Creative Design Apps With Student Discounts

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Creative design apps are expensive for those who undertake creative work without yet doing it as a full-time job and are studying. These apps have costly subscriptions. They can cost hundreds of dollars monthly or annually. Luckily, if you are a student, you can get most of the creative apps you need for a much cheaper rate with a student discount.


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Scroll down to view all 11 of the best creative design apps below.

Table of Contents

Key Takeaways

  • Most creative design apps, such as Adobe Photoshop, Avid Pro Tools, and CorelDRAW, are ordinary costly but come with affordable student discounts.
  • Not all of these apps come with student discounts, yet they are still very affordable.
  • Many of these creative design apps, such as the Adobe apps within the Adobe Creative Cloud, come bundled together under one affordable subscription.

The Best Creative Design Apps With Student Discounts

Most professional and advanced creative design apps are costly if you are just a student with little to no income. Luckily, many companies behind these apps recognize the struggles of being a student in a world where their apps have become the standard for expressing creativity and use in fields of study.

Many companies have made it more affordable than ever for you as a student to use their creative design apps by offering a reasonable student discount.

1. Adobe Photoshop

  • Type Of Creative Design App: Raster Graphics Editor
  • Requires Subscription: Yes
  • One-Time Purchase: No
  • Student Discount Availability And Price Yes – During your first year you will be charged $19.99 a month. You will be charged $29.99 the following subsequent years.
  • Platforms supported: Windows, macOS, iPad

Adobe Photoshop has become the staple of raster graphics editors. It is the most popular application to edit and enhance your photographs or other raster images and create new ones in the form of illustrations. The tools available to use in Adobe Photoshop are endless and include advanced masking, effects, brushes, and much more. Adobe Photoshop is the industry’s choice for raster image editing.


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Adobe Photoshop does have the option for a student discount through Adobe’s Creative Cloud All Apps plan. If you are a student, the student discount for Adobe’s Creative Cloud All Apps plan is $19.99 a month during your first year of subscription but will change to US$29.99 the following years of subscription.

Looking for free creative tools? Try our list of free photo editors here, Photo Pea and GIMP are fantastic free alternatives to shelling out the cold hard cash for these expensive creative apps.

2. Adobe Illustrator

  • Type Of Creative Design App: Vector Graphics Editor
  • Requires Subscription: Yes
  • One-Time Purchase: No
  • Student Discount Availability: Yes – You will be charged $19.99 a month during your first year. You will then get charged $29.99 the following subsequent years.
  • Platforms supported: Windows, macOS

Adobe Illustrator is an advanced and popular Vector Graphics Editor. This Vector Graphics Editor will help you bring your digital design, such as logos, billboard designs, and even digital artworks, to life. This creative design app shares many of the advanced functions that Adobe Photoshop has, such as different brushes. It also has an advanced font finder to help you find any font within minutes.

Adobe Illustrator supports a student discount option through Adobe’s Creative Cloud All Apps plan. As a student, your first year of this subscription will cost you $19.99 monthly than subsequent years $29.99.

3. Apple Final Cut Pro

  • Type Of Creative Design App: Video Editing Software
  • Requires Subscription: No
  • One-Time Purchase: Yes
  • Student Discount Availability: Yes– It comes in the form of the Pro Apps Bundle for Education for a one-time purchase of $199.99.
  • Platforms supported: macOS

Apple Final Cut Pro is a fantastic and advanced video editing software exclusively for the macOS operating system. Not only does it allow for video editing but also color grading, video rendering, and more. Popular films like Bo Burnham: Inside and Parasite have been edited using this advanced creative design app.

If you are a student, you are eligible to buy the Pro Apps Bundle for Education at a one-time purchase for $199.99.


