Sick of paying monthly?! BEST Lightroom alternatives 2025
Recently in the news there’s been controversy over Adobe Lightroom’s upcoming price increase…
I’m not happy with it, as a long term Lightroom and Photoshop user, and while I can justify this added costs as part of my business, I’m sure it’ll price out a lot of hobbyists. Plus, some people just like owning things outright… which I totallly agree with by the way!
So, let’s examine some Lightroom alternatives, and if it’s worth the change for you. I’ve got 3 alternatives that are entirely free. Zero cost, nada, nothing. And then 3 alternatives which are perhaps a bit more feature rich and have a one-off fee then you own it forever. No monthly or annual subscription.
Right up front, I am going to say… as annoyed as I am… I am Team Adobe Lightroom, and this blog post most definitely isn’t sponsored by any of the photo editing companies I mention, as I’m going to be very critical. However, I do have some discount codes that you can use if you fancy.
3 Totally Free Options
These first options are forever and community sourced, so yay it’s always free, but also… they’re not always the most user friendly.
Darktable — Windows and Mac
Free, and free forever, as it’s open source and community owned. You can import LUTs/presets (like mine for example! Wink wink) however, as a long-term Lightroom user it felt quite overwhelming and very different to what I’m used to.
I will say it is very feature-rich, and there are plenty of tutorials to be found on YouTube.
There is a library function, similar to Lightroom, and ways to organise and rank your images, which is nice!
RAW therapee — Windows and Mac, Linux
This is quite similar to Darktable but a bit more user friendly to my eyes. My first impression is it is designed a bit more intuitively, and if you’re coming from Lightroom specifically you may be able to hit the ground running a bit faster here.
You can use LUTs as custom presets (yay!)
Even though it’s better in my experience, it still is not the most user friendly. With both of these first options you’re probably going to need to have some patience until you learn the ropes.
You can catalogue your images.
There are lots of features like noise reduction and spot healing.
OM Workspace - Windows and Mac
The third free option is only for Olympus slash OM System camera owners I’m afraid, so skip ahead if this isn’t for you, but if you have one of these cameras it’s pretty cool.
OM Workspace is entirely free, you just need a camera serial number to download it. There is a basic develop panel which will look very familiar to you, and even some more advanced features like Ai noise reduction, which is really bloody good to my eyes!
Please note: it’s a little bit sluggish on my system, with tweaks taking a second or so to come into effect, and there is no way to add any presets or luts to photos, except playing around with the in-camera Olympus filters.
You can rate and catelogue your images, and for actual FREE I think this is a great little bit of software to be honest, and my favourite of these three free ones… IF you have the right camera of course.
That being said, you can get a much better experience in my opinion if you’re willing to pay a bit to own the software forever. Let’s move on to the options that will suit the most people!
One-off payment options!
This is as it says on the tin: one payment, and you own a version of the software forever. It may not update to any new versions without paying for the upgrade, but in theory, you own it and that’s all the money you’ll ever have to pay.
In third slash last place….
Capture One PRO — Windows and Mac
Back in the day there was a free version specifically for Fujifilm and Sony raw files, called Capture One Express… however the company have binned that option off entirely and gone with a… you guessed it…! A subscription model! Boooooo.
There is still a one-off payment option, but it’s eye-wateringly priced unless you find it on offer. The standard price is £299.
Capture One Pro will work with all camera raw files, not just Fujifilm, and it has some professional tools for studio work, like snap to eye mode so you can check in real-time that your image is pin sharp if you’re shooting tethered to your computer.
So this could be the right solution for some people, but for strictly photo editing it seems quite average, if a bit niche.
For example, if you’re a Fujifilm shooter you can create recipes in the editing software then transfer them to your camera. But it seems quite a hefty price if it’s just the raw editing side you’re looking for.
Luminar Neo — Windows and Mac
This is a lifetime licence for around £99, and I have a discount code back from when I reviewed their software back in 2017(!) So you can use code NERDS for some money off. Anyway…
Luminar software has been known to be a bit processor heavy in the past, but since an update last year things have been much more streamlined. However, it is overall a bit more sluggish compared to Lightroom.
but in terms of user-friendliness I think it’s fantastic! I think you can hit the ground running really quickly with Luminar, and it is very feature rich for the price.
You can add LUTs as presets (like mine! plug plug plug honestly they’re really very nice lol)
The Ai features are a mixed bag, to be honest. Some are very gimicky, and some are really decent. I actually regularly use Luminar alongside Lightroom as a plugin for the mist enhancing feature it has, which is called Glow, and it gives you the Orton Effect. It’s fab!
Luminar has loads of great things going for it and now they’re sorted out the speed of the software I think it’s definitely a contender.
Check it out here and remember code NERDS for a Luminar Neo discount.
But finally, my favourite pick as an Adobe Lightroom alternative for 2025…. Drumroll…
ON1 Photo RAW — Windows and Mac
Honestly, I would really really struggle without Lightroom, I just know it inside out, it works great for massive projects like weddings or timelapses… it’s just wonderful. If I absolutely had to… HAD to... Like, you were holding my dog hostage. If I HAD to switch to any other software, I would choose ON1 Photo RAW.
This software is a little hidden gem, I think! At first glance, it is so close to Lightroom I might go so far as to call it a rip-off. But at this price-point? I’m not complaining!
This is a very affordable one-off buy, if you can find it on offer… and it is very often on offer. It usually hovers around £60. If, by some miracle, you find it NOT on offer, you can use code EMILY20 for a discount on ON1 Photo RAW.
ON1 (pronounced, apparently, as “on one” lol) is an American company, and they seem really on the ball with providing tools and tutorials to teach new users, which is a really great thing if you ask me.
The sliders seem very similar to Lightroom and the interface is modern and snappy. It felt lighter on my machine compared to Luminar.
There’s even some Photoshop-style features like Ai generated canvas expanding, so if you only lightly use Photoshop, then this could be a solution for both in one.
You can add LUTs as presets, and they organise in folders really neatly — much neater than Luminar — so if you use presets in Lightroom this is going to be the closest alternative.
It also has the Orton Effect glow, and quite a few similar features to Luminar, as well as some photoshop style things… as well as just being quite logical and intuitive.
You can get a really generous 30 day trial with all features unlocked, so you’ve nothing to lose in giving this a try. You can check it out here and use code EMILY20 if you happen to see it on the one day a year where it isn’t on offer.
Conclusion
So those are my Lightroom alternative picks for 2025. For me, I’m still Team Lightroom, even though I’m mad that they’ve upped the price. The noise reduction is the best, the workflow is what I’m used to, and there is more versatility in a Lightroom preset versus a LUT.
But… if you’d prefer to ditch the monthly or yearly subscriptions, then you can’t go far wrong with any of these picks mentioned. The alternatives have really come on so much in recent years and it feels like much less of a compromise.
You can watch the video here if you’d like to see more features in action!