Apple Creator Studio suite is launching to take on Adobe

Apple has announced Apple Creator Studio, a new software suite for Apple products that bundles popular creative apps into an all-in-one subscription service. Apple Creator Studio will be available on the App Store on January 28th and includes access to Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor, and MainStage — providing a rival editing and design subscription to Adobe’s Creative Cloud platform.

Apple Creator Studio will launch with a one-month free trial and costs $12.99 per month, or $129 per year. Students and educators can expect to pay less: $2.99 per month, or $29.99 per year.

The Final Cut Pro video editor, Logic Pro digital audio workstation, and Pixelmator Pro image editor will be available on both Mac and iPad, while the Motion video effects editor, Compressor video and audio encoder, and MainStage live audio manager will be Mac exclusive. Apple says the Creator Studio bundle also includes “intelligent features and premium content” in the free Keynote, Pages, and Numbers apps for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with Freeform coming at a later date.

“There’s never been a more flexible and accessible way to get started with such a powerful collection of creative apps for professionals, emerging artists, entrepreneurs, students, and educators to do their best work and explore their creative interests from start to finish,” Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, Eddy Cue, said in the announcement.

That certainly feels like a jab at Adobe. While it remains the leading provider of creative software, Adobe greatly disgruntled its own community of users in 2013 when it ditched app licenses entirely in favor of its now-established subscription model. Apple is also now chasing that lucrative subscription money, but the $12.99 monthly fee for Apple Creator Studio is more affordable than Adobe’s $69.99 per month for Creative Cloud Pro. Even subscribing to just one of Adobe’s most popular apps, such as Photoshop, Premiere, and Illustrator, will cost you $22.99 per month.

Apple also isn’t forcing creatives into a subscription model. One-time purchase versions of Final Cut Pro ($299.99), Logic Pro ($199.99), Pixelmator Pro ($49.99), Motion ($49.99), Compressor ($49.99), and MainStage ($29.99) will still be available on the Mac App Store.

Apple was rumored to be launching its own creative software bundle after it acquired Pixelmator Pro in November 2024. While Apple is limited to competing against Adobe on Mac and iOS platforms, other companies like Affinity have also launched similar creative software bundles that could extend that pressure against Adobe elsewhere.