What Do You Think of the Creative Cloud?
In the past few days, Twitter and blogs have been on fire with the news that Adobe is dropping further Flash development for mobile device browsers. Interesting, but for me, the more important development to come out of Adobe lately is pricing for its Creative Cloud.
If you haven’t heard of the Creative Cloud before, don’t worry; it’s a brand-new bundle containing the following boatload of online software and services:
Touch apps for tablets. For starters, that will include Carousel, Collage, Debut, Ideas, Kuler, Photoshop Touch, and Proto. I say “for starters” because I have a hunch more touch apps will be coming from Adobe.
Digital Publishing Suite. There are several versions of DPS, and which one will be part of the Creative Cloud isn’t clear yet.
Business Catalyst. This service is targeted at businesses wanting to build websites with e-commerce, Web analytics, and customer data management.
Webfonts. There will be oodles of webfonts from Typekit, which Adobe acquired last month.
Community. As-yet unspecified “collaboration features” that let you show your ideas to other Creative Cloudies and discuss those ideas.
18 desktop applications. Creative Cloud will include access to every program in the Creative Suite Master Collection:
• Acrobat X Pro
• After Effects
• Audition
• Bridge
• Contribute
• Device Central
• Dreamweaver
• Encore
• Fireworks
• Flash Builder Premium Edition
• Flash Catalyst
• Flash Professional
• Illustrator
• InDesign
• Media Encoder
• OnLocation
• Photoshop Extended
• Premiere Pro
Let’s Talk Numbers
Clearly, the Creative Cloud has a lot to offer. But is it a good value? That depends on you.
Adobe will charge individuals $50/month and workgroups $69.99/month to access everything in the Creative Cloud, including the entire Creative Suite Master Collection. People who need to stay current on a broad range of Adobe technology should find this price appealing. For others, it may be a waste of money.
Happily, Adobe won’t force you into the subscription model. Creative Cloud will roll out sometime in the first six months of 2012, but you’ll still be able to buy your software and services the old-fashioned way.
When the Creative Cloud subscription service does become available, CreativePro.com will publish an in-depth article to help you decide if it’s right for you. In the meantime, I ran some preliminary numbers to find out how much this stuff would cost if you got it all separately. Note that it’s a little tricky to figure out, since you’d buy some things outright, like the tablet apps, and some things are available only by monthly subscription, such as Business Catalyst and webfonts. Further complicating the fact is that some (DPS, for example) are available in multiple tiers. And of course, few people will use every single app in the Master Suite.
Caveats aside, here’s how the numbers came out for me, using the lowest-possible prices I could find:
One-time purchase
$9.99: Carousel
$9.99: Collage
$9.99: Debut
$5.99: Ideas
$9.99: Kuler
$9.99: Photoshop Touch
$9.99: Proto
$395: Digital Publishing Suite
=
$460.93 one-time costs
Monthly subscriptions
$19: Business Catalyst
$2: Webfonts
$129: Creative Suite Master Collection
=
$150 monthly costs
Which way do you think you’ll go? Creative Cloud mega-subscription, or a la carte purchases? Click the Comments button to share your thoughts.
I would like to see some tiered pricing structure instead of all or nothing. For instance people who currently have Master Collection CS 5.5 may not want the next iteration immediately but could use the Touch Apps right now. Many people may not use all the applications or Business Catalyst or web fonts but you have to pay for those items as well in order to use the items you do need.
That’s an interesting idea!
Terri Stone
Editor in Chief, CreativePro.com
Either they’ve totally missed their target rollout, or Cloud is probably going to roll out sometime during first six months of 2012 …
Is the $50/month “Creative Cloud” charge in addition to the other charges you listed? So it would be $460.93 + $150/month + an additional $50/month?
Doh! You’re right, of course — it’s 2012.
Terri Stone
Editor in Chief, CreativePro.com
You get everything in the Creative Cloud for just $50 a month. That includes everything that you would otherwise pay $460.93 + $150/month for.
Terri Stone
Editor in Chief, CreativePro.com
Unfortunately for me, it’s not going to be worth it because I don’t do enough freelance and personal work to justify the cost. I’m sure it will be good for my employers, but I have always been one to maintain the same software (or as much of it as possible) at home as what I have at work so I can sharpen my skills, do personal projects, practice new techniques, update my portfolio, and of course the occasional freelance jobs.
From this article though you indicate they will offer both. I had read elsewhere that Adobe would cease licensing and push only subscription. It is a relief to know that won’t be the case, though I did see some benefits in that as well.
Maybe I misunderstood what the Creative Cloud would offer, but going back and rereading the article actually does make the offer sound good for me. If I have access to everything I use now and a whole lot more for $50 a month, it’s a killer deal for me.
I’m actually surprised to hear that it’s only $50/month. Adobe is currently charging $95/month (with a year’s commitment) for just the Design Premium edition of CS. Do you really get the entire Master Collection, the Touch apps, DPS, and everything else for just $50/month? Am I missing something? Why would anyone buy anything else?
