And there’s a good reason why Adobe’s Photoshop is popular: it’s powerful, familiar and is packed with tools for doing creative and clever things with photos, and any image.
Even if you know the Photoshop desktop app, you may not realise that there are quite a few apps called Photoshop these days, including the Photoshop Express and Photoshop Camera mobile apps for editing images on your phone or tablet. Express is also available for Windows, via the Microsoft Store. Both apps are free, so if your needs are fairly straightforward and undemanding, they might be the ticket. Keep reading to find out more about them.
However, you’re probably reading this article because Photoshop is now a subscription service. So even if you were willing to pay for the software, you now have to pay continually. Photoshop is now part of Adobe’s Creative Cloud subscription which is aimed at creative pros and is too expensive for most consumers.
But whether you’re a pro or home user and really want to get Photoshop without the high cost, there are options. And obvious one is to sign up for Adobe’s Creative Cloud trial. That’s a short-term solution,
If a week-long trial doesn’t work for you, and the mobile apps don’t have the tools you need, you can get discounts on Creative Cloud subscriptions. They’re available to students and teachers, who get an all-year discount that makes the steep price much cheaper, but Adobe also has deals where anyone can get Photoshop for less.
Last, but certainly not least, you can still buy Photoshop as a standalone piece of software that doesn’t force you to subscribe. It’s called Photoshop Elements, is relatively affordable and is aimed at home users. Scroll down to find out more about it.
Before we get into the detail, if you just want a good photo editing app and aren’t set on having Photoshop itself, then read our roundup of the best free and cheap photo editing software.
1. Use Adobe Photoshop for free
You can download a free 7-day trial of Photoshop CC. This is the full version of the software with no restrictions. You’ll have to pay after the trial ends but Adobe typically offers a 14-day window (from purchase) to cancel and get a full refund.
PC users will need Windows 10 or 11 and at least 8GB RAM (though 16GB is recommended). It’s also compatible with Windows 10 ARM devices (such as the Surface Pro X) with at least 8GB RAM and 4GB of GPU RAM.
Mac users will need macOS version 10.14 (Mojave) or later, though macOS 11.0 (Big Sur) and macOS 10.15 (Catalina) are recommended. Minimum RAM requirements are 8GB , though 16GB is again recommended.
2. Get Photoshop Express free on Android, iOS & Windows
If you need only basic photo-editing tools, Adobe offers a free app called Photoshop Express (formerly Spark) which is available from the Apple App Store, Google Play and Microsoft Store. That means you can also use it on your PC or laptop
For a free app, it’s pretty good, though it bears no resemblance to the full version of Photoshop at all. It’s much more like other quick photo-editing apps such as Snapseed and the one built into Google Photos. That means you can add filters, crop, transform, adjust perspective, adjust (brightness, contrast, saturation, and more), add masks and more. You can see all Photoshop Express features here.
What you cannot do is edit specific portions of images, except when using the red-eye reduction and spot healing tools. There’s no image resizing (but you can specify the output resolution to nearest 200 pixels of width) nor any support for layers.
As it’s free, and you need only sign up for an Adobe account to use it, you may as well give it a whirl and see if it’ll do what you need it to.
3. Get Photoshop Camera free on Android/iOS
The Photoshop Camera app allows you to add all sorts of effects and filters directly in-camera – allowing you to effectively “Photoshop” your image as you capture it! It’s also free to use.
4. Get Photoshop Elements 2022
It isn’t free but Elements is hands-down the best option for those who want ‘proper’ Photoshop without the subscription costs of Creative Cloud.
Elements is a more user-friendly version of Photoshop CC but still has many of the popular features and tools. In fact, for home users there’s more power on offer here than you probably need, and you certainly won’t feel constrained in terms of the tools on offer (unless you regularly use full Photoshop’s Curves tool: that’s one tool not present in Elements.)
You can do a lot more than in Photoshop Express, such as building up images with various layers, resizing backgrounds without affecting the people in a photo, replacing backgrounds entirely or erasing unwanted objects. It’s simple to select objects – even people – and there are 60 Guided Edits which walk you through many of the things you might want to do to a photo including those we’ve just mentioned as well as adjusting colours, lots of artistic effects and turning a photo into a meme.
Elements also lets you create great slideshows and has a useful organiser so you can keep track of all your photos.
The Expert mode looks and works much like Photoshop CC, which is ideal for those already used to the full version.
And there’s 20% off Adobe’s price if you’re a student or teacher.
We currently can’t see any equivalent deals in the US.
Adobe occasionally has its own sales with 20% off, though we’ve previously seen up to 40% off.
6. Get a discount on Photoshop if you’re a student or teacher
While Adobe doesn’t offer a student discount on Photoshop alone, students and teachers can get a 65% discount on the full Creative Cloud bundle (60% in the US).
See our full guide the Adobe Creative Cloud student discount for more details.
Students and teachers can choose from two annual payment plans:
Annual prepaid: £196. 30 per year (VAT included) or US$239. 88 per year Annual, paid monthly: £16. 24 per month (VAT included) or US$19. 99 per month
The student discount makes the entire suite’s price cheaper than the 1TB Photography Plan (£19.97/$19.99 per month, or £238.42/$239.88 per year) and the Single App Photoshop subscription plan by £68.20, annually.
You will have to prove your student eligibility or institutional affiliation to get this discount, however. You can find all the eligibility requirements here.
This not only gets you Photoshop, but an arsenal of other powerful Adobe apps such as Illustrator, Lightroom, InDesign, Premiere Pro, Acrobat Pro, Express and Adobe XD – all at a significantly reduced rate. See all the apps included with the full Creative Cloud bundle here.
Get the Adobe student discount here.
How much does Adobe Photoshop cost?
A Creative Cloud subscription means you can either pay an amount every month or a lump sum cost for a year. This promises ongoing access to updates at no additional cost.
Adobe’s Photography Plan has a few options (we’ve outlined these below) depending on how much cloud storage you need.
Single App subscription price
If you want only Photoshop CC without Lightroom bundled in, opt for the Single App plan from Adobe CC. The Single App includes the latest version of Photoshop, 100GB of cloud storage, access to premium fonts, as well as Adobe Exrepss (a social media graphics creation tool) and Adobe Portfolio.
There are three payment plans:
Annual monthly: £19. 97/$20. 99 per month Annual, pre-paid: £238. 42/$239. 88 (lump sum)On-going monthly: £30. 34/$31. 49 per month
You can see all Adobe Photoshop plans.
If you want to pick up an Adobe CC All Apps subscription, read our guide to Adobe CC.
Photography Plan (20GB storage) price
The 20GB Photography Plan includes Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, and Photoshop with 20GB of cloud storage:
Annual monthly: £9. 98 per month/ US$9. 99 per monthAnnual pre-paid: £119. 21/ US$119. 88 (lump sum)
Photography Plan (1TB storage) price
If you need more storage, you can opt for the 1TB Photography Plan. It has everything the 20GB plan has but more storage. Here’s how much it’ll cost you:
Annual monthly: £19. 97/month/ $19. 99/monthAnnual, pre-paid: £238. 42/ $239. 88 (lump sum)
We also have a guide explaining how to get Adobe InDesign.
Jim has been testing and reviewing products for over 20 years. His main beats include VPN services and antivirus. He also covers smart home tech, mesh Wi-Fi and electric bikes.
