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7 ways to replace Adobe for your photo retouching

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7 ways to replace Adobe for your photo editing

Adobe, reference in the field of creative software (from video to photo through illustration or web design), has decided since 2013 to move to amonthly subscription (versus the one-time purchase of a lifetime license previously). Thus, if in the past it was necessary to pay almost 1000€ to acquire a version of Photoshop, the flagship software of the American firm, it was possible to have access to it for only 25€ per month (new versions and updates being entirely included in this subscription).

How to replace Adobe these days ?

Over the years, competitors in the creative software market have gotten better and better at offering real alternatives to the software giant, which allows professionals and individuals to have a choice and no longer be obliged to swear by Adobe’s software, which no longer has a monopoly on the areas that the company covers.

Adobe’s current formula for photographers is perhaps the most advantageous compared to other creative professionals. Indeed, for 11,99€/month, you have access to both Photoshop, the biggest software of the firm which allows more and more things (as well used in animation as in webdesign for example) but also to Lightroom, the basic for any person wishing to retouch his digital photos and without any doubt one of the best photo editing software.

However, there are nowadays some nice alternatives that will come back to you less expensive (even that are free), we are going to present you some of them today based on a selection made on the opinions of professional and amateur photographers.

Replace Lightroom, the king of photo editing

Lightroom was created to assist professional photographers and replaces Photoshop for 80% of the common tasks of photographers, here are some alternatives:

  • DxO Photolab :macOS, Windows and Linuxc : from 69€ ,30 days free trial : “Designed by and for demanding photographers who love beautiful images, DxO PhotoLab 3 offers the most flexible and powerful processing and correction tools on the market”. The last update of DxO PhotoLab relies in particular on a tool managing the hue, saturation and luminance of the image.
  • Darktable : macOS, Windows and Linux : Free : “Open source photographic processing software that allows you to catalog your digital photographs and apply various corrections and effects to these images. It also allows real-time control of digital cameras (APN) connected by a cable to a computer”.
  • RawTherapee RawTherapee : macOS, Windows and Linux : Free : Software specially developed to manage RAW formats, suitable for amateurs as well as professional photographers. It is pointed out as the best free alternative for Lightroom.

Replace Photoshop, the generalist

Although Lightroom has overtaken its big brother from Adobe, Photoshop remains a very good generalist reference for photo editing today. The alternatives proposed here will probably be more suitable for amateurs looking for more versatile software.

    Affinity Photo : macOS : 43,99€ :15 days free : Very versatile image editing software : photo editing, visual creation, drawing, vector drawing,… : macOS, Windows and Linux : Free : Open source image editing software. Suitable for graphic designers, photographers or illustrators. : Online : Free : Online image editor, very similar interface to Photoshop. Allows you to manage formats compatible with Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, Sketch App, Adobe XD and CorelDRAW).

Affinity Photo: the versatile newcomer for photographers

Could Affinity be the new Adobe ? The brand has launched so far 3 software that compete very well with the American brand. After Affinity Publisher and Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo presents itself as a very good alternative to Lightroom and Photoshop, especially for photographers (the name of this software is rather clear on this subject): image editing, RAW file editing, HDR blending, panorama stitching, focus stacking, batch processing, PSD editing, 360° image editing, multi-layer composition, smart object support and digital painting.

Available for macOS and Windows at €54.99 and for iOS (€21.99 on iPad), Affinity Photo presents itself as the “preferred choice of professional photographers and creators”. The software has a free trial version.

If you want a free software to edit your photos, many professionals will recommend RawTherapee. But if you want to go a little further in terms of software features, we recommend you give Affinity Photo a try with its free trial version, which will give you a good idea of what you can and cannot do with this software. In any case, many programs offer at least one free version for a few days so you can get a feel for the software before you buy it.

So the best thing would be to use it again try several to find the one that suits you best.