Unclaimed: Are you working at Adobe Photoshop?
Adobe Photoshop Reviews: 4.6/5 — Highly Rated
Arguably one of the best-known graphic design software tools used today, Adobe Photoshop is currently the go-to tool of many creative professionals. The software offers feature-rich tools for photo retouching, editing, and manipulation; and gives access to numerous brushes and textures. The platform is well known for having an ever-improving interface, supported by an extensive selection of tools, high customizable dashboards, collaboration options, and efficient file management options.
Adobe Photoshop is also often used as Photo Editing of choice in Marketing and UI/UX Design tech stacks.
| Capabilities |
AI
API
|
|---|---|
| Segment |
Small Business
Mid Market
Enterprise
|
| Deployment | Cloud / SaaS / Web-Based, Desktop Mac, Desktop Windows, Mobile iPad, Mobile iPhone |
| Support | 24/7 (Live rep), Chat, Email/Help Desk, FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base, Phone Support |
| Training | Documentation |
| Languages | English |
Adobe Photoshop Pros and Cons
- Comprehensive set of tools for touch-up and retouching
- Extensive filters, brushes, and pre-sets
- Advanced color and background manipulation
- Extensive organization and image management tools
- Highly customizable
- Might present a steep learning curve for beginners
- Limited support for vector graphics
Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard for image editing, and the most useful thing a review can tell you is not whether it is good but which plan to buy. Buying Photoshop on its own costs more than buying the Photography plan, which includes Photoshop plus Lightroom and 1 TB of storage. That inversion catches people every year.
- What it is: Professional photo editing software for retouching, compositing, and digital art, available on desktop, web, and mobile.
- Best for: Photographers, designers, and retouchers who need the deepest pixel-level toolset available, and anyone working to industry file-format expectations.
- Pricing: Roughly $22.99 per month for the Photoshop single-app plan, about $19.99 for the Photography plan that includes it, and around $69.99 for Creative Cloud All Apps. See the verification note below.
- The honest catch: Adobe’s annual plans are commitments, not rolling months, and cancelling early typically incurs a fee. Buy the term you actually intend to keep.
What Is Adobe Photoshop?
Photoshop launched in 1990 and has been the default professional image editor for so long that its name became a verb. That dominance is not nostalgia. Layer-based compositing, masking, selection tooling, colour management, and non-destructive adjustment are deeper here than in any competitor, and the file format is what agencies, printers, and collaborators expect to receive.
In recent years the product has expanded well beyond the desktop application, adding web and mobile versions and a large set of generative AI tools built on Adobe Firefly. Generative fill and expand are genuinely useful for retouching work that used to take manual cloning, and Adobe’s position that Firefly is trained on licensed content matters to commercial users who need to know where their imagery came from.
The independent ratings are among the highest of any product we have reviewed, on very large samples: 4.8 out of 5 on Capterra across 2,433 reviews and 4.6 on G2 across roughly 13,210. There is no serious argument that the software is not excellent. The complaints are almost entirely about the commercial model.
How Photoshop Works
- Layers and masks. The foundation, and still the reason professionals stay. Non-destructive editing at this depth has no real equal.
- Selection tooling. Object selection, subject detection, and Select and Mask handle the hardest part of compositing, and successive AI improvements have made this dramatically faster than it was five years ago.
- Generative AI. Generative fill, generative expand, and neural filters, powered by Firefly. Useful for removal, extension, and background work.
- Camera Raw and colour management. Professional colour handling and raw processing that matters for print and commercial delivery.
- Cross-device. Desktop, web, and iPad, with cloud documents syncing between them. The web and mobile versions are capable companions rather than full replacements.
