Photoshop is justified.
I’ve been using Photoshop since version 4 in 1996 and the leaps and bounds developers make is astounding. Better yet however is the fact that they listen to their customers and regularly include upgrades which improve a designer’s workflow and productivity which ultimately saves you money.
The different options for the Creative Suite bundles frustrated me at first but you only have to tally up the individual cost of the software titles included to see you’re making a HUGE saving.
I’ve read a few comments about GIMP catching up with Potoshop but GIMP isn’t integrated into a suite of industry standard packages for different design jobs.
I may have been one of the many who used a Pirate copy of Adobe Photoshop in my student days but as a working professional I wouldn’t take a creative job anywhere which didn’t invest in Adobe software and have an upgrade strategy in place.
The only thing that they neglect to listen to is the price complaints, ESPECIALLY from people that are in poor countres who have to pay EVEN MORE than us Americans do, when they are MUCH WORSE OFF….}|:( they don’t listen to a word they say! The only answer they ever got back was a smarmy ‘thank you for contacting Adobe customer support’ letter that throws them a bunch of ridiculous excuses and pretty much just says “screw you” right to their faces!
*let off steam*
As someone about to venture into the world of freelance web design, considering the price of Photoshop and Illustrator or indeed one of the bundles.
Which products would you say are essential to your web design toolbox?
I appreciate there may be alternatives out there but am really trying to determine if for example Photoshop is enough to cover everything or if Illustrator is 100% required.
Steve,
I absolutely think having both pieces of software are a must. While I’m not one to use Illustrator so much for web design, I always use it for logo design. There have been countless projects where clients come to me for websites only, however I always design the logo for the company / organization in Illustrator knowing at some point or another said client will come to me wanting / needing the logo for a print job (which must be at 300ppi as opposed to the web which is 72ppi).
Having said that, for everything else I do within web design, I do not use Illustrator at all. I prefer the swiftness of Photoshop’s controls for gradients, paths, and above all else the pen tool in Ps much better then Ai.
Also – you asked what’s essential to my / our web design toolbox(es): I choose to design my sites within Photoshop, and I develop them using a program called Coda – it’s $99 and worth every penny. I highly recommend checking it out if you’re looking into web programming as well.
Hopefully that helped!
Thanks for sharing Alex.
My new MBP is arriving in a few days (I going mac from windows) and Coda is one of the apps I plan(ned) on getting. Espresso is also a potential. I dont see much in the way of code completion in Coda but Espresso seems to have lots of support?? Decisions decisions.
Thanks again.
Congrats on your new MBP – you’ll be in love too soon. I honestly don’t know much about Espresso, however there are quite a few developers in my community (Nashville) who use it. My team and I choose Coda because of its all-in-one interface, allowing us to have each of our files open in one window. Also in Coda, we’re able to edit files live with each other, with ‘Bonjour’, so that might be something to consider if you’re planning on working with other developers.
I know that Espresso is about $20 cheaper though! I would recommend googling ‘Coda vs. Espresso’ and reading up on some of the articles written about them.
I’d love to share more with you Steve, if you ever need any help, just click my name & it will take you to my site – you can email me from there if you’d like to speak further.
If you use it for business, the price for a new package seems quite fair – IN THE US!
Over here, Photoshop CS 5 means we are talking about 1010 € for the standard Version and 1426 € for Extended.
That means we are taliking about a whopping 1971,15 $!!!!
Guys, that is not even remotely funny.
And oh yes, how could I forget, let’s say you are not a big shot editor and composer but only a small business photographer, and completely happy using your already vintage PS CS2 to add some curves here, some sharpness there and decide to buy a new camera.
Bang!
Your Camerea RAW doesn’t recognize your files and an updated version doesn’t work with your oh so beloved CS2.
:)
Yes, i love Adobe.
Every day a little more.
I just use GIMP
one thing against piracy is that the alot of the pirated copies wouldn’t even have been bought if it wasn’t possible to crack it!
It’s very expensive, I really can’t afford it. I’ve heard that GIMP is very similar to PS and it’s totally free so instead paying a lot of money I rather choose the free software.
What GIMP is missing is the fit-and-polish of the Adobe apps…perhaps the processing and editing/imaging power is there, but it’s hidden behind non-intuitive palettes and dialogs. YMMV
After Photoshop CS2 crashing on me again, and this time losing hours of work, I want to know where I can download CS5 for free. This has made me really angry and I refuse to pay for a product that keeps ruining my work!
