[mst]

I don't know about the windows side, but on the Mac, there are definitely alternatives. For editing, there is Affinity, as well as Pixelmator. Both work great.

Things are difficult when it comes to media libraries, though. However, C1 now has media lib functions, too. And you get a great raw converter on top.

Personally, I don't like software subscription too much, but if you want (or have to) use photoshop, then their photographer bundle, which is 9.95 EUR per month for PS CC and LR (both versions), is pretty great, IMO. Since there are a few things in PS I don't want to live without (like content aware image scaling), I happily pay those 10 bucks per month (even though I don't even use LR).

Compared to what I invested in the past in PS (initial investment and updates), it has not become more expensive for me.

However: I could have saved some money in the past by simply not upgrading, by just resisting the pressure created by Adobe's marketing or simply the gut feeling of not being up to date: the last time I checked (on Sierra, I think), CS 5.5 still worked. As does Aperture, still (on High Sierra). I'm also still happy with Office 2011 for Mac... which MS didn't even bother to test on High Sierra anymore