Question About Monetization Options for Plugins

[kaneschmare]

Hi,I’m currently developing a UXP-based Photoshop plugin that I plan to sell on Adobe Exchange.

I’ve seen that Adobe Express add-ons have a dedicated Monetization Guidelines page, but I couldn’t find a similar document for plugins.

Could you please clarify whether Photoshop plugins can include any kind of in-app purchases, feature unlocks, or external payment integrations (for example via Stripe or FastSpring)?

If not, what are the allowed monetization models for paid plugins on Adobe Exchange?

Thank you in advance for your help.
Kane

[Karmalakas]

Don’t take my word for granted, but I believe you can do all of the above now. I’ve seen quite a few plugins, that are free to install, but have in-plugin purchases. IIRC, at the very beginning of UXP, there was some rule that such plugins were’nt allowed on the marketplace, but later it was ditched, because some devs were turning to 3rd party stores

Also to this day Adobe doesn’t provide some normal monetization features without contacting them via email and jumping the hoops just to provide some discounts - all the process is manual as far as I know

Hope someone can confirm this

P. S. make sure to obfuscate a plugin code and add some extra layer of protection, because when installed, plugin code can be easily accessed and altered to bypass any checks you have if there is no some protection. CCX is basically just a ZIP afterall

[kaneschmare]

This information needs to be verified by someone authorized🙏. Also, do you have any suggestions for a protection method?

[Karmalakas]

Check this topic

I'm Shocked! Why Are Plugins Decrypted on Install?

I just realized that UXP plugins are decrypted and installed as plain text on the user’s computer. Seeing the ccx installer file encyrpted was one of my initial motivations to rewrite my old border scripts for the UXP framework. I’ve poured months, literally thousands of hours into developing a feature-rich plugin and now find that all of my code is just sitting there for anyone that buys the plugin to see. I know that it’s not really possible to completely protect scripting languages from bein…

Since then, with some tips from @Jarda, I also have extra hash checks to see if any of the crucial package files have been changed. If so, plugin is fully deleted and replaced with static HTML file, informing about the situation

But that’s a bit of topic, so better to continue on one of the existing or create a new one about protection

[arcusfelis]

You can just put CCX file on your site and have a trial with a serial number.
Paid features are also fine.

Expect some people complaining that app is “free” but not free after all.

Don’t expect Adobe Exchange to bring traffic though.