Looking To Jump off the Adobe Subscription Train? Here Are Several Alternatives

In what seems like a time-honored tradition every time Adobe announces a price increase, photographers are looking at alternatives to the company's subscription-based Creative Cloud photo editing tools.

Emily Lowrey over at Micro Four Nerds is no exception to that, as in light of Creative Cloud's monthly subscription plans increasing (pre-paid years up front remain the same), she explores free and one-time payment options for photographers.

While you generally get what you pay for, as Adobe is pretty much the standard by which Lowrey (and admittedly, most photographers) are judging the software, there are certainly some diamonds in the rough there.

Lowrey takes a look at the pros and cons of the free options in the video above: Darktable, RAWtherapee and OM Workspace (for users of OM System cameras only). The paid options she looks at are Capture One Pro, Luminar Neo and ON1 Photo Raw.

The video reminded me that Canon users also have access to decent editing software in the form of Digital Photo Professional (you can select your camera and operating system at this link and download the right version for you). It might be worth checking your camera manufacturer's website, where you may find that a native raw editor specifically for your camera might do better than Adobe. Years ago, when I used Canon's software, while it took a little more work than Adobe Photoshop, I was able to eke out ever-so-slightly better raw conversions from it.

That said, in the event I need free photo editing software, as I have a few computers and only so many Adobe licenses, I turn to Affinity Photo, now on version 2, for $70. The $50 I paid for version 1 lasted for several years and many versions, so by all accounts, it's an excellent value proposition for what is a very good piece of editing and raw development software.

In any case, check out Lowrey's takes on free photo editing software, and if you have go-to piece of software that you like to use that isn't on this list, leave it in the comments below.