Adobe Express (2024) Reviews
Adobe Express has improved considerably over the years and now offers a powerful template-based service to help you create images, videos and documents. The artificial intelligence features are fun to use, but perhaps the best part is the ability to connect to your various social media accounts and schedule posts directly from the interface.
Adobe Creative Cloud Express Offer
Pros.
+Powerful tools
+Well organized
+Social media scheduling
+Very good tutorials
Disadvantages
-Artificial Intelligence can sometimes slip up
Adobe Express may not be as well known as Photoshop or Illustrator, but it’s a powerful tool with a unique set of skills when it comes to graphic design. It’s much more sophisticated than many of the tools in the Creative Cloud toolbox, and its interface and experience is much more relaxed.
It’s part free logo maker, part graphic design software, and part video maker. Like its closest competitor, Canva, Express is an all-in-one content marketing hub for creating social media content, flyers, and other visual assets.
The last time we tested the tool, we were impressed – but the content creation game has changed a lot. Now that we’re reviewing the latest version, it’s been significantly improved, and because it’s Adobe, there are tons of AI tools for you to dive into.
ADOBE EXPRESS: Pricing and Programs
When you research it, the free option is the most popular and very widely available. Express is included in most Adobe packages or as a standalone subscription.
Adobe Express is free – well, mostly free. Much like Canva, it offers tons of features. However, certain assets, elements, and other options are locked behind a paywall.
Still, there’s a lot you can do for free, and this is a great way to explore how Adobe Express can work for you. If you choose to subscribe, it costs $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year. Express is also bundled into the Adobe Creative Cloud package as standard – so you may already have access to it.
ADOBE EXPRESS: What is it?
This is an ideal service if you want to quickly create a variety of projects based on templates, but there’s nothing stopping you from starting with a blank canvas (if you want to). Social media arrangements could prove to be a powerful asset.
Adobe Express is a service designed to help you create artwork, social media posts, marketing, documents and video edits. It’s a huge canvas, but thankfully the interface is well-designed and easy to understand.
At the top of the page is a menu that guides you through the options mentioned above. On the left side is a sidebar where you can access any previously created projects through “Your Stuff”, set up your own “Branding” (for paying customers only), “Explore”, and “Create”. has a huge library of templates that you can use and customize (some are considered premium only – anything with a purple crown in the bottom right corner of the thumbnail isn’t free), “Timeline” lets you post your work directly to social media, “Learn ” provides tutorials to help you understand the service.
With built-in social media management tools and content marketing tools, this is a better feature set than we’ve ever had before. The scheduling feature alone should attract many potential new clients. You can connect to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and TikTok. each account is limited to one free account, but those who pay can have up to 3 accounts. Essentially, with it, Adobe Express becomes your social media creative center.
ADOBE EXPRESS: Tools
Whether you’re working with images or creating short videos, the well-organized interface features an amazing number of rich tools.
Exploring Adobe Express is now like using a whole new service. Everything has been expanded, from the options in the Home section to the editing tools available in each category.
We’ve already explored some of the basic features in previous reviews, so we thought we’d discuss other areas that we haven’t touched on, or that didn’t even exist at the time. It is worth noting, however, that previously you had access to the basic background remover tool (fine-tuning was an advanced feature). Now it seems that the background remover is only free “for a limited time”, which is obviously a disadvantage.
On a more positive note, let’s look at the editing features. You can start with a blank canvas or choose from a variety of templates. All editing tools are located on the left side, while tutorials can be found on the right side, with the middle section dedicated to your project.
Clicking on an object or layer displays all its available tools. You can also group objects together to move them around more easily or edit them all at once.
Speaking of videos, although you can only connect to TikTok on the Timeline side, templates for YouTube videos (i.e., 16:9 aspect ratio, 1920×1080 pixel videos) are also available.
All the photos and videos you can browse in the Media menu are available in your project, and you’re free to upload your own clips. You can even use “Premium” media in your videos, but you won’t be able to download the finished product unless you pay for a subscription or replace them with free alternatives.
As you’d expect, clips can be moved and trimmed, but what surprised us is that what should be a simple video editor is the ability to handle multiple layers of video, turning this casual online video editor into a surprisingly advanced one. Stacked clips are then also displayed as thumbnails on the right side of the project, which you can reorder to ensure that the correct clip is always on top and visible.
We found Adobe Express to be very powerful, no matter what type of project we were working on. If you’ve used this type of service before, you’ll find it easy to master, intuitive and versatile.
ADOBE EXPRESS:FIREFLY AI
Create images, insert objects into existing images, create templates and font styles, all based on text input.
Like most Adobe products, Firefly AI has made its way into Express. it’s heavily advertised on the homepage and has its own dedicated menu on the ribbon. Here you can create images from scratch (Text to Image), add objects to existing photos (Generate Fill), create brand new editable templates (Text to Template), and our favorite: a brief description of a brand new text effect based on the creation of it.
As with all things related to generating AI, your mileage will vary. When it comes to AI tools, it’s well implemented – as you’d expect given that it’s a star feature in Photoshop and the like. However, we’d like to see improvements here, as we sometimes have trouble getting “Generate Fill” to work properly.
Nonetheless, when the AI comes in, you still have four options and the freedom to generate additional options if you’re not happy with the output. You have a number of different styles to choose from, and of course you can go back to the text input and make changes until you are happy with what you get. You can spend a lot of time trying out various descriptions to see what the software will come up with or fine-tune the artistic vision. The fun is endless.
Should I buy it?
Buy it if …
You’re looking for a fast and versatile way to create new images, videos, and documents for use online or in print. You love free stuff and may be tempted to pay for premium content.
Don’t buy it if…
You don’t like the idea of lending a helping hand and would rather use your creativity without templates and tutorials to guide you.