Today there are 234 different AI photo editors. We spent 127 hours comparing the top 50 to find the seven best you can use to make use of AI to edit your photos.
What is the Best AI Photo Editor?
- Adobe Photoshop — best of the best
- Topaz Photo — best for noise reduction
- DxO PhotoLab — best for RAW images
- Capture One — best for tethered shooting
- ON1 Photo RAW — best all-in-one Lightroom and Photoshop alternative
- Photomatix Pro — best for newbies
- LightZone — best for photographers
Our Verdict — Best For Professional Photo Editors
Price: Starts at $22.99/month
Adobe Photoshop is every pro's go-to photo editor. We think it’s the best for professional photo editors because of its extensive range of editing tools, along with the seamless integration with other Adobe apps.
The Best Part:
- Seamless Adobe Suite integration. Adobe Photoshop's flawless integration with other Adobe apps, such as Lightroom, InDesign, and Illustrator, boosts your photo editing game and keeps your projects in perfect harmony.
The Worst Part:
- Pricey subscription plans. Adobe Photoshop's price tag could be a tough pill to swallow for budget-conscious photo editors.
Get it if you want a comprehensive photo editing app with robust AI capabilities and unmatched precision, control, and customization features.
I recommend you get started with the 7-day free trial, then get the annual subscription for $22.99/month.
(7-day free trial)
Best For
Adobe Photoshop is best for professional photo editors.
Top Features
- Age is but a number. Tweak facial features such as skin, hair thickness, or expressions to see with Photoshop’s Smart Portrait feature.
- Search your presets. Find specific brushes, swatches, gradients, styles, patterns, and shapes with ease with the added search functionality.
- Add some drama. Add depth to your image backgrounds with Photoshop’s Depth-Aware Haze feature, making your subject stand out beautifully.
- Reach new horizons with Neural Filters. Try out a bunch of cool AI-generated filters that transform your images in seconds, from skin smoothing to style transfer.
- Perfect object selections. Make precise selections around complex subjects and similar backgrounds with Photoshop’s Refine Edge Tool.
Pricing
Adobe Photoshop offers two pricing plans:
- Annual (paid monthly): $22.99/month for professional photo editors and photographers who want a comprehensive AI photo editing solution for the long term.
- Annual, prepaid: $263.88/year for professional photo editors and photographers who want to invest in an advanced photo editor with AI features, and prefer to save money by making a one-time annual payment.
Annual plans provide a 36% discount.
Try Adobe Photoshop today with a free 7-day trial.
2. Topaz Photo
Our Verdict — Best For Noise Reduction
Price: Starts at $39/mo
Topaz Photo is your one-stop shop for fixing photos. We think it’s the best for noise reduction and image sharpening because of its state-of-the-art denoising technology. Brace for sharpness!
The Best Part:
- State-of-the-art denoising. Topaz Photo’s denoising tools let you say adios to grainy photos, giving you crystal-clear results even in low-light conditions.
The Worst Part:
- Heavy on the wallet. Topaz Photo’s price tag may be a bit steep for some users.
Get it if you want an AI-driven photo editor that tackles noise reduction and image sharpening like no one else.
I recommend you test Topaz Photo with the free demo, then upgrade to the Personal plan.
(free demo)
Best For
Topaz Photo is best for photo enthusiasts who want a cutting-edge AI noise reduction and image sharpening software that’s easy to use.
Top Features
- Sharper than a sword. Give your images extra pop with Topaz Photo’s incredible Sharpen AI tool.
- Say goodbye to grainy pics. Wipe away noise in grainy images while preserving every detail, with Topaz Photo’s DeNoise technology.
- Zoom in to perfection. Topaz Photo’s Gigapixel feature upscales image resolution with eye-catching, high-quality results without pixelation or blurriness.
- Accelerate batch touch-ups. Breeze through multiple photos in a snap with Topaz Photo's handy batch editing, to apply filters or custom adjustments to an entire batch of images, with just a few clicks.
