How to download Dreamweaver for free or with Adobe Creative Cloud
Do you want to download Dreamweaver? In our guide, we show you how you can do this for free, as part of a free trial, or as part of an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription.
Introduced in 1997 by Macromedia, which was then acquired by Adobe in 2005, Dreamweaver is a web development tool that creative professionals have been using to build websites for decades.
We’re being brutally honest: we don’t think it’s the best web design software you can get today (see our list of the best web design software for more options). However, once you’re used to the way he works, you might prefer to stick with what you know. Or maybe you have a colleague who knows about it and is willing to teach you.
Additionally, if you’re interested in subscribing to Creative Cloud for other tools like Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, After Effects or Premiere Pro, it won’t cost you anything extra to download Dreamweaver and try it out on size. (Surprised by the cost of a Creative Cloud subscription? Check out our guide to the latest Adobe discounts). Also, check out our Adobe software list to see what programs you might be missing.
Read on as we explain how much Dreamweaver costs, how to get it for free, how to download and install Dreamweaver, and more.
Can you download Dreamweaver for free?
Yes, you can download Adobe Dreamweaver for free in the form of a free trial. So you have seven days to try it out and see if it’s right for you.
A free trial is the only way to download Dreamweaver for free without breaking the law. Yes, you might find a website that offers a completely free download of Dreamweaver. But let’s face it, it probably contains a virus or some other nasty way of ruining your life. It’s just not worth the risk.
To try Dreamweaver for free, you’ll need to create an Adobe ID if you don’t already have one. This is easy to do and free. Just go to the Adobe account page (opens in new tab), click Create Account and follow the steps. Once you have generated your ID, go to this Adobe page (opens in new tab)click on “Free Trial” (next to the blue “Buy Now” button above) and follow the instructions.
You will be asked to enter your credit card details, but as long as you cancel in time you will not be charged. However, if you decide to continue the subscription (or simply forget to cancel) after the trial period is over, the payments will be deducted from your card.
How much does Dreamweaver cost?
The cheapest way to buy Dreamweaver is on the single app plan, which at the time of writing costs $20.99 / £19.97 / AU$29.99 per month for an annual plan. This includes 100GB of cloud storage, as well as access to Adobe Portfolio, Adobe Fonts, and Adobe Spark.
An alternative method is to purchase Dreamweaver through the Creative Cloud All Apps option. This gives you access to Adobe’s entire collection of creative desktop and mobile apps, including Dreamweaver. (If you’re not sure which Creative Cloud apps you might find useful, check out our Adobe software list). This normally costs $54.99 / £51.98 / AU$79.99 per month on an annual plan.
Dreamweaver discount for teachers and students
If you’re a student or teacher, you can buy Dreamweaver as part of a discounted all-apps plan with a savings of about 60% the first year. Right now you get the entire Creative Cloud suite of apps along with 100GB of cloud storage, Adobe Portfolio, Adobe Fonts and Adobe Spark for just $19.99 / £16.24 / AU$21.99 per month for the first year and thereafter for $29.99 / £25.28 / AU$43.99 the following year. Note that the student and teacher discount is only available on an All Apps plan.
How do I download and install Dreamweaver?
If you’re installing Dreamweaver for the first time or on a new computer, all you have to do is sign up for a free trial or subscription. Then go to Adobe’s Download Dreamweaver (opens in new tab) page and follow the on-screen instructions to download and install the software. When you install a Creative Cloud app for the first time, the Creative Cloud desktop app is installed at the same time.
What is Dreamweaver?
Dreamweaver is software for PC and Mac that allows you to create websites. When it was first released, it was widely appreciated for saving you much of the repetition of hand-coding. Instead, you could just use drag and drop to create a website quickly and easily.
However, about a decade ago, it started to fall out of favor in the web designer community. Many argued that the output pages were full of bloated, buggy, and inelegant code. Adobe responded by making the software more code-centric, and these days it’s recommended that you have some understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to use it.
In many ways, though, that means it offers the worst of both worlds. It’s not easy to use if you don’t understand the code at all; In this case, we recommend one of the best website builder platforms like Wix or Squarespace. But if you know some code and want to build working websites, there are better web design tools to focus on, from UX tools like Figma to frameworks like React; At least that’s what other professional web designers will tell you.
So, overall, is Dreamweaver a reputable web design tool? Ultimately, as a way to learn code and improve your knowledge, it has a lot to offer. Do you like the idea of starting with a template, then tweaking the code and seeing the difference it makes to your site in real time in a separate part of the screen? If the answer to that is yes, that’s reason enough to try Dreamweaver on size. And the built-in code hints and good documentation will help you too.
Is Dreamweaver included with all Creative Cloud apps?
Yes, Dreamweaver is included with a subscription to all Creative Cloud apps. You can also subscribe to Dreamweaver as a standalone app. For a complete list of all Creative Cloud apps, visit our Adobe software list.
Where do you buy Dreamweaver?
You can only buy Dreamweaver directly from Adobe as part of a Creative Cloud subscription that you pay for monthly or annually. There are two broad options. The first and cheapest option is to only subscribe to Dreamweaver. The second option is to take out an all-apps subscription. The latter will cost you more, but gives you access to all Creative Cloud apps, among other benefits.
If these costs seem too high to you, keep in mind that Adobe often runs special promotions. We track the best in our Creative Cloud discounts guide. There are also discounts for students and teachers (see below), as well as separate prices for companies, schools and universities.
How do you create websites with Dreamweaver?
How do you get started after downloading Dreamweaver? Well, if you’re not familiar with how Dreamweaver works, you’ll need a little training as it’s not much like other web design software. The best place to start is with Adobe’s selection of Dreamweaver tutorials (opens in new tab)which shows you the user interface and guides you through the basic concepts and techniques before guiding you through specific projects.
Alternatives to Dreamweaver
If you don’t know anything about coding, it’s easier than Dreamweaver to use one of the best website builder platforms like Wix, Weebly and Squarespace. These make it super easy to create a website using drag-and-drop; Just select a template, add your content and you’re almost done.
The downside of this approach is that you have to pay for the service and you don’t have much control over the look and feel of your website. You have more flexibility with WordPress.org, free, open-source software that’s used to build about a quarter of the websites in existence today. On the other hand, although you don’t have to learn the code itself, it requires quite a learning curve.
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