The Best Open Source Adobe Lightroom AlternativesTop Photo Managers & Raw Photo Editors like Adobe Lightroom

The best open source alternative to Adobe Lightroom is darktable. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to Adobe Lightroom and many of them is open source so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source alternatives to Adobe Lightroom are RawTherapee, digiKam, Sly and Right Gallery.

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Adobe Lightroom alternatives are mainly Photo Managers but may also be Raw Photo Editorss or Image Editors.  Filter by these or use the filter bar below if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of Adobe Lightroom.
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Powerful photo editing and organizing with cloud backup, available on multiple devices including mobile, web, and desktop.

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Adobe Lightroom alternatives page was last updated Mar 23, 2025
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Alternatives
  1. darktable icon

    darktable

     309 likes
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    darktable is a virtual lighttable and darkroom for photographers: it manages your digital negatives in a database and lets you view them through a zoomable lighttable. it also enables you to develop raw images and enhance them.

    62 darktable alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Darktable’s lighttable mode showing a collection

    Properties

    1.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1.  RAW Photo Editors
    2.  Advanced retouching
    3.  No Coding Required
    4.  Non Destructive Editing
    5.  Multiple languages
    6.  Watermark images
    7.  Hardware Accelerated
    8.  Works Offline
    9.  Ad-free
    10.  Built-in viewer
    11.  Dark Mode
    12.  No registration required

    darktable VS Adobe Lightroom

     
    Comments about darktable as an Alternative to Adobe Lightroom
    Comment summary: Darktable is praised for being faster and potentially more powerful than Lightroom, offering similar features including improved denoise capabilities. However, some users note a significant drawback in its lack of robust photo organization functions, a key feature of Lightroom. Despite this, as a free open-source solution, darktable remains a strong contender as a Lightroom alternative, especially for those prioritizing cost and development features.
    Top Positive Comment
    Guest
    Oct 2, 2016
    14

    Complete Raw processing suite. Best free open source solution

    Most Recent Comment
    Roman
    Positive •Mar 23, 2025
    0

    The general approach, workflow and selection of tools for RAW development is a close match to Lightroom, but it's free and works on Linux

    bolude
    Positive •Oct 6, 2024
    0

    FOSS and does everything Lightroom does

    Show more comments
    3 of 14 comments
    Adobe Lightroom Icon
    darktable icon

    • Almost everyone thinks darktable is a great Adobe Lightroom alternative.

    • darktable is the most popular Windows, Mac & Linux alternative to Adobe Lightroom.

    • darktable is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to Adobe Lightroom.

    • darktable is Free and Open SourceAdobe Lightroom is Paid and Proprietary
  2. RawTherapee icon

    RawTherapee

     218 likes
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    Raw photo processing software with advanced control over demosaicing. Ideal for newcomers, semi-professionals, and professionals. Supports HDR DNGs, JPGs, and TIFFs, with in-house enhancements for some camera models. Open-source, lacks digital asset management.

    53 RawTherapee alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Snapcraft
    • Flathub
    • PortableApps.com
    • Flatpak
    RawTherapee screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1.  RAW Photo Editors
    2.  Image Optimizer
    3.  Non Destructive Editing
    4.  Raw converter
    5.  Dark Mode
    6.  Ad-free
    7.  Works Offline
    8.  No registration required
    9.  Batch Rename Files
    10.  File Tagging
    11.  WYSIWYG Support
    12.  Drawing Tablet Support

    RawTherapee VS Adobe Lightroom

     
    Comments about RawTherapee as an Alternative to Adobe Lightroom
    MercuryHero
    Positive •Sep 5, 2018
    3

    Fairly advanced control over RAW processing including demosaicing algorithm, gamma curves, etc. Supports its own profiles and presets.

    Adobe Lightroom Icon
    RawTherapee icon

    • Almost everyone thinks RawTherapee is a great Adobe Lightroom alternative.

