Best photo editing software in 2023
The best photo editing software is essential once you start taking photography more seriously, and on into the professional realm. Sure, some people get by without it, but you won’t always nail an image in camera, and if someone is paying for your images, you need to know how to fix them.
Photo editing software also gives you total control over your images, which means you can add your style to them after you’ve taken the image. Editing software also allows you to improve the quality and professionalism of your photos, before you share them with other people on social media. This helps them stand out and can also give your images originality.
Some software enables you to simply retouch images. That is, to fix issues with the exposure or colour of your photos. Whereas other software allows you to actually change the pixels and digitally alter the image itself. Whatever you want to do, though, there’s a range of editing software for you to choose from, and we’ve rounded up the best here.
- Want to edit photos on your phone? Check out the best photo editing apps.
- Turn your pictures into a gift with the best photo books
- The best cloud storage for photos and pictures: free and paid
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The best photo editing software today
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Adobe Photoshop Elements
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1. Adobe Photoshop Elements 2021
Best photo editing software overall
Our expert review:
Specifications
Platform:
Windows, MacOS
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Reasons to buy
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Organizer can automatically back up your photo and video catalog
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Face Tilt feature is useful for a huge number of portraits
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Move and Scale feature gives users more control over difficult compositions
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Works with Macs and PCs
Reasons to avoid
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Some new features are hard to locate
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Quote Graphic and Moving Photos effects were less impressive
While there aren’t a huge number of changes from last year’s version, Adobe Photoshop Elements is our pick for best photo editing software overall for its ease of use, fun creativity and underlying power. While there’s not much new from last year’s version, Adobe’s excellent interface and robust toolset— as well as the fact that Photoshop Elements works on both Macs and PCs—make it the best photo editing software around.
As before, three interfaces (Guided Edits, Quick Edits, and Expert Mode) make this program accessible for users of all experience levels. Adobe’s Sense AI can intelligently analyze and tweak your images, saving you a step or two if you’re in a hurry. And, a new subject selection tool makes it easier to create cutouts of individuals and pets, and a Smooth Skin tool is great at getting rid of wrinkles.
Read our full Adobe Photoshop Elements review. You can also learn how to add a background in Photoshop with these simple steps.
Corel PaintShop Pro
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2. Corel PaintShop Pro
Best photo editing software for novices
Our expert review:
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Specifications
Platform:
Windows
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Reasons to buy
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Great help system with integrated learning tools
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Powerful features and creative tools for advanced users
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Excellent content aware cloning
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New ability to copy/paste layer styles
Reasons to avoid
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Windows only
In many ways, Corel PaintShop Pro is superior to Photoshop Elements, as it’s a powerful program, yet is easy for novices to grasp, and has some additional tools, such as 360-degree photo editing. It’s also touch-screen compatible and has a new streamlined workspace.
PaintShop Pro (and the upgrade, PaintShop Pro Ultimate) are also usually much less expensive than Photoshop Elements, making it a bargain.The biggest knock against Corel vs. Photoshop is that while Photoshop Elements is available for both macOS and Windows PCs, PaintShop Pro is a Windows-only program.
Read our full Corel PaintShop Pro review.
Adobe Lightroom
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3. Adobe Lightroom
The best photo editing software for quick touch-ups
Specifications
Platform:
Windows, Mac, Android, iOS
Adobe Lightroom CC
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Reasons to buy
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Excellent photo editing tools
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Full-resolution cloud backup
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Autotagging of generic keywords
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Great interactive tutorials
Reasons to avoid
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Can’t rename a photo or edited version
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No side-by-side zoomable comparison of images in library
Photographers who want to quickly and easily touch up batches of photos will find no better product than Adobe Lightroom. Available not just for Windows and Macs, but also Android and iOS devices, this cloud-based program allows you to access and edit your photos anywhere, on virtually any device.
Those who want to perform more extensive edits (such as removing unwanted objects or adding multiple layers, text, and more) would be better suited with Photoshop Elements, but if you want to efficiently make your photos look better, no matter where you are, Adobe Lightroom is the best photo editing software for the task.
Read our full Adobe Lightroom review.
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4. Adobe Photoshop CC
The best photo editing software for pros
Our expert review:
Specifications
Platform:
Mac OS, Windows, iOS, Android
Reasons to buy
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Sky Replacement feature is easy to use and enormously helpful
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Refine Hair button saves a massive amount of time and labor
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Plenty of in-app help and resources
Reasons to avoid
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Some new Neural filters are a bit cheesy
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Beta versions specifically for ARM-based computers are not officially supported and lack some features
The ultimate when it comes to photo editing software, Adobe Photoshop CC has it all. This latest version increasingly relies on Sensei, Adobe’s highly touted artificial intelligence engine, to facilitate a host of impressive features. The most high-profile of these include Sky Replacement, new Refine Edge selections. Plus, Neural Filters help simplify complex workflows.
Adobe Photoshop CC is available only as a subscription service; for $53 per month, you get Photoshop as part of an entire Creative Cloud package that also includes 20 CC desktop and mobile apps like Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Premier Pro, InDesign, After Effects, plus fonts and 100GB of cloud storage. For $10 per month, you get the Photography plan, which offers Photoshop, Lightroom and Lightroom CC for the desktop and 20GB of online storage. For $20 per month you get the same Photography Plan with 1TB of online storage.
Read our full Adobe Photoshop CC review.