Photoshop Pricing
A verification note first. Adobe’s own pricing pages did not respond to automated requests during this review, and Adobe varies prices by region and runs frequent promotions. The figures below reflect current published US pricing as reported by multiple independent sources in July 2026, and you should confirm them on Adobe’s site for your own region before buying.
| Plan | Approximate US price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Photoshop single app | ~$22.99/month, annual plan billed monthly | Photoshop on desktop, web, and mobile, plus Adobe Express Premium |
| Photography plan | ~$19.99/month, annual plan billed monthly | Photoshop, Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, and 1 TB cloud storage |
| Creative Cloud All Apps | ~$69.99/month | Photoshop plus Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro and the rest of the suite |
The things worth knowing before you choose:
- The Photography plan costs less than Photoshop alone and includes more. At roughly $19.99 against $22.99, it bundles Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, and 1 TB of storage. Unless you specifically need Adobe Express Premium instead, this is the better buy for almost everyone who wants Photoshop, and it is the single most valuable thing to know about Adobe’s pricing.
- Annual plans are commitments. The common “annual, billed monthly” option is a twelve-month contract paid in instalments, not a rolling subscription. Cancelling early normally triggers an early termination fee. Month-to-month plans exist at a higher rate for people who genuinely need flexibility.
- There is no perpetual licence. You rent Photoshop. Reviewers who left cite this directly, and it is a legitimate objection rather than a misunderstanding.
- Storage differs sharply between plans. The Photography plan’s 1 TB is the practical difference for photographers working with raw files.
- Prices move. Adobe adjusts pricing regularly and runs student, teacher, and seasonal discounts. Check for a current offer rather than assuming list price.
A free trial is available, and Adobe also offers a free web-based Photoshop tier with limited functionality.
Who Should Use Photoshop
- Professional photographers and retouchers. The Photography plan is close to an automatic purchase: Photoshop for pixel work, Lightroom for cataloguing and raw processing, at less than Photoshop alone.
- Designers working with agencies or print. PSD is what collaborators expect, and colour management is what printers require.
- Anyone doing serious compositing. Layer and masking depth is unmatched, and no alternative comes close for complex work.
- Teams already on Creative Cloud. If you need Illustrator or Premiere too, All Apps is the sensible route.
It is a poor fit for casual users who crop and adjust holiday photos, where free tools are entirely sufficient, for people who object to subscriptions on principle, since Affinity Photo sells a perpetual licence, and for teams whose real need is quick social graphics rather than image editing, where Canva does the job faster.
Honest Pros and Cons
Strengths
- Unmatched depth. Nothing else offers this much control over pixels, layers, masks, and colour.
- The industry standard file format. Practical value when working with clients, printers, and collaborators.
- Genuinely useful AI. Generative fill and improved selection have removed hours of manual work from routine retouching.
- Excellent ratings on huge samples. 4.8 on Capterra across 2,433 reviews and 4.6 on G2 across over 13,000.
- Cross-device workflow. Desktop, web, and iPad with cloud document syncing.
- Enormous learning ecosystem. Decades of tutorials, courses, and community answers for any problem you will hit.
Limitations
- Subscription only. No perpetual licence, and reviewers cite this as the reason they stopped upgrading.
- Annual commitment with cancellation fees. The most common source of billing complaints, and easy to agree to without noticing.
- A steep learning curve. Reviewers consistently note beginners need real time and tutorial support before becoming productive.
- Demanding on hardware. Large files and heavy filters need a capable machine.
- Confusing plan structure. The Photography plan undercutting the Photoshop plan is the clearest symptom of pricing that is harder to navigate than it should be.
- Support quality is criticized. Slow replies, long holds, and inconsistent resolution appear repeatedly in reviews.
Photoshop Alternatives and How It Compares
- Affinity Photo is the strongest alternative for people who want to own their software, with a one-off purchase and roughly 80% of Photoshop’s capability for most work.
- Canva is not a competitor for editing depth but is faster and easier for social graphics, presentations, and marketing assets.
- GIMP is free and open source, capable but with a less refined interface and weaker colour management for print.
- Pixlr and similar browser tools handle quick edits without a subscription.
- Lightroom, included in the Photography plan, is the better tool for cataloguing and batch raw processing, and pairs with rather than replaces Photoshop.
For a broader view, browse our photo editing software directory.
The Verdict
Photoshop is the best image editor available and has been for three decades, and its 4.8 Capterra rating across thousands of reviews reflects software that genuinely earns its reputation. If your work involves serious compositing, retouching, or professional delivery, there is no real debate about capability.
