The best photo-editing software today is more varied than ever. Some photo editing programs focus on the core basics: adjusting tones, colour grading, and masking for local adjustments.
Other tools incorporate things like denoising, and others still are focused on retouching, which involves removing distractions and smoothing skin rather than tweaking colors and tones.
On top of that, generative AI is transforming image editing with some of the best photo editors adding text-to-image tools that allow mundane tasks that used to take hours to be done in one click.
THE BEST PHOTO EDITING SOFTWARE OVERALL
01. Photoshop
The best photo editing software overall
SPECIFICATIONS
Platform: Windows, MacOS, iOS (iPad only)
Developer: Adobe
Price: From $9.98/£9.98 per month
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Photoshop is the number one editing software not only for photographers but for a whole host of creatives. We find that it’s most useful for retouching, quick fixes, and digital artistry than for traditional photo editing. Still, Photoshop retains its position as the industry-standard software for image manipulation and Adobe continues to maintain its lead by regularly adding game-changing new features to the software – most recently through the integration of Adobe Firefly-driven AI tools like Generative Fill and Generative Expand.
For retouching especially, we find Photoshop to be the most comprehensive option out there with its layers approach, allowing all kinds of non-destructive adjustments to be made. You can smooth over skin, remove any blemishes, and even edit facial expressions with the touch of a button using Adobe’s neural filters. In our full Photoshop 2025 review, we found the new AI features in particular allowed us to “do more work in less time.”
Of course, getting to grips with Photoshop comes with a learning curve. There are a plethora of editing features to explore, and plenty of Photoshop tutorials to help you out. You can also make use of third-party plugins, actions, and brushes to help make editing easier and speed up your workflow.
Photoshop doesn’t support native RAW image editing – for that, you need the Adobe Camera RAW plugin, which allows you to edit RAW images in Photoshop itself. There’s also Lightroom (see number 6 below) for RAW image editing, which you’ll almost certainly have access to if you subscribe to the Adobe Photography plan (it’s better value than getting one app alone).
The biggest downside of Photoshop for me is that it isn’t cheap. The monthly price at full whack can be off-putting for many. Hunting for the best Adobe Creative Cloud discounts can be a good way to soften the blow a bit, and you have the option of subscribing to Photoshop alone, a specific bundle for photographers, or the full Creative Cloud. Ready to start? Here’s how to download Photoshop.
THE BEST PHOTO EDITING SOFTWARE FOR AI
02. Skylum Luminar AI
The best photo editing software for speed
SPECIFICATIONS
Platform: Windows, MacOS
Developer: Skylum
Price: $143/£119
I’ve been using Skylum for a few years now, and this software is as innovative as it gets. The Kyiv-based photography company are always looking for new ways to make life easier for us photographers, and this software delivers in every aspect. My favourite thing about using Skylum Luminar Neo is the potential to save some of your images from the recycling bin.
Did you miss the focus on a shot by only a fraction of a second? Subject has their eye a little blurred? Is the sky completely overexposed? You can fix all of these things with Luminar Neo, using tools like SkyAI, Supercontrast, and the SupersharpAI extension with the option for focus stacking.
This photo editing software values your time and is firmly focused on speeding up your editing process, so photographers can spend less time editing and more time creating or expanding their business. It also removes the guesswork in most cases, offering suggestions for the best templates to improve your images with specific tools for portraiture, landscapes, architecture, and grayscale photographs.
THE BEST PREMIUM PHOTO EDITING SOFTWARE
03. Capture One Pro
The best premium photo editing software for studio photography
SPECIFICATIONS
Platform: MacOS and Windows
Developer: PhaseOne
Price: Approx $24 per month (billed monthly) or $34/mo for All in One bundle
Capture One Pro is the professional photo editing software that I use for almost all of my editing needs. I like it because the interface is extremely clean and easy to use without being overwhelming, yet it still has a whole host of great features to help me get my work edited efficiently.
Batch editing with Capture One is a breeze, and I haven’t found any other photo software that I rate as much as this one for speedy editing of collections and catalogues. You can simply use the command/ctrl C and V buttons to copy and paste your edits from one image to another, and use the provided presets and editing styles to apply a filter onto your images with ease. I can get 30 images edited in 10 minutes using this software.
I personally have not used the tethering tools or the Capture One mobile app – being an Android user and someone who shoots outdoors a lot of the time – but I can imagine that these features are priceless and super convenient for any photographer who does a lot of studio work and needs a fast way to share images with clients.
Overall, Capture One is a fantastic piece of software that I would highly recommend, and although it’s on the premium side, the student discount option with 65% off sweetens the deal and brings the cost down to around £62 per year in the UK.
THE BEST BUDGET PHOTO EDITING SOFTWARE
04. CyberLink PhotoDirector 365
Standard photo editing software that offers great value
SPECIFICATIONS
Platform: Windows, MacOS
Developer: CyberLink
Price: $49.99 / £13.99 per month
While Photoshop is a very powerful image-editing tool, it is quite complex, and has a daunting learning curve. Not everyone needs that – some people just want a simple photo-editing interface that’s easy to use, and for such people, we’d recommend checking out CyberLink PhotoDirector 365.
