Way back in 2013, I clearly remember my shock when I was told that the new 20GB Photography Plan subscription would cost only $9.99 a month, and it would include Photoshop as well as Lightroom. When I started using Adobe software, Photoshop alone cost hundreds of pounds (or dollars for everyone else!), so pricing it that low seemed too good to be true.
Since then, more than 10 years have passed, and everything else has increased in price considerably, but the Photography Plan has remained the same. It’s very overdue for a price rise, so I’ll admit, I was worried how big a jump it might be.
That day has come; Adobe has just announced its price changes. But it’s much, much better news than I imagined!
In a hurry? Here are the headlines:
- The monthly prices are going up, but the annual ones aren’t – and yes, you can switch to paying yearly to avoid the price increase.
- 20GB Photography Plan paid monthly will increase from $9.99 to $14.99, but annual remains at $119.88.
- 1TB Photography Plan isn’t changing.
- Lightroom 1TB Plan paid monthly will increase from $9.99 to $11.99, but annual remains at $119.88.
- These price changes don’t come into effect until your next annual renewal.
- (Exact prices vary by country and currency, of course)
- Lightroom Classic is now included in the Lightroom 1TB Plan (when purchased from Adobe), so if you don’t use Photoshop, you can switch plans to benefit from more cloud space.
- The 20GB Photography Plan will not be available to new subscribers after January 15th, so if you haven’t subscribed yet, you still have time to jump on board. (And if you’re already subscribed, don’t let your subscription expire, as you won’t be able to resubscribe to that plan.)
Adobe’s Announcements
Here’s Adobe’s blog post that goes into more detail.
There are a couple of very good FAQ pages that I’d recommend reading:
Photography Plan 20GB Pricing Changes FAQ
Lightroom 1TB Plan Pricing Changes FAQ
So where’s the 50% increase people have been talking about?
I’m already seeing people complaining about a 50% increase. And yes, the 20GB Photography Plan is increasing from $9.99 to $14.99 a month, which is indeed a 50% increase. But if you switch to paying annually when your contract comes up for its annual renewal, the price doesn’t change AT ALL, even after more than 10 years!
What do I need to do?
- The changes don’t come into effect until your annual renewal date, so most people have plenty of time to think. Just don’t let your current subscription lapse, as you may not be able to resubscribe at these rates.
- If you want to switch to paying annually to keep the 2013 prices, you can do so any time before your yearly contract renews. Adobe sends an email about 30 days before renewal. To switch, go to your Adobe Account, and click on Manage Plan. There may be an Update Subscription button, although it seems to be a little temperamental at the moment. Alternatively, contact Adobe Support.
- If you usually buy prepaid codes from other sites like Amazon, don’t try to switch to an annual contract until just before you expire, as you’ll lose that credit.
- If you don’t use Photoshop and therefore want to switch to the Lightroom 1TB plan, customer services can help. But don’t do it yet, as Classic isn’t available in that plan yet. No dates have been confirmed yet, but it’ll likely be after the January 15th price change.
- January 15th 2025 update… Lightroom Classic is now showing on the sales pages as being included in the Lightroom 1TB plan.
- If you don’t have a subscription yet and you want Photoshop while it’s still at this bargain price, sign up for the 20GB Photography Plan before January 15th. If you wait, you’ll have to go for the 1TB Photography Plan at $19.99.
For extensive information on Lightroom Classic, see Adobe Lightroom Classic – The Missing FAQ.
Note: purchase of these books includes the first year’s Classic or cloud-based Premium Membership (depending on the book purchased), giving access to download the latest eBook (each time Adobe updates the software), email assistance for the applicable Lightroom version if you hit a problem, and other bonuses.
We also have a special bundle offer for the two books. This includes Premium Membership for the first year as described above for the whole Lightroom family!
I am a UK user and the Update Subscription button for my 20 Gb Photography Plan has never appeared since the announcement. My anniversary is this month but had no email so I contacted Adobe. My monthly charge was £9.99 per month. To get the same plan with an annual pre-payment is £103.68 plus VAT which works out (including tax) at £10.36 per month. £0.37 per month more expensive so not the big increase but not the same price either. Almost as confusing as Microsoft 365 pricing!
I suspect currency variations have come into play. The base price that hasn’t changed is set in USD as they’re an American company, but the USD <> GBP conversion rates have changed considerably over the last 12 years.
Hi,
Has anyone had experience of adding a prepaid code for a different plan to their existing account?
I’m on the 20GB Photography Plan and whilst I could continue at £120 per year, good old Amazon in their Prime Day deal are selling the 1TB plan for £110.
If I add the prepaid code to my account will it sensibly just add the new plan to my account in Oct when the old one expires or will it do something silly like replace the existing plan and I’ll lose the period from now to Oct?
Thanks
No, unfortunately, that won’t work; it will be for a completely separate account. And it’s done by a Registration Code these days, not a card.
Thanks. OK. I’ll wait until the current plan expires and then add the code.
Hi Victoria and team
I’m in the CC plan with 1TB (LRC, LR, PS etc) and pay $AUD28.59 mthly.
Renewal day is end of May so no email yet, tho I note in the Adobe account the price goes up to $AUD30.99 from the next monthly payment.
