Simply put, Adobe’s retouching tools are the standard that most other applications are compared to and judged by. And while there are a lot of other options out there, it often seems that nobody else can stand up to the dream team of apps under the Creative Cloud Suite! Also available for both Mac & PC, Photoshop (and Lightroom) are pretty much the standard go-to for image editors worldwide.

Adobe Creative Cloud – Lightroom & PhotoshopĪdobe Photoshop & Lightroom are pretty much world-renowned as the most popular and powerful photo editing combination of applications on the market. To reduce churn (user turnover), they constantly need to innovate and make big splashes, which we as the end user benefit from. Secondly, in our experience, subscription software and apps are often more commonly updated and upgraded as compared to stand alone software, so the additional revenue they’re making is often going towards heave R&D and technological improvements. First off, subscriptions remove the hassle of purchasing and installing upgrades, making the process automated or one-click. As with any corporate changes, the shifts to subscription models are likely financially motivated, but they do come with some perks. Most of the best photo editing software companies have shifted to a subscription model.

Subscription-Based Photo Editing Software and Apps You may also be interested in our list of Best Video Editing Software. We’ve rounded up some of our favorite photo editing software and separated them into three categories for you: Subscription-Based, One-Time Purchase, and Free! These are not ranked in any particular order since each one has its own strengths, and some apps have placed into two or more of the categories as well, so make sure you go through to the bottom of the list.

Software for editing photos