Affinity Photo
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5. Affinity Photo
A cross-platform budget photo editing program
Our expert review:
Specifications
Platform:
Windows, MacOS
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Reasons to buy
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Budget price
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RAW processing
Reasons to avoid
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Steep learning curve for novices
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No custom workspace
Affinity Photo offers powerful tools, resolution-independent editing, RAW processing within the interface and most of the other features that professional photographers want and need — all for less than $50. In fact, the company is currently selling the software for $25, making it even more of a bargain. While its learning curve is steeper than most, you’ll be rewarded with a robust set of features, including Photoshop-like exposure controls, paintbrushes, layers and more. It can even open, read and edit Photoshop PSD files, making for a more seamless transition between the two programs.
An update this year also added support for Smart Objects, as well as additional third-party plugins, and Canon CR3 RAW files. And, like Photoshop Elements, Affinity Photo works on both Macs and PCs. There’s even a version for iPads, too.
Read our full Affinity Photo review.
Google Photos
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6. Google Photos
Best for sharing photos
Our expert review:
Specifications
Platform:
Windows, MacOS
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Reasons to buy
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Consolidates your photo and video libraries from multiple devices
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Auto-syncing among all your devices
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Simple, quick sharing
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Free to use
Reasons to avoid
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Minimal photo-editing tools
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No user-applied keywords
Google Photos is better than any other tool for organizing and consolidating all your photo libraries, no matter where they are — which is why it’s on our list of the best photo storage services, too. It’s cross-platform, syncs across all your devices, and can also be downloaded to Android and iOS devices, too, so it’s available wherever you are. Unfortunately in June 2021, Google will no longer allow you to store an unlimited number of photos in the cloud; rather, they’ll count against your 15GB Google Drive limit.
However, in terms of editing tools, Google Photos offers only the barest minimum, helping you quickly prepare pictures for easy sharing. It does have facial recognition built in, so you can quickly search for all photos of a particular person. It also automatically tags photos by keyword, such as Sunset, Forests, Cars, and more, though you can’t tag photos yourself, or add custom keywords. It’s best used in tandem with another app that offers greater editing features, such as Adobe Photoshop Elements.
Read our full Google Photos review.
Apple Photos
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7. Apple Photos
Best free photo editor for Mac users
Our expert review:
Specifications
Platform:
MacOS
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Reasons to buy
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Free
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Simple to use
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Syncs your photo and video library through iCloud
Reasons to avoid
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Print projects available only via the desktop version
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Available only on Apple products
iPhone, iPad, and Mac users looking for a simple, free video editor would do well to check out Apple Photos. While not as robust as paid programs, Apple Photos offers plenty of tools for quickly touching up, tweaking, and sharing your pictures to family and friends.
Apple Photos also makes collages of your photos based on subject, theme, or location, such as “Four-Legged Friends” and “Best of Last 2 Months.” It can also identify faces, and let you search through photos based on themes such as Concerts, Weddings, but it’s not as comprehensive as Google Photos. Because Apple Photos syncs in the cloud, you can also connect your photo and video library across multiple devices, and if you run out of room, iCloud storage isn’t too expensive.
Read our full Apple Photos review.
GIMP
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8. GIMP
The best open-source photo editor
Our expert review:
Specifications
Platform:
Windows, MacOS, Linux
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Reasons to buy
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Free and open-source
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Nice collection of both basic and advanced photo editing tools
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Extensible via Python, Scheme and other scripting languages
Reasons to avoid
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Poor help, no real guidance
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Steep learning curve
GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free, open-source photo editor that’s beloved by many for its ability to help you get under the hood and change the source code of the program to best fit your needs. GIMP also has a powerful set of editing tools, many of which are on a par with paid software. Some of these features include the ability to create and edit layers, special-effect filters; exposure controls; and more.
Because GIMP is open-source, there’s a very active community of users who have created plugins to add even more functionality to the program. However, despite a more user-friendly interface than past versions, Gimp offers almost nothing in the way of guidance, which makes it much more difficult to learn than other photo-editing software.
Read our full Gimp Photo Editor review.
How to choose the best photo editing software for you
When deciding on the best photo editing software, you’ll first want to decide if you want to pay for it or not. Unless you’re a professional photographer, your needs will be met with any number of programs that cost less than $100. And, if all you want to do is make your selfies, food pics, and photos of your pets look nicer, you can probably get away with a free photo editing program, or even the photo editing app on your smartphone.
If you decide to go the paid route, you’ll first want to make sure the program works on your laptop or desktop computer. Virtually all software is compatible with Windows machines, but far fewer will work on Macs.
Last, you’ll want to think about how experienced you are with photo editing. Adding filters is one thing, but adjusting contrast, paintbrushing and cloning objects, and making composite images is quite another. If you’re a novice, consider photo editing software with guided edits, which will not only help you learn how to use the program, but teach you the fundamentals of editing, too.
How we test photo editing software
We considered the following criteria when evaluating the best photo editing software:
- Organizing, syncing and accessing your photo library
- Photo editing versatility and depth
- Ease of use
- Power
- Sharing options
- Device and file format support
- Creative freedom
- Fun
Each of the programs we tested didn’t try to be the end-all, be-all for everyone. Therefore, we gave the various criteria different weights in our final ratings, depending on what the program’s objective was and the kind of photographer to whom it would appeal.
Be sure to check out all of our camera picks:
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The best apps and software for editing, managing, and sharing your photos:
Best photo organizer apps | Best photo storage sites | Best photo editing apps | Best photo collage apps | Amazon photo storage vs Google Photos
Round up of today’s best deals
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Adobe Lightroom CC
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$9.99
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