Lightroom is a major player in photo editing software. However, there are plenty of other services all stating their case as to why you should choose them instead. After testing them for over a decade, I’m sharing the best Lightroom alternative for those looking for something different to Adobe’s popular editing tool.
I understand why you may want to dodge Lightroom. As good as it is, it can get rather expensive, especially when you consider there’s no option to purchase a perpetual licence. Some find it also struggles to process certain RAW files, and the general user interface design is a little dull for some.
With that, my selection of Lightroom alternatives ticks the boxes you want. Affordable services you only pay once to use, excellent editing features and modern design. There’s something for all experience levels too. From beginner to enthusiast, serious to pro. Let’s dive in…
How I Test Lightroom Alternatives
I downloaded each of the software below onto my Macbook Air (M1). Some I already use on a regular basis, and the others I ran tests on for a minimum of two weeks. This lets me familiarize myself with the software. It also lets me get the best idea if each software is worth my recommendation, what’s working and what could be improved.
Best Lightroom Alternatives at a Glance
- Luminar Neo – Modern design meets powerful AI tools.
- ON1 Photo RAW – An all-in-one ecosystem with precision editing tools.
- Capture One – Built for professional photographers not willing to compromise.
- PhotoMator – Extensive editing features suited to Mac users and smartphone photographers.
- Polarr – A simple but effective software for those looking for a free option.
TL;DR Luminar Neo is the Best Lightroom Alternative
What I enjoy most about using Luminar Neo is its simplicity. The gorgeous design, combined with the logical layout makes it very easy to use. This, along with the single-click AI tools, totally speeds up my editing process and I can get my images out to the world much quicker.
Some tools, like Upscale and Restoration do seem more of a gimmick than a necessity, but some photographers may have fun using them. Plus, you can bypass them completely and just focus on the other editing tools.
What’s working for me:
- Fast, responsive software
- Sync photos across desktop and mobile
- Accurate AI tools for tedious tasks
- Plenty of cool LUTs and Presets
The best part is I don’t need to keep paying monthly fees. I pay once and it’s mine to use forever.
Purchase Luminar Neo stress-free thanks to a 30-day money back guarantee. Sign up now.
Lightroom Alternatives Compared
| Software | Top Features | Best Price | Who’s It For? | AI Tools | Compatibility |
| Luminar Neo | Auto Object removal, Sky replacement, Relight, Precision adjustments, AI assistant | $159 for a perpetual licence (yours to own forever). | Beginners, Enthusiasts, Content creators. | Yes | macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, ChromeOS |
| ON1 Raw | Noise reduction, accurate enhancements, automated keywords | $49.99 for a perpetual licence (yours to own forever). | Intermediates, Enthusiast. | Yes | macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, |
| Capture One | Laptop tethering, advanced masking tools, Match Look | $329 for a perpetual licence (yours to own forever). | Professionals | Yes | macOS, Windows, iOS, iPadOS |
| PhotoMator | Apple Photos integration, denoise tool, magical removal tool, selective color editing | $34.99 per year ($2.91 per month). | Enthusiasts | Yes | macOS, iOS, iPadOS |
| Polarr | Filters, color toning, LUTs, presets | $47.99 per year ($3.99 per month). | Beginners, basic users | No | macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Web |
Luminar Neo: The Best Lightroom Alternative in 2026
A lot has changed since my first Luminar Neo review, with the company adding several new features to the platform. Many of them revolve around AI functionality such as auto enhancements, upscaling tools to improve image quality and an AI assistant that takes your written instructions and then makes the edits for you.
If AI isn’t for you, the photo editing app has all the regular features you would want to control your edits. Exposure, contrast, curve tools et al are all available for you to fine tune your images. Color toning tools, plus presets and LUTs, are all packed into the software for those who enjoy being creative with their edits.
Luminar Neo: My Real World Experience
As someone who embraces certain elements of AI, I’m always excited to try new features that can make editing workflows faster and easier. The AI assistant was impressive. It was able to take my instructions and present three edits that match my request. This is ideal for those who don’t like messing around with sliders and prefer to type what they need.
When it comes to design, the desktop app is beautiful. The vibrant, color-coded sections makes it an easy platform to navigate, and I must say the app ran very smoothly, even on my five year old laptop. I did notice image transfer could be a bit slow at times, but nowhere near slow enough to use a different software.
The file management tools are basic, but functional. I can give images a star rating and then filter them in order of their rating. For quick access to my favorite images, I simply had to select the heart symbol.
