Is Adobe Still Worth It in 2026?

Last year I asked myself a serious question:

Is Adobe actually still worth paying for in 2026?

My use case is incredibly common for most content creators today. Yet, Adobe Premiere has always felt heavy and clunky to me and that friction has only intensified over the years. Jumping in for a “quick edit” felt practically impossible thanks to its cumbersome structure and sluggish load times. Still, for a long time, Premiere gave me a reasonable enough editing experience until the foundation really started to crumble.

It was a classic case of “death by a thousand cuts”.

The first major red flag hit me about a year ago when I noticed my audio waveforms were completely out of sync with the actual audio track. Since timing is literally the heartbeat of editing (d’uh!), I was suddenly forced to guess where to make my cuts. Bizarrely, the correct waveform would show up if I zoomed out, which was far from helpful. “Well, that’s new!” I muttered to myself. Deleting the cached files offered a temporary band-aid, but like clockwork, the bug always crawled back.

That’s when the illusion shattered and I started noticing a cascade of issues in quick succession:

• Aging interface: The UI remains stubbornly clunky and unchanged.

• Missing basics: Simple audio and video features are just absent (because who needs sharp videos, right?).

• Gimmicky tech: A glaring lack of actually functional AI integration that helps the workflow.

• The bug pile: An ever-growing mountain of unpatched errors.

Every major Adobe update seemed to prioritize flashy, half-baked features designed to look good on the loading splash screen, while core, everyday functionalities were completely neglected. Year by year, missed update by missed update, Premiere slowly morphed into a dinosaur - right up until it was lapped by free software while costing more and more each year.

This was my experience with Premiere alone, we didn't even talk about the other programs. Let's take an honest look together:

Is Adobe still competitive in 2026 or is it finally time to cancel your subscription?

PS. Read my full article "Goodbye Adobe Premiere" at the Digital Production.