Black Friday Is On. Get Adobe’s Best-Ever Holiday Deals on Creative Cloud

How Long Do Creative Cloud Free Trials Last? Here's Why It's 21 Days

How to Download and Start an Adobe Creative Cloud Free Trial

How long are the free trials for Adobe software? Most people would say 7 days – but practically speak­ing, it’s three times as long, at 21 days. Here’s why, and how you can do it…

After downloading and installing the latest major release of Creative Cloud, your official free trial will run for seven calendar days starting from the date you sign up. Technically, it’s 7 days free before recurring billing for your subscription would begin.

Once you reach the end of those first 7 days, the trial period will end and your paid membership would begin. If you wish, you can cancel online and all the files you created will still be yours – but the software itself will no longer start on your system if you don’t continue with a subscription. And redown­loading or reinstall­ing the apps won’t give you a new free trial.

So, if your initial trial has expired but you haven’t decided yet whether you want to keep the tools, then what do you do? Well, aha – there’s a little-known tip to prolong your tryout period, and it goes like this:

  1. All Creative Cloud tools have Monthly subscription plans available that can be canceled at any time for any reason. Even individual apps like Photoshop or Illustrator or InDesign or Premiere or After Effects.
  2. This is the key point. Adobe actually has an excellent Return Policy for products bought directly from them… All subscriptions are 100% fully refund­able if canceled within 14 days of purchase for any reason at all, using your “Manage Plan” online (self-service). And since the software is downloaded electronically, there’s nothing physical to return.
  3. So, if you want or need additional time to evaluate the apps, then you actually have 14 more days (after the free trial ends) where you can use the software and still get a complete money-back refund, no questions asked. If you don’t want to continue further, just cancel the plan before those 14 additional days are up for a full refund issued back to your credit card (or PayPal).

So with this easy technique, you effectively extend your Adobe free trials to 21 days because you actually have up to three weeks to make a final decision on the products. In other words, you increase the length of time that you can try out and use them without cost. And of course if you want to keep on using the tools after that, even for a short time, then you’d only be paying by the month – because with CC’s straight­forward Month-to-Month Plan, you pay only for the months you need the software (as long or short as that may be).

Learn about cancellation terms for your Creative Cloud subscription

Adobe clearly states: “If you cancel within 14 days of your initial order, you’ll be fully refunded” for all memberships, for both individuals as well as for teams. And we have done this so we can confirm that it does work! Just make sure that you get the software directly from Adobe in order for this process to work, and not from a reseller or retailer.

[UPDATE: Adobe requests that you not use this approach if you aren’t serious about continuing with CC… In other words, please don’t sign up with the express intention of canceling. For that, you can just use the pay-by-the-month plan for as long as you need or want.]

Get it now

This basic approach can also be used even if you have already completed your free trial at any time in the past. So it’s especially good to know with the CC 2024 release being out, where all CC app trial periods were reset anew.

Go One Better

What’s more, you can get a separate 14-day free trial of the Creative Cloud for Teams plan, even if just for a single user. Creative Cloud for Teams offers extra features and benefits com­pared to the Individual plans.

Your free Teams tryout includes all the CC apps for you and up to nine other people. And importantly, the addi­tional 14-day refund window still applies if you continue with a paid subscrip­tion after your trial has ended.

Final Details

No matter which product trial you choose – Individuals, Teams, or both – even after the final expiration of any free trial period, and even without any paid subscription at all, you can continue to keep and maintain the free level of Creative Cloud membership with permanent benefits for life, at no cost.

Special: Legally download dozens of free Adobe books for a limited time!

Creative Cloud Is Growing Fast – How Many Millions of Paid Subscribers?

Note that all Adobe free trials are fully functional and can run side-by-side on your system with older versions, without interference. You can down­load the Creative Cloud apps on Windows, macOS, or both – and install them on multiple computers, if desired. The free trials are easily converted to full versions without having to reinstall the software.

How to Download and Install the CC Apps

Download now

See Also

Get the New Creative Cloud 2025 Direct Download Links

Keep up with the latest on Adobe software — follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or subscribe to our RSS feed… You can also enter your email and have new articles sent directly to your Inbox. We are reader-supported; when you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

GET FREE ADOBE BOOKS

Sign up for our popular newsletter and we’ll send you 30 great ebooks to learn all major Adobe tools at no cost!

Thank you for subscribing! We hope you enjoy the newsletter and your free Adobe books... Click here to see the books now, and start downloading and reading!

Sorry, something went wrong. Please try again.

Share This

Download 1,000,000+ Royalty-Free Images from the Adobe Stock Free Collection

50 thoughts on “How Long Do Creative Cloud Free Trials Last? Here's Why It's 21 Days”

  1. I am just interested in editing 8mm film after I digitize it with the Wolverine unit.
    What Adobe program app should I download to my laptop?
    I am new at this!!!

    Reply
    • Well, a few years ago, Adobe reduced the length of all Creative Cloud (CC) free trials from 30 days to 7 days…

      So the approach given above will still work, but instead would triple the period from 7 days up to 21 days.

      In other words, all subscription software orders bought direct from Adobe can be returned for a full money-back refund within 14 days of initial purchase (after your free trial ends), no questions asked or for any reason at all.

Leave a Comment or Question


Receive over 30 Adobe Books plus Our Newsletter, Free!
DOWNLOAD FREE ADOBE BOOKS

Download Free Adobe Books Sign up for our popular newsletter and we’ll send you 30 great ebooks to learn all major Adobe tools free!

Thanks for subscribing! We hope you enjoy the newsletter and your free Adobe books... Click here to see the books now, and start downloading and reading!

Sorry, something went wrong. Please try again.

And don't miss: The New CC 2025 Direct Download Links
Boost your content creation with 1,000,000 free images from Adobe Stock

Don't miss: Download 1 million FREE Adobe Stock assets!

Start downloading instantly from the Adobe Stock Free Collection:

DOWNLOAD NOW

This message will close in:

GET FREE ADOBE BOOKS

Download Dozens of Free Adobe Books Sign up for our popular newsletter and we’ll send you 30 great ebooks to learn all major Adobe tools at no cost!

Thank you for subscribing! We hope you enjoy the newsletter and your free Adobe books... Click here to see the books now, and start downloading and reading!

Sorry, something went wrong. Please try again.

Thanks for sharing!
Subscribe to ProDesignTools for Adobe updates:
15.8kFans
7.2kFollowers
2.5kRSS
DOWNLOAD FREE ADOBE BOOKS

Download Free Adobe Books Sign up for our popular newsletter and we’ll send you 30 great ebooks to learn all major Adobe tools free!

Thanks for subscribing! We hope you enjoy the newsletter and your free Adobe books... Click here to see the books now, and start downloading and reading!

Sorry, something went wrong. Please try again.