I have been a loyal Adobe Lightroom customer ever since I bought it as a package deal with a Wacom pen and tablet for a little over $100 in New York at B&H. The reason I wanted to start with Lightroom was that I had started doing more professional work, and Apple’s iPhoto lacked the editing features I needed for my projects.

Just like Photoshop (which I never really managed to master), learning to use Lightroom proved to be an uphill battle—a battle I only won by working my way through a 500+ page manual by Scott Kelby.

At the time, I compared the capability of Lightroom to SAP’s ERP: incredibly hard to learn, but with unparalleled functionality.

A Forced Move To A Subscription Model

A couple of years ago, Adobe switched to a subscription model; instead of a one-time purchase, customers were required to pay a monthly fee to use the software. I never switched to this model initially, as I was still very happy with my (old) version of Lightroom and continued using it.

Unfortunately, this version was no longer supported by newer versions of macOS, and in January 2023, I finally switched to the paid subscription. I only needed Lightroom, but I was forced to buy the ‘Photography Plan,’ which included additional software and 20 GB of cloud storage that I never used.

A Price Increase

Anyway, I continued working with the program, until I was hit with a price increase of > 45% in April this year.

I cannot remember the exact reasons for this, and I am not sure if I also started to receive some unwanted additional functionality. Regardless, this was the signal I needed to look for alternatives. At that time, there were already numerous articles and videos online discussing other options—a movement largely fueled by Adobe’s seemingly greedy pricing policy.

Switching Costs

The difficulty for photographers like me is, of course, the fact that we have invested so much time in learning the software. I already mentioned Scott Kelby’s book, but I also invested hours upon hours on websites like ‘The Lightroom Queen’ (highly recommended, by the way!) and other communities to learn the ins and outs of the program.

In other words: switching from Lightroom to another package for individual photographers is the same as switching from PeopleSoft to Workday for corporations. However, I decided to do it anyway for three reasons. First, I do not want to be taken advantage of. Second, I was not prepared to pay CHF 192 (excl. VAT)—roughly USD 240—on a yearly basis. Finally, I was afraid of Adobe increasing the price even further.

After that, it became a matter of timing. I checked when my yearly subscription would expire and decided to research other packages in the meantime.

As luck would have it, Apple acquired Photomator in early 2025. Since I am an avid Apple user, this made the software a very interesting candidate. I checked numerous reviews, which were very positive, then made a list of critical features and downloaded a trial version to see if Photomator could meet my needs.

Fortunately, the answer was yes, and I decided to buy a lifetime license for Photomator for CHF 120. This means I own the product (unless Apple decides to ditch it in a few years, which is not impossible) and will reach the break-even point in just 7.5 months. I am sure I will have to go through a frustrating learning cycle again, and I am almost certain I’ll discover it lacks some of Lightroom’s features. However, I have the satisfaction of escaping an increasingly costly ecosystem.

A farewell present

When I indicated that I wanted not to prolong my subscription yesterday. I was told I needed to pay CHF 25.94 because I apparently cancelled my annual commitment early.

Really? Look at the box on the right: ‘You have already paid for the 22 days remaining on your subscription.

‘Learn more’ told me the following:

Digging deeper I discovered this was a country specific charge; if I would have a subscription in North America I probably would not have to pay. Here is a shot of an example of another plan – Adobe did not show a similar table for my plan:

Although there seem to be ways to avoid this—by subscribing to a cheaper plan and then cancelling it immediately—I decided not to bother. If Adobe is so keen to extract money from me, they clearly need it more than I do

Postscript

When I finished writing this article, I discovered Adobe had introduced a new ‘Lightroom only’ program for CHF 11.05 / month.

However, they do not seem to be able to help themselves, because this also contains a subscription in a subscription:

Final Thoughts

I am sure Adobe has an army of marketing staff who understand price elasticity much better than I do. I am also fairly certain that I must have inadvertently signed up for a cancellation fee, and that in the mountain of emails I receive from Adobe, I missed one or more offers. However, I doubt that the constant changes in pricing, terms and conditions, and bundles will do Adobe much good from an image perspective.

“The customer’s perception is your reality.” Kate Zabriskie