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More than ever, you need software to organize, optimize, edit, and share your photos. Why? Because today's cameras (including the one on your phone) produce huge files with loads of detail. You're also probably taking more pictures than ever. PCMag has been testing photo editing software for over 30 years, so we know that the best ones let you do as much or as little editing as you like and give you convenient ways to share your pictures. Adobe Lightroom Classic and Photoshop are our top-rated Editors' Choice winners. The former is unbeatable for photo workflow and corrections, while the latter is superb for manipulating images with creative tools. But you should still check out the in-depth reviews of all the other choices on this list and explore our advice on choosing the best photo editing software for your needs.
Our Top Tested Picks
Adobe Photoshop
DxO PhotoLab
Corel PaintShop Pro
CyberLink PhotoDirector
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- Adobe — $29.98 Per Month for Adobe Creative Cloud Plan (Annual Plan, Paid Monthly)
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- Adobe Photoshop — $22.99 Per Month for Adobe Photoshop Plan (Annual Plan, Paid Monthly)
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Best for Detailed Image Manipulation and Design
Adobe Photoshop
- Vast set of photo correction and manipulation tools
- Cutting-edge generative AI features
- Slick user interface with a lot of guidance
- Mobile and web design capabilities
- Rich drawing and typography options
- Excellent raw camera file support
- Synced Libraries, Cloud Documents, and collaboration features
- No perpetual license option
- Runs many processes in the background
Photoshop is the most powerful image-editing software on the planet. It's often where Adobe puts its latest state-of-the-art features first, including its AI-powered Neural filters. Photoshop includes the complex layer, masking, text and shape tools, gradients, and filters that professional designers and photographers need. You can also bolster it with a wealth of third-party plug-ins for even more power.
Photoshop is for professionals and serious image editing enthusiasts. It includes a massive number of tools, but its interface is has gotten more manageable in recent versions, with things like a clear Home screen to get you started, hover-over help tips, and a persistent search box at the top. As with most other Adobe offerings, however, it requires a subscription.
Best for Professionals
Adobe Lightroom Classic
- Excellent photo management and organization
- Auto masking for local adjustments
- Face recognition and geo-tag map
- Plug-in support
- Connected mobile app
- Syncing photos to cloud storage is not straightforward
- Requires subscription
Lightroom Classic is the top workflow software choice of working professional photographers. It shines at letting you import and organize your photo collection, and it has the best tools for correcting and enhancing photos in a raw file process. Lightroom Classic includes features not found in the non-Classic version of Lightroom like printing, soft-proofing, tethered shooting, and plug-in support.
Lightroom Classic is primarily for professional photographers. When pros talk about Lightroom, they invariably mean Lightroom Classic. It's also only for those willing to pay a recurring subscription fee.
Best for Photo Workflow
Adobe Lightroom
- Simple, clear interface
- Syncs photos to cloud storage for access on other devices
- Light, color, and detail adjustments equal to Lightroom Classic's
- Powerful raw profiles and filters
- Strong community features
- Subscription only
- No local printing or plug-in support
Lightroom differs from Adobe's Lightroom Classic application because it has a simpler interface and integrated cloud storage. It's chock-full of powerful image editing tools and at this point matches those in Classic. With great face-organizing tools, cloud syncing, and AI search, Lightroom is one of the best apps for finding any photo in your collection from any device. Its rich set of learning and community features is a boon to any budding photo editor.
Lightroom appeals to serious amateurs or pros who don't need printing, plug-ins, or tethered shooting capability. It's for those who don't mind paying a recurring subscription fee and like having all their photos backed up to the cloud for anywhere access, though Adobe recently added the possibility of using local instead of cloud storage with Lightroom.
Best for Hobbyists
Adobe Photoshop Elements
- Many powerful image-manipulation tools
- Strong face-tagging and geotagging
- Excellent output options
- Effective search
- Helpful guidance for beyond-basic techniques
- License lasts only three years
- No chromatic aberration corrections or lens geometry profiles
- Little cloud storage for mobile and web syncing
Elements wraps many features from Photoshop proper into a friendlier interface that emphasizes guidance in creating effects. You still get filters, layers, and a smart Organizer utility to keep track of your photo collection. It doesn't technically require subscription payments, though a license lasts only for three years.
Adobe describes the audience for Elements as "memory keepers," people who want to create keepsakes from family occasions. It nevertheless lets you see the processes behind creating impactful edits with little effort.
