Darktable vs Lightroom: Which Photo Editor Actually Feels Better to Use in 2025

Are you trying to figure out which photo editor is best for tweaking colors, contrast, brightness, exposure, and more to make your photos truly stand out in 2025? Choosing the right editing software isn’t always simple, but don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.In this article, you’ll see a detailed comparison between two excellent photo editors, Darktable and Lightroom. Whether you’re a casual user or a professional photographer, this guide will help you easily decide which one fits your needs best.

I’ve spent about 10 months working with both Darktable vs Lightroom to see if one can truly replace the other. After a thorough hands-on experience, I found that comparing Darktable and Lightroom is a bit like comparing apples and oranges; they each have their strengths. Still, I did notice some key differences during my time using both, and I’ll share those insights with you here.

Darktable or Lightroom? A Fast Overview to Help You Choose

Right off the bat, Lightroom feels smoother. It’s more polished, more modern, and honestly, just easier to use if you’re not super technical.Everything is where you’d desire it to be. It syncs across your phone and computer, too, which is a big win if you’re editing on the go.

Darktable, on the other hand, feels a bit more raw. Not in a bad way, though! It’s a type of like using a powerful open-source tool that gives you full power but expects you to know what you’re doing.There’s a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, it’s surprisingly capable.

Darktable vs Lightroom: Comparison Table

Features	Darktable	Lightroom
User-interface	Complex	Easy
Slider for smaller adjustments	✅	❌
Open-source	✅	❌
Non-destructive editing	✅	✅
Slideshow, Map, and Printing modules	✅	✅
Tethering module	✅	✅
Metadata	right-hand column	right-hand column
Define an import location	❌	✅
Add keywords (tags) and metadata	✅	✅
Keyboard shortcuts	✅	✅
Ability to find focus points	✅	✅
Control over Presets	Less	More
File management	Rather complex	Relatively simple
Navigation process	Less straightforward	More straightforward
Catalog system	minimal	Fleshed out
Ability to drag and drop images	Not available	Available
Mobile-friendly version	❌	✅

Darktable or Lightroom? Key Features Compared

Before choosing between Darktable and Lightroom, it’s important to understand the key features that can help you decide which one suits you best. So, let’s take a closer look at the main features of both Darktable and Lightroom to give you a better idea of what each offers. Let’s dive in

Key Features of Lightroom

Lightroom is available on both mobile and desktop, so you can easily use it on your Android, iPhone, or PC and sync your work seamlessly across devices.
One of Lightroom’s biggest time-savers is its presets these are ready-made editing settings and effects that you can apply to your photos with just one click. Plus, once you’ve edited an image, you can save those settings and quickly apply them to other photos, speeding up your entire workflow.
The library filter is another handy feature. It helps you quickly find any photo from a large collection by searching through text or image attributes, so you never waste time scrolling endlessly.
If you’re working with a lot of images, Lightroom’s batch editing lets you apply the same adjustments and filters to hundreds of photos at once. Instead of editing each picture individually, you can edit over 500 images from the same category in just a few clicks.
For detailed editing, Lightroom offers adjustment brushes that let you control the size, flow, density, and effect strength so you can fine-tune specific parts of your photo after making overall changes.
You can also easily copy adjustments from one photo and paste them onto another. In the Develop Module, click the “Previous” button or use the copy-paste feature to transfer settings between images.
The Lens Blur tool is great for making your subject pop by blurring the background, giving your photos a professional, focused look.
Because Lightroom uses non-destructive editing, you can apply filters and changes without worrying about losing your original image it always stays safe and untouched.
Besides these, Lightroom has plenty of other useful tools for basic edits like cropping, resizing, and adjusting color, contrast, brightness, and saturation to help you perfect every shot.

Key Features of Darktable

Darktable isn’t available on mobile devices. It runs on Linux, macOS, Solaris, and Windows instead.
Just like Lightroom, it offers a solid set of basic editing tools, such as cropping, rotating, exposure control, tone mapping, color transfer, noise reduction, watermarking, highlight recovery, spot removal, and more.
It supports importing a wide variety of image formats, including standard files and raw formats like JPEG, CR2, NEF, RAF, and others.
Similar to Lightroom, you can organize your photos by using tags, color labels, and metadata to sort through large collections easily.
Editing in Darktable is also non-destructive, meaning your original images stay untouched while you make adjustments.
One unique feature is how it handles white balance instead of the usual temperature sliders; Darktable lets you specify the exact color of the light source, which can give your photos a more refined and natural look through its color calibration module.
If your lenses cause distortion, vignetting, or chromatic aberrations, Darktable’s lens correction module can fix those problems effectively.
It also includes several tools to enhance local contrast and sharpness, such as the contrast equalizer, local contrast adjustment, and sharpening modules, giving you plenty of control to fine-tune your images.

Darktable vs Lightroom: Advantages and Disadvantages

Choosing between Darktable and Lightroom isn’t always easy just by looking at their key features. That’s why it’s important to also consider the pros and cons of each photo editing program before making a final decision. Let’s take a closer look at what each one brings to the table.

Pros & Cons of Lightroom

Pors

Built-in catalog system for easy photo organization
Supports editing images in a wide range of formats
Syncs seamlessly with other devices and editing software
Batch editing lets you process hundreds of photos quickly.
Limited options when it comes to graphic design features

Cons

Limited image manipulation tools compared to some other editors
No option for local printing within the software
Few features for graphic design purposes
Blend modes are not supported

Darktable vs Lightroom: Pros and Cons

We can’t make our selection easier just by looking at the key features of Darktable and Lightroom. So, it’s important to check some pros and cons of both these great photo editing programs to help us choose better. Let’s talk about their pros and cons:

Advantages and Disadvantages of Darktable

Advantages

Full control over RAW image processing
Built-in modules for printing, slideshows, and tethered shooting
Efficient catalog system for managing photos
Supports non-destructive editing
Includes all essential tools for enhancing images

Disadvantages

Can experience lag on some computers
No mobile version is available
Less effective at managing shadow details compared to some alternatives

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Nope, it’s desktop-only for now.

Yes, That’s one of its best selling points: it’s free and open-source.

Both are safe to use. Adobe backs Lightroom, while a dedicated open-source community maintains Darktable.

Final Thoughts: Which One Should You Choose?

If you’re still wondering whether Darktable can be used instead of Lightroom, the short answer is yes, it definitely can. Both offer similar tools for managing files and editing photos. Darktable’s interface might feel a bit tricky at first, but what sets it apart is that it’s open-source and totally free. On the downside, it doesn’t have as many features as Lightroom’s paid version, which is more powerful overall.

Also, keep in mind that Darktable only works on laptops or desktops since there’s no mobile app yet. So, if you need to edit photos on your phone or tablet, you’ll have to go with Lightroom’s mobile app, or if you want to experiment, try the Lightroom Mod APK.

Darktable vs Lightroom: Which Photo Editor Actually Feels Better to Use in 2025

Darktable or Lightroom? A Fast Overview to Help You Choose

Darktable vs Lightroom: Comparison Table