- Compare it on the fly. Topaz Photo offers a real-time before-and-after view, allowing you to see the impact of your edits instantly.
Pricing
Topaz Photo’s offers a single pricing plan:
- Personal: $39/mo for personal projects.
- Topaz Studio: $69/mo for full commercial use and higher export resolution.
Try Topaz Photo today with a free demo.
3. DxO PhotoLab
Our Verdict — Best For RAW Images
Price: $239.99
DxO PhotoLab is a laboratory-grade RAW developer. It squeezes the cleanest possible file out of your camera, pairing award-winning noise reduction with optical corrections built from thousands of tested camera-and-lens combinations. If pixel-level image quality is the whole point, this is the one.
The Best Part:
- Laboratory-grade image quality. Combine Photolab's DeepPRIME XD denoising plus automatic with its lens-specific corrections for control and get image quality that most apps can only dream to offer.
The Worst Part:
- No compositing tool. DxO PhotoLab is a RAW developer, with no layers and no advanced retouching, so you still hand off to Photoshop for heavy manipulation.
Get it if you shoot RAW and care most about clean files and true-to-glass corrections rather than collage-style editing.
I recommend you try DxO PhotoLab free for 30 days, then get the Elite license to get DeepPRIME.
(30-day free trial)
Best For
DxO PhotoLab is best for photographers who want laboratory-grade RAW quality and the best automatic optical corrections available.
Top Features
- Shot in the dark. PhotoLab's noise reduction tool rescues high-ISO RAW files from the dead.
- Optics Modules. Lens-specific corrections built from thousands of tested camera-and-lens profiles.
- AI Masks. Natural-looking masks for skies, people, backgrounds, and animals, within a couple of clicks.
- U Point local adjustments. Precise local edits using control points.
- Geek out. Wide-gamut color, HSL, tone curve, LUTs and ClearView haze removal are a few examples of how granular PhotoLab can get.
Pricing
DxO PhotoLab offers two pricing plans:
- PhotoLab: $239.99 one-time for new users. Existing users can upgrade for $119.99.
Try DxO PhotoLab today with a free 30-day trial.
4. Capture One
Our Verdict — Best For Tethered Shooting
Price: Starts at $18/mo
Capture One is the pro studio's RAW editor. It is the gold standard color-grading toolset outside of Photoshop, which is why commercial, fashion and product shooters live in it. Serious power, serious learning curve.
The Best Part:
- Best-in-class tethered shooting. A color editor with advanced color balance, skin-tone tools and layers gives you control most editors do not.
The Worst Part:
- Steep learning curve. And it just got more expensive after a 2026 price increase.
Get it if you shoot tethered in a studio or grade color for a living and want the deepest controls on the market.
I recommend you get started with free trial.
(7-day free trial)
Best For
Capture One is best for studio, commercial and color-critical photographers who shoot tethered.
Top Features
- Industry-leading tethered capture. Shoot straight into the app with the best tethering in the business. Tethering heaven!
- Advanced color editor. Advanced color balance and color-grading tools for critical work. Stunning colors!
- Layers and precise local adjustments. Local edits with masking for fine, precise control.
- Custom workspaces. Session and catalog workflows you can tailor to your studio.
- Brand-tuned RAW profiles. Optimized profiles for major camera systems.
Pricing
Capture One offers three pricing plans:
- Pro: $18/mo for photographers who need a full RAW editor with beautiful colors.
- All In One: $24.67/mo for mobile access and priority support.
- Studio: $48.50/mo for high-volume photographers.
Try Capture One today with a 7-day free trial
Our Verdict — Best All-In-One Lightroom And Photoshop Alternative
Price: $99.99
ON1 Photo RAW is one app that does the job of two. It rolls RAW processing, a photo organizer, layers, effects and a deep stack of AI tools into a single app... all with a one-time license. Probably the best bang for the buck in this list.
The Best Part:
- Complete workflow. Browse, edit, mask, retouch and add effects without ever leaving the app.
The Worst Part:
- It can feel heavy. Doing everything means it may run slower than focused tools, especially when you're working on very large catalogs.
