Lightroom alternatives?

Without warning from Adobe, Photoshop popped up with this right at the start of an assignment the other day - it took me 45 minutes to subscribe for another month (while I find a suitable replacement).

View attachment 1875751

Have you tried Pixelmator Pro before? I'm sort of interested since Apple bought them, but not sure I want to fork out £50 just yet.
 
Without warning from Adobe, Photoshop popped up with this right at the start of an assignment the other day - it took me 45 minutes to subscribe for another month (while I find a suitable replacement).

View attachment 1875751
R454pm and it doesn't even include LR any longer?
 
Have you tried Pixelmator Pro before? I'm sort of interested since Apple bought them, but not sure I want to fork out £50 just yet.
I tried it ages ago but can't recall much about it - pity there doesn't seem to be a trial. Silly Apple.

R454pm and it doesn't even include LR any longer?
I ended up subscribing for a month to a slightly cheaper plan that includes Lightroom.
 
I'm relearning Affinity Photo v1. It would be great if I could assign keyboard shortcuts to macros like Photoshop but even the new "Affinity" jack-of-all trades app still doesn't seem to support that.
 
Luminar Neo = R1,999 for life....
Adobe Lightroom = R454 per month for life....

If you live for another 30 years :
Luminar Neo = R1,999
Adobe Lightroom = R163,440 :ROFL: :ROFL: :ROFL:

Follow me for more financial advice!
 
Luminar Neo = R1,999 for life....
Adobe Lightroom = R454 per month for life....

If you live for another 30 years :
Luminar Neo = R1,999
Adobe Lightroom = R163,440 :ROFL: :ROFL: :ROFL:

Follow me for more financial advice!
Luminar Neo only includes one year of updates.

For me On1 is going to be cheaper.
 
Luminar Neo = R1,999 for life....
Adobe Lightroom = R454 per month for life....

If you live for another 30 years :
Luminar Neo = R1,999
Adobe Lightroom = R163,440 :ROFL: :ROFL: :ROFL:

Follow me for more financial advice!

That's if you pay monthly, most people who use it regularly would chose an annual sub surely.

1767772863672.png

Also, if it makes you money at the end of the day it's probably still worth it...not for me as I do photography as a hobby and cba with Adobe.
 
Luminar Neo only includes one year of updates.

For me On1 is going to be cheaper.
ON1 does seem to be the best of the bunch on balance when you consider the price and feature set, also seems to have less marketing bs, which quickly gets annoying and misleading. Seems you can get it for around $60 on their promos.
How does the current version compare to Lightroom, seems very similar barring the catalogs?
 
You can currently get ON1 Effects 2025 for free till 12 Jan.
It can work standalone and you can actually do a fair amount of editing just with that:
 
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You can currently get ON1 Effects 2025 for free till 12 Jan:
And at the same time ON1 Photo RAW 2026 for $57,49

Screenshot 2026-01-07 at 13.57.26.png

How does the current version compare to Lightroom, seems very similar barring the catalogs?
No idea - it's been a while since I've used it.
 
a friend of mine is using darktable, lots of youtube tutorials on it
 
The nice thing about this is that people can finally trial Pixelmator Pro, before they buy it.

Nevermind:
Pixelmator Pro requires a Mac with macOS 26 or later or an iPad with Apple M1 chip or later, iPad (A16), or iPad mini (A17 Pro) and iPadOS 26 or later.
 
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