There is no option to select annual payment yet.
I’ll wait for the renewal email and with luck there is will be a renewal button in the Adobe Account that I can use to renew annually.
Annual renewal is 12 x monthly cost of $AUD30.99, so it seems the only plan that can be renewed annually for a saving is the 20mb plan, and only if you have been on that plan since inception, and havent taken up the offer of the upgrade to 1TB of cloud (which I did at some point a couple of years ago).
Yes, there was no price increase for the 1TB Photography Plan; it’s completely unaffected by these changes.
Hi, Victoria. I just wanted to say a big ‘thank you’ for the guidance given for saving on the renewal fees of 2025, by paying annually for the Photography 20GB plan. The update went seamlessly, and I even got a £7.64 refund, for the remaining period! Your newsletters and the Lightroom Queen website is absolutely invaluable – especially to a novice Nikon user, using Lightroom Classic for editing. Thank you again – Great work from all at the Lightroom Queen!
So pleased to hear it Jan!
Just spent a tortuous 20 minutes in Adobe Chat.
There is no way on my account page to change to an Annual plan. In chat the person was at first helpful and said yes they would do this. Then they said I’ve changed your 1TB plan to 20GB can I help you with anything else!!! Only after I had said when did I ask for that did they explain that the only way to do this is to cancel your plan to 20GB then change to 1TB annual. I just gave up… IT seems such an easy thing to ask for why are Adobe making it so difficult?
Are you close to your renewal date David? Most people seem to be finding that the button only appears when they’re a few weeks from their contract date.
Most of the staff are well trained on this issue now, so I’m sorry you got a bad one! So what’s the current score? Were you on the 20GB and just want to change it to annual? Or you were on 1TB already?
Hi. I find I don’t use Lightroom at all these days. What happens if I stop paying the subscription?
Cheers for now, Kevin
We wrote a blog post specifically on this topic:
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/cancel-cc-subscription-photos/
For anyone who is still concerned about how to change from a monthly to an annual Lightroom 20GB plan, I’ve just done so successfully by following what it said on Adobe’s FAQs which I have posted below.
How can I switch the payment option for my Photography plan (20GB) to take advantage of the savings?
If your Photography plan (20GB) is currently on an annual plan, paid monthly, you can switch your billing to annual plan, prepaid, by visiting your Adobe Account page and following these steps: Select the Manage Plan button, then the Update Subscription button. Follow the next steps to complete your request. You can also do so by contacting Adobe’s Customer Support.
My current plan/subscription will end by tomorrow and the new annual one will start immediately. Providing it all happens this way it’s been a simple process.
The Update Subscription button wasn’t there when I first tried to do this, but it is now. (Feb 9th 2025)
Hope this is of help to someone.
Larry
Thanks for sharing Larry
Australian here. There *is* still a small price increase for the 20Gb Photography Plan annual subscription due to ‘foreign exchange rates’ — it works out to A$15.99/mnth (currently A$14.29/mnth), so not much more.
What is implied though is that this annual rate *may* increase. It says “per year” as quoted below, but the ‘Update Subscription’ option states: “Save up to 33% on your *next 12 months* by paying upfront.” [*My emphasis].
——-
From Adobe’s FAQs:
“Starting January 15, 2025, the price of the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan with 20GB storage will change in Australia as per the below:
Annual billed monthly: Increase from A$14.29 to A$23.99 per month
Annual prepaid: Increase from A$171.47 per year to A$191.93 per year
*The annual prepaid price has increased due to updates in foreign exchange rates.”
—–
On a final note, years ago when complaining about paying a higher amount for the same Adobe software in Australia (even accounting for exchange rates), that I could have bought much cheaper via the USA, the Adobe assistant actually admitted that Adobe basically charges ‘whatever the market will bear’ in various countries.
Yes, most international companies set prices by region, rather than doing a direct currency conversion. Some of that is due to fluctutations in currency that are averaged over time, some of that’s due to the costs of doing business in that country, and some is what’s considered a fair price in that country, compared to other options. We face the same issues here in the UK.
There’s always the possibility that the base prices will also rise. Cost of living is going up in many countries, and no one can foretell what the world will be like in a year’s time, so they won’t promise it’ll stay that price indefinitely. What they are promising is that your price is locked for a year from your renewal date. And in a year’s time, you still have the option to consider alternatives if you’re not happy with what they’re offering at that time.
Hello Victora, I have just ‘
chatted to an agent via chat having typed in ‘agent’. My plan is $28.99 a month for Photoshop and Lightroom 1T. I asked if I can change to a yearly plan and save money. He said it would cost $371 AUD a year which is about $31 a month. That is not an advantage to me! So This agent did not seem to know about this idea of sticking to the lower payment. In my case it was $14.99 for years. It’s a bit frustrating!
You have the 1TB Photography Plan, which includes Photoshop and 1TB… that plan isn’t affected by the price changes. You’d only see an advantage if you had the 20GB Photography Plan or the Lightroom 1TB Plan.
It sounds like you might have been on the 20GB plan in the past (at $14.99 AUD) and then upgraded to 1 TB storage (at $28.99 AUD).
Can you get the monthly plan, but only pay for one month and then stop?