Best for Noise Reduction and Camera Profile Corrections
DxO PhotoLab
- Clear interface
- Best-in-class noise reduction
- Excellent autocorrection based on camera and lens characteristics
- Geometry corrections
- Powerful local adjustments
- Doesn't require importing
- Few workflow or photo organization tools
- No AVIF, HDR, HEIF, or JXL support
DxO PhotoLab can automatically make your photos look better, but it still has a full quiver of powerful photo correction and editing tools. DxO pioneered several technologies that went on to appear in other software products, such as lens-profile-based corrections and geometry fixes. The DeepPrime XD2s noise reduction feature is unmatched and can make unusable photos usable—PhotoLab is worth it for that alone. The software is also excellent at removing chromatic aberration, correcting lens softness, and automatically fixing lighting with its SmartLighting and ClearView tools. Finally, its U Point technology and Hue Masks give you unmatched control over local adjustments.
DxO PhotoLab is mostly for professionals who need to get the best out of their raw camera files, but it's a great app for engaged amateurs. If you just need noise reduction and lens corrections, the company's less-expensive DxO PureRAW app is a good fit. Both are usable as Photoshop and Lightroom plug-ins, as well. PhotoLab is not for those looking for a cheap solution, but its pricing is one-time and perpetual, not subscription-based.
Best for Raw File Rendering
Capture One Pro
- Good raw file conversion quality
- Fast import
- Automatic batch adjustment tools
- Collaboration supported
- Interface can get complex, especially with layers
- No face recognition for organization
- Expensive
Capture One is super-powerful professional photo workflow software. It does the best job of interpreting a camera's raw image data to deliver a sharp and accurate photo among software we've tested. It also includes an abundance of adjustments and local edit tools, as well as layers and advanced color grading. A unique Speed Edit feature lets you get to frequently needed tools with a keypress. Capture One still trails Lightroom in some workflow abilities, however, such as face recognition and geotagging.
Capture One is squarely aimed at pro photographers, and its interface could be intimidating to those not willing to put in the time to learn it. It has strong support for tethered shooting, collaboration features, and a new iPad app lets you edit on the go. The program is priced like a professional application, too, available as both a subscription (costing more than Lightroom's) and a one-time purchase.
Best for Budget-Conscious Image Editors
Corel PaintShop Pro
- Photoshop-like features at a lower price
- Powerful effects and editing tools
- Extensive help and tutorials
- Good assortment of vector drawing tools
- Automatic noise removal
- Inconsistent interface
- No macOS version
- Some slow operations
This longtime Photoshop competitor offers enough tools for many designers and photographers who don't want to make unending subscription payments to Adobe. Corel even updates PaintShop Pro with advanced AI tools like Portrait Mode, Background Replacement, Style Transfer. Designers can work with text, brushes, patterns, and painting tools on both raster and vector images, and hobbyists get a ton of creative effects and filters. Raw camera file support, mask selection, scripts, tone curves, layers, and plug-in support are at your disposal, just like in Photoshop.
PaintShop Pro is for designers and photographers, both amateur and professional, who need deep image editing capabilities including layers, raw camera file support, masking, brushes, text, and textures. You even get some AI fixes and effects. It's great for those who don't want to pay a subscription and don't need Adobe's collaboration and other proprietary tools.
Best for Combined Workflow, Editing, and Effects
CyberLink PhotoDirector
- Many advanced effects and editing tools
- Full set of generative AI capabilities
- Unique Body Shaper feature
- Extensive layer support
- Tethered shooting
- Complex interface
- Some operations are slow
CyberLink makes some of the most powerful and innovative video editing software around, and the company has applied its deep imaging expertise to photo editing in PhotoDirector. The software combines Lightroom-like organization and workflow tools with Photoshop-like layer image editing in a clear, intuitive interface. The company is constantly producing new effects and templates, with loads of generative AI image-creating and -editing features making their way into the product. The software is available as either a single purchase or subscription, which adds online storage and a steady stream of updated tools and content. The subscription also gives you access to stock images from Getty.
PhotoDirector is for enthusiasts, rather than professionals, who want an all-in-one workflow and image editing application. It's also a good choice for those who don't want to pay a subscription fee since it's available to purchase for a one-time fee or as a subscription.
