A guide to the best free or cheap alternatives for Adobe Lightroom in 2022

Adobe Lightroom is the ideal program for professional photographers, but not everyone can afford to pay for an expensive subscription all the time. Lightroom makes it fairly easy to import, sort, organize, and edit your footage. Nevertheless, for beginner photographers and people on a tight budget, a subscription price of $120 a year is not really justified. In such cases, you have to look for a cheaper or free replacement that performs similar functions.

Free and inexpensive alternatives for Adobe Lightroom in 2022 exist and it is quite possible to find the perfect one. Many programs also have a trial version so that you can more easily make a decision and experiment before you buy. Now’s a great chance to find the perfect software that’s right for you. A larger list of the best alternatives to Lightroom you can see in Skylum`s blog, and we will present the most popular.

Luminar Neo

Luminar Neo is the first place to consider because of its impressive AI tools, great portrait enhancers, and incredibly fast RAW file import. Here effective presets are set up with just a click of the mouse, so you will spend very little time on the most complex tasks. Luminar Neo is especially good for beginners who don’t have time to master Lightroom. All functions of the program are quite simple and easy to use, requiring almost no study of manuals.

In Luminar Neo, the filters work based on AI, which allows you to edit photos at a professional level in seconds. As an example – Accent AI will quickly analyze your photo and suggest the best options for general editing. Without too much effort, your picture will be transformed into a real work of art, as if you had spent many hours in Lightroom or Photoshop. All edits are made automatically while giving the user maximum control. You can conveniently adjust the exposure, contrast, and sharpness at your own discretion. Luminar Neo can be tried for free for 7 days, there is a subscription and a lifetime license.

LightZone

The program is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux. It allows you to rate your images, but it does not allow you to efficiently organize your photos or add keywords. Despite the lack of a convenient organization system, you can use LightZone to improve your photos quickly enough. The program is more suitable for beginning photographers and amateurs who don’t need the more advanced Photoshop tools. It is a basic photo editor, but it supports RAW files.

LightZone does not use layers in the traditional sense. The photo editor offers a good alternative, which is a quality overlay of tools (you can delete, add or rearrange them at the user’s discretion). It is a fairly reliable and completely free replacement for Lightroom for those who predominantly use only basic tools while editing images.

Paint.NET

A free and fairly easy-to-use image manipulation program. It is an open-source editor that was created specifically for Windows. Unfortunately, Paint.NET does not work on Mac and Linux. The interface may seem a bit old-fashioned to you, yet the program does not provide any system for organizing photos. Nevertheless, the program is positioned as a simple and intuitive photo editor for novice photographers who do not use complex tools.

In Paint.NET you can only process one photo at a time, so the program is not suitable for people who perform batch editing. All the tools here are extremely simple and straightforward, so Paint.NET will be a great solution for basic image editing without too much complexity.

Polarr

Polarr is specially designed for image editing on Windows, Mac, and Linux. The program is incredibly fast, even on weak computers. There is both a free and a paid version for $2.50 per month. The developer has even provided separate apps for iOS and Android, so you can use this photo editor on the go. Unfortunately, there is no support for RAW files, which becomes a significant drawback.

Polarr will suit beginner photographers looking for a quick and easy way to improve their shots. You’ll be able to use dozens of beautiful filters with sliders to adjust the level of each. The paid Pro version even can create and save your own filters. There’s no image library here, either, like Lightroom, so you’ll have to look elsewhere for organizing your photos. Polarr has some advanced tools, including masks and brushes, but the functionality of such a photo editor is somewhat limited. It’s a good solution for people who only need basic photo correction.

Pixlr

A great free photo editor that works online. It’s perfect if you’re afraid to download free software to your computer. The developers also offer a free app on Chrome that will be easy to connect to Google Drive. You won’t have to create an account here (you’ll only need one if you want to use the library with free cloud storage). The library isn’t as handy as Lightroom, but it’s perfect if you just need a place to store a lot of photos.

Pixlr has several tools for advanced editing (like layers and brushes), and it also provides beautiful filters to quickly enhance your photos. It’s a great alternative to Adobe Lightroom for users looking for the most straightforward image editor. The only downside is that you need a stable Internet connection to access it.

What conclusion do we draw?

Adobe Lightroom, while expensive, is a versatile option. Depending on your editing style, you’ll need to download one or more free programs to organize and edit your photos. Whether you’re a beginner or a professional, it will be very easy to find an option to suit your needs.