There seems to be one comparison missing here, and that’s the cost of the Creative Cloud compares to the way things are now for many designers: You save your pennies, hand over a large amount of cash for a suite, and then to recover the cost, you sit on that version as long as you can before you’re forced to upgrade for reasons like OS compatibility.
The comparison shown assumes someone goes all-subscription, which is another way of saying you upgrade when every upgrade comes out. A whole lot of designers don’t work that way. I run into so many that are still on CS3. Their model is not represented here or on the new pricing model.
The Creative Cloud looks like a great deal if you have a use for the majority of what’s included in it, and you can afford to keep current. I might like it because I actually use a lot of the apps and TypeKit. But if you’re like so many studios who mostly use just a couple of apps and you try to avoid upgrading them unless necessary, is the new subscription push a good deal, or a major new tax? That is not answered in the article.
That comparison isn’t missing, per se.
In the penultimate paragraph, I say, “Creatives who need to stay current on a broad range of Adobe technology should find this price appealing. For others, it will be a waste of money.”
By that I mean, if you’re not someone who can use the new features in a major upgrade to either get new sorts of jobs or to complete your usual kind of jobs in less time, then in my opinion, the Creative Cloud is not cost-effective.
Terri Stone
Editor in Chief, CreativePro.com
This is likely a trial-balloon. Microsoft and others have tried to move their users into a subscription-model for years, and found it a hard sell. If Adobe makes the first incarnation work, expect them to force everyone into it eventually.
More choices do not necessarily equate to more convenience or better products/service for the customer. The fact that there is so much press to explain the new pricing indicates a cost of complexity that Adobe may not find favorable to their shareholders in the end.
My head is already spinning. If I were to use Photoshop a few times it would be $50 plus 9.99 per month? The pricing is too confusing to me… Maybe it’s because I did not pass Algebra the first time in HS.
I, for one, do not like the cloud concept. I want to OWN the software. If my internet connection goes down, or gets real slow, I don’t want to have to stop working.
I only need Illustrator to be up to date as I use Quark exclusively for just about everything else now. Until Adobe bring the price of upgrading back to reality, I will stay with what I’ve got (CS3 Suite). Although I have to admit if the total subscription for the whole service fell to below $20/month I would be sorely tempted.
F#$k Adobe
Muse costs US $15.00 per month (US $180.00 per year) if one takes a one year option: https://muse.adobe.com/pricing.html
I haven’t found how much Edge will cost.
Carousel costs 59.99$ per year (so $5 per month) now, and will cost $99.99 per year after january 2012($8 per month) https://www.adobe.com/products/carousel.html
PECourtejoie
I see no real advantage to a consumer on having apps on the cloud. They eventually will cost the consumer more as shown in the article above. The only savings are reaped by the developers in reduced design, printing, and fulfillment costs which increases the gross profit margin even more. Many consumers don’t have access to the web 24/7 and prefer it that way so they can work and/or use their systems without the extra processor hits. What happens when your subscription runs out and you need to correct a typo in InDesign for a client? What part of the apps will Adobe disable when your subscription runs out…save, print or the whole App? As the late great Steve said, I like to buy my apps (music) not rent them.
One of my client’s is 90 days behind on my design fees payment and my InDesign subscription just ran out. I don’t have the $50.00 for the next month’s fee at the moment and an old client has $250 worth of revisions on an old job that they need done today. Can you help me out Adobe?
As a one man design studio, I just can’t wrap my head around, yet another monthly bill. I don’t even use all the apps In the Adobe creative suite I do use Photoshop, but most of my work in in other software. Use Quark over inDesign and still holding on to MAC OS 10.6 because I greatly prefer Freehand over illustrator. Only benefit I see is not to the consumer, but to the Adobe corporation.
As a general thing, I don’t like cloud apps. They are slow, clunky and often not what I need. And, they are available only when a connection is available.
H’ever, if this can be a hybrid sort of thing, where the big app is on my local machine and sometimes asks the cloud for add-ons, It could be feasible.
And the cost calculation is fairly simple: If you spend more than $600 ($828 for groups) a year on Adobe apps and services, the subscription saves money, otherwise it doesn’t.
Are the Adobe Creative Suites elements (ID, PS, etc.) mentioned in this article going to be cloud-based apps? I had assumed that they would still be resident on your desktop.
I won’t even lease a car let alone software! I am willing to hold onto CS 4 until I am ready to upgrade. What may be enticing for others, it is certainly not for me.
For a small business utilizing a Cloud subscription doesn’t seem financially advantageous. I will still pursue purchasing my software traditionally.
What does Adobe mean by workgroups $69.99 per month? Would our 3-person company be spending just $69.99 per month for access to the whole cloud, or is it more complicated/expensive than that?
If all you need is Photoshop Standard the cost of the old update 18 month Photoshop standard cycle was around $10 a month. Now Adobe want to force everyone to Photoshop Extended at twice the price forever. For Photoshop will stop working if you stop paying. In the past if you stopped upgrading at lease what you had payed for continued to work. Clearly Adobe doesn’t care about their customers. All Adobe wants is more money for bugger and bugger code that they fail to fix.