Best Web-Based Photo Editor
Photopea
- Surprising number of Photoshop features
- No installation required
- Clear interface and good help
- Includes vector editing
- Navigating away from page loses project
- Some actions can be slow
- Lacks some advanced Photoshop features
Photopea is a surprisingly full-featured Photoshop alternative despite being a purely web-based application. While you can use most of its features for free, a $5-per-month subscription gets you generative AI image-creation tools, more steps in your editing history, and 5GB of online image storage.
Photopea is a good choice for anyone who needs most of Photoshop's basic editing tools but for a lower cost. It's also a great option if you're not at your own computer and need to do some quick photo editing, since you can access it from any device with a web browser.
Best Filters and Unique Fixes
Skylum Luminar Neo
- Unique AI photo-fixing tools
- Simple, pleasing interface
- Lots of adjustment tools, filters, and effects
- Some operations are slow
- No face recognition or keyword tagging
Skylum Luminar is a well-designed photo application with unique and innovative tools, such as AI-based power-line removal. Another, AI Relight, lets you change lighting for different parts of a photo, based on distance from the camera. Luminar excels at fixing drab skies in your shots, as its name suggests. The interface is clear and simple.
Any Mac or Windows user who wants to have a lot of fun enhancing their photos should check out the easy-to-use Luminar, whether pro or amateur. The program is a good value for a reasonable one-time price. Lightroom and Photoshop users can also use Luminar as a plug-in for their main photo application.
Which Photo Software Should You Use?
Novice photographers who take vacation pics to post on Instagram need a different photo editor than those who shoot in a studio with a high-end camera that costs as much as a new car. We include all levels of photo editing software here. Nothing says that pros can't occasionally use an entry-level application or that a prosumer can't run Photoshop. The issue is that, in general, people at different levels are more comfortable with products that target them.
What Is the Best Photo Editing Software for Beginners?
If you're just starting to dip your toes into photo editing, the options are getting better all the time. An easy place to get started is with the free applications that come with your operating system: Apple Photos for macOS and iOS, Google Photos for Android, and Microsoft Photos for Windows. They give you basic light and color editing tools in simple interfaces.
If you're a more ambitious beginner, Adobe Lightroom, the non-classic version, is worth a look. Lightroom comes with the Discover community, where photographers and editors share their entire process from raw image to final product. You can even submit your photos to the community and let them edit your work. For in-program editing tutorials, look to Photoshop Elements. Its many Guided Edits that show you how to create arresting effects, is an excellent option.
The latest versions of Photoshop include plentiful help and learning content, though I recommend going through a basic online course for learning Photoshop. If you don't intend to do advanced editing, check out the section below.
Can You Edit Photos Online for Free?
In this list of the best photo editing software, we include only software that you can install on a desktop or laptop computer, though some have a mobile app, too. That said, online photo editing options (which are often free) might adequately serve entry-level photographers. These web apps often tie in with online photo storage and sharing services—Flickr, with its integrated photo editor, and Google Photos are two examples. Both can spiff up the photos you upload and help you organize them.
Free photo editing programs tend to lack many tools available in paid software. Photopea is an exception. It's an online photo editor that duplicates much of the functionality in Photoshop. If you want all its AI features and online storage, however, you must pay $5 per month.
Major programs now offer web versions, too. The latest version of Lightroom, for example, has a web app with a good number of photo-editing capabilities. Adobe also maintains a web version of its flagship Photoshop app. Other notable names in web-based photo editing include BeFunky, Fotor, Photofx, and PicMonkey.
What Is the Best Image Editing Software for Hobbyists?
Most of the products in this list are suitable for enthusiast photographers and prosumers, including people who genuinely love working with digital photographs. The apps are not free, and they require a few hundred megabytes of disk space. Several, such as Lightroom and CyberLink PhotoDirector, are strong when it comes to workflow—importing, organizing, editing, and outputting the photos from an SLR or mirrorless.
Such apps give you nondestructive editing, meaning they don't touch the original photo files. Instead, they maintain a database of edits that you apply and that appear in photos you export from the application. These programs also come with good organization tools, including color-coding, geotagging with maps, and keyword tagging. Some even support face recognition so you can organize photos based on the people who appear in them.
Enthusiasts want to do more than just import, organize, and render their photos. They want to do fun stuff, too! As mentioned, Adobe Photoshop Elements includes Guided Edits that make special effects like motion blur or color splash (in which only one color shows on an otherwise black-and-white photo) a simple step-by-step process.