The decision that actually matters is which plan to buy, and here the answer is counterintuitive: the Photography plan at roughly $19.99 costs less than the Photoshop single-app plan at roughly $22.99, while adding Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, and 1 TB of storage. Unless you specifically want Adobe Express Premium, choosing the Photoshop-only plan means paying more for less. Check both before subscribing.
Then read the commitment terms. Adobe’s headline monthly prices usually describe an annual contract billed monthly, and leaving early carries a fee. That is the source of most billing complaints, and it is avoidable by choosing the term deliberately. If you object to renting software altogether, Affinity Photo is a credible one-off purchase, and for casual editing free tools will serve you perfectly well.
FAQ
How much does Photoshop cost in 2026?
US pricing is approximately $22.99 per month for the Photoshop single-app plan on an annual plan billed monthly, about $19.99 per month for the Photography plan, and around $69.99 per month for Creative Cloud All Apps. Adobe varies pricing by region and runs frequent promotions, so confirm current rates on Adobe’s site. Our automated checks could not reach Adobe’s pricing pages directly, so these figures come from current independent sources.
Is the Photography plan really cheaper than the Photoshop plan?
Yes, and it includes more. The Photography plan is typically around $19.99 per month against roughly $22.99 for Photoshop alone, and it bundles Photoshop, Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, and 1 TB of cloud storage. The single-app plan includes Adobe Express Premium instead. For most people who want Photoshop, the Photography plan is the better purchase.
Can you buy Photoshop outright instead of subscribing?
No. Adobe discontinued perpetual licences for Photoshop, and the software is subscription-only. This is the most common complaint from long-time users. If owning your software matters, Affinity Photo offers a one-off purchase that covers most of the same ground.
Can you cancel a Photoshop subscription at any time?
Not without cost on annual plans. Adobe’s common “annual, billed monthly” option is a twelve-month commitment paid in instalments, and cancelling early normally incurs an early termination fee. A genuine month-to-month plan is available at a higher rate. Choose deliberately, because this is where most billing disputes originate.
What is Photoshop best for?
Professional image editing: retouching, compositing, masking, and colour-managed output for print and commercial delivery. It is the right tool when depth of control matters, and considerable overkill for cropping holiday photos or making social media graphics.
Compare Adobe Photoshop with other popular tools in the same category.
Adobe is always updating their software to improve your experience with how you design using photoshop. They try to make thing simple and easy to use.
There are so many tools and ways to use photoshop that I probably have no idea about. Would be nice if there was some kindof tutorial for everything you can do.
Photoshop helps me to create better looking images more efficiently. It also helps to reduce file size of images for sending over email.
Fantastic user friendly interface, a huge selection of tools and fantastic keyboard shortcuts that go along side other adobe products
drop down menus are clunky and confusing at times, lots of options, sometimes the names of filters are counterintuitive
being able to resize and quickly edit images on the go,
I've been on the program for 11+ years now. Adobe knows what it's doing. In my opinion, it's the best at what it does.
Certain automation features could use some help. Would love to be able to automate actions like "Place" or "Open" without having to use scripting. But otherwise I can't complain.
I edit photos, create flyers, prepare script sides, make logos. I do just about everything on photoshop
I love how powerful the program is and that you can make beautiful images
I dislike that the program will crash for no reason and there is no automatic crash file
Photoshop is great for making precise textures for Maya/3D modeling
The thing I like best is that photoshop is extremely user friendly !
The only thing I could complain about is that it is a little overwhelming when you’re starting off .
We’ve solved many marketing probe lens and we’ve realized less is more
Timeless and standard through our many industries and capabilities are beyond photo editing
Shortcuts are not universal throughout the Adobe creative suite
Content creation and photography editing
Versatility and options have always been great and keep getting better
Version incompatability with OS upgrade or newer computers
I use photoshop to colour correct and edit personal photos, I scan pencil drawings and make small or large adjustments without having to completely redraw, make flyers, bday/xmas cards, resizing photos and formats such as jpeg to tiff
I use photoshop for the flexibility - I can transition from photo editing to painting to graphic design within the same program, and seamlessly integrate work from other Adobe products.
