5798 complaints extracted from 5798 reviews of Adobe Photoshop between 2016-07 and 2026-02, average rating 4.63/5, grouped into the problems users report most. Each problem links to the market it belongs to and to startup ideas built on it.
The problems Adobe Photoshop users report
Layer navigation and selection confusion — 109 complaints about Adobe Photoshop; 114 complaints across 4 products · market pageUsers across every major photo editing tool consistently struggle to find, select, and organize layers in complex compositions. Complaints range from 'I can't find a specific layer and have to turn off every layer one by one to locate it' to layers 'sticking' on the wrong selection, auto-select behaving unexpectedly, and locked layers silently blocking edits with no explanation. The core frustration is that as a file grows, the layer panel becomes a maze where every interaction risks touching the wrong thing.
Pro photo software too heavy for normal hardware — 96 complaints about Adobe Photoshop; 102 complaints across 3 products · market pageUsers across Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, and Affinity Photo repeatedly say they can't use the software properly without high-end hardware — specifically citing crashes, hangs, and sluggishness on machines with less than 16GB RAM or without a dedicated GPU. The complaints aren't about missing features; they're about being locked out of the tools they already paid for because their laptop or desktop can't keep up. As one user put it: 'if you don't have a powerful PC, you are going to regret it.'
UI churn disorientation after software updates — 78 complaints about Adobe Photoshop; 80 complaints across 3 products · market pageEvery time Adobe ships an update, tools move, shortcuts change, and features disappear — with no explanation of what changed or where things went. Users describe 'having to relearn where everything is' after each revision, losing favorites that got buried or removed entirely, and productivity grinding to a halt mid-project. The complaint that cuts deepest: 'Common functions changing version to version with no This changed feature' — there is no changelog a normal person can act on.
Photo editing software crushing RAM on normal machines — 70 complaints about Adobe Photoshop; 74 complaints across 3 products · market pageUsers across Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, and AfterShoot consistently report that these apps consume so much RAM and CPU that their computers slow to a crawl or crash during normal editing work. Complaints range from 'it forces me to close other programs' to 'my old iMac can't keep up, I'm going to have to upgrade my computer' to 'after Chrome, this might be the blackhole of memory.' The problem hits hardest on machines with 4-8GB RAM — not ancient hardware, but the laptops millions of working photographers actually own.
No usable in-product learning for photo editing beginners — 65 complaints about Adobe Photoshop; 73 complaints across 3 products · market pageUsers across all three Adobe products repeatedly hit the same wall: the built-in help is too thin to teach them anything, so they abandon the software and go to YouTube instead. Complaints range from 'shouldn't have to visit YouTube to learn basics' to 'wish there was a better, more robust library of help videos in the help section' to 'I'd like it to be easier to randomly explore the software without tutorials.' The frustration compounds when new features ship with no guidance — users want 'quick and easy tutorials for new features' but get nothing contextual.
Photo editing tools are opaque and undiscoverable — 63 complaints about Adobe Photoshop; 67 complaints across 4 products · market pageUsers across every major photo editor consistently report that tools have confusing names, no descriptions, and unclear purposes — complaints include 'some tools don't have descriptions on what they do', 'you can't tell which tool is which', and tools that 'almost perform the same tasks' under different names. The problem isn't that users are incapable; it's that the tools give no contextual guidance at the moment of confusion, forcing users to stop, leave the app, and research externally before returning to finish a basic task.
Adobe Creative Cloud pricing locks out users — 60 complaints about Adobe Photoshop; 64 complaints across 2 products · market pageUsers across both Photoshop and Lightroom Classic consistently describe the subscription pricing as prohibitively expensive, particularly for beginners, freelancers, and non-US residents who face currency-inflated costs. Complaints range from 'it costs you an arm and a leg' to frustration that there is no way to buy the software outright anymore — only subscription bundles that force users to pay for tools they don't need. The lock-in itself compounds the price complaint: as one user put it, 'hard to break contract.'
Single-step undo cripples editing workflow — 58 complaints about Adobe Photoshop; 60 complaints across 3 products · market pageUsers across Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, and Affinity Photo repeatedly hit the same wall: Ctrl+Z only toggles between the current state and the last action, instead of walking back through history step by step. As one user put it, 'you can only undo so far' and 'some features have no undo option at all,' forcing people to either open the History panel manually for every backward step or lose significant work. The frustration is sharpened by the contrast with Illustrator, where Ctrl+Z chains naturally — users who work across Adobe products are constantly tripped up by the inconsistency.
Raster-only tools blocking vector work — 55 complaints about Adobe Photoshop; 58 complaints across 4 products · market pagePhotoshop users constantly hit a wall when their work requires vector output — logos, SVGs, scalable illustrations — and have to stop, open Illustrator, and re-do work they already started. Specific complaints include 'lack of ability to import vector files from Illustrator and retain the paths', 'SVG export was added this year — yet it doesn't work', and 'you have to restorize paths to paint in vectors'. The friction isn't occasional; it's baked into every workflow where a designer produces both raster and vector assets in the same project.
Photoshop too heavy for mid-range hardware — 52 complaints about Adobe Photoshop; 52 complaints across 1 product · market pagePhotoshop regularly crashes, lags, overheats, or simply won't install on machines that handle everything else fine. Users specifically call out insufficient RAM, inadequate graphics cards, and slow render times on older or mid-range laptops. One user said it plainly: 'Photoshop won't work great on low end PCs, making it difficult to learn and use effectively' — and another explicitly asked Adobe to build a 'lite' version, which Adobe has no incentive to ship because it would cannibalize Creative Cloud upsells.
In their words
“The company nearly doubled the subscription price and has terrible customer service.”0/5 · 2023-11-15 · Adobe subscription unaffordable for casual and student users
“The program is heavy and takes up a lot of RAM”0/5 · 2021-06-21 · Photo editing software crushing RAM on normal machines
“super unfriendly UI”0/5 · 2020-11-10
“Customer support is blocking my license transfer for almost a month with ridiculous excuses, including requiring documents not needed in Poland and insisting on forms that don't allow me to provide my mobile number.”0/5 · 2020-10-20 · Unreachable support when software breaks
“Adobe has priced itself out of the market with the Creative Cloud.”0/5 · 2018-12-13 · Adobe Creative Cloud subscription cost too high
“Photoshop loads terribly slow and always asks me to sign in at random times.”0/5 · 2018-04-26 · Photoshop startup and runtime slowness