When it comes to digital art, photography, web design and other computer-based creative activities, Adobe products clearly stand above the competition.

Seemingly endless features and abilities have allowed programs like Illustrator and Photoshop to become industry leaders over the past 20 years.  Creative professionals around the world rely on Adobe products to complete their daily work and produce exceptional results for clients.

Unfortunately, Adobe products remain some of the most expensive software on the market, often costing hundreds of dollars for the complete versions.  Until just recently students and educators could rarely afford to purchase the software for personal use, but Adobe’s latest creation Creative Cloud is designed to solve that issue.

Creative Cloud is a cloud-based membership service (www.creative.adobe.com) that gives users unrestricted access to Adobe software.  Educational membership plans start at as little as $20 a month for access to a single program or $30 a month for a complete membership that includes all of Adobe’s software.

As a member of Creative Cloud, a user gains access to programs such as Illustrator and Photoshop without having to spend hundreds of dollars and updates are automatically applied at no additional cost.  Whereas the software used to become dated as soon as it was purchased, CC apps are never out of date and new features are frequently added.

In addition, Adobe web hosting is available, offering up to 5 websites built using Muse and a Behance ProSite online portfolio, allowing users to easily share work online without any other costs.

Adobe’s primary competition comes from Apple’s Logic Pro ($200), Final Cut Pro ($300), and Aperture ($80) that serves similar purposes to Audition, Premiere, and Photoshop, although those programs can only be downloaded on the Mac App store.

All things considered, there isn’t better software than Adobe’s and now there isn’t anything that is more affordable.  With Creative Cloud, the only limit is your imagination.