Seems like they want you to either pay for cloud storage (which I don’t need) or Photoshop (which I don’t use). So, as in 2013, they want me to pay for something I don’t want, which is why I’m still using 6.14 and likely will never give Adobe another dime.
Lee Jay! Lovely to see you, it’s been years! No, it’s an annual contract paid monthly.
If you only wanted the cloud version, I believe purchasing from the Mac App Store (and possibly the Windows App Store) does allow you to cancel at any time. It’s not yet clear whether that would work for Classic though, I suspect not.
You say switching to an annual plan loses any e.g. Amazon coded add on time. I presume that switching from the photography plan to the lightroom plan would lose the credit as well?
I would guess so, but support might be able to find a way to make it possible.
Thank you for this notice. I’m in the UK and just had an email from Adobe telling me the monthly price will increase from £9.99 to £15.99. There was no indication in Adobe’s notice that the annual price remained the same.
I have renewed my subscription with an upfront annual subscription and received a refund of £9.99 from my current subscription. Thank you so much
That’s great news, we’re very pleased, and the feedback on here is really useful as others reach their renewal time.
I have an annual Photography plan (1TB) subscription that renews on March 16th. If I “downgrade” to an annual Lightroom plan (1TB) subscription today (Jan 15) will I get a refund for the unused part of the Photography plan (1TB?
Answering my own question for the benefit of others – Yes, there is a refund for the unused part of the old subscription.
That’s great feedback, thank you for confirming!
Hi Victoria,
I have the photography plan 20gb, paying £9.99 per month, but I actually have 1tb storage (currently using 72gb), presumably because of the grandfathering you mentioned above.
However I’ve just spent the best part of an hour on a chat with Adobe support and they’re saying that I will lose the 1tb, even if I pay annually now.
I tried referencing this page but didn’t get anywhere, just being advised that I will have to pay for the 1tb if that what I want.
I appreciate that we haven’t had an increase in so long, but if there is a way of keeping the 1tb, I’d really appreciate finding out how.
If I go in to manage my plan I can change to annual payment and the it’s still equivalent to what I’m paying now. I’m just uncertain as to whether I will retain the extra storage that I’ve enjoyed up until now. I’ll also be faced with having to reduce my current usage substantially.
Thanks
From what we’ve found, it’s tied to the Adobe ID rather than the subscription, so it shouldn’t be affected. A couple of people who went ahead and switched, retained their grandfathered 1TB as expected, even though support told them they’d lose it. I haven’t heard from anyone who has actually lost it.
The problem, though, is we can’t find anyone at Adobe with enough authority to offer a guarantee or any kind of recourse if someone tries it and they lose it. It’s a different team from my usual contacts, and it’s so long ago, the managers who were around then are long gone, and it’s such a small group of people affected that we’re pushing a river upstream.
It is a risk, and I can’t make any promises, so it’s up to you whether you want to go for it. If you do, please come back and tell us how it works out!
Thanks! You just saved me a bunch of money. I had no idea this was possible. The switch from monthly to yearly was easy, it took me no more than a minute.
Hello, I’m from Australia and this change seems to be even more of a mess here.
From the Adobe email I got yesterday about this change.
“The price of the Photography plan (20GB) annual, billed monthly plan is changing from A$14.29/month to A$23.99/month (including applicable GST and foreign exchange rate adjustments) on your next renewal date.
Your subscription will renew automatically on 06-February-2025 (PT), and your subscription will automatically renew annually until you cancel. Price subject to change at renewal. You may cancel at any time via Adobe Account or Customer Support.”
I went to Plans and My Plan, no means to change to the anuual billing (Approx $171/month). If I say I want to change plans and choose the Photography (20G) annual billing, it syas that is unavailable.
I cancelled (as has been suggested above) the monthly billed plan, then tried to but the annually billed plan, it says I already own that plan and won’t let me buy it.
The cancellation did not provide a refund, it just states my access to the apps and storage will end on the 6th of Feb.
This is looking like a disaster, I made a screenshot of the failure to allow purchase of the annually billed plan as evidence, in case they don’t allow me to have the old pricing on the annually billed plan.
Thank you for posting about this and helping people.
Update:
After spending nearly 45 minutes in a chat with Adobe, I had them complete the cancellation of the monthly billing, and start a new annual billing plan. It’s hard to believe a large company could not forsee this and adjust the website to allow the user to complete these actions without wasting so much of their support staff time.
Eugh! Sorry you had such a nightmare.
For anyone else reading, we DO NOT recommend cancelling your 20GB. If there’s an Update Subscription button that lets you convert it to annual, that’s fine. If not, talk to customer support, who in most cases are handling it really quickly. If Adobe Support converts it by canceling and restarting, that’s fine too. But don’t just cancel, especially after the 15th.
Hmm! I received an email from Adobe on 2 January telling me that my “The price of the Photography plan (20GB) annual, billed monthly plan is changing from £9.98/month to £14.99/month (including applicable Tax/VAT) on your next renewal date. Your subscription will renew automatically on 02-February-2025 (PT), and your subscription will automatically renew annually until you cancel. ”
So no mention or offer to change to the annual billed annually plan. So I went onto my Manage My Plan and of course there was no option to change there also! Maybe I’m a cynic but how come at no point did I get an offer to change plan?