In our full review of CyberLink PhotoDirector 365, we were hugely impressed by the various AI-powered features that have been added into the latest version. Landscape photographers in particular may appreciate the AI sky replacement tool, which lets you seamlessly swap out a drab sky in an image for one with a little more drama to it. There’s also automatic body shaping, tools for editing skin and faces, as well as lighting and animation effects.
The intuitive interface is easy to get to grips with. It’s a little rough around the edges – use it long enough and you’ll start to notice little glitches, types and other things that show a slightly lack of polish. But the fundamentals of CyberLink PhotoDirector 365 are strong, and if you want a budget-friendly option for photo editing, this is a great choice.
THE BEST PHOTOSHOP ALTERNATIVE SOFTWARE
05. Affinity Photo 2
The best photo editing software that’s subscription-free
SPECIFICATIONS
Platform: Windows, MacOS, iOS (iPad only)
Developer: Serif
Price: $18.49/£17.99 (iPad) / $69.99/£67.99 (desktop)
Not keen on subscriptions and prefer to pay a one-off price? Then check out Affinity Photo. We think it’s the best single-purchase photo-editing program you can get right now and a viable alternative to Photoshop that’s much more affordable. It’s got professional-standard editing features, and it can handle RAW editing, HDR Merge, panoramic stitching, focus stacking, batch processing, 360-degree image editing, non-destructive layers-based editing and intelligent objects.
Affinity can also handle PSD files without an issue, so if you’re sick of Photoshop’s running costs and want to jump ship, you’ll still be able to work with all your in-progress files. As noted in our review, Affinity Photo doesn’t quite pack in the high-end Photoshop features like its cutting-edge neural filters. However, there is still a lot to impress. We particularly rate the Personas, essentially customised toolsets for different jobs, designed to put everything you need for particular tasks at your fingertips.
Affinity Photo is available for Windows and Mac and as a dedicated full-featured iPad app, which can all be purchased for a one-off, no subscription price. Its maker, Serif, also has a graphic design package (Affinity Designer) and a desktop publishing app (Affinity Publisher). As with Adobe’s software suite, you can transfer projects between these programs without difficulty, making for a smooth workflow. While it doesn’t include an equivalent to every feature in Photoshop, it’s pretty close, making it exceptional value.
THE BEST PHOTO EDITING SOFTWARE FOR COMPATIBILITY
06. Adobe Lightroom
The best photo editing software for traditional photo editing
SPECIFICATIONS
Platform: Windows, MacOS, iOS, Android
Developer: Adobe
Price: $9.99/£9.98 (per month)
Adobe Lightroom is one of the most used pieces of software for photo editing, but best of all are its tools for organizing images. For that reason, it’s an excellent choice for anyone working with large numbers of photos, such as photographers and designers, who typically use it in tandem with Photoshop. Lightroom helps you to organize your work by letting you keep all of your photography in one place, edit it and share it from anywhere. You can store images on your computer, iPad, iPhone or Android device and even transfer photos automatically from your phone into Lightroom as you take them.
And that’s not all. It can also handle complicated image management jobs that Photoshop isn’t designed for. For example, it makes light work of day-to-day enhancements and RAW files. Syncing is automatic, so when you make an edit or flag an image as a favourite in one place, it updates everywhere else, too.
Lightroom also offers excellent photo editing features, especially the desktop-based Adobe Lightroom Classic, which, confusingly is still getting updated by Adobe and receives many of the latest features, such as AI Denoise. But for those who are new to photography and are seeking the best ‘modern’ organizer we would recommend using ‘Lightroom’ as it is the best option for multi-device organization.
HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST PHOTO-EDITING SOFTWARE
The easiest way to decide how to choose which is the best photo editing software for you is to think about a few factors. First is what camera you use. If it is just a normal camera on a smartphone, then practically any of our choices will work with the JPEG images that these cameras tend to create.
However, you may have a mirrorless camera that can shoot in RAW format, which is the digital equivalent of a film negative and allows a lot more latitude in the editing capabilities of an image.
Second, how often will you want to make edits? If and will those changes be needed to apply to a batch of images, then a photo editing tool with robust library tools such as Adobe Lightroom may be the best choice.
FAQs :
Which software is best for photo editing?
For editing photos, Adobe Photoshop is the gold standard by which others are judged and, therefore is still our best pick for editing photos. The traditional range of editing tools is now being expanded with mind-blowingly powerful AI tools, which puts this veteran package at the cutting edge of image creation.
What is the easiest software for Photo editing
The only downside with Adobe Photoshop is that it may have too many ways to edit a photo, making it intimidating to learn, if that’s the case we would recommend Adobe Photoshop Elements as a good alternative for those who just want to quickly edit their photos easily while still having fun.
Why should I edit my Photos?
Editing Photos may seem an odd thing to do, as cameras today, whether in a smartphone or one of the latest mirrorless cameras, do such a good job at taking photos.
The answer is that a good photo edit can dramatically enhance a photograph. For example, switching from colour to a black and white version of a photo drastically changes the ‘story’ the image is telling and, therefore becomes a more compelling image than the original.
Do I need to use AI for photo editing
AI in photo editing takes many forms. Today, people often mean text-to-image generative AI. This allows us to radically transform parts of images using simple text commands.
Adobe Photoshop is leading the way in this area, and the reality is that its AI tools like Generative Fill are a game changer, allowing transformation that used to take hours to be made in a matter of seconds.