Adobe's photo editing suite is the most complete in the world, his fame has been earned, and in that we are not going to try to say otherwise. However, many users may have difficulties accessing it for different reasons, both due to the power of our hardware and the cost of the service.
We want to bring you the best alternatives to Lightroom for both PC and mobile devices, with which you can edit photos without limits. So, discover with us which are the best editing applications that can replace Lightroom.
Alternatives to Lightroom for PC
RAW Therapy
We started with an open source application that allows us to edit photography in RAW format in addition to the known and common ones. It allows us to adjust basic parameters and has a simple user interface (DOWNLOAD). Therefore, it is considered one of the most interesting alternatives to Lightroom for PC. To begin with, it should be noted that this application has been developed since 2010 and that it is still an evolution of the DCRAW database, an open source application for these purposes. As an advantage we have to highlight that it is compatible for both Windows and macOS and Linux.
How to install RAW Therapee:
- Enter the website and proceed to download it: http://rawtherapee.com/downloads
- At the top are the different versions depending on your Operating System, choose the one that suits you best
- Download the program and run the installation
- Choose the Spanish language and accept the license agreement
- Check if you want a shortcut on the desktop
- The program has been successfully installed
As a notable advantage, RAW Therapee is capable of editing raw format photography, as well as TIFF or JPEG, so you will not miss practically anything, although in these last two formats it makes a lot of sense to start editing them with RAW Therapee.
luminar
We are facing a powerful photo editor with a fairly well-worked user interface that also has Artificial Intelligence that will carry out a series of interesting automatic retouching. This is compatible with Windows and macOS but as a disadvantage it costs € 89. We are indisputably before a photo editor as an alternative to Lightroom whose special attraction is that it is in theory constantly supported by Artificial Intelligence that will assist us in all the steps that we are going to carry out to improve the photograph in question.
In theory, it will save us time and steps because it will be Artificial Intelligence that will take care of a little of the most routine tasks that we carry out in all our photographs and we can thus focus on what is most important. He also has a number of templates with assistance once again from his Artificial Intelligence that will carry out a series of automatic retouching adjusting to the needs of the photography that we are thinking of treating. This automatic retouching task is carried out in approximately 12 seconds, although it also has its own editing system in case we do not agree with the results that your system has offered us.
DigiKam
We continue with another totally free alternative, it has a somewhat rougher user interface, but it allows us to adjust some basic parameters and even eliminate some noise in the photographs. It is fully compatible and also compatible with Windows, macOS and Linux. As we have said, with DigiKam we find perhaps the most rustic alternative of all those proposed here, And it is that already directly from its web page we find a rather crude design, without a doubt it seems more like the dream of a programmer who wanted to edit some photography.
It is currently in its version 7.2.0 but it is in Beta. However, almost monthly they release some updates. It has a powerful search engine and allows us to create a library with more than 100.000 images. It also allows us to carry out a series of workflows, that is, program some tasks that we always do with our photographs to save ourselves from having to go step by step. Another surprise is that it allows us to edit with metadata, so we can share or receive these XMP files and edit directly with the metadata quickly and efficiently, if you have the necessary knowledge to do so.
Alternatives to Lithroom for mobile
VSCO
This is one of the best-known photo editing applications, VSCO has been with us for a long time and also works as RRSS. By cons it has integrated payments. Its main advantage is undoubtedly the filters, and that is that it has a good list of these pairs that we can "retouch" the photographs without having to do anything at all. As a disadvantage we have to point out that, as often happens in this type of mobile application, it has a huge amount of integrated payments, despite everything. You can download it here: Android / iOS
Snapseed
Another of the best editors that we are going to find, allows even to adjust photographs in RAW format, includes all kinds of filters and settings to remove stains among other things. It is widely known by many users of mobile platforms for its possibilities and the ability it has to make the most of all the capabilities of our mobile phone. Without a doubt, it also seems to me to be another of the main alternatives for mobile phones, yes, it is not nearly as powerful when editing as any other alternative for PC can be, for example. You can download it here: Android/ iOS.
Pixelmator
This time we are talking about an application that only has a version for iOS, but also for macOS. It is undoubtedly from my point of view the best alternative of all to Lightroom because it offers us the ability to edit photos with practically all the capabilities that we can think of. We also have some integrated Artificial Intelligence, many filters, a good range of tools, cloning, small automatic fixes ... All this accompanied by one of the best user interfaces you can imagine, it is generally highly intuitive.