In my recent testing, I also noticed excellent improvements to the removal tool. It was hit and miss in the past but it now removes selected objects with great accuracy, and for this I tip my hat to Luminar Neo.
How Much Does Luminar Neo Cost?
Luminar Neo has three pricing options, with each giving different access to apps and creative assets. Considering you only need to pay once for the software, it’s easily one of the most cost-effective Lightroom alternatives.
- Perpetual Desktop License – $119 (macOS & Windows)
- Cross-device Perpetual License – $159 (Desktop + mobile apps)
- Perpetual Max License – $179 (Desktop, mobile apps + creative library with extra presets, LUTs, and editing features)
ON1 Raw: Best Lightroom Alternative Ecosystem
ON1 RAW is Lightroom meets Photoshop but with a heavy dose of its own identity. You can work with layers and masks which may make it a Lightroom and Photoshop alternative for some users. Presets, sky replacement, standard global adjustments, subject and background selection are also baked into the app.
What’s great about ON1 is the number of native integrations you can add to your ecosystem. There are integrations dedicated to editing portraits, removing noise, creating HDR images and automated resizing of images. There’s also keyword AI integration which automatically adds keywords to images so you can find them easily in the app.
ON1 PhotoRaw: My Real World Experience
ON1 Photo Raw had a little steeper learning curve than the other tools I tested. Thankfully, they have a step by step guide that shows you exactly where features live, what they do and how you can use them effectively.
Though the design is a little muted in comparison to others, it certainly has grown on me. It feels like it’s made for the serious photo editor who wants functionality over pretty appearance.
When making standard adjustments, I must say I love how responsive the sliders are. Changes are very subtle with slight movement and it makes it easier to refine adjustments exactly the way you want them.
I welcome the number of presets available. There’s plenty of variety and it will no doubt appease those who want quick, single quick edits. The sky replacement tool was also cool and a fun way to be more experimental with the final frames.
How Much Does ON1 Raw Cost?
The platform has two payment options: a perpetual licence or an annual subscription. With the former you get to own a copy of the current software forever. For the latter you’ll get yearly updates, as long as you keep paying your subscription.
- Perpetual Desktop License: $49.99 (to use on two computers).
- Annual Subscription: $79.99 (use on three computers, 200GB of cloud storage, all future upgrades).
Capture One: Best Lightroom Alternative for Professionals
With features such as live tethering, accurate color editing and detailed file management, Capture One is certainly targeting professional photographers. It comes with powerful RAW processing for a range of camera models and gives you all the adjustment tools a pro would need to get the most from their images.
One cool (and useful) feature is the “Match Look” tool. Drop any image into this feature and Capture One analyses the tone and feel then applies it to the image you’re editing. There’s a new slider tool for skin editing that lets you refine blemishes, dark spots and texture with the need of masking.
Capture One doesn’t go heavy on AI, which I’m certain pros will like. It’s got everything one needs for complete control and is suited for portrait, editorial and commercial photographers.
Capture One: My Real World Experience
I must say Capture One’s layout is best-in-class. Although very much for professionals, the detail of the design makes it suitable for all experience levels. I like how we can collapse individual sections and only have open the tools and features we need. This makes navigation much more straightforward.
The software is very responsive. Large RAW files loaded in no time and I experienced zero lag or freezing when zooming in on images, or flicking from one photo to the next. Nor was there a delay in adjustments with changes happening in real time (poorer software can sometimes take seconds to apply changes).
I do have one or two issues with the layout. Tools like clarity, dehaze and vignetting all live in separate sections on their own. I think putting these in a single section will simplify and condense the layout, which would be an improvement in my opinion.
How Much Does Capture One Cost?
Capture One does offer a perpetual licence, but monthly and annual subscriptions are available. It’s the most costly option in this selection of the best Lightroom alternatives, but again, it’s mainly targeting professional users.
- Pro (Desktop only): Yearly: $204 ($17 per month) Monthly: $26
- All-in-one (mobile and desktop): Yearly: $279 ($23.25 per month) Monthly: $36
- Studio: Yearly: $549 ($45.75 per month) Monthly: $59
- Perpetual Licence: $329
PhotoMator: Best Lightroom Alternative for Mac
After a purchase in 2025, PhotoMator is now Apple’s own advanced photo editing tool. You can use it to edit RAW files from your camera or – as I prefer – to edit images directly from your iPhone.
On top of the basic editing functions it also has some more advanced features. You can select skies, subjects and backgrounds, plus use brush and gradient tools. This makes it much more advanced than Apple’s standard Photos editing app. There’s also a magic removal tool, which functions the same as you’d find on Luminar Neo and Lightroom.