Photoshop is chump change compared to what our company spend on the junk-ware called AutoCAD every two years. $10000.00 for 10 seats every two years AND we’re locked into their file format no matter what…and that’s with the ‘discount’ offered for getting locked into a subscription.
Adobe products are high quality professional products. $699 is still pretty cheap compared to “other” professional solutions.
What really gets me going tho are the huge price differences between the US and other regions.
US Price Photoshop: $699
EU(German Shop without VAT): €849 which translates to $1170
Come on, this feels a bit of a rip for a localized copy? $500 extra for what?!?!
To be honest, I think that if Adobe cuts the prices a little bit down, the amount of Adobe-piracy will be less a problem. I would rather pay for a 200-300$ Photoshop, rather than 600-1000$ for it.
I definitely have to disagree with what I’ve read from most people. Adobe’s software is absolutely priceless. How else would I ( or many of us) designing our websites? Open source apps? No, they can’t get the job done like Photoshop can. There is so much that goes behind the Adobe’s software – the interface, the user experience, the research and all of the development, the constant updates they make to the applications are well worth the $700.
If any of you are professional designers, who don’t just toy around in Photoshop for fun, you’d absolutely have to agree with me. $700 is less than a single website for crying out loud! Adobe has every right to charge as much as they do for their software. Too many people take it for granted, and even more don’t understand its immense power.
Adobe thinks Photoshop is Maya or something…
if adobe had a 3d app, Imagine how much would it cost.
Photoshop is waaaay overpriced. No doubt about it. Why do I say that? Because I have been working for years (before I moved to Photoshop) with Paint Shop Pro (now called Paint Shop Photo) and most of the work I did in Paint Shop Pro I now still do in Photoshop.
So PSP is, for a lot of work, just as powerfull as PS and it costs in comparison nothing.
Where as I need to pay in the Netherlands for Photoshop CS5 (not the exntended version) € 1,010.31 (about $ 1395.00!!!!!) I only pay for Paint Shop Photo € 57,93 ($ 79.99).
How’s that for a price! Okay PSP is purely a Windows program but that doesn’t chnage the fact that PS is hugely overpriced.
Definitely there are no doubt about adobe produtcs quality. About prices “the story” is diferent. Of course they are a big company who reach the maximum profit. I think the overpriced products is more policies to balance the piracy. And even they just sell 50% of any product, have you already imagine how many billion of copies they sell in all world??
Cmon guys they are good, but charge a high price for that. Inevitably they they must change the commercial policies, or the risk to lose clients is to big.
Another pricing model might be something like that employed by Cockos, the makers of a truly outstanding sound recording/sequencing/editing package called REAPER (http://reaper.fm/): The software comes to you as un-crippled, non-expiring shareware. If you like and use it, there are two licenses you can purchase:
-$40 gets you a license with (near-weekly) upgrades for two full version numbers (e.g. if you buy your license at version 3, you’re licensed until version 5 comes out). That license is applicable to those who use it for hobbyist, or marginal rewards uses (i.e. you make music, but don’t make much money at it).
-$150 (this price actually dropped from $200) gets you a full commercial use license with (again, ridiculously frequent) upgrades through two full version numbers.
were Adobe to adopt this model, then designers getting started and not yet making large annual salaries could buy-in at a lower price point (similar to the academic pricing, perhaps), and enjoy the benefits of professional tools to make professional work, which will earn them professional salaries, enabling them to buy-in at the full price down the road.
or is that all just too trusting of people? :)
The article compares the cost of Logic Studio with the cost of Photoshop, sayng it is similar in price. Photoshop is £300 more almost double the price.
Plus its not like for like, when Logic studio has had many professional standard programmes and plugins in the package it is closer to the Creative Suite, which of course is 1000 quid more!
When Apple bought out e-magic (creators of Logic) the price of Logic was higher like the creative suite price with plugins and instruments being very expensive extras, Apple dropped the price in a big way and in doing so made it not so worth while for the software to be pirated, I wish Adobe would do the same!
I can afford to use Logic at home to create music, but could never justify buying creative suite for artwork at home, for work only.
It is hard for many designers to go with cheaper alternatives because there is no community around those products, and excelling in them becomes particularly hard. That is why no one goes for alternatives. It is either pirating or affording to buy. If MAC can deliver an OS around $100, then Adobe can too. Keeping the price steep, keeps pirating steep.
