Adobe Express Review (2024): Worth it or Not?

In this review, I’m testing out Adobe Express looking at tools, pricing, features, and workflow.

Creating content on the go is at an all time high. There are dedicated apps for every aspect of creation, but that’s no longer the most efficient way to generate content. Now, you can do anything imaginable with an all-in-one app called Adobe Express.

Adobe Express Specs

Get a 30-day free trial on the Premium subscription. Everything you need to confidently create and share stunning graphic, photo, and video content in no time 🙌

What is Adobe Express?

In short, Adobe Express is an all-in-one tool that allows you to create photo and video content quickly and easily.

What makes this app really exciting is its AI generative tools powered by Firefly.  You can add, replace, or remove objects with a single click. In addition, you’re able to create stunning images from simple text prompts.

With Adobe Express, you can choose from countless templates and stock media, as well as edit video clips, animations, and music. All of these are in editable layers with an easy-to-use interface.

It has robust tools for all types of work including videos, ads for social media, presentations, flyers, and newsletters.

How Does It Work?

You can access Adobe Express through your desktop web browser or the mobile App. In fact, your projects are accessible from both options.

Obviously, with it being a web-based app, you can sometimes experience performance issues and even crashes with complex projects with large files.

It has a free version with a 25 AI generative credit limitation however you still have many of the tools and stock media assets to choose from. There is also a free 30-day trial option for premium access.

Here’s how to get started:

1. Go to the main homepage
2. Click on the link “Get Adobe Express Free”
3. Create an account
4. Check your email
5. You’re ready to go!

Now, let’s jump into the popular features.

Adobe Express Features

To get started, Adobe Express has a dedicated category for common tasks called Quick Actions. These are all one-click actions for super-fast editing. See a few of them here:

• Remove Background
• Resize Image/Video
• Merge Video
• Caption Video
• Convert to MP4
• Animate from Audio

There’s a huge variety of features included with Adobe Express, but in this review, I’m going to focus on the photo and video editing capabilities.

Photo

First off, we have photo editing. To start, you can upload your own images or you can access Adobe’s huge library of high-quality stock photos with free and premium accounts.

In addition, there is Text to Image. This AI generative feature puts easy creativity in your hands. An image will be generated in any style based on your text prompt. For instance, you could type in ‘five graphic turtles sitting at a bar’ and 4 options will appear.

Next, there is a quick action called Remove Background which allows you to remove the background with one click. Also with Generative Fill you can erase, replace, or add any object you wish with a simple brush tool. You can replace the outfit on the person or even add or remove facial hair.

One drawback of using Quick Actions is that you can’t remove the background, and then add generative fill to the same image.

Video

Next, we have several video features, which range from merging videos, adding captions, resizing, cropping, and converting. There’s also a vast library of great looking stock videos to choose from.

The Remove Background feature works with videos too, which can be a big time saver and a nice touch to your videos. 

In addition, you can add graphic elements, stylistic titles, and animations. The layers are editable similar to how you’d see them in Photoshop. The timing of each layer is also adjustable which gives you full control with little to no editing experience.

Resizing

Another really useful feature (only available in Adobe Express premium) is the Resize Video tool. After your 16×9 video is complete, and you want to re-purpose this video to another format such as vertical video, you can do so easily by clicking the resize tool.

This way you can save a ton of time by not having to reconfigure all the assets and layout.

Templates

There are many single or multiple page templates to choose from. You can really make your content stand out in no time.

Whether you’re looking for Instagram Reels, TikTok videos, or commercial posts, there are endless styles to choose from. In the premium version, there’s even an AI prompt to create your own template.

Scheduler

Next, you have the built in scheduler. This is a very useful feature for those who have plenty of content with busy schedules.

The scheduler automatically posts your content on the most popular social media platforms with dates, times, and descriptions pre-filled. This is perfect for those creators interested in bulk productivity.

Learn Tab

If you’re not sure about something then you can click the lightbulb icon on top of the toolbar to get access to the tutorials section. There are a lot of quick and helpful 30-second video tutorials provided.

They’ve even categorized topics such as design, social media, video, photography, document,s and generative AI. Plus, they offer hashtag insights and the latest news about social media algorithms.

Collaboration

Working with others on the same project can be difficult however Adobe Express makes it easy. No more sending files back and forth between collaborators and trying to manage the latest notes through email. All of this is available in real time with edit notifications.

Generative Video

Although it’s not available yet, it’s worth mentioning that AI generated text to video is coming to Adobe Express very soon. This is an exciting time for creators where the distance between imagination and results could be just around the corner.

Adobe Express Workflow

Obviously, the best way to try out Adobe Express properly is to do a quick test project This is my tutorial on how to select a stock video, edit, add text, animations, and download the clip.

To get started, click the + sign to create a project on the top left corner of your dashboard.

From there, you will have a few options for uploading content for your project.

Click 16:9 landscape which is a YouTube video format preset.

