How much is Adobe Lightroom?

Matthew James Oxlade
Updated on

Every photography should have an editing application to make their images look their best. Adobe Lightroom is one of the leading image editing applications available. But how much is Adobe Lightroom?

Which Lightroom subscription is most suited to me?

Let’s take a look at the different pricing models on offer.

Which Lightroom subscription is right for me?

Before we answer how much is Adobe Lightroom, we should look at the main options for purchasing it.

There are two ways to buy Lightroom. How much Adobe Lightroom costs depends on how much cloud storage you’d like.

Software companies have moved away from selling software to selling subscriptions for software that also offers cloud storage for your data. In Adobe’s case, the company offers cloud storage as the primary component of all software plans. The more storage the plan includes, the higher the cost.

Unfortunately, there aren’t any subscription plans that offer the software on its own. I bought the lowest cost storage plan because I edit all my photos using local copies on my computer.

I rarely, if ever, store my photos in Adobe’s Creative Cloud. That’s a personal preference, but keeps the cost of my subscription down.

How much is Adobe Lightroom – How much does Lightroom cost?

The lowest subscription tier Adobe offers for Lightroom in 2020 is 20gb for $14.29AUD per month. The good news is that the monthly cost includes Adobe Lightroom CC, Adobe Lightroom Classic and Adobe Photoshop.

  • Adobe Lightroom plan – $14.29 per month (1tb cloud storage, Adobe Lightroom CC, Adobe Lightroom CC)
  • Photography plan – $14.29 per month (20gb cloud storage, Adobe Lightroom CC, Adobe Lightroom Classic, Adobe Photoshop)
  • Photography plan – $28.59 per month (1tb cloud storage, Adobe Lightroom CC, Adobe Lightroom Classic, Adobe Photoshop)
  • Student and teacher plan – $21.99 per month (100gb cloud storage, all Adobe applications)
  • All apps plan – $26.99 per month (100gb cloud storage, all Adobe applications)

Wait, Photoshop is included in the monthly fee for the photography plan? Isn’t that a really popular application? It is.

Some photographers prefer to use Adobe Photoshop, but the majority of photographers moved away from Photoshop in favour of Adobe’s newer image editing application, Lightroom.

The main difference between Photoshop and Lightroom is that Lightroom has a catalogue built in and uses non-destructive editing, which means the changes you make to an image are not saved to the original file in a permanent state.

This means you can always access your original photo as it was shot, regardless of editing changes you make.

If you have no plans on using Photoshop, your best value deal is the dedicated Lightroom plan, because it includes 1 terabyte of cloud based storage as opposed to the 20gb of cloud storage.

How much is Adobe Lightroom

Is there a free version of Adobe Lightroom?

So you’ve found out the answer to your question of how much does Lightroom cost, but it is out of your budget or you’re not sure if it’s worth it.

You can get a free Lightroom trial directly from Adobe’s website. Access to all aspects of Lightroom Classic and CC are available during the trial.

Once the trial period is over, you will be charged whatever monthly payment amount you agreed to when you started the trial.

What is Adobe Lightroom?

Lightroom is simply my favourite image editing application. It works on almost any device you can imagine, from Windows to Mac and Android to iOS devices such as iPad.

Adobe Lightroom Classic

There are two types of Lightroom currently on offer. Confusing when you just want to know how much is Adobe Lightroom, I know. Firstly, you have Lightroom CC, and alternatively you have Lightroom Classic. My personal favourite is Lightroom Classic because I previously had used Adobe Lightroom version 3 through to version 5.

Lightroom Classic is a heavier beast than Lightroom CC, but I prefer Classic’s interface and the way its editing flow is arranged.

Adobe Lightroom CC

Lightroom CC is the more ‘modern’ approach to image editing. It’s largely the same as Lightroom Classic, with a facelift to the interface and some simplified controls.

I personally don’t like the simplified controls and the reliance on the Creative Cloud to house my images. I trust Adobe to keep them safe, but the performance in editing images stored locally on your computer than editing cloud versions just can’t be beat.

Fortunately, you pay the one price for Adobe Lightroom and you get access to both Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic.

What does Lightroom do?

Lightroom allows you to edit your photos to turn them from quick snaps into masterpieces.

But what if you aren’t sure how to edit a photo? It’s hard enough learning how to take the photo before you are even ready to edit it.

Image editing is one of the most important aspects of photography. It is what makes your photography, yours.

Buy Adobe Lightroom

Ready to go now that I’ve answered the question of how much is Adobe Lightroom? Hit any of the below links to buy Lightroom directly from Adobe’s website. I don’t get a commission or anything, I just love Lightroom and want to spread the love of this amazing photo editing application.

Adobe Lightroom Classic
Photography Bundle – 20gb
Photography Bundle – 1tb