# Alternatives to Darktable

Open source Lightroom alternative.

Darktable ranks #2 of 8 in RAW photo editors, with an Alt Score of 91. It is licensed under GPL-3.0, free from Free and available on Windows, macOS and Linux. 10 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/darktable/
Category: RAW photo editors

## Where Darktable stands out

- **Open source** — 3 of 8 apps with a verified answer have this

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: Photographers who shoot RAW and want a professional, non-destructive editing workflow — from hobbyists to working pros who need precise color management and control over their images.
- **What you get**: A free, open-source RAW developer and digital asset manager built around two views: the lighttable for browsing, tagging, and organizing images, and the darkroom for developing them. All edits are non-destructive, stored as instructions so the original RAW file is never altered, and the app supports GPU-accelerated processing with professional color management suitable for print.
- **How it works**: You import RAW images into darktable's database, organize and cull them in the lighttable, apply edits and adjustments in the darkroom, then export the finished images to your desired format.

## Profile

- **License**: GPL-3.0 (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Pricing model**: Free (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Starts at**: Free (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux
- **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-10)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [Capture One](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/capture-one.md) | 91 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS |
| 2 | [ON1 Photo RAW](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/on1-photo-raw.md) | 91 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS |
| 3 | [ACDSee](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/acdsee.md) | 82 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS |
| 4 | [DxO PhotoLab](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/dxo-photolab.md) | 82 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS |
| 5 | [Lightroom](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/lightroom.md) | 82 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android |
| 6 | [digiKam](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/digikam.md) | 64 | GPL-2.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 7 | [RawTherapee](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/rawtherapee.md) | 60 | GPL-3.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

## Feature comparison

Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified).

| RAW photo editors checklist | Darktable | Capture One | ON1 Photo RAW | ACDSee | DxO PhotoLab | Lightroom |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free | Subscription | One-time | One-time | One-time | Subscription |
| Starts at | Free | $18.00/month | $99.99 | $39.95 | €149.99 | US$14.99/month |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS | Windows, macOS | Windows, macOS | Windows, macOS | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Web |
| RAW format coverage | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Non-destructive editing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Lens corrections | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AI denoising | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Local adjustments (masks) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tethered shooting | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Yes |
| Catalog / library management | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| One-time purchase option | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Open source | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Plugins | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |

## Sources

Sources for Darktable. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

- **Starts at**: Free — <https://www.darktable.org/install/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: No paid tier.
  - Quote: “Source Code darktable-5.6.0.tar.xz AppImage Darktable-5.6.0-x86_64.AppImage Windows darktable-5.6.0-win64.exe ... macOS darktable-5.6.0-arm64.dmg”
- **License**: GPL-3.0 — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/darktable-org/darktable/master/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 3, 29 June 2007”
- **Pricing model**: Free — <https://www.darktable.org/install/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Direct free binary downloads, no purchase; GPL-3.0.
  - Quote: “Source Code darktable-5.6.0.tar.xz AppImage Darktable-5.6.0-x86_64.AppImage Windows darktable-5.6.0-win64.exe ... macOS darktable-5.6.0-arm64.dmg”
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/darktable-org/darktable/master/README.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “* Linux
* FreeBSD
* NetBSD
* OpenBSD
* Windows 10 and later
* Apple Silicon Macs running macOS 14 and later
* Intel Macs running macOS 15 and later”
- **Status**: active — <https://www.darktable.org/2026/06/darktable-5.6.0-released/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “We're proud to announce the new feature release of darktable, 5.6.0!”
- **RAW format coverage**: Yes — <https://www.darktable.org/about/features/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Image formats: darktable can import a variety of standard, raw and high dynamic range image formats (e.g. JPEG, CR2, NEF, HDR, PFM, RAF … ).”
- **Non-destructive editing**: Yes — <https://www.darktable.org/about/features/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Non-destructive editing throughout the complete workflow, your original images are never modified.”
- **Lens corrections**: Yes — <https://darktable.gitlab.io/doc/en/modules.html#lens_correction> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “This module is able to correct certain lens flaws, namely distortions, transversal chromatic aberrations (TCA) and vignetting.”
- **AI denoising**: Yes — <https://www.darktable.org/2026/06/meet-darktable-5.6-ai-tools/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: darktable 5.6 (June 2026); disabled by default, enabled in preferences.
  - Quote: “a neural restore module for ML-based denoise and upscale”
- **Local adjustments (masks)**: Yes — <https://darktable.gitlab.io/doc/en/mask_manager.html> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “The masks manager panel is the central place where you manage all masks and shapes within the context of the current image.”
- **Tethered shooting**: Yes — <https://www.darktable.org/about/features/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Tethered shooting: support for instrumentation of your camera with live view for some camera brands.”
- **Catalog / library management**: Yes — <https://www.darktable.org/about/features/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Filtering and sorting: search your image collections by tags, image rating (stars), color labels and many more, use flexible database queries on all metadata of your images.”
- **One-time purchase option**: No — <https://www.darktable.org/install/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Free OSS; no purchase option.
  - Quote: “Source Code darktable-5.6.0.tar.xz AppImage Darktable-5.6.0-x86_64.AppImage Windows darktable-5.6.0-win64.exe ... macOS darktable-5.6.0-arm64.dmg”
- **Open source**: Yes — <https://www.darktable.org/about/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “darktable is an open source photography workflow application and raw developer.”
- **Plugins**: Yes — <https://www.darktable.org/about/features/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Extensibility via Lua scripting, not a plugin marketplace.
  - Quote: “Automate repetitive tasks: Many aspects of darktable can be scripted in Lua.”

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/