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4. Adobe Premiere Pro

  • Type Of Creative Design App: Video Editing Software
  • Requires Subscription: Yes
  • One-Time Purchase: No
  • Student Discount Availability: Yes – You will be charged $19.99 a month during your first year. You will then get charged $29.99 the following subsequent years.
  • Platforms supported: Windows, macOS

Adobe Premiere Pro is a renowned video editing software used in professional media productions. It is the most popular video editor for films. It also has an advanced timeline feature to organize effects, video clips, and sound. You can also do some color grading, render your videos, and more. This creative design app has gotten used in many popular films such as AvatarDeadpoolHugo, and Gone Girl.

As a student, you can get this software at a highly affordable monthly subscription as part of Adobe’s Creative Cloud All Apps plan. The first year of this subscription will cost you $19.99 a month, and subsequent years will cost you $29.99 a month.

5. Avid Media Composer Ultimate

  • Type Of Creative Design App: Video Editing Software
  • Requires Subscription: Yes
  • One-Time Purchase: No
  • Student Discount Availability: Yes – Media Composer Ultimate for Education costs $9.99 a month.
  • Platforms supported: Windows, macOS

Avid Media Composer Ultimate is an advanced video editing software that supports many features. Not only can this creative design app do video editing but also color grading, visual effects, and video rendering. It has gotten used in such films as The English Patient.

If you are a student, you are eligible to receive the software in the Media Composer Ultimate for Education package. It will only cost you $9.99 a month.

6. Adobe Audition

  • Type Of Creative Design App: Sound Editing Software
  • Requires Subscription: Yes
  • One-Time Purchase: No
  • Student Discount Availability: Yes – You will be charged $19.99 a month during your first year. You will then get charged $29.99 the following subsequent years.
  • Platforms supported: Windows, macOS

Adobe Audition is a fantastic audio editing software. 

It is an excellent creative design app for podcasts and video productions. Although an advanced creative design app, it is very straightforward to use. It allows for audio cleanup, restoration, and precision editing.

You, as a student, can get a generous discount on Adobe Audition through the Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps Subscription. As a student, it will cost you $19.99 monthly during the first year of subscription, and subsequent years will cost you $29.99 monthly.


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7. Apple Logic Pro

  • Type Of Creative Design App: Sound Editing Software
  • Requires Subscription: No
  • One-Time Purchase: Yes
  • Student Discount Availability: Yes– It comes in the form of the Pro Apps Bundle for Education for a one-time purchase of $199.99.
  • Platforms supported: macOS

Apple Logic Pro is a robust sound editing software designed for macOS. This creative design software is great for music production and is designed specifically for that function. It also supports the advanced surround sound Dolby Atmos technology. You can also control this sound editing software through an Apple iPad, should you have one. 

You, as a student, can obtain Apple Logic Pro within the Pro Apps for Education Bundle for the one-time price of $199.99.

8. Avid Pro Tools Ultimate

  • Type Of Creative Design App: Sound Editing Software
  • Requires Subscription: Yes
  • One-Time Purchase: No
  • Student Discount Availability: Yes – Pro Tools Ultimate for Education costs $29.99 a month.
  • Platforms supported: Windows, macOS

Avid Pro Tools Ultimate is the industry standard for sound editing. 

This creative design app is suited for studio-quality music production and sound design for cinema and broadcast. It provides advanced mastering of high-quality audio, mixing, and arrangement for all these audio design platforms. This creative design app is well-loved by many in the professional industry.

As a student, you can get Avid Pro Tools Ultimate at a discounted price through the Avid Pro Tools Ultimate for Education Edition. This edition will cost you $29.99 monthly.

9. Adobe After Effects

  • Type Of Creative Design App: Digital Visual Effects Software
  • Requires Subscription: Yes
  • One-Time Purchase: No
  • Student Discount Availability: Yes – You will be charged $19.99 a month during your first year. You will then get charged $29.99 the following subsequent years.
  • Platforms supported: Windows, macOS

Adobe After Effects is an advance and powerful Digital Visual Effects software. It is one of the leading and industry-standard Digital Visual Effects Software used in the film and video game industries. This creative design app is so powerful that, if you learn the ins and outs of the software, you can make the most striking visual effects that come to your imagination.