So I did a Chat with Adobe CS and sure enough I could change immediately and I’m now paying £124pa instead of £179. And they refunded me my January subscription.
Yeah, I think we’re in agreement that they should have updated their automated emails to offer that option… we’ll keep pushing for that, but knowing big companies, by the time they get it done a year will have past and it’ll be out of date 🙄 in the meantime, the best we can do is get the word out
Hello, I live in Switzerland and my son in London. How come I have the annual offer in my account (exp. Mar25) and he who has the same plan (exp. Feb25) is not offered the annual plan but only monthly or cancellation. Very Strange. René
There seems to be a few glitches in when that update button shows and when it doesn’t. It may appear for your son when it gets to 30 days from his renewal date, or he can contact customer services to sort it out at any time.
Have anyone successfully changed from 20GB to Lightroom 1TB plan and kept Lightroom classic? Adobe support say classic is not included in this plan.
Note this line in the blog post:
“If you don’t use Photoshop and therefore want to switch to the Lightroom 1TB plan, customer services can help. But don’t do it yet, as Classic isn’t available in that plan yet. No dates have been confirmed yet, but it’ll likely be after the January 15th price change.“
Phew, I was just about to press the button to change to the Lightroom plan with 1TB plan, then doubled checked your email… I will wait and check again in a few weeks. Thanks.
Hi Sverre. Quick update… Lightroom Classic is now showing as included in the LR 1TB plan on the sales pages, so you should be good to go.
Hi I have received my renewal notice for the 9.99 plan which says will increase on 01 Feb 2025
I have one of the grandfather accounts with 1tb of storage and I will be contacting Adobe on Monday regarding the price update for these accounts following the comments above
Just be aware that most of the support team isn’t aware of the grandfathered accounts, so they may give you incorrect information. Switching to annual shouldn’t affect it in any way (even though they’re probably going to tell you it will), but once Adobe’s back in the office, I will see if there’s a way to document that you do have it, so there’s a backup plan if it doesn’t work out as expecting.
I subscribe to the Adobe photo plan, which includes all versions of LR, LRC, PS, and Adobe Portfolio. Going forward I would like to keep all of these, so no plan changes that removes anything. This plan includes 20GB of storage. I have an option to upgrade this storage to 1TB for an additional $9.99/month. Sounds good from a financial point of view. If I were to do this, would I migrate all of my photos from my current iCloud to the 1TB Adobe cloud? Would doing so leave local copies on my desktop HD?
It depends on how you’re actually using Lightroom, Lightroom Classic and the cloud. The Adobe Cloud is not a direct replacement for iCloud… it doesn’t do a local folder sync like iCloud does. It is possible to migrate all of your photos from Classic to the Lightroom cloud ecosystem, but that’s not generally the best course of action if you want to continue to use Lightroom Classic to manage your photos. This is probably a discussion for the forum, where we can ask more questions and better understand your workflow and then give you the best advice. There’s a link in the menubar.
I just tried to change to yearly and the price becomes $171… which equates to $14.99 pm. Am I too late. The next payment date is today.
You shouldn’t be too late… they should have emailed you in the last 30 days if your plan was due to renew. $171/12 is $14.25 rather than $14.99, so there may be some local taxes or something like that in the price. Talk to support, and they’ll be able to see your account and confirm for you.
Didn’t know my plan was “annual.” Just been paying $9.99/month automatically for many years. Didn’t know I had a “renewal date.” I don’t do anything in the cloud, but I see Adobe says my plan is the 20GB Photography Plan. So do I just wait for Adobe to tell me it’s time to “renew” and then I choose the annual payment option?
No – tell them to cancel and start a new annual plan. Our annual plan expires in October 2025 – we were paying monthly. I asked what we would pay in Feb. They said $14.99.
So I cancelled the existing plan – and paid for a new annual plan today – $ 119.88 plus tax
I’m a bit confused. My “Manage My Plan” doesn’t say anything about an “annual” subscription, just that I pay $9.99 monthly. An FAQ asks “Do I have to switch to the annual, prepaid plan before January 15 in order to lock in the lowest rate for the 20GB plan?” The answer is “No, Adobe will send you an email 30 days before your plan renewal date, at which point you can choose to switch to an annual, prepaid plan to lock in the lowest rate by paying upfront for the year.” So it sounds like I can just wait till I receive the notice from Adobe. On the other hand, since I haven’t paid anything in advance it looks like there would be nothing to lose by signing up for an annual plan right now for $119.88 as long as I can afford the lump-sum payment. But it looks like Brian tried to do that and couldn’t.
Ollie, yes, you can wait until it comes up for renewal, or you can do it now. If there isn’t a button to switch it to annual on the web page, contact support and tell them you want to switch to the annual payment. Don’t just cancel it yourself, as there’s a cancellation fee if you do, but it’s fine if support cancels it and signs you up for the annual one.
Hi Patty. They were wrong, the $14.99 wouldn’t kick in until your renewal date, but no harm in going ahead with the switch now. Glad you’re sorted!