Get it if you want a Lightroom-plus-Photoshop replacement in one fair-priced app.
I recommend you try ON1 Photo RAW free first, then grab the perpetual license to own it outright.
(free trial)
Best For
ON1 Photo RAW is best for photographers of any level who want to avoid subscriptions.
Top Features
- NoNoise AI. AI noise reduction that cleans up your files, and recover shots that looked like they were lost.
- Resize AI. Sharp enlargements for big prints. Times Square, here I come.
- Super Select AI. One-click subject and background masks for quick, painless editing.
- Fix it. Swap skies and erase unwanted objects with AI.
- All-in-one toolkit. Layers, effects, and AI Adaptive Presets are a few of the tools you'll find in Photo RAW.
Pricing
ON1 Photo RAW offers three pricing plans:
- Photo RAW 2026 (perpetual): $99.99 one-time, for a lifetime license for the app.
- Photo RAW MAX (perpetual): $169.99 one-time, for a lifetime license to the MAX edition with the full AI stack.
- Photo RAW MAX (subscription): $89.99/year if you prefer to subscribe.
Try ON1 Photo RAW today with a free trial.
Our Top Three Picks
Here’s a quick summary of our top three picks:
- Adobe Photoshop — best of the best
- Topaz Photo — best for noise reduction
- DxO PhotoLab — best for RAW images
Here’s a quick comparison of our top seven picks:
Tool | Entry Offer | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
Adobe Photoshop | 7-day free trial | Starts at $22.99/mo |
Topaz Photo | Free demo | Starts at $39/mo |
DxO PhotoLab | 30-day free trial | $239.99 |
Capture One | 7-day free trial | Starts at $18/mo |
ON1 Photo RAW | Free trial | $99.99 |
Photomatix Pro | Free trial | Starts at $99 |
LightZone | Free | Free |
Here are the top 50 AI photo editors we considered in this review:
- Adobe Photoshop
- Topaz Photo
- DxO PhotoLab
- Capture One
- ON1 Photo RAW
- Photomatix Pro
- LightZone
- Photo Pos Pro
- ACDSee Photo Studio
- PhotoDirector
- Fotor
- PhotoWorks
- Movavi Picverse
- PicsArt
- Pixlr
- GIMP
- PhotoScape
- Paint.NET
- Zoner Studio
- Darktable
- Canva
- Photoroom
- PicMonkey
- Snapseed
- Prisma
- Polarr
- VSCO
- InPixio
- Pixelmator Pro
- Affinity by Canva
- BeFunky
- Photopea
- IrfanView
- FastStone Image Viewer
- Hipstamatic
- RawTherapee
- Remini
- Ribbet
- Afterlight
- Google Photos
- Pixlr E
- SumoPaint
- Pho.to
- Pizap
- Lunapic
- Lumii
- Evoto
- iPiccy
- Photofiltre
- Luminar Neo
What to look for when buying AI photo editors?
- A good mobile app
- AI-powered tools that can do advanced editing for you, and carry complex photo editing tasks like composing, background removal, and object removal tools, for example
- Professional photographers should look for editors that integrate with their existing file formats of choice
- Photo enhancer algorithms that deliver consistently good results
- The ability to create the right sized images for social media posts
- A tool for creating AI-generated images
- The ability to create product photos from a source image
- Options to upscale images
- Bulk editing capabilities
- Color correction, sharpness, constrast, and other basic adjustments
- Content-aware fill functionality to fix anything in any photo
- You may want to look for hyper-specialized photo editors in your niche. Fashion content creators, for example, might want to check out AI clothes editors
The Bottom Line
To recap, here are the best AI photo editors to try this year:
- Adobe Photoshop — best of the best
- Topaz Photo — best for noise reduction
- DxO PhotoLab — best for RAW images
- Capture One — best for tethered shooting
- ON1 Photo RAW — best all-in-one Lightroom and Photoshop alternative
- Photomatix — best for newbies
- LightZone — best for photographers