Adobe Subscriptions

⚠️ Article status notice: This Article's Relevance Is Under Review

This article has been flagged for questionable relevance. Its connection to the systemic consumer protection issues outlined in the Mission statement and Moderator Guidelines isn't clear.

If you believe this notice has been placed in error, or once you have made the required improvements, please visit the Moderators' noticeboard or the #appeals channel on our Discord server: Join Here.

Notice: This Article's Relevance Is Under Review

---

To justify the relevance of this article:

• Provide evidence demonstrating how the issue reflects broader consumer exploitation (e.g., systemic patterns, recurring incidents, or related company policies).
• Link the problem to modern forms of consumer protection concerns, such as privacy violations, barriers to repair, or ownership rights.

If you believe this notice has been placed in error, or once you have made the required improvements, please visit either the Moderator's noticeboard, or the #appeals channel on our Discord server: Join Here.

❗Article Status Notice: Inappropriate Tone/Word Usage

This article needs additional work to meet the wiki's Content Guidelines and be in line with our Mission Statement for comprehensive coverage of consumer protection issues. Specifically it uses wording throughout that is non-compliant with the Editorial guidelines of this wiki.

Learn more ▼

How You Can Help: If this is a non-Theme article (See: Article types):

• Persuasive language should not be used in the Wiki's voice. Avoid loaded words, or the causing of unnecessary offense, wherever possible.
• No direct attacks on named individuals or companies. Malice may be attributed to bad and proven offenders, but only through the use of quotation and citation - never in the Wiki's voice.

If this is a Theme article:

• Where argumentation is used make sure it is clear and direct but not inflammatory. Avoid strong language, or causing unnecessary offense.
• No direct attacks on named individuals or companies. Malice may be attributed to bad and proven offenders, in a formal and calm manner.

This notice will be removed once sufficient documentation has been added to establish the systemic nature of these issues. Once you believe the article is ready to have its notice removed, visit either the Moderator's noticeboard, or the Discord (join here) and post to the #appeals channel.

Reddit user RustyAngles posts a screenshot of Adobe's early cancellation fee

Adobe has a few subscriptions on their website which some people think are anti-consumer.

False advertising

Some argue that Adobe advertises their products on their website as if they were a monthly subscription but sign their users up for a yearly subscription without their knowledge.

Adobe has a two-week free cancellation policy, but after that, users will be charged for canceling their Adobe subscription.

Users will then be offered deals to stay with Adobe longer, which will cause them to go over their two-week free cancellation policy and thus have to pay to cancel.

Access to files

With the exception of Lightroom Classic, which offers a limited mode that can no longer edit, but still export images after cancelling a subscription, the file formats of Creative Cloud apps are completely proprietary and can only be opened, edited, and exported without restrictions from Adobe Creative Cloud applications. This means that cancelling a subscription also leads to the user losing all access to the files created with their applications until they re-subscribe.

Moreover, when Adobe cancels a product, the corresponding applications can in some cases no longer be installed. In this case, the user no longer has any way to access or edit their files. A prominent example of this is Adobe Encore, a DVD authoring program. If a customer needs to re-visit an old DVD project and re-export it with a minor adjustment, they now need to re-create it from scratch in another software at their own cost.

Access to old versions of CC apps

Adobe has recently disabled the ability to download older versions of their CC apps. Despite what they advertise on their website, the last major version of the CC apps you can download is 2023. The ability to download any version prior to 2023 has been removed from their Creative Cloud Desktop App. Their online support, despite what can be read online, does not offer older app install files. They are artificially limited to offering you links for package installers of 2023 apps or later. If you need older installers you can resort to Github projects like CC-Offline-Package-Generator (by chriswayg) or adobe-packager (by Drovosek01). These scripts allow you to download older versions of apps directly from Adobe's server.

Disappearance of Fonts

Adobe offers access to a huge library of fonts as part of their Creative Cloud subscription.

However, those are not guaranteed to stay. For instance, on June 15th, 2020, several fonts were removed, leaving users who used these fonts in their projects to purchase expensive licenses if they needed to make edits to existing documents. In theory, if a foundry goes out of business, this would leave users without access to the font they used for past projects, which could be detrimental if it is something like a corporate design for a company, which would then be dependent on that font. Designers who offer templates for sale, for example, are therefore faced with their work becoming worthless over night.

Moreover, font sync is tied to running a reasonably current version of the Creative Cloud background service app. Users using older computers with older operating system versions (particularly Macs) can lose access to the feature without prior warning. In this case, users have to purchase new hardware to be able to continue to use the feature even though their old system would be perfectly capable of performing the tasks they need to perform on a daily basis. When purchasing perpetual licenses for fonts and software, this would not be an issue.

The Venezuela Incident

In 2019, users in Venezuela were temporarily locked out of their Adobe software due to political disputes between Venezuela and the United States. Users were unable to do their work and had their livelihoods threatened. Unlike perpetually licensed software, which is usually guaranteed to work after purchase, users of an Adobe software can essentially be locked out of their software over night. Users were only eligible for a refund for their license fee, not the damages in reputation, and loss of profit.

How to pay less to cancel

If you have to pay to cancel, there is a way to bypass having to pay as much money as they are offering.

On your adobe account, you can swap your plan with a much cheaper plan. You will have to pay for this new plan.

Then, using their two-week free cancellation policy, you can cancel for free, and both plans will be canceled.

Despite still having to pay, you can avoid having to pay as much as you would have normally.