Under my account billing and payment, my plan is described as “annual plan prepaid”. My next payment is on Jan 2 for $9.99 (plus tax). I do have a screenshot of the manage plan page, but I don’t see how to add it to this reply. It does show that I have been subscribed since Jan 2, 2018. The only option I have on that page is to “cancel your plan”. Quite unclear….to me.
Update: I tried their AI chat….too complicated for it to resolve, so forwarded to a real person chat (I hate online chat as I never learned to type more that about 15 wpm). However, only short comments were required, so problen solved. I seems that an account cancellation, followed by establishing the new annual prepaid account was required, so Monin took care of it.
Excellent, glad you got it sorted. If you get that again, apparently typing “agent” in the chat box skips the AI bot. In normal working hours, there’s usually a phone number somewhere at the top of that box too.
I am in Australia (not sure if this is relevant). The Change Plan option to 1tb LR makes no mention of LRC being included.
Note I’m currently on 20gb Photogrpahy Plan including LRC, LR and Photoshop. I never use Photoshop so I’m willing to give it up for the extra storage, but don’t wish to give up LRC yet.
I think I’ll wait for their website to catch up with their blog.
Yeah, it’s not in effect yet so it won’t show in the purchase pages. It is on their official blog post though, so you have their plans in writing. We don’t have confirmation of the dates yet, but I’d expect it to be on/after 15 January when the other changes kick in.
Thank you for the clarification
I find the Adobe Account Management page to be very lacking. Mine just says I am on the annual plan paying monthly and the next payment is due tomorrow, which is January 1st. I can’t find anything about when the plan expires or renews. So if my plan renews on January 1st am I good for a year at the current monthly price? Guess I will find out.
You’re good Chris, the first accounts it affects are those that renew on January 15. Your renewal date is likely the anniversary of your “subscribed” date.
Thanks Victoria. Do I still need to change my account to an annual renewal by the 15th of January to lock in the price for next year?
No you don’t. Quoting from their FAQ:
“Do I have to switch to the annual, prepaid plan before January 15, 2025 in order to lock in the lowest rate for the Photography (20GB) plan?
No, Adobe will send you an email 30 days before your plan renewal date, at which point you can choose to switch to an annual, prepaid plan to lock in the lowest rate by paying upfront for the year.”
Hi! I just walked through “manage” and it said, “annual, paid monthly. Next payment late january. I then did “change my plan”, upgraded to “annual, prepaid, with good language about saving 30%, and a new effective date of today. Most important, they are rebating funds for the 20 paid days between now and when my next monthly payment is due. I saved a screen shot of the explanation/change my plan page but dontnthink i can attach it here.
Excellent, thanks for the update Adair.
did anyone’s Manage my plan option work as advertised? Mine still didn’t and I had to chat to make the change.
Mine worked.
The update option seems to be rolled out gradually, starting with those who are due to renew their contracts. Others can switch early by contacting customer support, or wait until their price is due to go up.
mine too. just went to the site and changed my plan to annual payment
I just had a chat with support. I am one of the grandfathered 20GB plans that has 1TB. Pay $9.99 a month. They said they could change to yearly paying, but it meant starting from scratch with a 20GB plan! Told them not to do anything! They confirmed that my current plan will renew 31 Dec 2025 and I’ll pay 9.99 per month till then.
It strikes me that right hands don’t know what left hands are doing.
Those grandfathered accounts are a very small group so most of support have no clue they exist. Hold fire and when Adobe’s back in the office, we’ll try and find a way to reassure you that it’s safe to go ahead.
Please disregard my message. I found the chat line and they are changing my plan. They will cancel my last month and start a new annual plan.
Chat is usually the best way to contact. Once you get past the Virtual Assistant, there’s usually someone that will help.
What’s the phone number to contact Adobe? I can’t seem to find it. There’s no Update Subscription button on my account under the manage section. My monthly payments ends 15 January 2025, so I know I need to change to the annual plan by the 14th at the latest.
Try this list: https://helpx.adobe.com/contact/phone.html
Or if you find the chat box and hit the … button at the top, the More Contact Options should list your local number.
I updated to the yearly. price and the monthly option for 1TB still appears on my account page
I’m not quite sure what you’re seeing, but if in doubt, contact support as they have full access to your account details.
I’m having a hard time seeing when my plan is up.. but it says I started in July of 2015, so does that mean it would be up in July 2025? Or is there a better way to see when your plan is up? Thank you!
That sounds about right. If you keep your old emails, it should show on the initial sign up email or on the yearly renewal email. If in doubt, check with support and they’ll be able to tell you.
I never see the Update Plan button either, only option available has been to cancel. I have been checking periodically for years to see if they had an annual plan, but assumed they didn’t since I never had the update button. My bad for not calling and asking, but I hate call any customer service depts if I can help it. 🙂 Been a member of this plan since 11/11/2013. I guess I’ll wait til after the holidays to update since I have until November 25.
Yeah, I hate calling support, too! They seem to be doing really well with this transition, though, whether you use the chat or phone support. The chat works pretty well. Look in the bottom right corner of Adobe’s website when you’re logged in, and you’ll see the chat button.
