Partly, with limits. The iPhone and Android app is free for editing and sharing; advanced features need the subscription. On desktop, only a 7 day trial is free. Beyond that, the Lightroom plan costs €15 a month. LightCraft does the same thing for free, in open source.

Can you use Lightroom for free on a computer?

No: on a computer, only a 7 day trial is free, then Lightroom costs €15 a month. The iPhone and Android app is free for editing and sharing, but advanced features need the subscription. LightCraft is free on a computer, with no subscription.

Is LightCraft really free?

Yes. LightCraft is open source: the code is public and installing it costs nothing. At most you pay for hosting if you put it on a server, often a few euros a month. Lightroom, on the other hand, costs €15 a month.

Do I need to code to install LightCraft?

No. The level is beginner and the install takes about 5 minutes with the prompt from the page: Claude does the work, you answer its questions.

How is it different from Lightroom?

LightCraft does most of what Lightroom does, without a subscription, and your data stays with you. The point by point comparison is on the page.

Yes. With an open source tool installed on your side, your files stay on your machine or your server. Nobody can close your account or change the price.

Free alternative

Free alternative to Lightroom

Lightroom costs €15 a month. LightCraft does the same job for free, in open source: you install it on your machine or a small server, and you stop paying.

Price taken from Lightroom’s website (adobe.com): Lightroom plan, one year commitment paid monthly, VAT included. Over a year, that is €180 that stays in your pocket.

How much does Lightroom cost in 2026?

Lightroom’s public plans, checked on 12 October 2026 on adobe.com. Prices rounded up to the next euro, except those ending in .99.

Lightroom on mobile
€0
The iPhone and Android app is free for editing and sharing; advanced features need the subscription. On desktop, only a 7 day trial is free.
Lightroom
€15 a month
On desktop, mobile and web, with Lightroom Classic, 1 TB of storage and 250 AI credits a month. One year commitment, paid monthly, or €144 a year upfront.
Photography
€23.99 a month
Lightroom, Lightroom Classic and Photoshop, with 1 TB of storage and 1,000 AI credits a month. One year commitment, paid monthly.
Creative Cloud Pro
€79 a month
Lightroom, Photoshop, Premiere, Illustrator and over 20 Adobe apps, with 4,000 AI credits a month. A €40 promotion for 3 months was shown on the day prices were checked.

Prices including VAT shown for France. On desktop, the only free version is a 7 day trial. See the official pricing page ↗

What replaces Lightroom

The main alternative

LightCraft

🟢 Beginner⏱️ ~5 min to installSave €15/mo

LightCraft is an open source rewrite of Lightroom, built from scratch by the ArtCraft team. You find the library (albums, stars, flags, search) and non-destructive development: light, curves, color mixer, color grading wheels, brush, gradient and color range masks, spot healing, HDR and panorama merge, presets. It reads RAW files from most Sony, Fujifilm, Nikon, Panasonic and older Canon cameras, and reads back the Lightroom settings saved in XMP files. MIT or Apache 2.0 license, free on Mac, Windows and Linux, with no account and no cloud. The catch: it is an alpha released at the end of September 2026, which the team rates 49% ready for a professional photographer. Its subject and sky selection does not use AI yet.

Loucash’s verdict on LightCraft

6/10

After PhotoCraft and FilmCraft, the same team takes on Lightroom. You find the library, non-destructive development, masks and presets, and your settings saved in XMP are read back. What may bite: it is an alpha, released at the end of September. The team itself rates it 64% ready for personal use, but only 49% for a professional photographer: colors from some cameras are still approximate, and subject selection, sky selection and denoise have no AI yet. For culling and developing your personal photos, it is worth a try. For a wedding to deliver, keep Lightroom for now.

Who it is for: You cull and develop your travel and family photos or your visuals, you pay for Lightroom mostly for the library, the sliders and the presets, and you want to stop the subscription. If you live on AI masks, denoise or client shoots, keep Lightroom for now.

