Lightroom is one of the best photo editing software applications I have tested. However, it is also subscription-only, meaning you will never stop paying for it. Fortunately, there are some extremely capable alternatives to Lightroom that can be bought outright for a one-time payment. Jump to Conclusion
Best Alternatives to Lightroom
ACDSee Professional 2025
ACDSee Professional and Lightroom have many similarities. Regarding photo management, both feature advanced features such as Face Recognition, AI Keyword Tagging, and the means to import photos from your smartphone.
Regarding photo editing, Lightroom has better presets, erase tools, and noise reduction. Yet, I prefer ACDSee’s AI upscaling, AI masking, and raw editing mode. Unlike Lightroom, you can even use Professional to add text and graphics to your images, but if graphics design is a priority, ACDSee Ultimate and Photoshop are better choices.
But, the critical difference is that you can buy ACDSee Professional outright for a one-time payment of US$99.95. Thus, compared to Lightroom’s $11.99 a month, ACSee Professional is an absolute bargain.
However, the dynamic changes if you’re interested in the Cloud. While ACDSee offers ACDSee 365, a cloud subscription service, I consider Lightroom’s cloud functionality superior and better value overall in terms of included storage. But, if you don’t care about the cloud and want a highly capable photo studio that you can own outright, ACDSee Professional is tough to beat.
Read ACDSee Professional Review for more information.
ON1 Photo Raw 2025
Like Lightroom, ON1 Photo Raw is an all-in-one photo management and editing studio. However, Photo Raw falls short in photo management. Specifically, it lacks Face Recognition, and its AI Keyword tagging is less predictable than ACDSee’s and Lightroom’s.
However, ON1 Photo Raw is more capable than both in photo editing. Its outstanding Effects layers enable you to stack and blend multiple adjustments and styles – something non-layer-based tools such as Lightroom cannot do. Moreover, Photo Raw is loaded with added value, such as NoNoise AI, one of the best noise reduction applications I’ve tested. Photo Raw includes an excellent portrait enhancement tool, a decent sky replacement feature, and ON1 Resize AI – an AI upscaler comparable to Lightroom’s super-resolution.
Unfortunately, ON1 Photo Raw can be pretty hard on newcomers. Its text-heavy interface takes some time to get used to, and its workflow differs from Lightroom-style alternatives. However, these are short-term obstacles to Photo Raw’s huge feature set and potential.
Despite its vast feature set, you can own ON1 Photo Raw outright for a one-time payment of US$100, making it substantially cheaper than a one-year Lightroom subscription. Therefore, if you’re willing to climb its initially steep learning curve and tolerate its photo management shortcomings, ON1 Photo Raw is well worth a look.
Read my ON1 Photo Raw Review for more information.
Luninar Neo
Luminar Neo differs from Lightroom in that it is effects-orientated. So, unlike most photo editing applications that require you to craft your effect using traditional adjustments such as tone curves and white balance, Luminar Neo is packed with tools such as Sky Enhance AI, Golden Hour Glow, and Foliage Enhancer. As a result, Luminar Neo is the best photo editing application for beginners.
Yet, it would be a mistake to confuse Luminar Neo’s accessibility with simplicity. After all, Luminar Neo still includes a traditional feature set and layer-based editing. Moreover, Neo augments these familiar features with AI-powered super effects such as Portrait Bokeh AI, Sky Replacement, and Relight AI, which are as helpful to experts as they are to beginners.
Photo management in Luminar Neo has also improved. The Luminar Share app allows you to trade images between your smartphone and computer, and a new intelligent search enables you to browse your photos by the elements and objects that appear in them. Unfortunately, you cannot tag your images with keywords, and there is no face recognition. Furthermore, Luminar’s Noiseless AI is a vastly inferior alternative to Lightroom’s AI Denoise noise reduction tool.
Overall, Luminar Neo is a vastly capable photo editing application with many unique features you won’t find elsewhere. Therefore, unlike ACDSee and ON1 Photo Raw, you should consider Luminar Neo one of the best Lightroom alternatives rather than a like-for-like subscription-free substitute.
Read my Luminar Neo Review for more information
DxO PhotoLab 8
Regarding photo management, DxO Photolab is vastly inferior to Lightroom because it lacks photo management altogether. However, DxO Photolab 8 is a superior photo editing tool, thanks mainly to two features, Optics Modules and DeepPRIME.
Each time you load a new image, DxO PhotoLab will download an optics module that profiles the characteristics and flaws specific to your camera-lens combination. This enables Photolab to apply highly-targetted and bespoke corrections and enhancements to your photo, resulting in outstanding and effortless image quality the moment you open your image. Then there is DeepPRIME, the best AI-powered noise reduction application I have tested.
Moreover, Photolab’s well-presented, customizable, and very responsive interface is jammed with all the adjustments you could hope for. However, while DxO Photolab features some contemporary editing tools, such as DxO Smartlight, ClearView, and a novel masking feature, it does fall short of Lightroom when it comes to AI Masking and Erasing.
Overall, DxO Photolab lacks the photo management feature set to serve as an all-around Lightroom substitute. However, Photolab is a superior subscription-free alternative to Lightroom when it comes to photo editing.
Read my DxO PhotoLab Review for more information
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Conclusion
There is no need to endure a subscription to enjoy a Lightroom-esque photo management and editing experience. For instance, ACDSee Professional is very similar yet costs far less. On the other hand, ON1 Photo Raw, Luminar Neo, and DxO PhotoLab are superior to Lightroom in some respects and inferior in others. Therefore, for best results, you should measure each against your priorities.
However, it is also clear that none of these alternatives offer exactly what Lightroom does. Lightroom’s unmatched integration with the cloud makes it unique, enabling you to access and share your images across many devices. Thus, whether Lightroom is for you depends on how vital its cloud-powered benefits are to you.
If the cloud is redundant to you, the never-ending cost of Lightroom is a bitter pill to swallow. Fortunately, it is a pill you needn’t swallow at all.
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