I just spend an hour on a chat with Adobe regarding changing my payments from monthly to an annual subscription on the Photography Plan ($120/yr). However, I am one of the people who was grandfathered with 1TB online storage from the early days. My chat was to ensure that my change in payment method would not impact my 1TB online storage. As you can see from the chat below, it is far from clear.
Adobe Virtual Assistant
Today 11:05 AM
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Hi Robert, I’m the Adobe Virtual Assistant. How can I help you?
I am looking to change my existing plan from a monthly payment to an annual payment
I want to make sure I understand clearly. Which of these categories best describes your issue?
Something else
I’m still learning. Could you describe the issue differently or tell me your goal?
11:06 AM
customer service please
Let’s find another way to get you the help you need. How would you like to proceed?
11:06 AM
Chat with an agent
Ok. I’ll connect you to an agent who can pick up where we’ve left off.
We’ll connect you with an agent as soon as possible. For a faster resolution, please tell us how we can help you today.
You are now connected to Sharad, who is reviewing your account. If you need to share sensitive information, such as credit card number, please wait for your agent to give you steps to share it securely.
Sharad
Hello, I’d be happy to help you today, let me first pull up your account information and access your details.
Thanks
Sharad
As I can check you have an active plan for Photography plan (20GB).
How can I assist you today?
While my plan is listed as a Photography Plan (20GB), I actually have 1TB storage. This is the result of being grandfathered to a program from the past.
Sharad
Thank you for confirming that, as I also check you wish to change the plan from Monthly to Yearly billing?
I do. However, I want to make sure I retain my 1TB of storage. When I try to make the change online, it says my current subscription will be cancelled and a new one to begin. So I’m concerned
Sharad
No worries, in this case you can go with the yearly plan for Creative Cloud Photography plan 1TB which cost you USD 260.33/year inc. taxes.
But I currently pay $120 for the photography plan but with 1TB.
Sharad
I understand, but for yearly plan we need to change the plan and if we do that the cloud storage comes down to 20GB only.
That’s not my understanding: Many of you have been subscribers since the very early days when there was no cloud space limit. When Adobe introduced the 20GB limit, they grandfathered accounts that already had more than 20GB in the cloud, giving them 1TB of storage on their 20GB plan. If you cancel your subscription, you may lose that extra free cloud space.
I’m hearing from lots of people who are calling Adobe Support to switch to annual pricing before their plan expires, but in doing so, the support staff are canceling the old subscription and starting a new annual one. It’s not yet clear what happens with the extra cloud space in that scenario, so if you have that extra space, I’d suggest leaving it alone until more information is available.
Scratch that; a lovely Adobe staff member has dug through the archives and confirmed that any grandfathered 1TB will not be affected.
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a Adobe staff member has dug through the archives and confirmed that any grandfathered 1TB will not be affected.
Delivered 11:18 AM
Sharad
Thank you for the details, to be sure about the storage let me first connect you with the dedicated technical team first.
If they clarify the storage issue, they will again connect you back with us and we will help you with the plan change process.
Will this works for you?
Yes, this will work. So am I to keep this chat open or will contact be made separately?
Sharad
I am connecting right now with the technical team, please stay connected.
OK
Connecting you with a specialist as soon as possible. If you are contacting us about Generative Fill AI Photoshop beta , please check if you have the latest version of Photoshop (24.6 20230520.m.2181). Click here if Generative Fill Greyed Out for more information.
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Eeshita
Hi, you’ve been transferred to me, let me first pull up your account information and access your details.
Thanks
Eeshita
Thank you for your patience, I see you have been transferred to me so I apologize for the delay in resolution. I can assure you we will surely work on this and in future whenever you contact us again, you do not have to go through all of this hassle.
In order to help you further please let me know how I can help you with technical query.
No worries. I am trying to update my subscription from paying monthly to paying yearly. The website says my current subscription will be cancelled and a new one will begin. However, I am in a special situation where I have been grandfathered with 1TB online storage while being on the $120/yr photography plan. So, as I update my payment to yearly, I want to be sure I keep my 1TB online storage.
Many of you have been subscribers since the very early days when there was no cloud space limit. When Adobe introduced the 20GB limit, they grandfathered accounts that already had more than 20GB in the cloud, giving them 1TB of storage on their 20GB plan. If you cancel your subscription, you may lose that extra free cloud space.
Scratch that; a lovely Adobe staff member has dug through the archives and confirmed that any grandfathered 1TB will not be affected.
Eeshita
Thank you for your patience, As I can check its a plan related query so let me connect you with the dedicated department.
Connecting you with a specialist as soon as possible.
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Aswathi
Hi, you’ve been transferred to me, let me first pull up your account information and access your details.
Thank you for your patience. I have read the above conversation and I understand that you wish to change your payment plan to the annual prepaid plan, is that correct?
Yes. I am on the $120/yr photography plan but I have been grandfathered with 1TB of online storage. I am only wishing to change my payment from monthly to yearly.
Aswathi
I completely understand, however we do not have an option to change just the subscription to the annual prepaid without the cloud storage. When we change the plan, the cloud storage also will be changed to 20GB.
If you want to maintain the 1TB cloud storage, you will need to change the plan to the Photography 1 TB plan.
Let me know how to proceed.
