After 24 years of using Adobe design software products – starting with Photoshop 2, today, I’ve finally cut the chord and cancelled my subscription to Creative Cloud.

This wasn’t a really a decision based on cost; £600 a year is not a lot to spend on software if your livelihood depends on it. This was a decision based on usage. I haven’t used Photoshop, Illustrator or InDesign in at least 18 months. I haven’t even opened them. Why haven’t I cancelled before? One reason: Adobe Fonts.

I use Adobe Fonts for a number of existing projects. I’ve purchased some fonts which are, unfortunately, locked into that ecosystem and it would be a shame to lose them. For a good few months now, I’ve been thinking this isn’t worth it. Fifty quid a month on a handful of great fonts might be worth it (the fonts are fantastic), but it’s just not competitive when you consider Hoefler&Co’s webfont offering is $99 a year for the whole library.

I voiced what I was thinking of cutting the chord earlier today on Twitter and my friend Simon had the same problem I do: Adobe Fonts. Some bright spark replied and said that if I downgraded to just an InCopy subscription, I could get Adobe Fonts included but it would cost $4.99 a month instead of $50. That is much more reasonable and inline with competitor offerings. So off I went to downgrade. The process, however is a little convoluted.

After visiting my Adobe profile, I couldn’t see an option to directly downgrade. I only had a few options within the larger Creative Cloud packages. I’m too long in the tooth and cynical enough to think this is going to be simple, but more likely a ‘cancel it’ and ‘join it’ process. I want to save myself the process of sitting through an hour of upselling from a sales rep. On with the cancellation.

At this point, I realised I’d signed up for an annual subscription which is billed monthly. This wasn’t due for renewal until next year so I’d have to pay another £180 to get out of it. Next to this little box of disappointment in the cancellation flow was another box to ‘view offers’ with a drop down showing all of the various Creative Cloud packages. In here are also single apps, and just what I was after: InCopy. Selecting this presented me with my offer: Single app subscription to InCopy for £4.89. Slightly obfuscated behind a ‘What’s included’ small print heading was a tiny icon and next to it: Adobe Fonts. Perfect.

There we have it. If I wasn’t so pleased about reducing my monthly bill to Adobe by one tenth, I would be annoyed with Adobe for not making this clearer. The interface is as muddy as it could be in hiding your options.

So, there you have it. Adobe Fonts for under a fiver.