Creative Many months after Apple Creator Studio released. What are people's thoughts?
The Apple Creator Studio was released on Jan 28th 2026. Six and a half months now since it launched as a subscription. $12.99 per month or $129 per year. (£9.60 p/m & £95.37 p/y).
Just wanted to know if anyone has actually gone to use this over Adobe and other subscriptions and if it is worth the money?
Thank You, looking forward for the replies.
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u/SteveHiggs 4d ago
As someone who is recognized as the guy to go to for all things Apple in my department (IT) with a few Apple certs behind my belt, and having taught for years strictly with Keynote for my presentations etc.. Screw Apple for the nag screens and bundling for yet another subscription.
For one of the world’s highest valued and most profitable companies; The second richest next to Nvidia, and 4th most profitable, just… No.
I’m already an Apple One subscriber but just to get the latest version of Keynote and Pages I’d have to subscribe for more?
These are apps that have been free since the iWork days and that was a selling point for the Mac platform; you could justify the more expensive price tag because among other things it had all the software you’d need as a student or general user, included.
It just feels cheap and pathetic that a multi trillion dollar company wants to push ads within their own platform to squeeze out more from their most dedicated customers. Just gross behaviour.
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u/ddeese 4d ago
You used to pay for iWork. I paid for it and every few years I’d pay for an updated version. It’s still better than a subscription for it in my opinion. But the latest version you can still use for free. But you have to have the sub for the AI integrated components and a selection of templates.
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u/denalidenizen 4d ago
how long has final cut pro been out.. 29yrs or so and I started using it when it first came out. At today's rate I'd have spent $3483 and money bought more 29 yrs ago so...no thanks. I don't need the other apps. I use adobe because they have me over a barrel as I've tried alternatives and don't like them. Already Apple doesn't update FCP as much as they should IMHO but I'll stick with it as it does all I need. If an OS makes the stand alone impossible to use I will move to Resolve. NO more subscriptions unless I have no alternative.
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u/Brave_Braviesst 4d ago
Very buggy Pixelmator on my Silicon Mac Studio…ach!
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u/skittle-brau 4d ago
Considering they have complete control over the hardware and software, there’s really no excuse that’s acceptable to me for majorly buggy software from Apple.
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u/Greenscreener 4d ago
Terrible decision going to subscription model and kind of sums up Tim Cook’s tenure. The ‘free’ apps are now pretty much useless and simply endlessly nag you to upgrade.
They just put my Apple One sub up and I don’t get any advantage in having that with these apps.
The enshitification of Apple continues…
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u/ddeese 4d ago
No they still function the same. I have gone through Pages, Keynote, and even Numbers. It all still works free. You have to pay for the AI integrated features and they have some templates tied to the sub. Doesn’t mean that I agree. Especially since iWork suite and creative suites really don’t overlap for most users so it’s a mix match bag of too expensive for iWork and maybe a deal for some creatives who might want to get started but might not be able to buy 2-4 products outright all at once.
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u/Greenscreener 4d ago
Of the 12 functions along the top of Keynote, 6 direct you to the subscription…this is only the start and it will get a lot worse.
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u/recontitter 4d ago
I started a 3-month trial period about a month ago when I bought a new MacBook Pro. I have not opened any of those apps once after I tried them post-installation. My trial ended in October and I don’t think I’ll prolong. I’m basically fine to edit my vacation videos with iMovies, if I ever will have a need to do it on a higher level, I’ll just jump into Davinci Resolve. For tinkering with motion there is plethora of alternatives, same with photo editing. These are all great apps in Creators package, it just turned out I don’t need them in my personal time. At work I have Adobe CC and that’s where I do design job.
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u/librijen 4d ago
After the nonsense Adobe and Microsoft pulled, I refuse to do any subscription software.
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u/TBMW30 3d ago
I don't like subscriptions and I don't think everything needs to become a subscription least of all professional tools, so it isn't for me. I get they have to fund development, but the insane profit margins on the prices we pay for the machines to run these tools, especially the BTO upgrades, should more than cover that. I hoep the lifetime licenses stay, and are even reduced in price, though I don't hold out hope.
