# Adobe Lightroom

68 Hacker News commenters recommended Adobe Lightroom and 75 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 17 years (6 owners).

**Verdict:** Recommended for its photo editing depth, AI masking, RAW support and library management. Common caveat: subscription-only pricing and a sluggish feel.

## Why people recommend it

- Strong AI masking and denoise (5 comments): "as a total package Lightroom always came out on top for me. The AI masking is a huge improvement." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48390302)) "I'm a hobbyist, and the new "AI" masking has saved me a lot of time during my edits." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47825277)) "The AI features in Lightroom, for example, are very well received by photographers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48386185))
- Editing features ahead of alternatives (4 comments): "I can’t think of a time where I’ve been unable to achieve my color goals in still photography with PS’s or Lightroom’s tools." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47763297)) "its photo editing features (it's primary mission) still exceed the capabilities of its competitors" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47825055)) "LR's editing has made huge strides on top of something that was already top notch." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47825648))
- Strong library management and batch work (4 comments): "Lightroom has very good support for previews, decoupling the library metadata from the physical media" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47765395)) "Lightroom is designed around editing lots of photos. It has tons of batch processing features" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47825754)) "Library management is where Lightroom (and honestly CaptureOne) still wins" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49615557))
- Broad RAW and camera support (3 comments): "if you bought Pro today it'd work with all current gen cameras from the major manufacturers, and probably get updates for a couple of years" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47831772)) "One thing that LR does well is leverage Adobe Camera Raw and its great support for many raw formats." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47761918)) "Meanwhile Lightroom can export 16-bit PNGs, wide-gamut, true HDR, HDR gain maps, JPEG XL, etc, etc." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47762058))

## What people warn about

- Subscription pricing adds up (7 comments): "It's a tough time to charge a subscription for something that's getting actively commoditized." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47824884)) "I can get the 300 GBP it costs me to have Lightroom and Photoshop for one year" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48199136)) "For about the price of 1/year subscription, I could have purchased a fixed version of Lightroom with support for my camera and not had to buy it again for another 10 years." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47264940))
- Slows down with updates (2 comments): "I like how Lightroom simplifies a lot of the editing process. I swear it gets slower and slower with every update." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47761967)) "I have no idea wtf it lags when I open and close panels on a pretty hefty desktop" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47825239))
- Limited masking and automated looks (3 comments): "Lightroom's selection/masking tools are pretty good and for basic tasks it is fine, but the masking workflow is (IMHO) fundamentally limited" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48397301)) "Lightroom courses will brainwash you that AI "select subject, select sky, select object" workflow is the only modern way" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48391588)) "Even lightroom you are just using the algorithm they decided for you already with parameters they decided are fine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46981777))
- Confusing interface and buttons (2 comments): "I can't even tell which buttons are supposed to be clickable and which are disabled/grayed out." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48021896)) "I don't think the UX of LR and Photoshop is particularly good, especially in recent years." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49099960))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Photopea](https://hackerapproved.com/p/photopea.md): 84 recommend
- [Pixelmator Pro](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pixelmator-pro.md): 29 recommend
- [DaVinci Resolve Photo Editor](https://hackerapproved.com/p/davinci-resolve-photo-editor.md): 23 recommend
- [PhotoCraft](https://hackerapproved.com/p/photocraft.md): 22 recommend
- [DxO PhotoLab](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dxo-photolab.md): 12 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-lightroom.html)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Adobe Lightroom", https://hackerapproved.com/p/adobe-lightroom/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).