Photoshop and Lightroom alternatives you buy once

Photoshop and Lightroom have been rent-only for more than ten years. If you edit photos every day for clients, the subscription may well pay for itself. If you edit a batch of holiday photos, fix the odd product shot or design a flyer a few times a year, you are paying every month for something you open a few times a year.

Below are the editors that do the same jobs without a monthly bill: some you buy once, some are free, and two are open source. Prices were checked on 2 November 2026. Adobe's prices are the German ones in euros; the others are in the currency the vendor lists.

What Adobe charges

• Photoshop on its own: €25.99 a month on an annual plan, billed monthly. Month to month without the annual commitment it is €38.98.
• The Photography plan, with Photoshop, Lightroom, Lightroom Classic and 1 TB of storage: €23.79 a month on an annual plan, which is why it is cheaper than Photoshop alone.
• Lightroom on its own with 1 TB: €14.49 a month on an annual plan.

Over five years that is about €1,430 for the Photography plan and €870 for Lightroom alone, assuming prices do not go up. The annual plans also carry an early-cancellation fee if you stop halfway through the year.

Free: Affinity

Since October 2025 Affinity, now owned by Canva, is free. Version 3 merged the old Affinity Photo, Designer and Publisher into one app for Mac and Windows, so you get layered photo editing, vector illustration and page layout in one place, without an account fee. It opens PSD files and covers most of what people use Photoshop for.

The catch: the AI tools (background removal, generative fill and expand) need a Canva Pro subscription, and you need a Canva account to sign in. Free today is a business decision by Canva, not a licence you own; the older paid version 2 still works for people who bought it but is no longer maintained.

Buy once, Mac only: Pixelmator Pro

Pixelmator Pro is now made by Apple and still sells as a one-time purchase on the Mac App Store for $49.99. It handles layers, RAW photos, retouching and machine-learning tools like upscaling and background removal, and it feels like a native Mac app because it is one.

The catch: Mac only. Since January 2026 Apple also bundles it in its Apple Creator Studio subscription ($12.99 a month), and the iPad version comes through that subscription, so it is worth watching whether new features stay in the version you buy once.

Buy once, for RAW photos: DxO PhotoLab 10

If Lightroom is the part you would miss, DxO PhotoLab is the closest paid replacement that you buy once. Version 10 came out in September 2026 at $249.99 for a perpetual licence, or $129.99 to upgrade from version 8 or 9. Its RAW noise reduction and lens corrections are the reason many photographers use it, and it has local adjustments and masking.

The catch: it is the most expensive one-off here, and you pay again for major upgrades if you want the new features. Its photo library is simpler than Lightroom's, so heavy catalogue users should try the 30-day trial first.

Open source: GIMP

GIMP is free and open source for Windows, macOS and Linux. Version 3.2, released in March 2026, added vector layers, linked layers that update when the file changes in another app, and better PSD import. For retouching, compositing and general image editing it does the job.

The catch: the interface and shortcuts differ from Photoshop, and there is no built-in RAW developer; pair it with darktable or RawTherapee for that.

Open source: darktable

darktable is the open-source answer to Lightroom: a RAW developer and photo library for Windows, macOS and Linux, editing non-destructively with a large set of modules. Your edits live in small sidecar files next to the photos, so nothing is locked into a cloud account.

The catch: it has a steep learning curve and works differently from Lightroom. Expect a few evenings before it feels quick.

Which to pick

• You want Photoshop-style editing and design for nothing: Affinity.
• You are on a Mac and want one purchase that covers most jobs: Pixelmator Pro.
• You shoot RAW and Lightroom is what you would miss: DxO PhotoLab, or darktable if you would rather pay with time than money.
• You want open source for editing and compositing: GIMP.

Before cancelling, export your Lightroom catalogue edits or at least the finished JPEGs, since other apps cannot read Lightroom's adjustments. The full list, with prices, is on the Design & Photo page. Know a photo editor without a subscription that is missing? Suggest it.