As part of a test, Adobe has increased the price for its Creative Cloud Photography plan, raising the subscription cost from $10 a month to $20 a month.
Needless to say, photographers and other users aren't happy at all.
Lightroom Price Increase
As reported earlier by PetaPixel, Adobe has begun rolling out the new pricing for its Photography plan, which previously came with Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, Photoshop, and 20 GB of cloud storage. After the update, the bundle now consists of the same three apps and 100 GB of cloud storage. This amounts to $240 per year now.
Back in 2013, Adobe offered the plan at $10 per month as a special time-limited deal, but even after the promo ended, it didn't stop offering the subscription because of its popularity. It seems that the company has had a change of heart, though.
Users Ditching Lightroom
To no one's surprise, a lot of users are upset over this change. After all, it's only $1 cheaper than Single App, the second-tier plan that costs $21 a month.
Adobe @Lightroom is doubling its price to "gauge customer reaction." RT if your reaction is, "I'm not paying $240/year!" — Tony Northrup (@tonynorthrup) May 2, 2019
Adobe Lightroom's price hike led to me Luminar 3.0, the software I was aware of 12 hours ago. — De (@streetherapy) May 3, 2019
Adobe is doubling the price of the Lightroom Photoshop plan to $20 a month. That's insane, especially with how crappy Lightroom performs on MacOS. Who's ditching @Lightroom ? I am. — Canon Rumors (@canonrumorsguy) May 2, 2019
Lightroom Alternatives
With the price increase of Lightroom, it might be time to switch to another app, especially for photographers on a tight budget.
That said, one alternative to the Adobe software is IrfanView, which is considered by many to be one of the best free tools available online. It has great support for raw formats and arguably includes every tool that a photographer may need. Its interface might not be the most intuitive out there, but it only takes a little time to get used to it.
Another alternative worth considering is Luminar from Skylum. While it may not be as powerful as the likes of Photoshop, it can provide practically everything photographers need to do their stuff, not to mention that it's non-destructive too. Unlike IrfanView, it isn't free, though. The basic version costs $70.
These may not deliver the same experience as Lightroom, but hey, they're two good ways to escape from the grips of Adobe.
