Clip Studio Paint moves to subscription model

Celsys has announced plans to abandon Clip Studio Paint's one-time payment structure in favour of a subscription model, and the creative community is not happy. While there are many reasons to choose – or avoid – creative software, how creatives are asked to pay is a big deal, with many even steering clear of heavyweight Adobe because of its subscription-based payment constraints. 

Though Clip Studio Paint used to cost a single payment ($49.99, rising to $219 for the Pro version), from 2023, customers will have to pay monthly to use the software if they want to receive any updates. The Pro version is currently high up on our best digital art software list, but will the creative community continue to value it so highly under the new regime?

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Georgia is lucky enough to be Creative Bloq's Editor. She has been working for Creative Bloq since 2018, starting out as a freelancer writing about all things branding, design, art, tech and creativity – as well as sniffing out genuinely good deals on creative technology. Since becoming Editor, she has been managing the site on a day-to-day basis, helping to shape the diverse content streams CB is known for and leading the team in their own creativity.