Adobe Lightroom Classic and darktable, one of its free alternatives, side by side.
Adobe's desktop photo editor and catalog manager for RAW development and large libraries, sold as a subscription.
Best for open-source RAW editing and a photo library
| Fact | Adobe Lightroom Classic | darktable |
|---|---|---|
| License | License: Paid | License: Open sourceGPL-3.0-or-later |
| Maintenance | Status: Verified | Status: Unknown |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | No | Yes |
| Self-hostable | No | No |
| Works offline | Yes | Yes |
| No account needed | No | Yes |
| Parity with Adobe Lightroom Classic | The reference | 75% |
License classes: Paid and Open source. Status rules: Active means a commit in the last 90 days. See the methodology.
How darktable covers what people use Adobe Lightroom Classic for.
| Feature | darktable |
|---|---|
| Editing | |
| RAW development and camera profiles | YesNote 1Scene-referred pipeline, camera profiles and lens correction |
| AI Denoise | PartialNote 2Neural restore for denoise and upscale arrived in 5.6, optional and off by default |
| Masking | |
| AI masks: subject, sky and background | PartialNote 3Drawn and parametric masks; an optional AI object mask arrived in 5.6 |
| Retouching | |
| Spot healing and Generative Remove | PartialNote 4Retouch and spot removal modules; no generative remove |
| Workflow | |
| Presets and batch settings sync | YesNote 5Styles, presets and copy or paste of edit history |
| Tethered capture and print | PartialNote 6Tethered shooting and printing through CUPS; no book module |
| Organizing | |
| Catalog with keywords, collections and metadata | YesNote 7Library database with tags, ratings, color labels and collections |
| Output | |
| Batch export and watermarks | Yes |
| Parity score | 75% |
| Format | Adobe Lightroom Classic | darktable |
|---|---|---|
| .dng | Opens and savesFull fidelity | Opens onlyNote 1Reads DNG files; the raw denoise tool can write a linear DNGFull fidelity |
| .cr3 | Opens onlyFull fidelity | Opens onlyNote 2Newer camera models need a recent LibRawFull fidelity |
| .nef | Opens onlyFull fidelity | Opens onlyFull fidelity |
| .arw | Opens onlyFull fidelity | Opens onlyFull fidelity |
| .lrcat | Opens and savesFull fidelity | NoNote 3Lightroom catalogs do not import |
| .xmp | Opens and savesFull fidelity | Opens and savesNote 4Imports ratings, tags and about ten Lightroom adjustments from sidecars, and writes its own XMPPartial fidelity |