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Is Adobe Photoshop free? What it actually costs in 2026

The short answer

Photoshop is not free: a 7-day trial converts to $22.99 a month on an annual plan. Adobe Express has a free plan, but it is a different, lighter product.

There is no free Photoshop. The 7-day trial is the full app and auto-converts to a paid subscription. Adobe points free users at Adobe Express, a template-based tool, not Photoshop.

What the free tier actually includes

  • 7-day trial, card required, auto-converts
  • No outright purchase — subscription only
  • Adobe Express free plan is a separate product

Where the wall is

Day eight. Photoshop is available only through a Creative Cloud subscription, so the choice is $22.99 a month indefinitely or a different tool.

After that: Photoshop single app $22.99 a month on an annual plan ($263.88 a year prepaid); Creative Cloud Pro (20+ apps) $69.99 a month, $34.99 for the first three months on promotion ($779.88 a year prepaid).

Can you self-host Adobe Photoshop? No — cloud only

Photoshop is a desktop app tied to a subscription. GIMP, Krita and Photopea are the alternatives compared here — GIMP and Krita install locally with no account.

What it actually takes to run one yourself

Real RAM against the documented minimum, monthly cost, setup time, and the one thing that catches people out.

Self-hosting GIMP

needs 4 GB for large multi-layer images (docs say 1 GB)$0 — it runs on the machine you already own

Self-hosting Krita

needs 8 GB for large canvases at print resolution (docs say 2 GB)$0 — it runs on the machine you already own

Self-hosting Pinta

needs Depends on your images. Every layer is a full uncompressed canvas at 4 bytes per pixel, so a 24-megapixel photo costs about 96 MB per layer, before undo history (docs say Not stated by the vendor. Pinta 3.1 needs .NET 8 or later, GTK 4.18+ and libadwaita 1.7+; on Linux the Flatpak and Snap packages bring those with them)$0 — it runs on the machine you already own

What you are locked into

Layered work saved as PSD/PSB keeps full fidelity only inside Adobe's applications; other editors open PSDs with varying completeness. Licensing is tied to your Adobe account and lapses with the subscription, and flattened exports (PNG, TIFF, JPEG) preserve pixels but not your editable layer structure. Years of muscle memory, recorded actions, and third-party plugins add real practical switching cost.

If you would rather not pay: GIMP

96

GIMP

The long-standing open-source image editor for photo retouching and compositing.

Free and open-source

See all 5 Adobe Photoshop alternatives compared

Compare the free options head-to-head

GIMP vs Krita→GIMP vs Pinta→GIMP vs Photopea→

Read from Adobe's own pricing and documentation on 2026-09-24 — 6 days ago. Vendors change prices without notice; confirm before you commit.

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