Adobe Express folds AI features into a design app. ImageLabs is a dedicated AI photo toolkit at a fraction of the price.
Adobe Express is Adobe's lightweight design app, bundling templates, basic editing, and some Firefly-powered AI features like background removal and generative fill. The free plan is generous for design work, but premium AI features and higher-resolution exports typically require Adobe Express Premium, priced around $9.99/month as of writing.
ImageLabs skips the design-template layer entirely and focuses on AI photo tools: generation, retouching, restoration, background removal, 4K upscaling, and generative fill, all with full-resolution output on every plan including free. If you don't need Adobe's design ecosystem, you're not paying for it.
Free tier: ImageLabs — 10 credits/day; Adobe Express — Limited AI features.
Starting paid price: ImageLabs — $5/mo (100 credits); Adobe Express — ~$9.99/mo.
Full-resolution export: ImageLabs — All plans; Adobe Express — Premium only.
Generative fill: ImageLabs — yes; Adobe Express — yes.
Background removal: ImageLabs — yes; Adobe Express — yes.
Photo restoration: ImageLabs — yes; Adobe Express — no.
4K upscaling: ImageLabs — yes; Adobe Express — no.
Vectorize (SVG): ImageLabs — yes; Adobe Express — no.
Design templates: ImageLabs — no; Adobe Express — yes.
Adobe Express makes sense if you're already producing social graphics or flyers and want AI as a bonus feature. If AI-driven photo editing — not design — is the actual task, ImageLabs' $5/month Lite plan is cheaper than Express Premium and includes tools like photo restoration and vectorizing that Express doesn't offer.