Adobe Photoshop Review, Pricing & Alternatives (2026)

Photoshop is Adobe's raster image editor, first released in 1990 and sold by subscription through Creative Cloud since 2013. It runs on Windows, macOS, iPad, iPhone and the web, and its PSD format remains the default exchange file for agencies, print shops and retouching studios. Adobe says 85 percent of films premiering at Sundance 2026 used Creative Cloud, which shows how deeply its apps sit in professional pipelines. Photoshop's role in AI image work is different from Midjourney or GPT Image. It is where generated pixels get masked, retouched, color matched and prepared for delivery. That makes it less of a generator and more of a finishing tool, with generation available on any selection.

A typical AI edit starts with a selection. The user draws or brushes an area, opens Generative Fill, types a prompt or leaves it blank, and Photoshop returns three variations on a new layer with its own mask. Generative Expand extends the canvas, the Remove tool erases objects and distractions, and Reference Image lets you drop in a product or object that Photoshop then matches to the scene's scale, lighting and perspective. Harmonize, released at Adobe MAX in October 2025, adjusts color and light so a composited subject fits its background. Generative Upscale, built with Topaz Labs technology, enlarges low-resolution images to 4K. Every result stays on its own layer, so manual retouching continues as before.

Generation runs on Adobe's Firefly models by default. Firefly Image 5 and the Firefly Fill and Expand model produce 2K output, and Adobe says its Firefly models are trained on licensed content, which is why it describes them as safe for commercial use. Since late 2025 the model picker also offers partner models: Google's Gemini 2.5 Flash Image and Gemini 3 (Nano Banana Pro), FLUX.1 Kontext Pro and FLUX.2 Pro. Photoshop 27.8 in June 2026 added the same choice to Generate Image. Firefly Image 3 was removed from the picker in April 2026 and retires fully in August 2026. An AI Assistant, a chat panel that performs multi-step edits, entered public beta in June 2026.

The Photoshop single-app plan costs $22.99 a month on an annual contract billed monthly and includes Adobe Express Premium, 100GB of storage and 25 generative credits a month. That allowance runs out fast. Firefly generations cost 1 credit each, but partner models are premium: FLUX.1 Kontext Pro and Gemini 2.5 cost 10 credits, FLUX.2 Pro 20, and Nano Banana Pro 40 per generation. Creative Cloud Standard at $54.99 a month adds 20-plus apps but keeps the 25-credit cap. Creative Cloud Pro at $69.99 a month gives unlimited standard image generations plus 4,000 credits for premium features. Month-to-month billing costs about 50 percent more, and credits do not roll over.

Photoshop's weaknesses are cost and complexity. There is no free desktop tier, the learning curve is steep, and the credit system makes partner models expensive on the single-app plan. Affinity, now owned by Canva and free to use, covers most layer-based editing without a subscription. GIMP is free and open source but has no comparable generative tools. Canva and Adobe Express suit quick social graphics better, and Pixelmator Pro is a cheaper one-time Mac purchase. Photoshop is still the strongest option when generated content must be blended into real photography with precise masks and color control. Pick it if retouching or compositing is paid work; skip it for occasional edits.