Subscription price hikes are frustrating and inevitable—whether it’s streaming, phone plans, or software. More photographers are searching for a powerful Lightroom alternative without expensive subscriptions. That’s why we built ON1 Photo RAW.

ON1 Photo RAW is an all-in-one photo editor with AI-powered tools for noise removal, upscaling, retouching, effects, and so much more—no extra plugins or subscriptions needed. You own it outright, making it the best Lightroom replacement in photo editing software.

Unlike big tech companies, ON1 is a passionate team that listens to photographers. With 20+ years of experience, we’re committed to high-quality, non-subscription photo editing software.

When you choose ON1, you get more than software—you join a community with free tutorials, creative assets, and world-class support, all backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Take control of your photography and ditch subscriptions today. Thousands of photographers have made the switch—join them now!

Are you ready—or at least considering—making the switch from Lightroom to ON1 Photo RAW? If so, we want to make your transition as smooth as possible. There are two common ways to move from Lightroom to ON1 Photo RAW, and both depend on how you store your photos. We’ve broken the most common method down into three simple steps to make it easier to follow. There’s also an alternative method (Path 2) that’s even simpler. Let’s get started!

Path 1

Remember, Lightroom is a non-destructive editor, so all metadata and edits are stored in Lightroom’s catalog file—not in the photos themselves. Don’t worry—we want you to retain as much as possible so your time isn’t wasted. Our Lightroom Migration Assistant helps tremendously when you’re ready to transition to ON1 Photo RAW. Here’s how to prepare:

  1. Find your photos – Connect any external drives or shares containing photos you want to migrate. Then use the Sync Folder command in Lightroom to make sure your Lightroom catalog and the actual files are up-to-date. This will add any photos that Lightroom is missing as well as remove broken links.
  2. Pre-organize – Take this opportunity to remove any photos, virtual copies or collections you don’t care about. It’s also a good time to reorganize your folders if necessary. If you have multiple catalogs, rinse and repeat.
  3. Make the Switch – Next install ON1 Photo RAW if you haven’t already. Then open Lightroom and go to the File > Plug-in Extras menu. Then select the Migrate Catalog to ON1 Photo. You will see a dialog that looks like this.

ON1 Photo RAW is the best Lightroom Alternative

The Migration Assistant will add all top-level folders from Lightroom’s Folders pane to ON1 Photo RAW’s Cataloged Folders. Your photos will be cataloged automatically, and any metadata edits from Lightroom will be transferred as well.

Things to Note about Path 1

  • What About Collections? Any normal collections, the ones you drag and drop photos into, and their contents will be copied over as Albums. If you have used collection sets, their organization will be maintained as well. Unfortunately Smart Collections will not be migrated, but you can create Smart Albums later, which are similar.
  • What About My Edits from Lightroom? Lightroom and ON1 Photo RAW are both non-destructive editors. Again, edits are stored as instructions and not pixels. While both apps do similar things, they also do similar things differently. ON1 can’t take the exact instructions Lightroom creates and produce the same results. This leads us to two additional options to consider when switching from Lightroom.

Option 1:
Make the switch from Lightroom without carrying over your edits.

Option 2:
Create copies of your photos with Lightroom edits applied.

If you create copies, the Lightroom Migration Assistant will generate copies of any edited photos in the format you choose. These copies will be stored next to the original photos.

IMPORTANT!

The migration process may take some time, especially if exporting Lightroom edits. However, you can continue using Lightroom and ON1 Photo RAW simultaneously during the process. The Migration Assistant is designed for a one-time migration of catalogs, not for ongoing syncing. If you have multiple catalogs, you can run the Migration Assistant separately for each one to merge them into a single ON1 Photo RAW library.

Things to Note about Path 2

If you store and manage photos in a folder structure, switching is easy. This method assumes that any edits you have made to your photos are stored in the photos themselves or as copies of the original photos. This is common if you have been using a pixel-based editor like Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.

Simply open ON1 Photo RAW and browse to the location where your photos are stored. If you have any top-level folders (like your My Pictures folder), set it as a Cataloged Folder by going to the File menu and selecting Add Cataloged Folder. ON1 Photo RAW will then catalog all your folders and photos.

Cataloging occurs in the background, extracting and organizing photo metadata while generating screen-sized previews for quick browsing. That’s it—you’re done!