The creative software industry has declared war on Adobe
All empires eventually collapse, and it seems the creative software industry has collectively decided that Adobe’s time has come. The Creative Cloud provider’s suite of design tools has been considered the industry standard for decades, despite unpopular decisions to fully embrace generative AI and abandon software licensing in favor of expensive and complicated subscriptions.
Prices, in particular, have given competitors an opening to attack. Some of the best alternatives don’t just undercut Adobe’s price: they’re available for free. People like free.
One example announced this week is Autograph, a motion design software similar to Adobe After Effects. Autograph was acquired by Cinema 4D maker Maxon last year and has now been relaunched with free access for individual users. It initially cost $1,795 for a permanent license (or $59 per month on subscription) when it launched in 2023, which was a tough sell compared to the $34.49 per month standalone After Effects subscription that Adobe required and continues to charge today. And although Autograph is not directly comparable, it provides a similar suite of animation and visual effects tools and doesn’t charge a dime.
Perhaps coincidentally, Canva also dropped its own bomb on Adobe’s After Effects this week. Canva made the full version of Cavalry available for free instead of locking the motion graphics software behind its own user subscriptions, after the design platform acquired it in February. If that sounds familiar, that’s because Canva did a similar thing last year with Affinity, a trio of acquired apps that offer similar functionality to Adobe’s Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign software. While Affinity Designer 2, Affinity Photo 2, and Affinity Publisher 2 were previously each a one-time payment of $69.99 (or $169.99 for all three), they have since been combined into one completely free app.
Other Adobe apps were also hit this week thanks to the latest DaVinci Resolve 21 update. The free, versatile post-production software, already considered a rival to Premiere Pro, now includes photo editing features such as color correction, masking tools, and support for importing Apple Photos and Lightroom Catalog files. The update also adds support for Affinity’s .af file format, making it easier to use another free app alongside DaVinci Resolve.
Even when Adobe alternatives are not free, their prices are becoming more and more attractive. Apple launched its Creator Studio suite in January, which includes access to a host of editing apps, including Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor and MainStage. In comparison, Creator Studio’s monthly fee of $12.99 is more affordable than Adobe’s Creative Cloud Pro monthly subscription at $69.99, and Apple doesn’t require users to sign up for a subscription plan. You can still purchase single licenses for individual apps from the Apple App Store. Take that Adobe.
When we covered this announcement, several themes emerged in our comments section. One of them was the collective shock caused by Apple’s low prices compared to Adobe’s, even though it was Apple. The other was that all the Creator Suite needed was a suitable Lightroom alternative to seal the deal. Apple may have yet found a way to achieve this, but DaVinci has filled this gap in the meantime.
When you combine these recent announcements with already free creation software, or at least subscription free, then you have an industry movement that should give Adobe something to worry about.
Procreate made its name by being decidedly anti-AI and releasing incredible digital illustration and animation software for iPad that you can buy once and keep forever. It also committed to integrating them into Mac desktop devices. Blender, the free open-source 3D computer graphics software suite, is continually gaining new features and has proven itself capable enough to be used in Oscar-winning feature film releases. And Figma was so good that Adobe killed its own product design tool XD by trying (and notoriously failing) to acquire the platform, which offers a free Figma tier.
The absence of Adobe’s app ecosystem is starting to seem plausible. And make this freedom more and more free it’s the icing on the cake.
