With so many editing / post-processing software packages on the market today, photographers might find it rather difficult to go through them all and compare key features in order to pick something that would ultimately work for their needs. Many of us go through that stage, especially when starting out. What is the best software for photo editing? What features does it have? Is it easy to learn and how much does it cost? These are just some of the questions photographers seek answers for. We decided to put together a detailed table that compares the most popular non-destructive editing tools on the market today.
X-T20 + XC16-50mmF3.5-5.6 OIS II @ 16.7mm, ISO 200, 1/6, f/8.0
We picked the following six software packages that offer non-destructive editing based on their popularity among photographers:
- Adobe Lightroom Classic CC
- Capture One Pro
- ACDSee Photo Studio
- On1 Photo RAW
- DxO PhotoLab
- Luminar
We recognize that there are many more out there, but we cannot include them all, since such research would take a lot more time and the chart would get massive, making it hard to read. If you disagree with our choices and would like to see other non-destructive software included, please let us know in the comments section below (note that destructive software editing tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Elements, Affinity Photo, PaintShop Pro and GIMP should not be in this list). To come up with all the data below, we had to install every software package on a single machine and run them all for some time, going through and testing out the features. It was a pretty exhausting task to say the least! Below is the software comparison table:
| Feature | Lightroom Classic | Capture One Pro | ACDSee PS | On1 Photo RAW | DxO PhotoLab | Luminar |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Subjective opinion based on personal experience of the author 2HDR Merge Tool in ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2020 is extremely poor / unusable 3Aurora HDR Tool must be purchased separately | ||||||
| Operating Systems | Win/Mac | Win/Mac | Win/Mac | Win/Mac | Win/Mac | Win/Mac |
| Database Catalog | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Import Tool | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| File Management | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Color Management | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| RAW File Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fuji X-Trans RAW Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Tethered Shooting | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| GUI Customization | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| 4K+ / Retina Screen Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Dual Monitor Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| GPU Acceleration | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Lens Corrections | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Basic RAW File Editing (Crop, Exposure, WB, etc) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Templates / Presets | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Selective Sharpening | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Selective Noise Reduction | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Advanced Color Adjustments | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
| Distortion, CA and Vignetting Corrections | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Perspective Correction | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Merge to HDR | Yes | No | Yes2 | Yes | No | No3 |
| Merge to Panorama | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| Photoshop / Lightroom Integration | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Brushes / Masking | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Layers | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Luminosity Masking | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Spot / Dust Removal | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Haze Removal | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Focus Stacking | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| Insert New Objects | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Sky Replacement | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Annotations | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Multi-Batch Export | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Stability1 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 4/5 | 3/5 |
| Speed / Performance1 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 5/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| Learning Curve | Medium | Difficult | Medium | Medium | Easy | Medium |
| Update Frequency | 5/5 | 4/5 | 3/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 |
| Training Availability | 5/5 | 4/5 | 2/5 | 3/5 | 2/5 | 3/5 |
| Retail Price (MSRP) | N/A | $299 | $149 | $50 | $199 | $89 |
| Cloud Subscription Price | $10/mo (+PS) | $24/mo | $69/yr (+extras) | $60/yr (+extras) | N/A | N/A |
| Device Activation Limit | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 |
Please note that we did not list every possible feature and slider offered by each individual software package, as it would make the above chart unreadable. Instead, we decided to focus on the key / most important features and include additional data for consideration, such as Stability, Performance, Learning Curve and Update Frequency. Some of this data such as Stability and Learning Curve is rather subjective – it is based on my experience running the software, which might differ from other people’s experiences. So if you disagree, please let us know in the comments section below!
Based on the above chart, it is pretty clear that most modern image editing tools tightly compete with each other. If just a few years back Lightroom and Capture One were in the lead, other software such as On1 Photo RAW and Lumunar caught up with a lot of the features, including Digital Asset Management (DAM) for the proper file management.
Personally, I primarily use Lightroom Classic CC for my editing needs, but every once in a while, I fire up Capture One Pro to do some editing. While some of the features that Capture One Pro offers are light years ahead of Lightroom (advanced color adjustments, layers, masking, tethering, etc), its file management features / DAM are rather weak, and it is not an easy tool to get used to. In addition, it has no capabilities to merge HDRs and Panoramas, which is the strength of Lightroom when compared to everything else out there.
ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate is great for those who are starting out, and its extensive list of features is impressive. However, ACDsee is quite buggy, has very annoying notifications that cannot be easily turned off, and its license limit of 1 is very limiting for those who own more than one machine. I used to rely on ACDSee for viewing images before, but it has gotten slower over time, and ever since I started using FastRawViewer for image culling, I see no need for it anymore.
