Adobe to launch free web version of Photoshop: Here’s what you need to know

Adobe could soon start offering a free version of Photoshop to users. The company is reportedly conducting free trials for the web version and it is planning to offer the service for free to everyone. A report from The Verge claims that Adobe is planning to call this service, “freemium.” This basically means that the service will remain free, but some of the features won’t be available after a point of time.

The cited source is asserting that Photoshop will first be accessible for free and Adobe will remove some of the features that will be offered exclusively to those who will buy the subscription for the service. This might be a way to attract more users to come and use this service. If users require more features for a better experience, then they will likely buy the subscription. This could be the company’s strategy to hook people to its platform and increase subscribers.

“We want to make [Photoshop] more accessible and easier for more people to try it out and experience the product,” Maria Yap, Adobe’s VP of digital imaging told The Verge. “I want to see Photoshop meet users where they’re at now. You don’t need a high-end machine to come into Photoshop,” Yap added.

It is currently unknown whether the free version will have advertisements or not. A lot of web-based photo editing apps offer a free version, but also display ads in exchange for free service. Adobe hasn’t yet confirmed as to when it plans to offer the free version to everyone. The report stated that the company is testing this in Canada, but the launch timeline for other regions is still unknown.

As of now, there is no word whether the “freemium” version will arrive in India or not. But, we do expect to arrive in the Indian market too as Photoshop is already one of the widely used photo editing apps and the free version will likely work well for Adobe in markets like India.

Currently, users in India can opt for 7 days of free trial, after which one will have to pay Rs 1,675.60 per month. There is also an offer and you can get this service at a lower price, but also sacrifice some features. There is a plan for both Lightroom and Photoshop. For this, one will just have to spend Rs 797.68 per month.