Subscriptions absolutely benefit cash strapped freelancers. Rather than having to outright pay several hundreds or a thousand dollars up front on software, they

Subscriptions absolutely benefit cash strapped freelancers. Rather than having to outright pay several hundreds or a thousand dollars up front on software, they can get by for 10s of dollars a month. As long as they are getting any sort of work, they can easily offset the cost of the software. But nobody is forcing you to use Adobe products. Buy the Affinity tools or use GIMP if you like.