Adobe Express vs. Adobe PhotoShop

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe Express
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Creative Cloud Express (formerly Adobe Spark) is a task-based, web and mobile product used to create and share rich multimedia content – from social media posts and stories to invitations to marketing materials like logos, flyers and banners.
$0
Adobe PhotoShop
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Photoshop is the best known graphics product on the market.
$20
per month
Pricing
Adobe ExpressAdobe PhotoShop
Editions & Modules
Free
$0.00
Premium
$9.99 / $99.99
per month
Teams
$9.99
per month per user
Single App
$20.00
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe ExpressAdobe PhotoShop
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsContact Adobe directly for Enterprise pricing plan details.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe ExpressAdobe PhotoShop
Considered Both Products
Adobe Express
Chose Adobe Express
It's very easy to generate images or graphics and find them on Adobe Express.In the application, in "Your stuff" > Files section, you'll find all the creations you've made with Adobe PhotoShop and Adobe Illustrator, and you can use them directly in Adobe Express. No need to …
Chose Adobe Express
Adobe Express integrates very well with other products like Adobe PhotoShop or Adobe Firefly. The Images from the other Tools can be integrated in new projects or edited out of Adobe Express into those Adobe Tools. Also the Files can be managed and rearranged in the Creative …
Chose Adobe Express
In addition to Adobe Express, I have also used Canva because both platforms are quite similar. Basically, the application that I use is typically based on the clients needs, however my personal preference is Adobe Express because I find it too intuitive to my creative persona.
Chose Adobe Express
I think they all have a different target audience and a different use for them. I love crafting posts with Figma but i think the "Figma look" is a bit cold and super recognizable for my taste. I think creating something with Illustrator still gives me the most options in terms …
Chose Adobe Express
I use Adobe Express for designing social media content, appreciating its ready-made templates which save time and effort. It solves creative blocks by providing design ideas, and I love its voice character feature for making animations. However, the layering feature feels basic …
Chose Adobe Express
In my opinion, Adobe Express blows it away. Canva is great and all and gets the job done. But it lacks the additional value offered by Adobe Express and Adobe. Canva's stock asset library doesn't come close to Adobe's stock asset library, and the Creative Cloud makes using …
Chose Adobe Express
Maybe because I use other Adobe products, but I find that Adobe Express is more intuitive than Canva, especially when trying to format text. As for Adobe Express versus other Adobe products, well I think there is a place for them all. There are just certain things that you …
Chose Adobe Express
Software like Illustrator, Photoshop, and After Effects are indispensable for my needs. I used Canva to streamline the process of creating carousels, mainly, and Express effectively replaces Canva. The advantage of having everything under a single subscription was crucial for …
Chose Adobe Express
Photoshop has so many advanced features that I use and have created content from it to upload to Adobe Express. Express is much quicker when combining several elements into one post but quite use to Photoshop when creating exactly what I want without trying to figure out simple …
Chose Adobe Express
I hate Canva personally. The files I receive from people annoy me to death. At least if they were in an adobe product I could do more with them.
Chose Adobe Express
Adobe Express is a mighty little program. To be clear, it won't do everything you can do in Illustrator or Premiere, but it will do about 75% of it, which is plenty about 75% of the time. It's not going to replace the Creative Cloud programs for pro users, but it will allow pro …
Chose Adobe Express
Pretty comparable, better in some areas. Canva has added some features that are better in certain spots.
Chose Adobe Express
Overall Adobe Express offers a more polished finished product but does take a little time to learn. But worth the time spent to have more unique content
Chose Adobe Express
I choose to use Adobe Express because to me it is stress free product I don't have to "invent the wheel" with what I am creating, with the features it has, it helps with the creative process. I also selected because you can add video to it and edit it out in a simple and easy …
Chose Adobe Express
I like to use express since it us easier with the adobe echo system which is my wirkflow
Chose Adobe Express
Adobe Express stands out for me. This product is amazing!
