Cancel Adobe if you are a creative under NDA with your clients
Adobe’s updated terms of use for Creative Cloud and related apps are alarming many creatives, particularly those working under client NDAs, because they appear to grant Adobe broad rights to access, analyze, and even create derivative works from user content. Commenters highlight legal, ethical, and practical risks—from potential NDA breaches and copyright conflicts to AI training on client assets—while noting that Adobe’s lock-in, proprietary formats, and cancellation fees make it hard for professionals to leave. Alternatives such as Affinity, Krita, GIMP, DaVinci Resolve, and others are mentioned, but most agree they still entail lost productivity or missing features compared to Adobe’s “industry standard” tools.
Scope of Adobe’s ToS Changes
- New terms give Adobe a broad, sublicensable license over “Content” created with or imported into its services/software, and allow automated and manual access for moderation and “improving” products, including via machine learning.
- Many see this as incompatible with NDAs, client IP ownership, and regulated data (e.g., medical, legal, corporate secrets). Even Adobe’s blog “clarification” is read as “trust us,” not as a binding limit.
Legal and Contract Implications
- Several commenters note that unilateral ToS changes are often not enforceable without offering penalty‑free cancellation, especially in the EU and some common‑law countries; in practice, enforcing this may require lawyers or small‑claims actions.
- US users face binding arbitration and class‑action waivers. Chargebacks are suggested by some; others warn about collections and credit damage.
- A repeated concern: users cannot grant Adobe rights they don’t own, so freelancers could be in breach of client contracts if Adobe later reuses or trains on that work.
Cancellation Fees and Workarounds
- Adobe’s standard early‑termination fee (~50% of remaining annual obligation) is heavily criticized as predatory.
- Widely shared workaround: switch to a cheaper plan, then cancel within the 14‑day cooling‑off period for that new plan to avoid the fee. Some report using payment method changes; others report debt collectors when simply cutting off payment.
Alternatives and Lock‑In
- Many tools are suggested: Affinity Photo/Designer/Publisher, Krita, GIMP, Photopea, Pixelmator, DaVinci Resolve, Blender, Natron, Capture One, Darktable, etc.
- Experiences are mixed: some professionals report being happy after switching; others argue nothing matches Photoshop, After Effects, Lightroom, or InDesign for depth, ecosystem, and file compatibility.
- Lock‑in via “industry‑standard” formats, client expectations, and years of legacy projects makes quitting Adobe costly in time and productivity.
Broader Themes
- Strong resentment toward SaaS, dark patterns (cancellation fees, ToS creep), and using customer content as free AI‑training data.
- Some see this as part of wider “enshittification” and cloud‑driven privacy erosion; others note that many competing platforms and even OS vendors have similarly broad data‑access language.