    • RawTherapee is Free and Open SourceAdobe Lightroom is Paid and Proprietary
    • RawTherapee is Privacy focusedAdobe Lightroom is not according to our users
  4. digiKam icon

    digiKam

     332 likes
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    digiKam is an advanced digital photo management application which makes importing and organizing digital photos a "snap". The photos are organized in albums which can be sorted chronologically, by folder layout or by custom collections.

    96 digiKam alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • KDE Plasma
    • Flathub
    • Qt
    Image editor

    Properties

    1.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1.  Tag based
    2.  Geotagged Photos
    3.  Facial Recognition
    4.  Tagging
    5.  Raw editing
    6.  File Tagging
    7.  Ad-free
    8.  RAW Photo Editors
    9.  Works Offline
    10.  No registration required
    11.  No Tracking
    12.  Photo Recovery

    digiKam VS Adobe Lightroom

     
    Comments about digiKam as an Alternative to Adobe Lightroom
    Most Recent Comment
    Guest
    Positive •Oct 27, 2017
    6

    Database functionality - Lots of other pieces of software mentioned are good at RAW processing but few, if any, have a good, structured back-end to organise photos.

    Guest
    Negative •Oct 15, 2019
    0

    digiKam is good at organizing photos but has nothing to edit or adjust photos and RAW files. It only covers half of the features of Lightroom

    Guest
    Negative •Sep 2, 2017
    -35

    digiKam is a photo management while lightroom is a raw photo editor, they have nothing in common

    Adobe Lightroom Icon
    digiKam icon

    • Most users think digiKam is a great Adobe Lightroom alternative.

    • digiKam is Free and Open SourceAdobe Lightroom is Paid and Proprietary
  5. Sly icon

    Sly

     27 likes
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    Sly is a user-friendly, offline image editor requiring no expertise; adjust brightness, contrast, apply effects, and export in JPEG or PNG formats with control over metadata.

    31 Sly alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    • Android
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    Sly screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1.  RAW Photo Editors
    2.  No Tracking
    3.  Ad-free
    4.  Dark Mode
    5.  Works Offline
    6.  No registration required
    7.  Export to PNG
    8.  Export to JPEG
    9.  Vignetting correction
    10.  Exposure correction
    11.  Color correction

    Sly VS Adobe Lightroom

     

    • Sly is the most popular Android alternative to Adobe Lightroom.

    • Sly is Free and Open SourceAdobe Lightroom is Paid and Proprietary
    • Sly is Privacy focusedAdobe Lightroom is not according to our users
  6. Right Gallery icon

    Right Gallery

     10 likes
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    Your private moments are protected. Discover Right Gallery, where your privacy is our priority.

    20 Right Gallery alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Android
    • Android Tablet
    Right Gallery screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Support for Themes
    3.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1.  Ad-free
    2.  No registration required
    3.  Works Offline
    4.  Photo Gallery
    5.  No Tracking
    6.  Dark Mode
    7.  RAW Photo Editors
    8.  Non Destructive Editing
    9.  Private gallery

    Right Gallery VS Adobe Lightroom

     
  7. Ansel icon

    Ansel

     2 likes
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    Ansel is an open-source photo-editing software for digital artists, designed to help you achieve your own interpretation of raw digital photographs.

    54 Ansel alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    Lighttable

    Ansel Features

    1.  RAW Photo Editors

    Ansel VS Adobe Lightroom

     
  9. ART icon

    ART

     7 likes
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    ART, a free, open-source, cross-platform raw image processing program. ART is a derivative of the popular RawTherapee , trading a bit of customization and control over various processing parameters for a simpler and (hopefully) easier...

    11 ART alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Mac
    ART screenshot 1

    ART Features

    1.  RAW Photo Editors
    2.  Image Processing
    3.  Raw converter
    4.  Batch conversion
    5.  Batch processing

    ART VS Adobe Lightroom

     
    Comments about ART as an Alternative to Adobe Lightroom
    nrwd
    Positive •Sep 9, 2020
    0

    As good or even better and Free OpenSource

    Adobe Lightroom Icon
    ART icon
    • ART is Free and Open SourceAdobe Lightroom is Paid and Proprietary
7 of 20 Adobe Lightroom alternatives