The menu system could be more accessible.
Photoshop is one of the key programs that allows me to design content for my users. It is absolutely essential to my business.
This software is easy to use and powerful
The only thing I do not like is how much memory it takes up
I’ve been able to quickly edit photos an color web graphics
Its fun using photoshop and how they have many things that you can do it to suits your own needs.
I dislike how it takes up a lot of the space on the laptop, but it takes a while to load.
The benefits I have realized were that how much of the time I could be finding out what to do with it.
What I like best of Adobe Photoshop is that I can edit any photos any where any time. I do alot of graphic design and I cannot say enough how much Adobe Photoshop has saved my butt in critical times. These times are when the sky is not as pretty as it needs, or when I'm showcasing luxurious multi-million dollar homes, sometimes I need to do a little spot editing to make the photos stand out!
What I dislike about Adobe Photoshop was the learning curve. Do not get me wrong, it takes a little bit to get started and understand how the program works, however once you have it down, you can easily pump out a work of art within hours or less! Other than the learning curve theres not much more to dislike about this amazing and wonderful product!
As I mentioned above the problems I'm solving are within the editing aspect! There are a bunch of times where I need to edit and mask out the skies, driveway oil spills and more to provide the top notch photos my clients depend upon!
Photoshop allows me to do so many things -- photo editing, digital illustration and painting, 2D game design, cleaning up scanned documents, and meme generation.
Although creative cloud makes it a lot more accessible price-wise, it's not cheap software. However, it does pretty much everything. Also, the text tool could be a bit easier to use.
We use photoshop to edit images for our website and web app. It allows us to quickly mock things up, change colors, edit, resize, and merge images. I also have Photoshop CC at home for personal use for game development and digital illustration work. It allows us to quickly make 2D game art assets in any style, including 8-bit, and export them for use in our game engine. You could build an entire company out using this one product alone by creating and selling designs or illustrations. Lots of illustrators and web comic creators either draw directly in Photoshop, or create art using a traditional media and then scan it into Photoshop to do color correction, contrast changes, cleanup, and resizing for print. I also use Photoshop personally for photography, and the same applies: import RAW files into Photoshop and you gain access to a ton of amazing features and tools to achieve pretty much any look you want.
I like best the ability to add clips onto renderings, like people and backdrops. I also love how you can add flare to renderings making them look even more realistic and also by adjusting the image.
I don’t like the limitations the program has to backing out of commands. And that it limits the steps you can undo.
It gives the fenderings more depth and quality which makes it easier to sell the concepts being displayed to clients
I like that there are access to tutorials at my fingertips
I don't like that there can be unnecessary updates that end up being more confusing than helpful in terms of shortcuts for tools etc
I am able to edit photos efficiently as well as work with my graphic design products
Photoshop is an extremely deep program. You could go years without ever touching everything that it can do. Because it’s so deep, it’s potential is almost limitless given you put in the time to learn how to use its many tools.
I don’t like that while opening, Photoshop prevents you from viewing other windows or programs on your computer while it loads.
Photoshop has allowed me to better edit and enhance photos, composites, and designs for my freelance photography and graphic design clients.
I love the wide array of tools possible on photoshop. It’s the only design/photo editing software I would recommend. Industry standard
While I love the amount of tools possible, it can be overwhelming.
Application design, photo editing, layout design.
Very versatile program! Great for editing pictures as well as designing graphics! Plenty of downloadable content!
The layout could be a bit cleaner. Some functions can be hard to find.
Creating graphics for advertising as well as for customers.
The clarity with which the layout is presented - easy to find tools. It offers a seemingly endless list of possibilities for picture editing, design and graphic imagination.
Small fonts that can sometimes be hard to see, making everything on the screen a little too hard to focus on. But you can probably just make your actual screen resolution different or something to help with that.
Creating templates for holiday promos and workplace posters
The menus and palettes make it easy to use. I do a lot of concept posters for work and I like being able to mess around with an image. Photoshop makes it easy for me to juxtapose portions of multiple images easily while creating layers that allow me to compare different versions of the concept.
