Adobe products are the industry standard for photographers all around the world. But what about alternatives to Adobe Lightroom? Firstly, are there any that can hold water to this organising and editing masterpiece, and secondly, if so, what are they?

For those of you who haven’t tried Lightroom yet, it makes processing your RAW and jpeg images a breeze. It is very user-friendly, holds all your images in its own library and meets most of your editing needs. So here are the 10bestalternatives to lightroom you should check.

Adobe Lightroom

Let’s look at what makes Lightroom great. Right off the bat, Lightroom is a RAW converter. It will take your RAW images from your camera and let you see them all immediately.

Why is this a bonus? Well, most computer users will know that previewing RAW images on your desktop is almost impossible. Lightroom lets you see all your images in one handy area. This is great for quickly previewing and culling.

Not only can you edit your images in every way you can imagine (exposure, highlights, shadows), Lightroom also lets you play with HSL (Hue, Saturation, Luminance) in all areas of your image. If using curves is more your thing (like Photoshop), then Lightroom has those too.

Don’t forget to be impressed by the Presence area, which lets you sharpen your images, or add more detail for that retro look.

One of the biggest and most helpful areas in Lightroom is the masking tool. Here, you can single out areas of your image for more selective editing.

If you just want to focus on the background, this is what you should use. Select areas with this tool, and then tweak your image using the editing sliders.

Lightroom has a fantastic amount of things you can do (HDR rendering, panoramas, lens distortion) which we can go into completely here. If you would like to know more, please read our complete guide to Lightroom here.
For a comparison on Lightroom Vs. Photoshop, this is is the article for you.

Lightroom Vs. RawTherapee

RawTherapee is a high end, open source editing tool that serves as a Lightroom alternative. It has a similar workflow, such as allowing processed images to be sent to other programs for further editing.

It is also non-destructive, meaning the users can retrieve the original file at the click of a button. It is a RAW processor, just like Lightroom. It allows you to see your images immediately, not after clicking through each individually.

What this program falls short in, however, is that it won’t sort your images into folders for you. You need to do it manually or find another way. Once there, you can apply colours and ratings to separate as you wish.

Fujifilm camera users like using this program as their RAW files can be challenging to work with. RawTherapee works well in this area, building a strong network of enthusiasts and followers.

Its interface is like Lightroom, yet it will give you a learning curve to follow. Once you put the time in, you will be rewarded well. The best thing about this program is it’s a free Lightroom alternative and available for Windows, OSX and Linux here.

Lightroom Vs. Capture One

Capture One is a program by camera company Phase One. They do things differently, but very professional. If there was one program to use as a direct Lightroom alternative, then Capture One would be it.

It isn’t cheap, but then, neither was Lightroom before the subscription concept. It is an impressive tool and offers a huge feature set, meaning there isn’t much at all that you cant do here.

One huge benefit to Capture One is the ability to import Lightroom catalogs. This is great if you feel some of your selected catalogs need a different idea of tweaking. Also, if you get sick of Lightroom, your time and energy setting up the catalogs are not wasted.

Lightroom is simple and easy to use. Capture One presents your editing tools in a visually appealing manner, which are extensive as they are impressive.

This is a pro editing software tool, not for the faint-hearted. Most users won’t use the full capacity of option available and might find it overkill.

I myself found it a little difficult to navigate as I am very used to Adobe programs, but I easily forget I had the same issue in the beginning with Lightroom. Swapping editing programs will come with a learning curve, as is to be expected.it is available for Windows and Mac, with a free trial available (before you splash out big time) here.