ACD Systems Reviews

The program sounds great on paper and I've been through different versions over the years. But my 2025 copy is hands down the slowest software running on my machine. I've tried every performance tip I could find online and nothing works. Just opening the editor takes 6 seconds. I'm done buying from them.

Worst service imaginable. My software quit working and I got zero assistance. I paid for something I can't even use and they clearly don't care one bit.

I grabbed ACDSee Ultimate 2025 in May as an alternative to Adobe Photoshop and now I'm pretty sure those 65 dollars went down the drain. The program crashed a week ago and the support team responds incredibly slowly, basically not working at all on weekends. My photo editing is on hold while I'm working on a personal project. Back when I was a working photographer, I used Photoshop for many years and it never had these kinds of problems. Looking back, I probably should've just paid Adobe and stuck with what actually works.

I picked up the 2025 ultimate photo studio based on a promise that if version 2026 launched within a couple months, I'd get a free upgrade. They backed out of that deal and I didn't save a copy of the offer. Be cautious if you do business with this company or skip them altogether.

We've used ACDSee Pro on and off since 2008 and uninstalled it a couple months ago. The licensing approach is outrageous. We bought a 2023 license and within 7 months it had serious problems. SVG files weren't being read correctly, viewer mode was broken, and basically the whole thing was unusable. We contacted support and got a response saying they had no idea why ACDSee couldn't handle SVG files when every web browser could. A new 2024 version got released but we haven't received a single update in 7 months, just constant offers to buy the newer version. The license should be good for a full year and include new releases during that period. Instead you get flooded with sales emails pushing you to buy upgrades. Release a new version one month after someone buys, and they either pay again or shell out for an upgrade fee.

Terrible experience overall. These people don't understand what customer service means. I've sent several emails with questions but received zero responses. Make sure you really think it through before purchasing anything from this company.

I was subscribed to an annual license but forgot about it, so I accidentally bought another year of Ultimate 2024 thinking I was upgrading. A month passes and Ultimate 2025 drops. When I checked my account I realized my yearly subscription was about to renew anyway, so I requested a refund on my 2024 purchase since my auto-renewal was just days away and would've given me 2025. Their answer was no refund. Apparently I'd missed the window by a few days. Instead they tried being generous by offering me a recurring Ultimate 2025 license for the exact same price I'd paid a month and a half earlier for 2024. That's a ripoff. I'm putting this out there so others know to steer clear. I switched over to PIXLR for my photo work instead.

They bombard your inbox with spam emails. When you try to unsubscribe they just start hitting you with different spam campaigns instead. Don't ever give them your email address if you can help it.

Got this mainly to manage my photo collection but it doesn't work well for that purpose. It doesn't support most of the file formats I use like Affinity. Right after I bought Ultimate 2024 they launched 2025 and wanted me to pay again. Watch out for this business practice. They do have a subscription option that might be cheaper than constantly buying upgrade licenses. They won't get another dollar from me.

All of a sudden it stopped displaying photos that matched the thumbnail. The directory it says it can't locate is actually right there. Really frustrating.