This is not what adobe has communicated to others. See the exerpt from “The Lightroom Queen” one of the most reputable Adobe resources: Many of you have been subscribers since the very early days when there was no cloud space limit. When Adobe introduced the 20GB limit, they grandfathered accounts that already had more than 20GB in the cloud, giving them 1TB of storage on their 20GB plan. If you cancel your subscription, you may lose that extra free cloud space.
I’m hearing from lots of people who are calling Adobe Support to switch to annual pricing before their plan expires, but in doing so, the support staff are canceling the old subscription and starting a new annual one. It’s not yet clear what happens with the extra cloud space in that scenario, so if you have that extra space, I’d suggest leaving it alone until more information is available.
Scratch that; a lovely Adobe staff member has dug through the archives and confirmed that any grandfathered 1TB will not be affected.
Aswathi
I completely understand, it can be a technical glitch, for the Photography 20GB plan, the cloud storage will be only 20GB.
If you have files, saved on the cloud more than 20GB, kindly download the files and save it on your device.
Would you like to proceed with the plan change?
Not at this moment but I will be escalating this issue.
Aswathi
Let me connect your chat to my supervisor for further assistance.
Connecting you with a senior specialist as soon as possible.
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Vinay
Hi, My name is Vinay. I am one of the supervisors here, allow me a few minutes to quickly go through your previous engagement.
Thank you Vinay
Vinay
Thank you for your patience Robert, hope you are doing well.
I understand that you are looking to change your payment from monthly to Annual as the monthly price for the Photography plan is increasing, we can surely help you out with that.
However the cloud storage will change back to 20GB if we make the changes for your billing as will have to cancel your monthly billing subscription and place a new order under Annual billing, I understand that few of the old customers were granted 1TB of cloud storage in the past and you would like to keep the storage same as above, unfortunately if we do changes for your billing you would be losing the 1TB of cloud storage and storage will revert to 20GB.
If you were able to grandfather 1TB of storage on the photography plan in the past, why can’t it be retained? Seems silly as I only need to change monthly billing to yearly. Someone at Adobe has stated that the terms with our grandfathered storage space would be retained.
Vinay
May I know from which source you got the information that storage source would be retained so that I can look into it for more information.
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/adobe-price-increase-2025/
Start reading where it says, A word of Warninbg
Vinay
Please stay connected let me go through the details and get back to you.
Thank you for your patience. In this case, I will have to check this with our team, please provide me 2-3 business days of time, I will get back to you with an update on this.
OK, thank you. How do I get a transcript of this chat session?
Vinay
I will be sending out an email with the attached chat transcript after end of this chat.
OK, thank you
Vinay
Could you please provide me your contact number along with the preferred time so that once I have an update I can give you a call.
612-244-8275. I am available during throughout the day and evening.
Vinay
Thank you for the information, Is there anything else I can help you with?
Thank you, nothing else at thsi time
Vinay
Have a good one, take care!
12:06 PM
Vinay has left the conversation
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The support people don’t know about the grandfathered accounts as there aren’t many of them and there’s not a written note in the account that they can see. Rikk Flohr hunted for the original documentation to ensure that you don’t lose it, so you’re fine to go ahead with the switch. Everyone who has done it so far has been fine. He’s the backup plan if it doesn’t work correctly, so grab a screenshot showing you have the 1TB on your account. If you’re on the Lightroom Help Group on Facebook, here’s a thread where he confirmed it in writing: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19eQsFH9p3/?
Lots of Adobe including Rikk are off for the holidays now, so unless your renewal date is in the next couple of weeks, I’d wait until they’re back in the office just in case they need to jump in. They shouldn’t need to, but there’s nothing worse than getting stuck when everyone is away!
Just a follow up to my thread above. I received a call from Vinay at Adobe (yes, they called me!). He states that Adobe’s position is that if I upgrade to yearly payments on my current $120/yr subscription (paid monthly) with the grandfathered 1TB of space, I will get a new subscription with 20GB of space. He stated that my grandfathering was so long ago that it no longer applies! My only recourse is to not renew when the time comes and my rate will be at the $14.95/month rate if I wish to retain 1TB of space.
Vinay’s wrong. Hold fire, and let me see if I can get a backup plan in place for reassurance.
Just to clarify. My plan goes from 1, January, so I will stay on $9.99 until 1 January 2026 ???
Yes, that’s right.
Thx, Nice….😎
Can/should I convert from monthly to yearly right away so I don’t forget on my anniversary or Adobe deadline?
I have been reading about some of the conditions. It looks like we will be getting notices from Adobe. 4th item down [in the FAQ]
Yes, no harm in doing that.
If this helps anyone … I had no “Upgrade/Update Plan” option in the “Manage my Plan” section. Lots of the help articles insist that I do, some say the button is missing if your payment is being processed, but my payment posted a few days ago…. So I opted for Adobe support… Ironically, all they did was cancel my monthly plan, and then start a new annual plan, all the same it was nice having them handle it for me. It was the quickest and most effecient customer support experience I’ve had in a decade. I used the chat robo agent for a minute or two, then requested “agent” then I got a call back in 30 secconds. Super slick.
Excellent news, thanks for sharing.
I changed to annual lump sum payment yesterday, but note there will be a (relatively small) increase for me when my next annual payment is due at the end of 2025.