DxO PhotoLab feels a bit out of place here, since it is designed to be more of a plugin for Lightroom and not its direct competitor. However, considering how well its lens corrections tools work, it is certainly worth having a look at. Since purchasing Nik Software, DxO added the U Point technology into PhotoLab, which works amazingly well for quick and easy adjustments. Best of all, it is very easy to use, and its default rendering of RAW images is excellent. The biggest issue with DxO PhotoLab for me personally, and the reason why I stopped using it, is the lack of Fuji X-Trans RAW support. I personally use Fuji X-series cameras a lot, and find it unacceptable that DxO is continuing to refuse to add support for Fuji X-Trans.
On1 Photo RAW and Luminar have evolved quite a bit in the past few years, going from a very limited feature-set to a full-blown solution that competes head-to-head with Lightroom and Capture One. I must admit, I have limited experience with both of these tools when compared to Lightroom and Capture One, so I am planning to spend a bit more time with them to see which one I like better. So far, Luminar looks a bit more attractive to me due to its versatility and easy to use interface, but On1 also has its strengths (the image resize / enlargement tool is excellent). I found both to be a bit sluggish and occasionally buggy though, which is unfortunate.
What software do you use for post-processing and what do you like / dislike about it? Please let me know in the comments section below!
Since the demise of Apple’s Aperture I just use Apple Photos. Since I rarely make prints anymore and I want to remember what I saw and not what I can create this is more than enough for almost everything. Everyone’s photography goals and interests are different but over time I have gotten much less willing to sit at a computer for hours making major changes to my photos with a complex piece of software. Now I am much more accepting of what the camera produces. If it’s no good I can try again to make the photo closer to what I see.
I know people can do some amazing things with post processing software but I wonder at what point this ceases to be photography and drifts into graphic design or another field.
Have you tried RAW Power by one of the developers of Aperture? It’s $10, integrates with photos OR stands alone, and is probably only 4-5 features behind these apps while being insanely fast, lightweight, ios + mac, and doing file management without import/ingestion.
As many people here I am struggling finding a simple solution for my workflow. I tried most of the apps here, I am finding impossible to use just one of them for complete solution.
As I was using Aperture (still the best imho) I am using Lightroom for my real estate photos and native Photos app on MAC.
I am in Apple ecosystem. Lightroom is terribly slow, but with features which makes it overall best solution for DAM and editing big catalogs of photos.
Recently I started using Lightroom CC for it’s lightweight and streamlined interface and mostly because of cloud management. I’m also using all Affinity products which are great and fast.
I am using 2TB plan of iCloud storage and have about 100 000 photos in Apple Photos library, so doubling my cloud with Lightroom made me think of if I needed at all.
I found RAW Power made by lead developer of Aperture and lately Photos, the app is so great, It uses one of the best RAW processor – Apple’s built in RAW decoder, fully integrates in Apple ecosystem and utilise the cloud storage & sync, the only think I missed now is straightening tools like in Lightroom and HDR merge.
Apple Photos is not so bad for assets management, if you get to used to it. Now everyone is following their approach for all in cloud photos library.
I strongly believe that this project deserve much more press attention than it receives now. There is so little information on the web, I would be very grateful if someone post comprehensive review here.
Actually, RAW Power was around 40$ (OS X version, don’t know about iOS).
Lately I repeatedly experienced a couple of succesful searches in old and dead and abandoned (damn you, Tim Cook!) Aperture. Usually I find pictures I took 10 years ago in less than a minute.
Capture One? Searching pictures is a nightmare. Not even a full text search for album names, very restricted selecting criteria for intelligent folders, the simple “show in project/album” context menu is missing… I do not use keywords, they are time consuming and opposite of simple and user friendly – I tried, it’s just not my cup of tea.
I see myself not willing to update to version 20 (=13) and also in the process of checking for other DAMs. I’m afraid, Phase One will go the Adobe path to put more effort in marketing than actually working on the still very poor DAM part.
RAW Power is now on version 3 and things are looking good. Would I miss C1? Yes, the layers for sure. Else? RAW Power can look into folders and into Photos library. The editing tools are surprisingly complex, but easy to use (when used to Aperture and C1). I’m just not sure if Gentlemen Coders (the programmers of RAW Power) can make enough turnaround in the longterm – 40$ compared to 300 for a new C1 version (without rebates).
Using Nikon and Fuji and sometimes even Canon, the special Nikon edition is pointless for me.
It’s crazy: 4 years after Aperture still nothing on the DAM-horizon for people not wanting to dive (or die) in Adobe’s ecosystem. Affinity was another disappointment in this aspect (in others I really enjoy using it).
And a word to the chart: I’m sure it was a lot of effort to set it up, but I guess it’s very difficult to evaluate the ergonomics and ease of use. Some Apps have features just to be on the feature list and check marking it, but the quality of the outcome and the smoothness of using it in daily photolife differs widely.