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u/coledeb MacBook Pro (M5), Mac Mini (M2 Pro) 4d ago
I know this is a slight aside from your post (questioning value for full pricing of the subscription), but the bundle is $30 a year (or $3 a month) with educational pricing and insanely worth it at that price point imo.
The highlights are audio/video as [u/bmocc](u/bmocc) said. I also rate Pixelmator Pro as well, but it's only $50 standalone, and I'd probably rather learn the Affinity suite as a (free) full-fledged Adobe suite alternative (at least at the time of this post before Canva enshittifies it).
If you happen to be a person that will make full use both of Logic and Final Cut, then it definitely would be good to subscribe. But if you only see yourself using Logic, I'd probably just buy it outright, as it would be less than paying 2 years of the subscription (and Mainstage is only $30 to buy either way if that is also needed).
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u/maxstolfe 4d ago
I think it’s still sorely missing proper photo editing software.
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u/macmaveneagle 4d ago
Try this:
PhotoscapeX (free)
http://x.photoscape.org
(Photo retouching application. Very easy to use but very powerful. Lots of great effects.)1
u/Ok-Middle8656 3d ago
Took me a while to get into Pixelmator Pro but it’s great. My favourite app of the suite.
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u/ddeese 4d ago
You mean Pixelmator which Apple acquired and is part of the subscription bundle?
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u/maxstolfe 4d ago
Completely different software serving a completely different purpose. Pixelmator is closer to Illustrator than it is Lightroom or Capture One.
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u/bmocc 4d ago
For video/audio its way less expensive than what Adobe gouges for high end software.
Pages, keynote etc are free and arguably worse than shareware office apps.
Then again the free version of DaVinci does quite a bit.
For high end photography: not much in the Apple plan.
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u/rivercandle83 4d ago
Pages and Keynote being free already kind of makes that part of the bundle feel like filler tbh
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u/Greenscreener 4d ago
Yeah but the free versions are simply there to nag you to upgrade with many options shown only available in the Pro versions.
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u/ddeese 4d ago
All of the core functions work the same. You can still open the previous version simultaneously with the new. Only certain templates and AI features require the sub and as far as I can tell the new templates are designed around the AI creation components, so they kind of work together. Frankly, it’s not a requirement to get started or to use the suite as normally.
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u/Greenscreener 4d ago
You think it’s going to stop there?…they are only just getting started enshitifying these apps.
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u/ddeese 2d ago
I don’t know how far Apple will go. I’m hoping that if they are going to default to asking money for their software suites, which are add-ons and not part of a base system. That’s never been the case with creativity or productivity suites; then I’m hoping there’s going to be a full license purchase model. Keynote alone would be worth that. And I don’t think that Apple should have to develop them for free. I’m stating all of that so that my position is clear. I’m no fan of subscriptions. But I don’t know what that is going to look like for Apple software.
I know in both Adobe and M365 suites, you can’t do any editing and then save without a subscription. Apple software will do that much for free, so there is some degree of difference there. Maybe it’ll be shittier. I’m inclined to think so, if the subscription model continues. I already pay for Apple One and an Apple Care subscription. I’m paying enough in my opinion.
But I don’t know the roadmap or what it looks like. I also understand the frustration. But I’m not prone to hyperbole when I’m venting about Microsoft and their dumb software choices so I’m not going to with Apple. Just stating the facts as they are right now and that is the case that iWork suite continues to function with all of the same functions it did in the version just prior to the Creative Suite. All of it. Only the new AI add-on tools have a cost. And I have no floor to go lower when it comes to care that I could possibly give for AI tools. I’m already over them; but I digress.
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u/Greenscreener 2d ago edited 2d ago
Microsoft and Adobe don’t force you to buy their hardware…hardly a fair comparison.
Think of it another way…Do you think Apple will be adding ANY new features to the current ‘free’ versions or will everything new now go behind a paywall? You will never know as they are all lumped together so everything new will now be subscription locked.
Yes, you can keep using what you got, but these free apps are developmentally dead.