Adobe PhotoShop
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
A lot of the newer, younger staff, have worked extensively in Express and/or Canva. Some things in those platforms, like one-button background removal, have made it very easy for them to quickly do mock ups. But if they have to do something a bit more complex, Adobe PhotoShop …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
[Adobe] Photoshop offers the best photo editing as well as content creation. The layer-by-layer approach of [Adobe] Photoshop helps to work between two apps or even two PCs of entirely different Creative Cloud apps seamlessly. The stability and the speed of the tools in …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Canva and Adobe Spark are two programs that are able to accomplish similar tasks as [Adobe] Photoshop. However, Canva and Spark are extremely simplistic when compared to Photoshop. These two apps are perfect for beginners who want to create simple graphics and want help with …
Best Alternatives
Adobe ExpressAdobe PhotoShop
Small Businesses
Pexels
Pexels
Score 8.2 out of 10
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 7.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Pexels
Pexels
Score 8.2 out of 10
GIMP
GIMP
Score 8.2 out of 10
Enterprises
Pexels
Pexels
Score 8.2 out of 10
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Score 7.2 out of 10
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User Ratings
Adobe ExpressAdobe PhotoShop
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(232 ratings)
8.9
(194 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.5
(15 ratings)
9.0
(31 ratings)
Usability
8.2
(27 ratings)
7.7
(19 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(3 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(3 ratings)
Support Rating
4.6
(12 ratings)
10.0
(54 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
4.1
(2 ratings)
9.0
(6 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
9.5
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
4.0
(1 ratings)
Professional Services
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe ExpressAdobe PhotoShop
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
Basically, I truly find that Adobe Express is pretty much great for all professional scenarios because it offers many creative options and comes with an extremely robust collection of assets (stock photos, videos, music, and graphics) all of which can be edited and enhanced within Adobe Express if needed. One project that it was quite helpful with utilizing was creating a logo for one of our clients. I was able to create the prototype and then offer several iterations of said logo to help the client quickly decide on its official branding. By having all of my assets neatly stored right on my Adobe Express project folder it was very easy for me to remain organized when creating various outputs.
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Adobe
Photoshop is a useful tool for everything from creating social media graphics to editing and sizing photos. There is a bit of a learning curve, so you need to have a bit of experience to master it and use it for a variety of tasks. You also need to have a good sense of file organization so you can find files quickly without losing track of them.
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Pros
Adobe
  • Brand Kit: provides quick access to approved fonts, logos, colors, and other assets
  • Libraries: syncs will with other Adobe Tools
  • Animation: provides a decent collection of modifiable motions for objects in the design
  • Social Media-ready Layouts: being able to design graphics of multiple sizes/Layouts within the same document is a GOD-SEND
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Adobe
  • The fact is that you may quickly pick things up on your own by spending time without using any other resources.
  • It is the program that brings the phrase "to make PhotoShop" to almost all languages. It's not just a photo editing program.
  • Practical and beautiful results are filtered by filtering the desired work without drowning in details.
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Cons
Adobe
  • It could have a search bar which searches through other Adobe products (esp for Stock images, videos, audio) from within Adobe Express.
  • It could make it so switching between Adobe products from within Adobe Express almost like a tab function is smooth.
  • It could partner with other companies to allow for company specific events in exchange for valuable products or programs.
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Adobe
  • The effect applying time could be faster.
  • There could be a smarter way to make mockups using smart objects, maybe by directly selecting an area, and generative AI can automate a few steps.
  • If Photoshop can suggest the right stock imagery in case the generative AI doesn't get the right answer.
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Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
I foresee Adobe Express becoming the "go-to" platform for everyone except professional, high-level designers. It is a relatively easy-to-use tool that allows users to create a wide variety of visuals quickly. Because it is a template-driven tool, the in-house design team has the ability to make brand kit available to keep visuals on point
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Adobe
We get a lot of use out of this software. It's vital for work with production in our industry and has a lot of cross-functionality - creating social media images, retouching photos, editing photos, creating gradients, and more. It's pretty fuss-free in that we haven't had to reach out to support and the program hasn't crashed on us. We are trained on the software (so again, this isn't for beginners), but for detail-oriented designers and creatives like ourselves - it's a no-brainer.