For Linux users the best options are:
1. Darktable (Linux/OS X)
2. Rawtherapee (Linux/OS X/Windows)
3. Aftershot Pro (Linux/OS X/Windows)
4. Digikam (Linux/OS X/Windows)
5. Photivo (Linux/OS X/Windows)
6. Lightzone (Linux/OS X/Windows)
No 1 to 3 are the most advanced and powerful editors. Great filters, masks, plugins and so on. Unfortunately, quite poor photo management – for this Digikam is the best.
After ten years of Lightroom, I started to use Darktable 3.0 since one month, mainly because I can use it on the Ubuntu of my work PC, but I can say that I am very happy with it. As Nikon users the only missing thing is the support for lens corrections of some Nikon lenses.
You forget about Affinity Photo! They also have a full featured iPad app.
I use Affinity Photo. It’s a great tool and fair priced. Only thing missing is photo management (high demand in the used forum) and mass exporting. I use LR 6 to browse through my photos and to manage them (rating etc). Also when shooting less important shoots like holiday and my daughters handball games I prefer LR. It’s the fastest way to a decent series of photos.
I find it odd that you would limit DXo as a “plug-in to Lightroom”. While it can be, Lightroom can also be a plug-in to it and it certainly operates as a stand-a-lone viable alternative to LR. It is also worth noting that based on my experience it creates a reasonable white balance for infrared photography which LR cannot do.
Thanks Nasim. Good review. I own 5 out of the 6 programs :( – not ACDSee – have not updated LR since ver 6 per-subscription and don’t use LR anymore except for my wife’s compact cameras. Like Nasim, I have not used Luminar and On-1 much. I bought On-1 because I have used their utilities before, and I bought Luminar because I thought it would be easy for my wife (a novice) to use. I am a bit put off my what I see as gimmicky promotions – eg sky replacements.
I mainly us Capture One (C1) and DxO along with Photoshop CS6. I have two camera systems. Nikon and Micro Four Thirds (M43). I find that DxO deals well with noise and the small sensor size of M43 cameras, and I have now dedicated DxO for that purpose. The file management is a draw-back, but it does allow you now to have projects, which helps a bit. DxO is a powerful program, and since I’m not a Fuji user, I don’t have any problems with it. C1 is also a very powerful beast, and once you know it you won’t look back much. They have announced a new mystery upgrade for later this month, which unfortunately won’t address all of the red blocks in the table.
It’s not really a mystery – C1 released a 1/2 hour video on May 5 explaining the main features of the update (which is free btw) – you can find it on their YouTube channel>
For me it the quality of the raw conversion and color rendition are always number one above all other bells and wistles. I have been using and testing (quit obsessive) most raw converters. Before I converted from dslr to the Nikon Z6 Capture1 was my choice athough the colors from Nikon’s own software were always better (but too slow to use). I think with the z series Lightroom CC has improved a lot and is nowadays my primary choice. I use sometimes On1 for some specific possibilities but don’t like the colors rendition. I think Exposure is a very promising converter and sometimes Acdsee gives me results I don’t get with other programs thanks to their unique Light equaliser. I think it is all very camera dependend. For an other camera even of the same brand the results can be very different. Using custom color settings helps a lot but nowadays I get with Lightroom the best results in the easiest way.
I have used Capture One Pro for my Nikon raw files for the last 3 years. I found that the functionality and output quality is of very high order, in all areas except color. Like you I found the Nikon software gives better, more-faithful color. However the new Capture One Pro 20 and Capture One For Nikon now allow the user to select current Nikon Picture Control settings. This has improved the color of my Nikon Z50 images no end and in my view is the greatest improvement in this software for Nikon files that I have seen in the last 3 years. Capture One also has some of the best quality editing tools around and is adding more functionality at an accelerating rate.
Since I started taking photography more seriosly, I’ve been using DxO. While it hurts that it doesn’t have the array of utilities that LR has, it’s Noise Reduction is quite amazing, turning trash photos into usable ones. For anyone who uses cropped sensors, low budget cameras or just takes a lot of low-light photographies, that single feature is a must.
Still it is quite hard to chose an editor. Most of them are good/great, but none of them is excellent, which makes photo editing a seriously expensive activity, if you want the best of the best, as you’ll have to use a couple of different softwares. Hopefully, there’s someone outhere that will make a really complete photo editing (non-destructive) software!!
Anyone still using Nikon 1 gear like me should try DxO. The PRIME NR is fantastic for those files. Caused me to switch from LR.
On1 is worth the price just for the masking tools.
I’m puzzled that you still don’t include Exposure X5 in this list. Strange that it always gets overlooked, it is a very strong competitor.