How Do Photo Editors Handle Output and Sharing?
At the back end of the workflow is output. Capable software like Lightroom Classic gives you powerful printing options such as soft-proofing, which shows you whether the printer you use can produce the colors in your photo. (Strangely, the new version of Lightroom doesn't support local printing, though the latest update lets you send images to a photo printing service.) Lightroom Classic can directly publish photos on sites like Flickr and SmugMug. All good software at this level comes with strong printing and sharing options, and some, like ACDSee Photo Studio and Lightroom, include online photo hosting for presenting a portfolio of your work.
What Is the Best Free Photo Editing Software?
If you've outgrown the standard photo editing apps on your phone, such as those preinstalled with the camera or the effects included on Instagram, does that mean you have to pay a ton for high-end software? Absolutely not.
Desktop operating systems typically include photo software that can serve consumers' needs at no extra cost. For example, the Microsoft Photos app included with Windows 10 (and updated for Windows 11) may surprise some users with its capabilities. In a touch-friendly interface, it gives you a good level of image tools: auto-tagging, blemish removal, face recognition, and raw camera file support. It can automatically create editable albums based on photos' dates and locations.
On macOS, Apple Photos does those things, too. Both programs sync with online storage services: iCloud for Apple and OneDrive for Microsoft. (You can now access iCloud Photos in Windows 11's Photos app, too.) Both photo apps let you search based on detected object types, like "tree" or "cat" in the application. Apple Photos supports plug-ins like the excellent Perfectly Clear and Topaz DeNoise.
Ubuntu Linux users also get photo software at no cost. One option for them is the capable-enough Shotwell app. For more sophisticated editing, the venerable GNU Image Manipulation Program, better known as GIMP, is available for Linux, macOS, and Windows. It has a ton of Photoshop-style plug-ins and editing capabilities but very little in the way of creature comforts or usability. For free Lightroom-style workflow options, look to Darktable and RawTherapee, both of which are also available for all major desktop platforms.
What Is the Best Photo Editing Software for Raw Files?
The programs at the enthusiast and professional level can import and edit raw files from your digital camera. These are files that include every bit of data from the camera's image sensor. Each camera manufacturer uses its own format and file extension for these. For example, Canon cameras use CR2 or CR3 files, and Nikon uses NEF. Raw here means what it sounds like: a file with the raw sensor data. It's not an acronym or file extension.
Working with raw files provides some big advantages when it comes to correcting (or adjusting) photos. Since the photo you see on the screen is just one interpretation of what's in the raw file, the software can dig into that data to recover more detail in a bright sky or fully fix an improper white balance level. If you set your camera to shoot with JPGs, you're losing those capabilities. Several applications here work wonders with raw photos, including DxO PhotoLab, Lightroom, PhotoDirector, and even the online Photopea.
What Is the Best Software for Advanced Photo Correction?
AI-powered content-aware tools let you move or remove objects while maintaining a consistent background. Say you want to remove a couple of strangers from a serene beach scene and have the app fill in the background. Adobe continues to improve this technology by leaps and bounds, with new tools for accurate automatic selection and generative AI background filling. Even more of this wizardry is on its way, as Adobe continues to add Firefly features to Photoshop. Microsoft added generative AI-like background removal to both the Photos and Paint utilities in Windows.
None of these edits involve simple filters like the classic ones for Instagram. Rather, they produce highly customized, one-off images. Another good example is CyberLink PhotoDirector's Multiple Exposure effect, which lets you create an image with 10 versions of Johnny jumping that curb on his skateboard.
Most enthusiast- and pro-level photo software can produce HDR effects and panoramas after you feed them multiple shots, and local edit brushes let you paint adjustments onto only specific areas of an image. Affinity Photo has those features, but its interface isn't the most intuitive. Zoner Photo Studio X and ON1 PhotoRAW combine Lightroom and Photoshop features at a lower price, but they don't match the level of power and ease you get in the Adobe software. Emerging HDR photo file formats like AV1 and JXL are starting to show up as well, and Adobe Lightroom and Zoner Photo Studio support editing photos with wide color spaces.
Some of the products in this group offer what's sometimes called AI style transfer. In other words, they can apply a style (think Picasso or Japanese watercolor) to a photo. The effect became a craze with the Prisma app several years ago, and it can still impress. PaintShop Pro, PhotoDirector, and Photoshop all have this capability.
