A free, open-source alternative to Lightroom
LightPhotos is for photographers who want to get through a shoot fast, make good edits, and export, without a subscription or a cloud account. It is not a full Lightroom replacement yet. This page says where it wins and where it falls short.
Side by side
| LightPhotos | Adobe Lightroom | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Paid subscription |
| Account | None | Adobe account required |
| Where photos live | Your own folders. Nothing is uploaded. | A catalog (Classic) or Adobe’s cloud |
| Source code | Open source | Closed |
| Download size | Under 12MB on macOS, 20MB on Windows, 28MB on Linux | Gigabytes |
| Platforms | macOS, Windows, Linux, and Chrome with no install | macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, web. No Linux app. |
| Culling | Keyboard-first: 0–5 stars, instant 100% zoom | Stars, flags, colour labels |
| Global edits | Exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, blacks, white balance, vibrance, saturation, denoise, Auto Tone | All of these and many more |
| Masks and local edits | Spot removal only | Brushes, gradients, AI subject and sky masks |
| Export | JPEG at the size you choose, or straight to Immich | JPEG, TIFF, PNG, DNG and more, plus print and web publishing |
Where LightPhotos wins
- Speed through a shoot. Number keys rate, arrows move, Space checks focus at 100%. Previews render on the GPU, and folders open without an import step.
- Your files stay yours. There is no catalog to migrate and no cloud to sync. Edits sit in a small
.lightphotosfolder beside the photos, and the originals are never modified. - Nothing to pay, nothing to sign up for. Download it, or open the web app in Chrome and point it at a folder.
- It runs on Linux. Native ARM and x86 builds. See LightPhotos on Linux.
What LightPhotos does not do yet
- No masks, brushes, gradients or AI selections. Spot removal is the only local tool.
- No tone curve, HSL panel, colour grading, lens corrections or presets.
- No pick and reject flags or colour labels. Ratings are 0–5 stars.
- No keywords, collections, maps, face recognition or print module.
- JPEG is the only export format.
- Some cameras are limited outside macOS. See tested cameras.
If you rely on masks or a large preset library every day, keep Lightroom for those edits. LightPhotos can still be the fast first pass: cull the shoot here, then take the keepers elsewhere.
Try it
Download LightPhotos for macOS, Windows or Linux, or open the web app. The help pages walk through a whole shoot in five short steps.
Adobe and Lightroom are trademarks of Adobe Inc. LightPhotos is not affiliated with or endorsed by Adobe.