There is very little that I dislike. I wish there was a way to change the working size of a project without increasing the size of the images, to add extra whitespace to work with.
I need a way to visually express a story idea that complements my verbal pitch and helps the listener "get" the concept without reading the script. Also, I need to create images for various uses at different levels of resolution. PS makes that really easy to do.
I've been using Photoshop for 2 decades and it only gets better. It's useful for everything from photo retouching to story boards to animation to titles. There isn't another program that does everything Photoshop does.
Having to update my operating system in order to use the latest version.
I couldn't imagine doing my job without it.
Breaking up photos into multiple sections to target editing and design elements that photoshop has
Very difficult to navigate and control at first, the platform is unorganized
The business uses photoshop to edit pictures for marketing
Wonderful photo editing capabilities, I love it!
Make it free, hate that it’s $100 a year
I do freelance graphic design work so Adobe helps me create.
IT is easy to edit photos, good for anything you want to manipulate
no tutorials that will let you know about all the features immediatly, had to learn by myself
visualization
The 3D text element has been an amazing addition to play around with. I may be late to the party and I'm a bit of a laymen, but it really makes projects pop! Also The different ways to make selections to create high quality cutouts is a real time saver.
I feel like there's not much to dislike especially since I'm still learning about all that Photoshop can truly do.
When we first opened we relied on MSWord to create boring flyers for our students. Now with Photoshop the flyers are truly engaging. I also use Photoshop in tandem with Premiere to create graphics and video flyers to keep students updated and engaged.
This has always been the best image editing software on the market. From photo manipulation, so uh mapping for video games, Photoshop will always be my go to.
Object awareness is still a bit lacking. Could us more of that.
It works great in combination with my video, effects. And 3D animation programs.
It's a good tool or the best out there in terms of how precise you can edit your photos. It's also good tool when preparing for other softwares such as Maya. You can create clean plates in Photoshop and import in the material to other digital creation. With layer based interface, it's easy to go back and make necessary changes.I have my workflow between a lot of different softwares and photoshop is included because it's easy to go back and forth.
For students, price point can be bit high to afford. Getting access to it would only be through school license. Although photoshop is not used for footages, sometimes you want to get as much done in one software. Editing tools for footages are not as developed as other softwares. Some tools can be updated for better and easier use. There could be better explanation of each tools or icons in terms of what it does and how.
Creating clean plate for compositing. Texturing UVs for 3D characters. It's a better paint tool than most other softwares where paint tool is just an additional tool in the software. However, other softwares are catching up and many artists have already switched over to other painting tools. Photoshop is now more for editing not painting. Painting requires more access to 3d model within the software which photoshop does not support at the time.
It allows me to design all kinds of images, it has support for many editable image formats, it is ideal for creating montages and photo retouching, it contains intelligent trimming tools which will make us work better and faster.
Once I started using Adobe Photoshop it took me a little bit to adapt to their tools and options, however it is a tool that is very intuitive and easy to learn, another of its cons would be very heavy for a computer with few resources, it is almost impossible to execute it on a computer that does not have the minimum requirements.
We can make designs of all kinds, whether montages, effects. It also allows us to design 3D objects and be able to do an excellent quality work for our clients.
I like the graphic elements the app obtains
I don’t like how long it takes to get accustomed
I am able to crop and trim photos and change the lighting to look almost real
I love the freedom I have in the program. I'm only limited by what I can think of in my head.
Past versions have been a little buggy or crash, but this has been less of a problem in recent years.
It allows us full control over the web design process and limits the amount of "this can't be done" comments when a request is made.
In my opinion the best part of photoshop is masking feature. Masking helps me in a non destructive way to erase any layer or hide the effect of an Adjustment Layer for part of the image beneath that image. This is a must-know feature for any Photoshop user!
The i dont reqlly like much is the content aware move tool. Reason being is because this tool just never seems to work as it should. Use clone stamp tool and blend edges manually when you need to move an object. It tends to be less frustrating
Photoshop has benefited me alot especially when i came to creating websites or business cards. I didnt have to spend nothing since i created them.
