The Most Popular Alternatives to Lightroom
Lightroom is one of many photo editing apps around. Whether you're looking for something that uses more AI technology or has a lower price tag, other options are better for your needs as a photographer.
Here are the most popular other options for Lightroom.
Photoshop
It's no surprise that Photoshop was the most popular alternative, with 22% of photographers picking this as their alternative to Lightroom.
Photoshop is a powerful image manipulation program that can handle many tasks, making Lightroom popular. It's also a destructive image editing program that uses layers, giving it some unique advantages over Lightroom.
Photoshop might be complicated photo catalogs or batch edits, but if you don't need those features, it's easy to see why this app became the best alternative to Lightroom.
These results show how vital image manipulation has become for your average photographer.
Luminar
Luminar comes in at the number two spot with 17% of the vote.
Luminar has embraced using AI-backed technology in editing. It's got one-touch tools for removing and changing the sky, deleting the background, and removing unwanted objects from your images.
That same AI technology makes Luminar incredibly powerful in color correction, cleaning up distortion, and sharpening an image. This app also has one of the lowest learning curves making it about as close to plug-and-play as photo editing can get.
Luminar Neo can be purchased outright, making it a popular Lightroom replacement for those who prefer to avoid another subscription.
Capture One
Capture One is the number three alternative to Lightroom which captured 12% of photographers surveyed.
Capture One also holds the unique distinction of being the number one app that current users of Lightroom said they would switch to if they ever gave up their favorite Adobe app.
It's easy to see why Capture One is so tempting. This app has impressive tethered shooting performance, which can speed up your workflow if you're a studio photographer.
Capture One also has some impressive color-correcting capabilities that rival what you can do with Lightroom on their own. When you add all this with Capture One's dedication to a fast and efficient workflow, you have a killer photo editing app for anyone working in a studio.
Adobe Camera Raw
In a surprise twist, Adobe Camera Raw comes in 4th place, with around 10% of users preferring this app over others.
Adobe Camera Raw is a Photoshop component that allows you to edit RAW photographs in Photoshop. You can no longer download the free-standing version of Adobe Camera Raw, but it comes bundled with some Creative Cloud subscriptions.
How many Adobe Camera Raw fans are holdovers from the heyday of this application? Still, its friendly and efficient interface, combined with its practical tools, make it a simple and easy-to-approach RAW photo editor.