Popular Adobe alternatives Final Cut Pro, Pixelmator Pro are going subscription as Apple launches Creative Studio
Final Cut Pro and Pixelmator Pro will be available as part of a new subscription option, but one-time purchases remain available
Several favorite creative Apple apps are adding a subscription-based model. On Tuesday, January 13, Apple unveiled Creator Studio, a subscription that bundles Final Cut Pro, Pixelmator Pro, and several other apps into one subscription-based model.
Video editor Final Cut Pro and photo editor Pixelmator Pro are popular Premiere Pro and Photoshop alternatives for the subscription-averse, but both programs will be part of the new Apple Creative Studio, which launches on January 28.
However, unlike Adobe’s move to a subscription model, Apple says that Final Cut Pro and Pixelmator Pro will remain available as a one-time purchase. Some “premium content” will be only for subscribers, however, which includes a new Warp tool inside Pixelmator.
In the US, the subscription will be available for $129 a year or $12.99 a month. The UK subscription will cost £12.99 a month or £129 a year. In Canada, the price is expected to be CA$12.99 a month or CA$129.99 a year. For Australia, the price is AU$20.99 per month or AU$209 a year.
The subscription includes Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and Pixelmator Pro on both Mac and iPad, along with Motion, Compressor, and MainStage on Mac. The subscription will also include premium content for Keynote, Pages, and Numbers, though free versions without the premium content will remain available for those apps.
In comparison, a one-time purchase of Final Cut Pro is $299 / £299 / AU$499 / CA$399 for Mac, with a separate subscription for the iPad version. A one-time purchase of Pixelmator Pro is $49.99 / £49.99 / AU$79.99 / CA$69.99.
The subscription announcement comes along with a slew of new tools for the creative apps, including the first iPad version for Pixelmator and several AI-enhanced tools for Final Cut Pro.
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With more than a decade of experience writing about cameras and technology, Hillary K. Grigonis leads the US coverage for Digital Camera World. Her work has appeared in Business Insider, Digital Trends, Pocket-lint, Rangefinder, The Phoblographer, and more. Her wedding and portrait photography favors a journalistic style. She’s a former Nikon shooter and a current Fujifilm user, but has tested a wide range of cameras and lenses across multiple brands. Hillary is also a licensed drone pilot.
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