Now it’s time to Name the Project in the top let corner.  This makes it easier to find in Your Stuff dashboard later.

Next, navigate to Media the vertical tool panel on the left-hand side.

In the subcategory, choose video to search for a stock video clip. You can also use your own media by uploading with the Upload tab in the toolbar.

Click on the desired clip once, and it will upload to your edit window.

A timeline will appear under your viewer. Click the Play icon (left of the timeline) to see the video play-through. To Trim, click and drag on either side of the clip.

Next, in the media tab, click the subcategory Photos.

Select an image you’d like to add, and click it once to load it into the project.

Now, we’ll use the AI feature Remove background. Make sure your image is selected and click the Remove background button.

Now, the background of the drone is removed.

You can see to the right of the viewer, that we have two layers. One is the video and one is the drone image. When you want to edit a layer, click on these icons or the asset in the viewer itself.

Next, let’s add some text.

Back in the vertical toolbar to the left, select Text, then click Add your text in the purple box.

Several preset options will appear once you type in your text for quick pre-visuals. Select your favorite option and click to add it to the composition.

Next, go back to the media tab and click Photos.

Click on the Text to image window. Then, type in a detailed prompt such as ‘excited drone operator with a controller in his hand.’ (This feature uses 1 AI credit). Then 4 options will appear.

Click on your selected photo, then click Remove background (this feature uses 1 AI credit).

Next, navigate to the Elements icon on the vertical toolbar. Search ‘thumbs up icon’.

Click on your favorite icon to add to the timeline.

Pro-Tip, in the viewer of your project, click option + drag to duplicate objects, or right click for contextual menu.

To flip one of the thumb assets, click the two triangle icons (underneath the blend options) in the settings window.

To give life to your assets, feel free to add animations for each layer.

You can also add an additional clip by selecting ‘add scene’ in the timeline.

Follow the same process of selecting stock videos or uploading your own media.

To add a transition between clips, click the (+)between the clips.

To add music, navigate to the media tab in the vertical toolbar, in the subcategory select Audio

Then, click a suitable music track to add to your timeline.

Click the music track in the timeline to adjust the volume.

Lastly, it’s time to export and download or share your video!

So now that you have a good understanding of the workflow, let’s check out and compare the subscription models.

Adobe Express Pricing

Luckily, with pricing, they keep it nice and simple. There are three different pricing options to choose from.

Free	Premium $9.99/ Month	Teams $6.49/ Month
Includes basic editing tools and limited assets	Includes all Free plan features, and more	Includes all Premium plan features, and more
Generative AI: 25 generative credits per month to generate images, templates, and more	Generative Al: 250 generative credits per month to generate images, templates, and more	Generative Al: 250 generative credits per month per user for tools designed to be commercially safe
Templates: Access to 100,000+ static and video templates	Templates: Access to all premium static and video templates	Collaboration: Real-time co-editing and commenting with your team
Assets: 1M+ royalty-free Adobe Stock photos, videos, music tracks, and design elements2	Assets: 200M+ royalty-free Adobe Stock photos, videos, music tracks, and design elements2	Review and approval: Share for review, comment, and approval to streamline content creation
Fonts: Access to 1,000+ custom fonts from Adobe	Fonts: Access to 25,000+ custom fonts from Adobe	Asset management: Sharing restrictions, maintain ownership of all your corporate assets
Editing tools: Standard photo, video, and document editing tools	Editing tools: Additional tools like Remove Video Background, advanced animation, and more	Brand management: Brand kits, controls, and template, locking to maintain brand consistency
Content scheduling: Plan and schedule posts to 1 account per social network	Content scheduling: Plan and schedule posts to 3 accounts per social network	Security tools: Asset encryption, content logs, and user authentication
Version history: 10 days	Version history: 30 days	Version history: 180 days
Storage: 5GB	Storage: 100GB	Storage: 1TB per user (pooled for organization)
Devices: Works on desktop browsers and mobile phones	One-click Resize: Automatically resize assets for multiple channels	Support: 24/7 tech support

As mentioned, many features are available with the free plan, but the good news is you can try out all the features of the premium plan for 30 days as well.

If you decide to stick with the free plan, you can add premium assets to your project. They will just have a watermark unless you upgrade. Nice to at least see how it will look before committing to a paid plan.

Is Adobe Express Worth It or Not?

Pros	Cons
✔ All in-one tool	✘ Web-based app performance varies
✔ One click AI features	✘ AI credit limitation with free account
✔ On trend communications	✘ Cannot combine ‘Remove Background’ and ‘Generative Fill’ actions
✔ Requires little experience

In my opinion, this app is a huge time saver and worth the price. It’s not only for beginners but for more seasoned professionals as well.

The more you use Adobe Express, the more you’ll find it useful. It’s never been easier to leverage the power of AI with editing.

However, if you need more advanced editing tools or you’re using a range of file types then Photoshop and Premiere Pro might be the way to go.