How Architects Get Off Adobe

Every architect I talk to says they're ready to get off Adobe. Almost none of them have.

When I ask why, it's rarely Photoshop. It's InDesign. The proposal templates, the portfolio, the competition boards, fifteen years of master pages. InDesign is the loose thread holding the whole subscription together.

Last week I spoke with Allister Lewis, who writes about AEC technology, and InDesign came up. Allister didn't hold back:

I really hate InDesign. It's so uncollaborative and it's really, really old.

Allister learned InDesign at university in 1998. Opening it today, Allister says, it's exactly the same.

So why do we keep paying for it?

A disclosure up front: I co-founded Foveate, which is one of the tools below.

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The question isn't features anymore

For twenty years, the reason to stay on Adobe was simple. Nothing else had the features, and switching meant relearning every shortcut your hands already know.

That argument is fading, and not because a better clone came along. It's fading because of who operates the software. More of the firms I talk to, especially larger ones in New York, are using Claude to connect their tools instead of buying another suite. When an AI agent can do the work, the number of buttons stops mattering.

So when you choose what replaces Adobe, ask four questions:

1. Can AI operate it? Not a chatbot in a sidebar. Can Claude open your files and do the work?
2. Does it connect to the rest of your stack? Your notes, your drive, your client data.
3. Can your team and your client work in it together? Without emailing packaged files back and forth.
4. Has it changed since you were in school?

Adobe launched a Claude connector in April. Independent reviews describe it as Express-level editing, not the desktop apps your templates live in. It's a start, but it's a connector added to the same software.

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Photoshop: Photon Studio

Photon Studio is a free desktop image editor for Mac, Windows, and Linux. It opens and saves PSD files, and it has what render post-production needs: layers, masks, adjustment layers, smart objects, curves, liquify, and subject selection and background removal that run on your own machine, offline. Reviewers note the interface closely resembles Photoshop, so your hands won't be lost.

Its developer says you can edit images through Claude Code or Codex. It was also built by one developer, largely with AI, for about $2,000. The same force that's pulling the price of our deliverables toward zero is doing it to the software we pay for every month.

Two caveats. It's in early access, and it has no plugin ecosystem. If your render workflow depends on Photoshop plugins, it won't replace Photoshop yet. Before you commit, open your three hardest PSDs in it: a render with smart objects, a collage with heavy masking, and whatever file your office treats as the template.

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InDesign and Illustrator: Foveate

In most architecture offices, InDesign now does one main job. It builds proposals, client presentations, portfolio decks, and interview presentations: documents typeset for a fixed page, then read on a laptop or a phone. Illustrator comes along for the diagrams inside them. That's the job we built Foveate for.

Here's how it answers the four questions.

AI can operate it. Foveate has an MCP server, so Claude can read your decks, create new ones from an outline, generate them from a brief, and update them. Inside Foveate, you can prompt a deck from scratch, rewrite every slide's copy at once in the text view, and generate images and video.

It connects to the rest of your stack. Through Claude, a Foveate deck can draw on whatever else Claude is connected to, like meeting notes, your drive, or your CRM. Your existing templates come with you too. Export them from InDesign as HTML5 or PDF, and Foveate recreates them as editable pages. Word and PowerPoint (PPTX) files import the same way.

Your team and your client work in it together. Your team shares one workspace, with your project library and team bios in it. Clients and consultants open a link, with no account, and comment directly on the work. You can present live while everyone follows along on their own screen, with video playing at full quality. And you see who opened it, who they forwarded it to, and what held their attention.

It's built for how we work now. A pen tool draws diagrams directly on the slide, so there's no Illustrator file to keep in sync. A built-in stock image library means no separate image subscription. Video plays inline, and 3D models and walkthroughs sit inside the presentation instead of as placed stills. When a portal asks for a PDF, you export one.

Print is covered too. Set the page to A3, Tabloid 11×17, or ARCH D 24×36, and export a PDF at up to 300 dpi, with text and vector drawings kept sharp. There's no reason to keep an InDesign seat around for the occasional board or book.

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What it costs

Here's the math for a five-person studio. Creative Cloud Pro is $69.99 per person per month on an annual plan. Foveate Pro covers up to five people for one price, and Photon Studio is free.

Even the cautious version costs less than a fifth of what the studio pays now. If your team relies on Premiere or Acrobat, single-app plans cover them for a fraction of the bundle.

Prices are Adobe's and Foveate's published US prices as of September 2026.

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Before you cancel

Cancellation terms and file formats are where most switches go wrong. Do these first.

1. Check your renewal date. On an annual plan billed monthly, cancelling mid-term costs 50% of what's left on the contract. Cancelling within 14 days of purchase or renewal is free. Put your renewal date on the calendar.
2. Export every INDD you might reopen. Save HTML5 or PDF copies to bring into Foveate, and IDML copies as an archive. INDD files can't be opened without InDesign.
3. Replace Adobe Fonts. Fonts activated through Adobe stop working when the subscription ends. Exported PDFs and outlined text keep them, but your live templates won't. Swap in fonts you license directly, or Google Fonts, before you rebuild anything.
4. Download your Creative Cloud files and Libraries. Brand colors, logos, and shared assets often live there. Don't count on them staying accessible after you cancel.
5. Move one live project first. Rebuild your next proposal in the new stack, not your archive. One real deadline teaches you more than a month of migration.

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The order I'd switch in

1. InDesign first. It's the loose thread, and it's the output clients actually see. Start with your next proposal.
2. Illustrator with it. Your diagrams move with the layouts they live in.
3. Photoshop last. It's the deepest habit and the one most likely to depend on plugins. Keep one seat until nobody has opened it for a month.

Then cancel at your renewal date, not before.

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Who's building the alternative

Foveate isn't venture-backed. It's built by architects and engineers, for architects and engineers. We'd rather earn your subscription by making something good than keep it by making it hard to leave.

If you want to see what a proposal looks like when Claude can build it and your client can walk through it, start free.

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Frequently asked questions

Can architects work without Adobe? Yes, for most offices. Render post-production, proposals, presentations, and diagrams all have replacements now. The common exceptions are print production, plugin-dependent Photoshop workflows, and motion graphics.

Is there a free Photoshop alternative that opens PSD files? Photon Studio is free, opens and saves PSD files, and runs offline on Mac, Windows, and Linux. It's in early access and doesn't support Photoshop plugins.

Can Claude make architecture presentations? Yes. With Foveate's MCP server connected, Claude can create Foveate decks from an outline, generate them from a brief, and update existing ones. The result is a live presentation your client opens as a link.

What happens to Adobe Fonts when I cancel? They stop working in live documents. Anything already exported to PDF, or text converted to outlines, keeps its fonts. Replace them in your templates before you migrate.