Best Adobe Lightroom Alternative in 2024 

As we know, Adobe Lightroom is the Leading app in the market of photo editing software. Several newbie and progressive photographers are questing for alternative opportunities to encounter their editing requirements. Maybe it’s due to the increasing price of Adobe’s subscription plan or simply a fancy change. There are numerous amazing alternatives for Adobe Lightroom in 2024.

In this article, we will discuss the prime alternatives for Adobe Lightroom latest version 2024 that provide a wide range of hallmarks and abilities to improve your photography skills.

Keep in mind the following factors while selecting an alternative to Lightroom.

Capture One is considered one of the prime alternatives to Adobe Lightroom. Recognized for its accurate color control, powerful RAW file handling abilities, and comprehensive editing tools. Capture One also provides stunning and remarkable image qualities. Due to its vigorous organization and easy-to-use interface, Capture One attracts professional photographers looking for a powerful editing resolution.

Brand	Capture One
Operating System	Windows, MacOS,iPad
Purchase or subscription	Both available
Optimal for	Collective work and active professional with massive workload

Following are the major perks of Capture one.

Capture One is famous for its excellent color-grading tools. It offers accurate control over color offset, hue, and saturation. This frames it as an exemplary pick for graphic designers who work far and wide with color adjustments and grading.

Capture one stands out in editing RAW files, generating high-quality images by accurately controlling exposure, color, and details. Capture One is best-loved for state-of-the-art photographers who are looking for premium image quality.

Operators frequently admire Capture One for its excellent speed and performance, especially when processing large RAW files. Capture One is enhanced to render productive processing and editing abilities.

Capture One provides:

Capture One provides enhanced adjustment tools, such as brushes, masks, and layers, providing accurate command over desired areas of images during editing.

The following are the drawbacks of Capture One.

Capture One has a steeper learning curve as compared to other photo editing apps like Lightroom and Photoshop. It’s a deep challenge for newbies to clutch all the features and tools without professional training.

Capture One is comparatively costly; its subscription model is not budget-friendly for some users and can be higher in price than other competitors.

Capture One is only available on iPad, it misses the mobile environment and elasticity of Lightroom mobile Apps.

To fully put to use Capture One’s abilities, users may require a healthy computer device with satisfactory means, which can be a restriction for those with out-of-date or less competent hardware.

Raw Therapee is an open-source photo editing app that provides robust and amazing editing tools and a wide wand of supported file formats. Its non-harmful editing flow of work, enhanced and well-improved tools, cross-platform abilities, and budget-friendly cost make it an excellent pick among Lightroom alternatives

Brand	Raw Therapee
Operating System	Windows, MacOS,Linux
Purchase or subscription	Free at all
Optimal for	Robust and accurate RAW images Editings

Following are the basic and important perks of Raw Therapee.

One of the most outstanding perks of the Raw Therapee is that it is completely free and open-source. This makes it a premium pick for photographers who prefer not to use paid editing software.

Raw Therapee provides a broad spectrum of enhanced tools involving numerous tone functions and noise-reducing and sharpening options. It offers a comprehensive command over the manipulation of raw files.

RawTherapee provides a non-harmful photo editing workflow, letting photographers modify their raw images without changing the original images. This is vital for keeping prime image quality.

RawTherapee has HDR(High Dynamic Range) processing abilities, letting users integrate several exposures to design images with an extensive dynamic range. This feature can be especially useful in ambitious lighting circumstances.

Keep in mind while, using Raw-Therapee you might have to face the following drawbaks.

RawTherapee has a steeper learning curve as compared to Lightroom, particularly for newbies. Its comprehensive and complex set of features and customization options may overcome some users.

Although Raw-Therapee improved his user interface design year by year, it might still be reviewed as less user-friendly and inherent than the Lightroom interface, which is aimed at providing the general public.

RawTherapee mainly concentrates on raw image processing and lacks asset management abilities. On the other hand, Lightroom provides powerful and amazing asset management features for arranging and grouping photos.

Darktable is an open-source photo editing app that offers a broad range of enhanced editing and well-organized features. Due to its non-harmful editing techniques and extensive RAW file support, Darktable is perfect for Linux users.

Brand	Darktable
Operating System	Windows, MacOS,Linux
Purchase or subscription	Free and open source
Optimal for	For budget-conscious photographers and for those who love to use open source.

Following are the major advantages of Darktable.

Darktable provides a broad range of extensive editing tools, like color adjustments, lens adjustments, exposure adjustments, and noise reduction. These tools provide comprehensive command over your photos.

Darktable is an open-source software, and it’s absolutely free to download and use. This is a considerable advantage for photographers who love robust photo editing abilities without any subscription charges.

Darktable provides amazing presets and fabulous styles that can rationalize your photo editing process and fulfill a uniform look over your images.

Keep in mind the following disadvantages of Darktable.

Darktable performance can be a serious problem, particularly when editing Large image libraries and albums or implementing resource-comprehensive modifications. Photographers with out-of-date hardware may face a longer processing time.

The export file format options of Darktable are not as flexible as Lightroom’s, especially in terms of exporting to various file formats and resolutions.