I think the US price of $699 is okay, we would all like it cheaper. But like a lot of others from countries outside the US, Adobe seems to be ripping us off. We in Australia bay the equivalent of $1180US… that is almost double. It doesn’t cost that much to float it across the pacific on a boat
I think the biggest problem that puts fuel to the fire on the debate over the pricing of PS is the obvious low overhead to reproduce any digital product. Users of PS are obviously in the market of creating digital products, so we understand the low overhead of uhh copy / paste (basically) in order to reproduce software.
On the same note though, what most people fail to realize is that what you are also paying for is support and the ease of having a streamline and widely used software, where you can look anywhere on the web to get help.
On top of that, you have to be honest with yourself, do you really need CS5 or will Elements get the job done? So what if the UI doesn’t look the same as the UI you see in that tutorial you are watching, much of the same functionality is still there in Elements. Now, before I get my face stomped in, YES I KNOW CS5 is loaded with more features and capabilities than Elements. I am just trying to make this point…
If you are haulin’ marbles and rocks, don’t go and buy a MAC truck!
The price is absolutely justified. It is a tool. Just like automotive mechanics spend thousands upon thousands of dollars on tools (and replacements/upgrades) to earn their dollars.
Relatively speaking, the Adobe suite is actually CHEAP for the type of revenue it is capable of creating. Odds are, if you think it’s too expensive, you’re not earning much from it. In that case, maybe try looking at other options. I’d be willing to be money that they don’t come close in comparison in quality and time saved to execute the same result.
I am so glad I pre-ordered the CS5 Master Suite while in school. It came to 899.00 Canadian for the whole thing. If I had to pay full price I simply wouldn’t, but a grand (after taxes) for the whole package, yeah I can do that.
Photoshop is the best out there, but i think the price is just a bit too steep, if they dropped the price point just a bit maybe it wouldn’t be pirated so much.
Yeah it does costs more for students and specially if you still studying and you just want to learn ,still 200$ are heck lot of money.. plus convert it to INR .. Whoa thats like my one semester fees. why would my parents allow .. !! Piracy is the only way out .. Sorry to Say .. !!
When i was a noob in photoshop i had actually got a pirated copy of CS2,
however i was so amazed by this software i had to buy the license key.
Since then i am a proud owner of photoshop :P
since then i have paid for
CS3
CS4 (MC)
and now CS5 (MC)
I used to sneer at the idea that Adobe’s products were so individually expensive, but you made some great points.Although I couldn’t afford a brand new license of Creative Suite 5 on my own, student pricing saved me over 60%. As for alternatives to photoshop, the GIMP is the only comparable alternative I’ve used for PC’s, and unfortunately, all the keyboard shortcuts and tools are just a hair different. But, different enough that if asked, I’d take photoshop over the GIMP anyday–despite how much I love open source software. And, if you read Adobe’s license agreements, too, you’ll see that they permit each CS5 license to be installed on one “Desktop” and one “Mobile” computer. So, from a licensing perspective–unlike microsoft–you get twice the value for your software. Even now, I have Creative Suite 5 running on my desktop and my laptop, because the license agreement recognizes that today’s workforce is mobile.
The price is justified.
Yeah sure…it hurts. But it’s professional grade software which has had milllliiiions pumped into the development.
So whats the problem? Can’t afford it?…get Elements!
I’d love to know the stats on users with licensed versions versus those with pirated versions. I wonder if the change would amount to a similar profit for Adobe if they lowered the price point to e.g. $199. Yes it’s worth the price, and the software is necessary. There is no real competition for the professional user—yet. But all that doesn’t mean Adobe isn’t greedy. If it was a more specialized software that only a relative few people needed, I wouldn’t argue with the price. But I think it’s all universally used enough to lower the price. Frankly it’s all a bit of a f*ck you to their loyal customers. But I also think Windows and Mac OS updates should be free, or cheaper.
It’s funny how we use the words “can’t afford” so loosely. Of course people can afford it, just need to sacrifice other things. The point is that adobe apps are overpriced in today’s marketplace resulting in the highest piracy rates for any software company second only to micrsoft.
“can’t afford” so loosely?? $ 699 here converts to Php30k… that’s almost the price of a quarter of a year’s pay for most designers here… T_T
Yes, a “little bit” expensive, and is not fair that many people out there are using pirate software without paying any dollar, while other people is paying lot of money. I know many people who sell the software at $200, there are many forums, blogs, where you can download it for free (with virus).