See the full page →See the tool ↗

LightCraft versus Lightroom: the match

Price
LightCraft
€0, on every platform
Lightroom
€15/month, one year commitment
Account and cloud
LightCraft
No account, no cloud, your photos stay on your machine
Lightroom
Adobe account, 1 TB of cloud included
Your Lightroom settings
LightCraft
Read back from XMP files
Lightroom
Its native catalog

Lightroom ↗

VS	LightCraft	Lightroom ↗
Price	€0, on every platform	€15/month, one year commitment
Account and cloud	No account, no cloud, your photos stay on your machine	Adobe account, 1 TB of cloud included
Your Lightroom settings	Read back from XMP files	Its native catalog
AI masks and denoise	Not yet: subject and sky without AI	Included
Maturity	Alpha, released in September 2026	Almost 20 years of development

The prompt that installs LightCraft

Paste this prompt into Claude: it checks the repository, asks you its questions and installs the tool step by step.

Je veux installer LightCraft (la bibliothèque de photos et le développeur RAW open source qui reprend Lightroom, dépôt GitHub officiel storytold/lightcraft, site getartcraft.com/apps/lightcraft) à la place d’un abonnement Adobe. Guide-moi pas à pas et pose-moi des questions si besoin. Repère d’abord mon système (macOS, Windows ou Linux) et mon processeur (Apple Silicon, Intel, x64 ou ARM). Télécharge ensuite la dernière version publiée dans les releases du dépôt storytold/lightcraft, ou sur la page officielle getartcraft.com/apps/lightcraft, en prenant le fichier qui correspond : l’image disque universelle sur Mac, l’installateur .msi sur Windows (x64, ARM64 ou 32 bits), l’AppImage, le paquet .deb, le paquet .rpm ou le Flatpak sur Linux. Vérifie l’empreinte SHA-256 du fichier avec le fichier SHA256SUMS.txt publié avec la même version, et arrête-toi si elle ne correspond pas. Installe l’appli et vérifie qu’elle démarre. Si macOS bloque l’ouverture, explique-moi comment l’autoriser dans Réglages Système, sans désactiver la sécurité de mon Mac. Rappelle-moi que LightCraft est encore en alpha : je garde une sauvegarde de mes photos d’origine et de mon catalogue Lightroom. Si j’utilise Claude Code, propose-moi aussi d’installer l’outil en ligne de commande lightcraft-cli de la même version et de brancher son serveur MCP (lightcraft-cli mcp), pour que tu puisses travailler à ma place. Pour finir, importe un dossier de quelques photos RAW de mon appareil, et dis-moi ce qui s’affiche bien et ce qui manque, en particulier les couleurs de mon boîtier.

Review the GitHub repository and check whether it is safe to install given my machine and my infrastructure. Ask me as many questions as possible, using widgets, to clarify my request and be as precise as you can.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Lightroom cost?: Lightroom on mobile: €0; Lightroom: €15 a month; Photography: €23.99 a month; Creative Cloud Pro: €79 a month. Prices checked on 12 October 2026 on adobe.com.
Is Lightroom free?: Partly, with limits. The iPhone and Android app is free for editing and sharing; advanced features need the subscription. On desktop, only a 7 day trial is free. Beyond that, the Lightroom plan costs €15 a month. LightCraft does the same thing for free, in open source.
What is the free equivalent of Lightroom?: LightCraft, an open source rewrite of Lightroom (MIT or Apache 2.0 license): library, non destructive editing, masks, HDR and panorama merge, presets. It reads RAW files from most cameras and picks up your Lightroom settings saved as XMP. Free on Mac, Windows and Linux, no cloud. It is still an alpha.
Can you use Lightroom for free on a computer?: No: on a computer, only a 7 day trial is free, then Lightroom costs €15 a month. The iPhone and Android app is free for editing and sharing, but advanced features need the subscription. LightCraft is free on a computer, with no subscription.
Is LightCraft really free?: Yes. LightCraft is open source: the code is public and installing it costs nothing. At most you pay for hosting if you put it on a server, often a few euros a month. Lightroom, on the other hand, costs €15 a month.
Do I need to code to install LightCraft?: No. The level is beginner and the install takes about 5 minutes with the prompt from the page: Claude does the work, you answer its questions.
How is it different from Lightroom?: LightCraft does most of what Lightroom does, without a subscription, and your data stays with you. The point by point comparison is on the page.
Do I own my data?: Yes. With an open source tool installed on your side, your files stay on your machine or your server. Nobody can close your account or change the price.

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