All those Apple-made creative apps you used in college, like Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro, will soon be housed under the same roof with a price that makes Adobe’s Creative Cloud look like a monstrous expense.
The new Creator Studio takes in Final Cut Pro (yes, it’s on iPad), Pixelmator Pro, Logic Pro, and more and promises all those features for $13 a month. Sure, you may hate the idea of yet another subscription, but when you compare it to the $70 per month for Adobe Creative Cloud Pro, you’ll be saving a heap of dough by hitching your reins to Apple’s new post.
Creator Studio will be available on the App Store starting Jan. 28. You can get a one-month free trial or pay for the whole year at $130 (saving yourself around $26). With the subscription, you get access to Apple’s video editing, photo editing, and audio editing software. However, if you’re a college student, Apple will sell you the entire package for $3 a month or $30 a year. An Adobe Creative Cloud subscription for students is $25 a month for the first year ($300 a year), and then jumps up to $40 per month ($480 annually) after.
Apple’s also updating a bunch of its creative and non-creative apps
All these apps are tied to Apple’s Mac and iPad ecosystem. If you happen to have both products on hand, you’re good to go. If not, you should be aware that Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and Pixelmator Pro are available across both of Apple’s tablet and computer platforms. At the same time, apps like Motion, Compressor, and MainStage are only available on Mac. The latter three are companion apps to the first few specifically designed for 360 media, video conversions, and live performances, respectively.
Logic Pro is getting a new sound library on Mac full of free loops and samples. The Creator Studio subscription also adds “new AI features and premium content” to the Keynote, Pages, and Numbers apps with extra templates and themes. The subscription also adds a Content Hub for royalty-free images and illustrations. Apple said the Freeform app on iPad and iPhone should also get access to some of these features at a later date. While the regular productivity apps will remain free for users, you will have to pay the subscription fee for features like AI-generated slides in Pages.
We should mention that there’s not a direct comparison between Adobe’s Creative Cloud and Apple’s Creative Studio. Adobe’s suite will also give you access to the Acrobat Pro PDF viewer and the Adobe Express AI content creation app. Adobe’s suite also has more Firefly features, which allow users to expand existing pictures by generating nonexistent content with AI. Adobe has InDesign for laying out pages, After Effects for graphics and visual effects, and Audition for sound effects. Inevitably, you’ll find there are some features exclusively available to Adobe, which you won’t find with Apple’s suite. However, Apple’s subscription already seems like a far better deal overall if you just need basics and not everything Adobe’s trying to sell you.
Some of these new icons are confusing as hell
Or, if you hate the idea of a subscription, you can purchase each of the same apps for their respective prices (Final Cut Pro demands $300, Logic Pro is $200, and Pixelmator Pro costs $50). Adobe’s apps are not available to purchase outright, though that company also offers 100GB of cloud storage on top of individual app subscriptions. If you already have subscriptions to Pixelmator or Final Cut Pro, you can keep paying the existing price. If you ever lapse or you want all the apps together, you’ll need to pay the full $13 a month.
For its new suite, Apple also changed up its library of icons. Some users were especially miffed at the “downgrade” suffered by Pixelmator Pro. Apple replaced the inkblot and paintbrush with a confusing multilayer symbol that seemingly relates to the layered nature of Apple’s Photoshop and Illustrator clone. I may be able to forgive Apple for its trespasses if it can keep costs low for creatives.
This post was updated Jan. 13 at 2:55 p.m. ET to include more information about existing app subscriptions and payments.
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