There are also another alternatives, free software, ok nothing like Adobe Suite, but is not bad at all. Gimp, Notepad++, Paintshop, etc are fine for basic work, or students.
If the price is too high? Maybe not. The problem in my opinion is all those upgrades every year.
I like the 30 days trial version, that´s the only way you can get try it :), it would be cool to try it by 60 days lol
Conclusion: Yeah is way to high, as all the tools that we use: Computers, Macs, laptops, tablets, fancy ipads, Iphones…and people never complaint about those prices. You get what you pay.
Diana.
I have some nicely designed websites in my portfolio, I never use a paid software, I just LOVE GIMP.
$699 isn’t so bad when you consider it’s 999€ in Germany (last time I checked it was), that’s around $1400… It’s crazy. And really, GIMP isn’t much of an alternative to Photoshop…it’s not horrible, but Wacom support sucks, it’s missing lots of features etc. Let’s face it, unless you’re already an established designer or have enough money to start with (i.e. wealthy family), most people won’t be able to crank out that money. If PS was even half the price it’s now, I’m sure there would be much less piracy.
As an user of pirate Adobe Photoshop (yes, I’m not proud of it), for me the price is too high.
I am a beginner in designing and Photoshop definetly is best source to learn and get advanced.
Unfortunately as many others also agree it is too expensive.
Me who I am a student and have money for nothing other than for school things, taxes and I am happy enought to have food on tabel till the end of the month.
The price althought is well justified as an a product to provide such a good quality images and designs for websites, advertisements and along the other things it offers.
Todays web there are hundreds of ways to get pirate photoshop and get it upgraded simplest ways.
The question is, where would it stop?
I could assume that 2 Photoshop users from 15 has purcased the product, other than that uses piracy or other ways to get it.
So the question is why not to lower the price to get EVEN MORE users who would be able to purcase the product other than not lowering the product price and by this helping along to pirazy.
I strongly belive that lowering the price could bring more original users and by this it would not only reduce less pirazy but also more purcases for Photoshop and by this could raise profit earning capacity.
Wait… Could someone please tell me what adobe does with the unsold versions (e.g cs4,cs3,cs2 etc) why cant they sell those at more affordable rates.Because im sure not 100% of all software they ship gets sold.If they did, then this blog post would not have been written. Anybody knows where they go or who they give them to? id love to know.even if it were $200 less than when that version came out (was new) . id be willing to buy it!
Ok, I get that this is an expensive piece of software. But as a professional designer, it is essential to my livelihood. Think of it like a tool in your studio. How much did you pay for your computer? Your desk? Your fancypants camera? Lenses? My guess is some of these things cost as much, if not more than PhotoShop. you can blow $1k on lenses pretty easily.
If you stop thinking about the software as something abstract, and more like something physical, how much value does it have? I use PhotoShop more than my camera. Granted, I’m a web guy. but my computer would be worthless to me without the software on it. So, I paid what Adobe charges. And I expect high quality software and services from them in return. I have not been dissatisfied.
If its important to you, you need to figure out how to get it lawfully.
Of course it’s overpriced! Photoshop is a fantastic tool, but given the vast quantity sold it’s relatively more expensive than any other software I use.
It’s unfortunate that there isn’t much credible competition in that area of the software market which would force Adobe to ship with a lower price. The industry is largely to blame for this, because it focuses on knowing specific packages rather than broader creativity, even for junior positions. That’s just the constraints of the commercial machine, but I can’t help thinking we’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere by prioritising established software over the tools that young designers might use instead.
If there were a shift towards encouraging junior designers to find alternative tools (of which there are plenty), it might breed more competition between software houses and perhaps accelerate the development of applications such as Gimp.
Can you imagine if Picasso had been told to use a specific set of paints? The choice of tools in other forms of art are an important part of the creative process. The fact that Adobe have become so dominant is not a good thing for creativity in general and means they can price their products at pretty much any cost.
The worst feature of over priced creative software is that the people who most need it are the ones least likely to afford it. Students rightfully get a huge discount and large design studios shouldn’t have much problem with the cost. However, to individuals just making the jump to a full time design career it represents a significant percentage of overall profits.
Many designers never become particularly financially successful but are able to make a reasonable subsistence living. It would be good to see companies like Adobe offering price cuts to creatives in that bracket because they are often the source of seriously creative work.