What Is the Best Professional Photo Editing Software?
At the very top end of the image editing pyramid is Photoshop. Its color tools, drawing abilities, layered editing, filters, plug-in support, selection capabilities, and text tools make it the industry standard. (Adobe removed its 3D editing tools from Photoshop because of the changing graphics hardware landscape; you can find 3D functionality in the company's Substance 3D line of applications.) The company continues to add unique, state-of-the-art features.
Photoshop (and its included companion, Adobe Camera Raw utility) is where you find Adobe's latest and greatest imaging technology, such as the previously mentioned Firefly generative AI features, as well as Content-Aware Crop, Detail Enhancement, Neural Filters, Perspective Warp, and Subject Select. The program has the most tools for professionals in the imaging industry, including Artboards, Design Spaces, and realistic, customizable brushes.
Pros need more than this one application, and many use workflow programs like ACDSee Photo Studio, Lightroom, AfterShot Pro, or Photo Mechanic for workflow functions like importing and organization. In addition to its workflow prowess, Lightroom has mobile photo apps so that photographers on the run can get some work done before they even get back to their PCs.
If tethered shooting—controlling the camera in the software from the computer while it's attached—is part of your workflow, you should try Capture One. It gives you a lot of related tools, along with top-notch raw file conversion.
Photoshop has the most image editing capabilities, though it doesn't always make producing those effects as simple. Its edits aren't nondestructive like those of Lightroom and some other products. Anyone with less intensive needs can get all the Photoshop-type features they need from competitors, such as Corel PaintShop Pro or Serif Affinity Photo.
DxO PureRAW is another tool pros might want in their kit because of its excellent lens-profile-based corrections and DeepPrime noise reduction. Topaz Photo AI is another top choice for removing camera sensor noise. Skylum Luminar, too, comes with unique AI-powered features like automatic power line removal, which can instantly improve many a landscape or cityscape. It also has unique depth-based lighting options. You can use it as either a standalone app or as a Photoshop plug-in.
Capture One, DxO PhotoLab, Lightroom, and PaintShop Pro have precise tools for local selections. For example, they let you select everything in a photo within a precise color range and refine the selection of difficult content, such as a model's hair or trees on the horizon. As you might imagine, you get all this in Adobe Photoshop, too.
How Much Does Photoshop Cost?
Some users have taken umbrage at Adobe's move to a subscription-only option for Photoshop, but at $9.99 per month, it hardly seems exorbitant for any serious image professional. The price includes a copy of Lightroom, online services like Adobe Stock, an online Portfolio site, and multiple mobile apps. It makes the app more affordable for prosumers, too, when you consider that a full copy of Photoshop's top-end version used to cost a cool $999. That said, several apps here don't require subscriptions.
Other vendors have followed in Adobe's footsteps when it comes to subscriptions. These deals usually include all updates, new templates and effects, and in some cases, such as with CyberLink PhotoDirector, access to stock images from big names like Getty.
How Can Plug-Ins Expand Your Editing Options?
One more thing to consider when you're putting together your budget: third-party plug-ins for pro-level software. The excellent DxO ViewPoint, Nik Collection by DxO, and RNI All Films 5 Professional are good examples of this enormous field. These can add more effects and adjustments than you find in the base software. They often include tools for film looks, black-and-white options, sharpening, and noise reduction. You can install several of the products here as Lightroom Classic or Photoshop plug-ins or use them as standalone programs.
How to Get Started With Photo Editing
If you're an absolute beginner in digital photography, the first step is to make sure you've got good hardware to shoot with. Otherwise, you're sunk before you start. Consider our roundups of the best digital cameras and the best camera phones for equipment that can fit any budget. Once you've got your hardware sorted out, make sure to educate yourself with our photography tips for beginners and our beyond-basic photography tips. That done, you'll be ready to shoot great pictures that you can make better with the software here.
A final note about the spec table below: It's not a case of "more check marks mean it's better." A product with everything checked doesn't necessarily have the best implementation of those features, and one with fewer checks still may, in fact, the best photo editing software for you. Whether you even need the checked feature depends on your photo workflow. For example, DxO PhotoLab might not have face recognition, but it offers superb noise reduction and camera- and lens-profile-based corrections.
