Searching for some of the best Adobe Lightroom alternatives? Consider me your frugal guide looking to steer you toward the cheaper side of RAW photo editing. With Adobe solely offering an annual plan for the majority of its products, many are looking for alternatives that offer the same amount of creativity and features without breaking the bank. While some options below still offer subscriptions, all of them offer one-time licensing purchases or even free alternatives.
1. Nitro Photo
For anyone looking for a one-stop-shop for photo editing and management, Nitro Photo can be a fantastic, cheaper alternative to Adobe Lightroom. Nitro provides powerful integration within macOS, including superb and uniquely powerful control over Apple’s RAW decoder. One area where Nitro Photo really shines is that unlike Adobe Lightroom, this app utilizes the Apple Photo library and iCloud services rather than going the proprietary route. If you prefer to manage your images in the Finder, Nitro can also work with the file system, storing data in XMP sidecars. You can rate and flag images, and hierarchical manual and automatic keywording was just added with support for multiple languages.
Incredibly easy to use and faster than a dragster, Nitro offers a collection of editing tools, including sixteen professional adjustments such as Tone, Crop, Curves and Split Toning, White Balance and so many more. Quick fixes and AI tools help cut down on your editing times, and Presets along with Copy/Paste functions make workloads a breeze. There’s also Nitro for iPhone and iPad for anyone looking to edit on the go. Nitro also includes powerful masking tools, including AI generated masks and edge aware brushing.
Nitro Photo offers a level of camera support not found in other similarly-priced apps, and flexible storage options give you ultimate control over your photos. Whether you’re a blossoming photographer or a hardened professional, you’ll find something within Nitro Photo to help make your photography stand out. Even better, the company provides a free 7-day trial without the need for signing up for anything, so you can experience everything for yourself before you buy. All purchases include Nitro for macOS, iPhone and iPad.
2. Affinity Photo 2: Image Editor
If you’re the type that works with extremely large images, then Affinity Photo 2 may be just what you’re looking for. This app is great for opening, editing and saving Photoshop PSD files along with your standard images formats such as PNG, JPG, PDF and more.
With a recently redesigned Layers Panel, Affinity Photo includes smart layers that allow for the ultimate level of experimentation and design. Additionally, those that love to tinker can have access to unlimited layers, layer groups, filters layers and masks.
Capable of opening RAW images within a 16-bit development workspace, the available tools allow for making adjustments like clarity, vibrance, white balance and more incredibly straightforward. An advanced brush engine gives you support for graphic tablets while including a massive library of drawing, painting and texture brushes. You also gain access to a collection of customizable effects, such as distortions, blurs, shadows, glows and more.
Though no subscription service is available for Affinity, there is a trial option if you want to do some sample editing before you purchase lifetime access for $69.99.
3. darktable
Of course I’m going to throw an open-source option into this list, and darktable is an excellent option for those that need a RAW developer and photography workflow application that works across multiple operating systems. This open-source app prides itself on the fact that darktable implements non-destructive editing, meaning you never modify your original image throughout your workflow.
Along with being able to work with a large swath of image formats, including JPEG, RAG, PFM, HDR and more, OpenCL support provides GPU accelerated image processing, meaning your workflow is incredibly snappy. Offering professional color manage and a user interface with zero-latency, support for Lua also means you can automate certain tasks.
While this program is free, there may be a steep learning curve, meaning darktable may be difficult for beginners. However, offering support for Windows, Linux, macOS and more, this one can be great for those that need to handle multiple workstations. There’s also a good amount of resources alongside an active community should you find yourself getting lost.
4. Luminar Neo
Luminar Neo is a great choice if you’re looking to expand your RAW photo editing with the power of generative AI. Featuring three different generative tools including the ability to erase objects, expand backgrounds and even replace specific elements within a photo, Luminar Neo is a good choice for even novice photographers.
Along with expansive AI tools, Luminar Neo also includes several portrait and landscape tools. This includes capabilities such as changing studio lighting effects, removing skin imperfections and even the ability to emulate the lighting one would experience at dawn and dusk. Luminar also provides tools to help you with your workflow, including creating presets, working with layers and more.
Capable of working with RAW images from over a thousand different camera types, Luminar does provide a 7-day trial, and there’s options for monthly subscriptions or even a lifetime purchase.
5. ON1 Photo Raw
For my last pick of this list, I’m going with ON1 Photo RAW. Having options is never a bad thing, and one cool thing about this company is that it not only offers its own standalone photo editor, but also offers a variety of its tools as plugins you can integrate into other photo editors. This includes, ON1 NoNoise AI, ON1 Effects and ON1 Resize All, which comes as a package option thanks to Photo Raw MAX.
Built for photographers by photographers in Portland, OR, ON1 offers support for RAW files from over 800 cameras and works with all of the file formats you would typically expect. One feature I really like about this program is that it offers the ability to edit and browse photos within a network or local drive without having to import anything. This alone can make things rather seamless.
Along with including AI options, ON1 also offers the ability to combine multiple photos (including RAW) into a layer stack while giving you non-destructive control over the whole thing. The company offers a thirty-day free trial for Photo RAW 2025.2, while also providing a thirty-day money-back guarantee, meaning you have absolutely nothing to lose.