SoftOrbits is an image editing software development company created in 2006 by Eugene Ustinenkov. Created as a small startup that focused on delivering downloadable single-feature utilities, it is nowadays one of the niche-leading companies boasting over 300,000 users and a million yearly downloads. 

Recently, SoftOrbits has made massive changes to both its distribution model and the philosophy behind its products. Nowadays, the company relies on a hybrid approach, providing both downloadable and online versions of its tools, and also introducing more AI features as time goes on. The result of these changes is evident — the company experiences stable growth in both downloads and the active user base, and it plans to continue doing so. 

“The market is changing rapidly, and every company that aims to stay relevant has to adjust to these changes. Online access is an absolute must for most editing tools nowadays because it provides unparalleled convenience and there is simply no way around it — if your product doesn’t allow for it, it will be quickly replaced. The same goes for AI functionalities — there is simply nothing more convenient than prompt-based editing and natural language recognition, and it will inevitably change the way users operate with editing tools,” says Eugene Ustinenkov, CEO of SoftOrbits and AlarmFront. 

When it comes to online solutions, this year SoftOrbits has released web versions of 10 of its most popular tools, all of which were received well and increased not just the company’s active user base, but also the downloads for the PC versions of the utilities.

“This success and increase in downloads are a huge reason behind our hybrid approach. We don’t want to go fully online because this will inevitably limit user choice and make the tools only available if you have internet access. We want our products to be as accessible as possible, and having two separate versions of the same tool enables us to achieve it. Considering how these different versions also rely on different monetization strategies, every user can find what suits them best, and that’s what matters to us most of all,” says Eugene Ustinenkov, CEO of SoftOrbits with over 10 years of software development experience.

SoftOrbits’ AI implementation strategy is also unique and focuses on addressing the most common pain points of photographers and artists’ pain points instead of delivering fully generative solutions. Considering how often AI-generated images get criticized from multiple directions, SoftOrbits’ approach seems to be a safe and rational choice that enables the team to appeal to its target audience better.

“AI’s generative capabilities are impressive, but they are also far from perfect. We don’t feel like the technology is good enough to sell it to our audience at the moment. Not only that, lots of artists see AI-generated images as a way to replace not just their work, but human creativity in general, and that is obviously going to cause backlash. We chose a different strategy and only used AI tools to deal with boring and technical tasks that involve little to no artistic expression, and that resonated with our customers. All SoftOrbits does is enable you to spend more time on actually exciting parts of your work — the tedious aspects of it are fully automated,” says Eugene Ustinenkov, CEO of SoftOrbits, Candidate of Technical Sciences.

Right now the team is happy with the company’s growth, so it aims to continue following the same direction, focusing on expanding its pool of both web-based utilities and new AI functionalities.    

“This model seems to be perfect for everything SoftOrbits strives to provide: accessibility, convenience, reliability, and functionality. We highly appreciate our users’ trust in our services and will continue to provide high-quality products that adhere to modern standards for years to come,” says Hannes Jansen, writer and editor at SoftOrbits.