As someone who only designs for myself and the occasional moonlight job I know the pain of looking longingly at Adobe’s range of suites. Luckily my wife recently found out that her college has a discount on top of the regular student pricing, which made purchasing Adobe’s Master Collection at $400 a no brainer. It does raise the question though, “If Adobe can sell student versions for such a substantial discount, what is the true markup?”
You could buy yourself a brand new Macintosh (a Mac Mini, to be specific) for that very same amount of money! Photoshop is great, sure, but $699 is by no means appropriate. IMO Adobe should make a noticeably cheaper version with some high-end features cut off (i.e. NOT Photoshop Elements, but more serious). Think Final Cut Express vs. Final Cut Pro, which are virtually identical, but Express has things like iMovie import and Pro has, well, pro stuff, but everything else – all the other features and the UI – are shared by both versions, but the price tag is different. Alternatively, they could do some kind of licencing thing – you know, a cheaper Photoshop only for personal/non-profit use, etc. Great for learning, for non-profit organizations (which deserve price reductions!), and the likes. The discounted version could, again, get some high-end features cut off. After all, who is going to give out a hard-earned $699, if they don’t plan making money with their designs? Professional designers, on the other hand, should (at least theoretically) be capable of getting their money back with overplus after buying Photoshop.
That’s my two cents on this topic. (I don’t have more.)
So you think PS is too expensive in the US? Let me show you some official prices (in USD) from Hungary:
Adobe CS5 Design Premium EU English Win Full Student & Teacher Edition $ 567
Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended EU English Win Full Student & Teacher Edition $ 322
Adobe Photoshop CS5 12 EU English Win Full $ 1096
Adobe Photoshop Extended 12 EU English Win Full $ 1660
Adobe CS5 Design Premium $ 3154
Adobe CS5 Design Standard $ 2158
Adobe CS5 Master Collection $ 4814
Adobe CS5 Production Premium $ 3154
Adobe CS5 Web Premium $ 3112
I’m sure software piracy is mainly driven from the least wealthy countries but the big software houses’ price policy doesn’t help to solve the problem. Spending $1100 on a copy of PS means that an average Hungarian user spent her/his seven weeks net salary on a single SW title, not to mention how much is a CS5 * Collection…
Its a Catch-22: people try to get PS for free ’cause prices are too high. And prices are high ’cause of piracy.
When I bought my PS CS4 I tried to buy it directly from Adobe. When I gave my country, the price automatically changed from the US to the Hungarian price. I put an email to them to ask about the difference – of course I never got any answer.
Wow those are crazy gaps in pricing! Have you tried ordering PS to a US address (a friend or someone you know) then have it shipped to Hungary? Would it even be worth the effort?
“Would it even be worth the effort?”
Not really. I need an official invoice to legally use the software in my company so I’m constrained to buy from Adobe or its resellers.
Less than a half of the difference comes from the 25% Hungarian VAT. But it’s only one half and the other is an extra revenue to Adobe.
Wilde Wilde East, huh? :-)
Well, after all this, I have to say something. I’m not defending Adobe here, but I understand those prices. Being a programmer and knowing how the development process of a software like Photoshop is, I can tell you the price is right. Do you know how many people it takes to develop it? It’s not just one programmer. There are whole teams of software engineers, at least 5 types of programmers, mathematicians, designers, usability testers and regular testers, and that’s just for the R&D. Now, put it legal issues that software companies must abide to, taxes, infrastructure, etc. Yes, it’s expensive for a “very lot” of people, but it’s pretty expensive to make as well.
Besides, maintaining the ammount of code Photoshop has is extremely hard. You need people specially for this task.
Some software I develop and sell here is hardly as complex as photoshop, but even doing it alone, I charge more than half of photoshop’s price. And that’s to have the minimum margin of profit.
Dear author, I don’t think anything has already suggested this..
you know some people like me love design as a hobby, not a job, im currently in high school, i have no job, and i cannot afford ps/ai, even the student versions. So i pirated it. My grand total of the money ive made in the last 4 years on my pirated adobe software is $600NZD, about $440 usd. There is no way i could’ve made that money without ps/ai, its a great paradox for newcomers, i need money for ps/ai but i need ps/ai to make money. The high price tag really forces us to pirate, if adobe wanted to stop piracy they would drop there price tag.