If you are a student, you can access Adobe After Effects through the discounted subscription of the Creative Cloud All Apps plan. It will cost you $19.99 monthly during your first year before moving onto a slightly higher price tag of $ 29.99 monthly for subsequent years.

Below we examine creative design apps that do not come with a student discount, apps that are bundled together for a student discount, and why you should not pirate any apps.

Creative Design Apps Without Student Discounts

Unfortunately, not all creative design apps come with a student discount. Regardless, these apps are still worth a look and are affordable.


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10. CorelDRAW

  • Type Of Creative Design App: Vector Graphics Editor
  • Requires Subscription: Yes – It costs $439.00 annually to get CorelDRAW’s latest editions constantly.
  • One-Time Purchase: Yes – To get the 2021 version of CorelDRAW, it will cost you a one-time purchase of $859.00.
  • Student Discount Availability And Price: No
  • Platforms supported: Windows, macOS

CorelDRAW is one of the greatest vector graphics editors in the industry. This creative app has many advanced and varied features to bring your digital works, such as digital artworks, to life. CorelDRAW has an advanced font manager.

It also supports a valuable layer feature to ease the creation of your latest digital designs. CorelDRAW supports many file formats such as AI., PNG., and SVG. It has even more features than just what is above.

Unfortunately, CorelDRAW does not have a student discount. It will cost you $439.00 annually to constantly stay updated with the latest version of CorelDRAW. You can also buy just the 2021 version of CorelDRAW for a one-time purchase of $859.00.

11. Canva

  • Type Of Creative Design App: Graphics Design Platform
  • Requires Subscription: Optional – There is a limited free version available to use. To access all the features, you will need to invest in Canva Pro for $12.99 a month.
  • One-Time Purchase: No
  • Student Discount Availability And Price: No
  • Platforms supported: Browser-based

Canva is a great graphics design platform. It is easy to use. This graphics design app can quickly help you craft professional-looking presentations, social media posts, and more within minutes. If you do not have experience in professional and complex graphics design, Canva is a great platform.

Unfortunately, there is no student discount available for Canva. Instead, you can choose between a limited free version that does not have all the templates available to you and other features like importing fonts, or the Canva Pro version, for $12.99 monthly, that has no restrictions at all.

Why Should I Not Just Torrent/Pirate The Apps?

It is not only illegal but an awful idea to pirate these creative design apps. There are so many reasons why you should not pirate apps.

First, and most importantly, you are not supporting the developers who are hard at work to bring the mentioned apps to their best capacity for you to use.

Secondly, your apps will not be automatically updated like the paid legit version.

Thirdly, you will not be eligible for customer support from the developers should you run into problems.

Finally, you will make yourself vulnerable to malware that may come bundled with pirated apps which is very common. Some campuses also monitor pirated software being downloaded via torrents and can get you in trouble with your school. And there are great free creative tools out there.

Rather pay for the creative design apps and use the affordable student discounts instead of pirating these advanced apps. Pirating software will only bring dangers to you and the app developers.

Do Any of These Apps Come Bundled Together?

Many of the creative design apps mentioned above with affordable student discounts come bundled together. Having the apps bundled together with a student discount makes it all the more affordable for you to invest in them. The Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps plan and the Pro Apps Bundle for Education are two incredible app bundles.

Adobe’s Creative Cloud All Apps plan is a great deal. The Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps plan is a bundle of software that includes Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Audition, etc. As a student, you get all the adobe software for just $19.99 a month during your first year of subscription before subsequently paying $29.99 the following year.

The Pro Apps Bundle for Education by Apple is a bundle that includes the creative design apps Apple Final Cut Pro, Apple Pro Logic, and other great apps. As a student, you can get this bundle for a one-time purchase of $199.99. The price of admission is excellent to get a hold of two of the greatest creative design apps of all time.

Getting a hold of these bundles is the most affordable way for a student to get the benefits of most of the creative apps above.

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