Darktable mainly works on Desktop versions as compared to Lightroom, which provides mobile versions for editing photos and videos. This can be a restriction for photographers who love mobile version editing software.

Snapseed was released by Nik Software for iPad only back in 2011. Later on, Google introduced it to Androids also. Now, it is handy for both Androids and iOS users, just like Lightroom. But no one can use Snapseed on a Desktop or Windows, unlike Lightroom, which is easily accessible on all platforms.

The most exceptional fact about Snapseed is that it is absolutely free to use. It is easier to handle and utilize than Lightroom and is somehow recommended for newbies. Let’s dive deep into the metaphor of Lightroom and Snapseed. If you want to learn more about Lightroom and Snapseed click over here.

Brand	Snapseed
Operating System	Windows(via an emulator), iOS, and Androids
Purchase or subscription	Totally free to use
Optimal for	For budget-conscious photographers and for those who love to use free mobile photo editing app

Here are advantages of Snapseed listed below.

Snapseed is absolutely free to download and use, providing such a useful and amazing advantage for budget-friendly photographers.

Snapseed is famous for its perceptive and easy-to-use interface, making it approachable even for those who are newbies to photography and have no editing skills.

Snapseed doesn’t have a Desktop version only supported by mobile apps. This might be a restriction for those photographers who love editing on a large screen or want to utilize more robust editing abilities.

Raw file editing can be done with the help of Snapseed, but it may not provide the equal standard of control and consistency as committed Desktop photo editing software like Lightroom.

Enhanced layering and masking are vital for complicated photo editing work and compositing. Unfortunately, Snapseed does not provide these tools and features.

Luminar has earned a reputation for its AI-controlled editing tools that clarify complicated editing tasks. Even if you want to improve paintings or repair images, luminar’s smart presets and sliders make the workflow swift and simple. Luminar provides an affordable alternative for photographers for excellent editing with its reasonable price model.

Luminar is famous for its AI-controlled editing tools, which can swiftly improve photos with auto modifications, making it easy to use for newbies.

Luminar provides a majestic sky-switching feature, letting photographers swiftly and quickly switch or modify skies in the photography.

Luminar provides a user-friendly interface with perceptive commands, making it approachable for new photographers.

Just like Lightroom, Luminar backs non-harmful editing, ensuring that original images or details stay untouched and un-modified.

Luminar AI-controlled editing tools may not offer the same standard of command and accuracy as Lightroom, which is a huge drawback for experienced and professional-grade photographers.

Luminar’s organizational tools and features are not as extensive as Lghtroom’s, which is a drawback for those photographers who need enhanced indexing and arrangements.

Adobe Lightroom has some others alternatives like Photoshop and Alight Motion MOD APK. Here is a complete guide of Difference between Lightroom and Photoshop

Affinity Photo is a robust editing software and a main competitor of Adobe Photoshop in terms of effectiveness. It provides a broad range of state-of-the-art editing tools, such as advanced mending, layer support, and RAW editing abilities. Affinity Photo’s budget-friendly subscription model and accessibility on macOS and Windows make it an amazing selection for photographers questing for a powerful alternative to Lightroom.

As it is available for both Windows and Macs, Affinity Photo provides flexibility for photographers on various platforms.

Affinity Photo provides professional-grade photo editing capacity, making it a robust replacement for Adobe Photoshop for progressive photographers.

Affinity photo backs RAW file editing, offering photographers command over unrefined camera files.

Affinity Photo is not free and needs only a one-time purchase or subscription. But it’s budget-friendly as compared to Adobe Software, which may discourage users from tracking no-cost alternatives.

Affinity Photo is Mainly a Desktop application and does not support mobile versions; it can be a limiting factor for new photo editing.

Affinity Photo’s enhanced features can be complicated, forcing a steeper learning curve, which may not be user-friendly for newbies.

For macOS or iOS users, APPLE Photos is an integral photo arrangement and editing software that offers a primary operative editing toolset. Although it may not provide the same standard of enhanced features as other editing apps, Apple Photos is a suitable pick for newbies or those who love an easy workflow with an Apple environment.

Apple Photos is famous for its easy-to-use interface, making it approachable to photographers of all sorts, including those who are new to photo editing.

By using iCloud Photo Library, photographers can quickly and easily synchronize their photos over Apple devices.

Apple Photos Provides a wide range of basic editing tool sets for swift modifications, making it preferable for common or simple photographers.

Although Apple Photos is excellent for common edits, it lacks the advanced and enhanced editing abilities and accuracy tools set up in professional-grade software like Lightroom.

Apple Photos mainly provides edits within the Apple biome, which can reduce its benefits for those who utilize various platforms or choose cross-platform abilities.

My preference is quiet Adobe Lightroom due to its enhanced and professional-grade tool sets and user-friendly workflow. Despite that, if you are in search of a free Lightroom alternative, you should be attached to RawTherapee or Darktable. If you desire common and easy editing on your mobile, you should be attached to Snapseed or Apple Photos. And, if you are questing for a more enhanced and improved Lightroom alternative, you should be attached to Capture One.