That may be due to currency adjustments or tax changes.
OK, so my subscribed date is December 29, 2017. My next monthly pmt is due December 29, 2024. Do I need to switch to the annual plan before the 29th or wait until December 2025? I’ve received no notification from Adobe this far.
Thanks,
Dave
The changes don’t come onto effect until Jan 15, 2025 so you just got in on time. 4th item down says you will get a notice but this is all happening at once. You may want to call Adobe. My plan renewed last month so I’m good with the current pay by month until Nov, 2025.
As far as I understand, the first people affected are those who renew on 15 January, so I believe you should be fine until December 2025.
Did you get the standard renewal email at the end of November? It might have got buried in all the Black Friday stuff. That would confirm your price for the next year.
Thank you for your responses. I don’t recall seeing any recent renewal notices, but it could easily been missed amongst all the commercial holiday emails that come this time of year. Sounds like my current plan is ok for this coming year and I’ll select annual billing before my December 2025 renewal.
Cheers,
Dave
Hit the Upgrade button, next page said I’d get £9.66 refunded (monthly payment went out a few days ago). I get a 7day free trial and then they’ll take the annual payment, next one due December 2025. I’m assuming the “upgrade” and “refund” means I won’t get the cancellation exit fee.
Sounds that way to me. If in doubt, check with support.
I just checked. I’ve been on the photography plan forever with the 20GB storage. The upgrade button is there. I chatted with Adobe and they said that the storage remained the same with the upgrade. But I guess we’ll find out as the upgrades progress.
My photography plan anniversary was 11/19/24, so theoretically I can wait until next November to change to annual billing, correct?
What if — I sign up now for a new account with a different email address billed annually, make sure everything is working and synced, and then cancel the current plan? Do you think that would work, or too risky? I have very I have very little actually stored in the cloud. That way I don’t have to remember next year or worry about seeing the email from Adobe.
Yes, correct, you can do it any time between now and then. I wouldn’t go to the extra effort of signing up for a new account… you’d get hit with a cancellation fee on your current account, and lots of people have switched successfully.
My photography plan anniversary was 11/19/24, so theoretically I can wait until next November to change to annual billing, correct?
What if — I sign up now for a new account with a different email address billed annually, make sure everything is working and synced, and then cancel the current plan? Do you think that would work, or too risky? I have very I have very little actually stored in the cloud. That way I don’t have to remember next year or worry about seeing the email from Adobe.
I wonder whether the deals available periodically on Amazon to annually extend the 20GB plan will still be available given the plan won’t be open to new subscribers – I suspect they won’t
Excellent point, yes, I’m sure you’re right.
I have some good news… it’s possible it might be! The FAQ has just been updated with this little line:
“There is no change to current price of the prepaid Photography (20GB) cards available at Adobe’s retail/e-tail partners; these code/cards will continue to be available until further notice. “
I see the Update Subscription Button, but when I click it, I get an error message saying that plan is not available. I have been on monthly for years, and my next payment is due (automatically) on 12/26. Also, I haven’t gotten an email notice of the price increase. Now what?
Your price will stay at the existing price until your next annual contract renewal date so you don’t need to do anything at the moment. If you want to check your renewal date, go to your Adobe account page and click on Manage Plan and it’ll show as the Subscribed date… it’ll be the anniversary of that date. They’ll email you when that time comes so I wouldn’t worry in the meantime.
I see it but it won’t let me update. Either way I’m a little confused because my plan ran from Nov 16 of 2023 to Nov 16 of 24. It is telling me if I update to an annual payments save 33%. Yet my December 16 payment is less than it was last month. The Canadian gov has reduced some taxes to give people a break for the next few months. My next payment is still based on $9.99 US a month. I guess I’ll be calling Adobe tomorrow. I can just imagine the wait times.
Your price will stay based on the $9.99 until November 16th next year, so no need to do anything anytime soon.
Thanks. That is what I thought. They was offered me 33% savings for next year when I already have it. That threw me off.
Different people are seeing different things and I haven’t seen any of them, so I’d love to see a screenshot if you can still access it. From what you describe, it probably is the option to move to the annual payments, but your price shouldn’t change until Nov 16 next year so there isn’t a rush to switch. Of course if you don’t want to forget and you can pay a year up front, you could go ahead now.
So long as it’s only subscription based I will never purchase an Adobe product again. And there is really nothing good about this plan, it was crap even in 2013.
That’s fine, there are plenty of alternatives available. But why are reading Adobe blogs if you’re so anti?
The update sub button wasn’t there for me either but a quick online chat w adobe support enabled the switch to annual billing right away.
During Black Friday season, you can actually buy at Amazon a Yearly deal for the Foto Abo with 20GB storage as low as 64.75 EUR, which is about equivalent to USD. The Abo you have with Adobe will then be susbended during this Year.
anyone else not seeing the Update Subscription button?
We’re still not quite clear on what’s expected here yet either. Until now, you couldn’t switch from monthly to annual until your plan came up for renewal, but we’re hearing mention of an “update subscription” button from a few people, so it’s possible that Adobe’s added some extra functionality to the website… if so, being brand new, there may be some quirks.