There are plenty of presets and LUTs to choose from, and you can manipulate color tones, hues and saturation for more creative control.
PhotoMator: My Real World Experience
I really want to like PhotoMator. I find the design gorgeous and it plays into Apple’s design language perfectly. It has pretty much all the tools I look for to make edits, and the removal tools, denoise tools and auto enhance all work extremely well.
The problem is, however, it lags. I’d sometimes had to come in and out of editing a photo for changes to be visible, and loading new images was considerably slower than other software.
It syncs perfectly with my Photos app, which is why I prefer using it to edit my iPhone photography. I don’t need to transfer files and they’re there ready for me to edit. Edits also reflect instantly in the Photos app, and there’s an option to export them to a folder on my Mac which is convenient.
For 90% of photographers, there’s little you’ll miss when using PhotoMator (it lacks more pro tools like lens correction, Chromatic Aberration removal and advanced file management). However, it needs to improve those performance issues – which don’t always happen – if it wants to compete with the very best photo editing apps.
How Much Does PhotoMator Cost?
PhotoMator is certainly a cheap photo editing software. It’s a yearly subscription, meaning there’s no lifetime ownership or monthly options.
- Yearly: $34.99
Related: Best Photo Editing Software for Mac
Polarr: Best Free Lightroom Alternative
In my early days of photography, when finances were thin, I turned to Polarr to edit my photos. It has a completely free option which lets you make very light adjustments through presets, exposure, contrast, highlights and shadows. The color toning tool is also available on the free version, as are the cropping and vignette options.
Polarr can do more. RAW support is available, as are clarity, sharpening, HSL and curve tools. These are only active on the paid version, however, as are LUTs and spot removal. Free or paid, Polarr is very basic and perhaps best suited for beginners.
Polarr: My Real World Experience
Polarr’s limited feature set is somewhat of a blessing. It makes it very easy to grasp and jumping from one feature to the next takes little brain power. It’s not the easiest eye design, but it’s not bad either and performance is smooth.
There’s nothing in the form of file management. What you upload stays in the order you uploaded each image, and useful tools like favoriting and staring images are certainly missed. Again this isn’t for power users or those looking for anything remotely advanced.
The adjustment tools work well and while changes are not as granular and accurate as more pro-level options, they do just fine for your basic edit. When using Polarr, I tend to use the presets more than anything, they’re cool, have a vintage look and seldom need tweaking in the adjustments bar.
How Much Does Polarr Cost?
The paid version of Polarr (Pro) is very cheap, and if you want those extra tools, you can get them without breaking the bank. Remember the standard version is totally free to use forever.
- Polarr Pro: Yearly: $47.99 ($3.99 per month) Monthly: $7.99
Related: Best Photo Editing Software for Beginners
How to Choose Your Lightroom Alternative
There is no perfect “one size fits all” editor. The right choice depends on how you shoot, how you like to work, and what you value most when editing. Before committing, think about what matters to you in real-world use, not just on a features list.
- Define your use case: Consider how you shoot and edit. Are you mainly working on quick social edits, client projects, hobby images or high volume workflows. Knowing your intention helps narrow your options instantly.
- Look for a balance of basic and advanced tools: Make sure you get reliable essentials like exposure, color and selective adjustments, while still having access to deeper controls when you need them. This balance keeps things simple without limiting creativity.
- Consider AI features as workflow boosters: Modern AI tools can significantly speed up repetitive edits like masking, object removal, sky selection and relighting. Think of AI as a way to work smarter, reduce time behind the screen and stay focused on the creative part.
- Be honest about usability: A beautiful interface and logical layout make a big difference. If a tool feels intuitive and enjoyable to use, you are far more likely to actually stick with it and get better results.
- Check long term cost: Subscription vs lifetime licence matters. Look closely at what you pay, what you actually get in return and how often you realistically upgrade your software. Value is not only price, it is how much you get out of it.
All of the services I recommend have either a free trial or money back guarantee. I recommend giving them a test drive before making a long-term commitment.
Signing Off
Finding the right Lightroom alternative comes down to how you edit, what features genuinely help you and how much you want to pay in the long run.
All of the options above are a good idea, but after years of testing and using different platforms, the standout choice for most photographers remains Luminar Neo. It blends usability, creative control and powerful AI tools better than anything else, while letting you own the software outright.
Sign up today and start editing with something you will actually enjoy using.
More reading: Luminar Neo vs Lightroom: Honest Comparison Before You Decide
Updated 24th December 2025: I have rewritten this article to reflect a new round of software testing and current editorial formats.
