As much as photographers love Adobe Lightroom for its smooth RAW workflow, many of us were caught completely off-guard by Adobe’s surprise announcement at the end of 2018.

Instead of simply updating Lightroom CC to a new 2018 release alongside all the other Creative Cloud apps, Adobe launched a completely revamped version of Lightroom CC focused on the cloud and mobile devices. 

The old desktop-based Lightroom CC we have come to know and love is now known as Lightroom Classic but retains all of its existing features while gaining a few new ones.

Adobe has confused a lot of people by switching around the names, and there doesn’t even seem to be a good reason why they didn’t release the new Lightroom CC under a different brand name – but it’s far too late to change it now.

Now that our surprise has passed and Lightroom CC has taken the training wheels off, I’ve given it another look to see if it’s finally ready to take over from Lightroom Classic.

But if you’re looking to escape the Adobe Creative Cloud ecosystem entirely, we’ve also got a list of great Lightroom alternatives from other developers.

7 Best Lightroom Alternatives

One of Lightroom Classic’s most appealing aspects is that it combines excellent library management and editing tools in a single streamlined package, and there aren’t many alternatives that provide this complete workflow.

If you’re not convinced that Lightroom CC is for you and you’re worried that Adobe may eventually abandon Lightroom Classic, here are a few of the other RAW workflow editors that we’ve reviewed here that are worth exploring.

1. Luminar Neo

Shown with the ‘Professional’ workspace enabled

Luminar Neo is one of the newer entries to the world of RAW editing is Luminar by Skylum. It’s still making waves by combining some powerful tools and clever automated adjustments in a user-friendly package. Of course, professional editors don’t usually want to let the computer decide what to adjust, but there are some times when it can be handy for more basic tweaks.

You don’t need to rely on their AI, thanks to the excellent adjustment tools found in Luminar – but you may have to dig a little to uncover them. The default interface places a heavy emphasis on filters and presets, but you can change to a more capable set of tools by switching your workspace to the ‘Professional’ or ‘Essentials’ option.

2. Capture One Pro

If you want the absolute best in terms of RAW rendering quality and editing capabilities, Capture One Pro is widely regarded as the best available on the market. Originally developed for Phase One’s high-end cameras and eventually adapted to handle all RAW formats, CaptureOne is aimed specifically at the professional market. It’s not intended for amateur or casual users, and it does not go out of its way to cater to these markets, so don’t expect social media sharing options or step-by-step wizards.

There are excellent tutorials available, and if you take the time to learn it properly you’ll be rewarded with the very best in RAW image editing. Capture One Pro is available from PhaseOne starting at $179 USD as a perpetual license purchase, or for a recurring subscription from $13 per month, as long as you have one of their supported cameras.

3. DxO PhotoLab

If you want excellent RAW editing power with a more user-friendly approach, DxO PhotoLab has a great series of quick automatic adjustments that can dramatically speed up your editing process. DxO is a renowned lens tester, and they use all the data they have acquired to identify your camera and lens combination and instantly correct for the full range of optical aberrations that can occur.

Combine this with solid RAW exposure editing tools and an industry-leading noise reduction algorithm, and you’ve got a great Lightroom replacement. The only drawback is that its library management tools are a new addition, and aren’t quite as robust as what you’re used to in Lightroom.

DxO PhotoLab is available for Windows and Mac in two editions: the Essential Edition, or the ELITE edition.

4. Serif Affinity Photo

Affinity Photo is the first photo editing program from Serif, and it’s been eagerly anticipated by photographers as a Photoshop replacement. It’s still fairly new, but it already has some excellent RAW editing features that rival what you can do in Lightroom and Photoshop in a single program. It claims to be extremely optimized for working with large RAW files, but I found that even 10-megapixel RAW files had some performance issues.

The real selling point for Affinity Photo is how affordable it is. It’s available for Windows and Mac in a perpetual license edition at a one-time purchase price of $49.99 USD, and Serif has promised free feature updates for all users until version 2.0 is released. Read our full review of Serif Affinity Photo here.

5. Corel Aftershot Pro

If you’ve ever chafed at slow performance in Lightroom, you will be happy to know that Corel’s RAW editor has made a specific point of highlighting how much faster it is.

It remains to be seen how Aftershot Pro will compete with the new performance updates found in Lightroom Classic, but it’s definitely worth a look. It also has some of the best library management tools of any of the alternatives on this list, and it doesn’t force you to work with imported catalogs if you don’t want to.

Corel Aftershot Pro is available for Windows and Mac at a one-time purchase of $79.99, although it is currently on sale (and has been for some time) at a 30% discount, bringing the cost down to a reasonable $54.99.

6. On1 Photo RAW

Despite its lackluster name, On1 Photo RAW is also an excellent Lightroom alternative. It offers solid library management and excellent editing tools, although it could definitely use some optimization on the performance side of things.

The interface is a bit difficult to use, but it’s still worth a look if you’re in the market for an all-in-one RAW workflow package. On1 is going to be releasing the new version shortly, so hopefully, they have addressed some of the issues that I had when I reviewed the previous version of the software.

On1 Photo RAW is available for Windows and Mac at a cost of $119.99 USD, although it is only compatible with 64-bit versions of both operating systems.

7. Adobe Photoshop & Bridge

This workflow requires two different programs, but since they’re both parts of the Adobe Creative Cloud they play quite nicely together. Adobe Bridge is a digital asset management program, essentially a catalog of all of your media.

It doesn’t have quite the same degree of flagging flexibility as Lightroom Classic or CC, but it does have the benefit of stability and universality. If you’re a subscriber to the full Creative Cloud and use a number of the apps regularly, Bridge allows you to maintain a single catalog of your media no matter where you want to use it.

Once you’re done flagging and tagging and you’re ready for editing, you can simply edit images in Photoshop using Camera Raw. One great aspect of using Camera RAW is that it uses the same RAW conversion engine as Lightroom, so you won’t have to redo any edits that you’ve made previously.

The Bridge/Photoshop combo isn’t as elegant as the all-in-one system offered by Lightroom, but you’ll be able to develop a new workflow with a catalog and editor that Adobe isn’t likely to scrap any time soon – although there are never any guarantees in software.

So What Should I Do?

If you’re happy with your current workflow, you can continue using Lightroom Classic without any disruptions other than the slightly confusing new name. You may want to prepare yourself for the possibility that it will eventually be left behind in favor of the cloud-based Lightroom CC, although it’s quite easy to make the shift to the new workflow if you want to.

If you don’t like the idea of storing all your photos in the cloud, many of the other alternatives that we discussed above are just as capable as Lightroom. This may be a good time to see if any other software can fill your RAW photo editing needs – you might even find a program you like better than Lightroom!