Hi,

From what I see, Adobe is charging by the month. I wouldn't touch that. But then, I don't have or use any of their products.

Magix Photo Manager is primarily a photo manager that has a few nice management features including a database that is handy in other Magix products, like Move Edit Pro. It comes with Photo Designer 7 which is a light program for editing photos. I have version 12 and have not upgraded to 2015 because the product does not recognize my principal video format, mts, and I use Photo Manager database to create categories to include photos, videos and audio files. I use this database in the video program. But I do not use the program to modify my photos (not even Photo Designer 7). I use either Xara or Corel PaintShop Pro, both of which are much more powerful. PhotoManager is not at all in the same league as Xara.

With Xara Photo & Graphics Designer you can modify photos and do vector graphics design. It is quite powerful, but not quite up to Adobe PhotoShop or Corel PaintShop Pro for modifying photos (raster images). However, it does do an excellent job and the vector graphics design part is excellent, which is why people buy it. You have to read through the TalkGraphics forum to see how people use this program to properly understand it.

I use Xara Designer Pro, which includes Photo & Graphics Designer, Web design, and Page & Layout Designer, all in one. It is even more excellent, but if you don't do or need these elements, then go with the appropriate tool.

I suggest that you download and install these programs and try them out before deciding. They give you up to 30 days.

Decide what you need to perform what you do, and what works the best for you.