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Usability
Adobe
The user interface is pretty straightforward to use. It has easy to navigate navigations, and the canvas UX is also pretty good. One thing i would like to add it to use shortcuts to add elements on canvas. Like if I am on canvas and I press 'T' on my keyboard the text box should be added automatically
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Adobe
Adobe PhotoShop is a professional-grade tool that requires months/years to get a grasp of how to use it well. Even then, after over a decade of using Adobe PhotoShop both casually and professionally, I feel like I'm still unfamiliar with a large percentage of the available tools. Without a dedicated training program, it can be extremely overwhelming and/or you may not get good use out of it. That being said, once you do get comfortable with it, the layout and workspace are excellent with myriad shortcuts that speed up your workflow exponentially. Put in the time to learn it, and you'll love it.
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Reliability and Availability
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
Adobe Photoshop is very reliable, but is never 100%. There have been times when Adobe Photoshop has had trouble opening, but nothing a little computer restart couldn't fix. I use Adobe Photoshop on a Mac for both work and at home on a daily basis, and I would be lost without it.
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Performance
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
Speed can be an issue when you are dealing with large files for large format printing or billboards. When working on web images, speed is not an issue.
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Support Rating
Adobe
Overall, the Adobe Creative Cloud Express is worth a try and may be a good fit for many organizations and businesses. At a monthly rate, the cost is not prohibitive, but the tools are somewhat limited and not necessarily worthwhile when compared to standard applications and software that are often available free or through a package of services commonly found on workplace computers.
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Adobe
While I never contacted Adobe directly, there is so much content out there in the form of YouTube videos, Lynda/LinkedIn learning that almost any issue, including bugs, can be worked around (and this method is generally faster as there's no turnaround time involved).
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In-Person Training
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
So, I received the training at the HQ and it was train the trainer training. A good time, I spent a week at their campus
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Implementation Rating
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
I took a course so it really helped. I didn’t take the course until much later after beginning to use it, so I wish work would have sent me right off the bat. It would have alleviated a lot of frustratinon
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Alternatives Considered
Adobe
I think Adobe Express is a bit behind Canva, but as an Adobe Community Expert, I try to provide as much feedback as I can to help improve Adobe Express. ADobe Express does a better job than InShot and a few other apps, but isn't quite there against Canva, I'm sorry to say!
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Adobe
[Adobe] Photoshop offers the best photo editing as well as content creation. The layer-by-layer approach of [Adobe] Photoshop helps to work between two apps or even two PCs of entirely different Creative Cloud apps seamlessly. The stability and the speed of the tools in photoshop make it even better to make a canvas of creativity.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Adobe
Adobe Creative Cloud Express is included with an Adobe Creative Cloud account. Our company has a corporate team membership so it is nice to have a professional and powerful tool that anyone on our team can use for free. The pricing structure of giving the tool away for free will be fundamental to users utilizing the tool. Similar tools, such as Canva, cost significantly more but do not offer the same features
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Adobe
No answers on this topic
Scalability
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
It seems expensive compared to the free/cheap programs now available
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Professional Services
Adobe
The professional services for Adobe Creative Cloud Express is top notch and should be highly commended. I am thoroughly impressed with how far Adobe has come. In the past, I had several issues with how something were handled, but in the past few years things have been better than ever and they get no complaints from me
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Adobe
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Adobe
  • Positive: Time and working for a nonprofit with minimal staff this is essential.
  • Negative: There are certain features that I need to find in other Adobe products like layer masking.
  • Positive: It makes content creation less intimidating for our newer staff.
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Adobe
  • Adobe PhotoShop in general is a great time saver.
  • It does take a long time for the program to start up, however
  • The most difficult task is onboarding new employees into Adobe PhotoShop who don't have experience with it. It's an investment for their future so we see value in it.
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ScreenShots

Adobe Express Screenshots

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