# Free alternatives to Adobe Photography plan

> Adobe Photography plan (Photography (1TB)) costs $239.88 a year. Free alternatives: darktable, GIMP, RawTherapee, LightCraft and PhotoCraft. Data checked 2026-10-17.

- Page: https://stoprenting.dev/apps/adobe-photography/
- Category: Photo (https://stoprenting.dev/categories/photo/)
- Vendor: Adobe
- Plan: Photography (1TB)
- Price: $19.99/month, $239.88/year
- Billing: paid yearly
- Price quote from the vendor's page: "Choose a subscription Annual, billed monthly US$19.99/mo Fee applies of up to half your remaining annual commitment if you cancel after Oct 31 Annual, prepaid US$239.88/yr No refund if you cancel after Oct 31 Monthly US$29.99/mo Cancel anytime, no fee"
- Price source: https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography/compare-plans.html (checked 2026-10-17)

## Alternatives

### darktable

- Website: https://www.darktable.org
- Repository: https://github.com/darktable-org/darktable (13,274 stars, last push 2026-10-17)
- License: GPL-3.0
- Open source: yes, OSI-approved license
- Type: desktop app
- Linux: Arch extra: darktable; Flathub: org.darktable.Darktable
- Self-hostable: no
- Install: `sudo pacman -S darktable`, `flatpak install flathub org.darktable.Darktable`
- Note: As a Lightroom stand-in: no phone app or cloud sync, and its editing workflow takes real time to learn.
- More: https://stoprenting.dev/alternatives/darktable/
- Checked: 2026-10-17

### GIMP

- Website: https://www.gimp.org
- Repository: https://github.com/GNOME/gimp (6,511 stars, last push 2026-10-17)
- License: GPL-3.0-or-later
- Open source: yes, OSI-approved license
- Type: desktop app
- Linux: Arch extra: gimp
- Self-hostable: no
- Install: `sudo pacman -S gimp`
- Note: As a Photoshop stand-in: layered PSDs open, but adjustment layers, smart objects and most layer styles don't carry over.
- More: https://stoprenting.dev/alternatives/gimp/
- Checked: 2026-10-17

### RawTherapee

- Website: https://rawtherapee.com
- Repository: https://github.com/RawTherapee/RawTherapee (4,236 stars, last push 2026-10-13)
- License: GPL-3.0
- Open source: yes, OSI-approved license
- Type: desktop app
- Linux: Arch extra: rawtherapee; Flathub: com.rawtherapee.RawTherapee
- Self-hostable: no
- Install: `sudo pacman -S rawtherapee`, `flatpak install flathub com.rawtherapee.RawTherapee`
- Note: As a Lightroom stand-in: a raw developer with a file browser only, no catalog, collections or keyword search.
- More: https://stoprenting.dev/alternatives/rawtherapee/
- Checked: 2026-10-17

### LightCraft

- Website: https://getartcraft.com/apps/lightcraft
- Repository: https://github.com/storytold/lightcraft (13,439 stars, last push 2026-10-17)
- License: MIT or Apache-2.0 (both LICENSE files in the repo root)
- Open source: yes, OSI-approved license
- Type: desktop app
- Linux: AppImage, .deb, Flatpak and .rpm on GitHub releases
- Self-hostable: no
- Note: Alpha first released in September 2026; its makers put it at about half of what a working photographer needs.
- More: https://stoprenting.dev/alternatives/lightcraft/
- Checked: 2026-10-17

### PhotoCraft

- Website: https://getartcraft.com/apps/photocraft
- Repository: https://github.com/storytold/photocraft (66,187 stars, last push 2026-10-17)
- License: MIT or Apache-2.0 (both LICENSE files in the repo root)
- Open source: yes, OSI-approved license
- Type: desktop app
- Linux: AppImage, .deb, Flatpak and .rpm on GitHub releases
- Self-hostable: no
- Note: Early alpha first released in September 2026; its own docs say it isn't yet ready for daily professional work.
- More: https://stoprenting.dev/alternatives/photocraft/
- Checked: 2026-10-17

## FAQ

### Is there a free alternative to Adobe Photography plan?

Yes. The 5 free alternatives are darktable (open source, GPL-3.0), GIMP (open source, GPL-3.0-or-later), RawTherapee (open source, GPL-3.0), LightCraft (open source, MIT or Apache-2.0) and PhotoCraft (open source, MIT or Apache-2.0).

### How much does Adobe Photography plan cost?

Adobe Photography plan's Photography (1TB) plan costs $19.99 a month, which is $239.88 a year (paid yearly). Source: the official pricing page at adobe.com, checked Oct 17, 2026.

### Which Adobe Photography plan alternatives run on Linux?

darktable (Arch extra: darktable; Flathub: org.darktable.Darktable), GIMP (Arch extra: gimp), RawTherapee (Arch extra: rawtherapee; Flathub: com.rawtherapee.RawTherapee), LightCraft (AppImage, .deb, Flatpak and .rpm on GitHub releases) and PhotoCraft (AppImage, .deb, Flatpak and .rpm on GitHub releases).

### Can you self-host a Adobe Photography plan alternative?

darktable, GIMP, RawTherapee, LightCraft and PhotoCraft are desktop apps that run on your own machine, so there's nothing to host.

### Are these Adobe Photography plan alternatives open source?

Yes. All 5 use OSI-approved open-source licenses: darktable (GPL-3.0), GIMP (GPL-3.0-or-later), RawTherapee (GPL-3.0), LightCraft (MIT or Apache-2.0) and PhotoCraft (MIT or Apache-2.0).

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Source: Stop Renting (https://stoprenting.dev). Methodology: https://stoprenting.dev/methodology/