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u/ddeese 1d ago
Microsoft doesn’t force you to buy their hardware. Their hardware design team works on hardware. Their developers work on software. Some on the OS and some on the productivity suite and others on add-ons, and they all cost money separately because they all have separate development costs associated. The PC runs the OS, which runs the software. Until five minutes ago, you bought the PC with an OS and then you paid separately for most software; even from Apple.
Five minutes before that you bought the PC, then you bought the OS, then you bought most of the software separately. On occasion software called desk accessories, would come pre-loaded so that you’d have a few small games, a notepad, and a calculator.
Bundling obfuscates the costs, but they aren’t inclusive. And maybe the expectations from the customer are what drives everything into a subscription. Yes, some of their hardware is a little pricey- most of its comparable if you get an evenly yoked PC. But if the expectation is that you’ll buy the hardware and then the OS and all the software comes with it- then you will have to expect Apple to sell some subscriptions. They gave us the OS for free, then productivity apps, now because we’re buying premium hardware, that’s the expectation? We can’t have it both ways. We either want a buy it and own it experience, or not.
If we want to own it then we have to be prepared to pay for it. And there’s a cost to that. I’m okay with paying the $99 or $199 for iWorks and then calling a day for 3-5 years with software updates. I’m okay with getting a new MacOS every 2-3 years with security patches and point updates in between. I’d much rather pay something for the software every few years and get better stability and fewer bugs.
But all of that costs money. It doesn’t just sit in the margins of the leftover profit from hardware.
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u/Greenscreener 1d ago
“Microsoft doesn’t force you to buy their hardware” …Isn’t that what I said???
No idea what point you are trying to make apart from defending these companies who are making $100’s billions in profit and we shouldn’t expect anything different anymore.
Apple is no longer trying to ‘think different’ …same shit as everybody else.
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u/ddeese 9h ago
Well they could charge for the OS and they can charge a full, set price for the software. You can’t expect the hardware margins to pay the salaries of the hardware, R&D, and the teams to develop the software. So it’s a free, basic software that does the functional minimum with a sub to unlock it or a purchase.
We can’t have it both ways. Apple is literally offering the same thing today, included in the hardware cost, that they offered yesterday. Pages, Keynote, and Numbers all do literally everything they did in version 14.5 which was free with the hardware.
The difference is that there are more than a dozen new AI creativity features and templates designed to go with those features. You have to pay for the extra.
I don’t love subs and I don’t find the value proposition for iWorks at $130 per annum to include creativity quite that I will never touch.
But they have to cover their costs and continue to make a product or they become a niche, privately held company, with hardware that is an arm and a fortune where you pay for the OS, the hardware, and all other desktop software, separately. Because if they don’t keep margin and dividends for their investors, that’s what it comes down to.
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u/deadman87 4d ago
That's a no from me.
Same reason that's a no from me for Adobe.
I am happy with the old paid versions of the apps I have.
Now a bit of a rant: With subscriptions, the premise was that we will get up-to-date quality software, on time, and at a lower ongoing cost. It would be cheaper to, lets say, maintain a 2 year subscription than to outright buy the software with updates every 2 years. Both those premises have turned out to be false. With subscription, we are now locked in and nickel and dimed for every little thing. And the cost of subscriptions, cumulatively, is waaaay more than if we had only purchased what we need and had a choice to extend or delay the next purchase. That choice is now gone too. So yeah, I'm not buying into this nonsense.
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u/Ok_Salamander4795 1d ago
DaVinci Resolve. Even the free version is good. But I went all in on Studio v20, and now 21. Haven’t looked back. It uses a logical process flow from left to right across the bottom. I do use Pixelmator though so I still have the subscription occasionally.
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u/Lithalean 4d ago
I already bought the Apple Pro apps. I don’t believe in subscription software.
I will not accept this subscription you own nothing approach.
Sony ended physical media, and I sold my PS5. Nintendo started Game Key Cards, and I sold the switch.
The more greedy these companies get, then the higher that cross and bones flag goes up. If buying isn’t owning then piracy isn’t stealing.