Adobe

About Adobe

Financials

Dated, source-cited figures. Estimates are marked.

Products by Adobe

All products by Adobe reviewed by our AI panel of experts.

Adobe ExpressAI Design Tools

Adobe's web-based design tool for creating graphics, videos, and social media content

From $10/mo8.0/10

Adobe FireflyAI Design Tools

Generative AI for images, video, audio, and vector graphics

From $10/mo8.0/10

MarketoAI Marketing Tools

Enterprise marketing automation built for scale

Free7.7/10

How Our Review Panel Scores Adobe

Six independent reviewer personalities assessed Adobe's products on their own terms. They landed within 0.7 points of each other, an unusually strong consensus.

Averaged across 3 reviewed products in our catalog. Scores are out of 10.

Competitive Landscape

Who Adobe competes with, and how they differ.

Canva7.6/10

Browser-first freemium design platform for non-designers; its Magic Studio AI tools and template marketplace compete head-on with Adobe Express and Firefly at lower price points, without the pro-grade depth of Creative Cloud.

2 products reviewed on TopReviewed

Figma

Browser-native collaborative interface design tool - so directly competitive that Adobe agreed to buy it for $20 billion in 2022 and paid a $1 billion fee when regulators forced the deal to collapse in 2023. Multiplayer-first where Adobe remains desktop-app-centric.

Runway7.5/10

AI-native video generation lab whose Gen models compete with the Firefly video model and Premiere Pro AI features; sells credit-based subscriptions aimed at filmmakers rather than a broad creative suite.

1 product reviewed on TopReviewed

Recraft8.0/10

Single-product AI image and vector generator competing with Firefly on brand-consistent asset generation; standalone per-seat pricing versus Firefly bundled into Creative Cloud.

1 product reviewed on TopReviewed

Braze8.0/10

Customer engagement platform that competes with Marketo Engage and Adobe Journey Optimizer on cross-channel campaign automation; streaming-first architecture pitched at product-led teams rather than the full Adobe Experience Cloud enterprise suite.

1 product reviewed on TopReviewed

Company Timeline

Key milestones in Adobe's history, with sources.

1. Oct 14, 2024Launch

   GenStudio for Performance Marketing generally available

   At Adobe MAX 2024 Adobe made GenStudio for Performance Marketing generally available - a generative-AI-first application for creating, remixing and measuring brand-compliant ads and marketing content.

   news.adobe.com
2. Dec 18, 2023Milestone

   Figma acquisition terminated; Adobe pays $1 billion fee

   Adobe and Figma mutually terminated their $20 billion merger after concluding there was no clear path to approval from EU and UK regulators; Adobe paid Figma a $1 billion termination fee.

   cnbc.com
3. Mar 21, 2023Launch

   Adobe Firefly generative AI unveiled in beta

   Adobe launched Firefly, a family of generative AI models for image and text-effect generation, trained on Adobe Stock and licensed content and designed to be safe for commercial use.

   news.adobe.com
4. Sep 15, 2022Acquisition

   Agreement to acquire Figma for $20 billion announced

   Adobe announced a definitive agreement to acquire collaborative design platform Figma for approximately $20 billion in cash and stock; Adobe shares fell 17% on the news.

   cnbc.com
5. Sep 20, 2018Acquisition

   Marketo acquired for $4.75 billion

   Adobe agreed to buy marketing-automation company Marketo from Vista Equity Partners for $4.75 billion, folding it into Adobe Experience Cloud.

   cnbc.com
6. Nov 2, 2016Launch

   Adobe Sensei AI framework unveiled at Adobe MAX

   Adobe introduced Sensei, its machine-learning and AI framework powering intelligent features across Creative Cloud, Marketing Cloud and Document Cloud.

   fortune.com
7. May 6, 2013Milestone

   Creative Suite retired - Adobe goes subscription-only with Creative Cloud

   At its MAX conference Adobe announced it would stop selling perpetual-license Creative Suite; Photoshop, Illustrator and the rest of the lineup moved to the subscription-based Creative Cloud.

   cbsnews.com
8. 1986Milestone

   Initial public offering

   Adobe made its initial public stock offering in 1986, four years after founding, on the strength of PostScript licensing revenue.

   fundinguniverse.com
9. 1982Founded

   Adobe founded by John Warnock and Charles Geschke

   Xerox PARC computer scientists John Warnock and Charles Geschke founded Adobe in 1982 to commercialize the PostScript page-description language.

   britannica.com