Fotomanagers: Adobe Lightroom vs. Corel Aftershot Pro 3. Which one is the best?

You use a photo manager to organize your photos, discover photos you had lost, recognize timelines and people, search for photos by location, and much more! In short; it creates order out of chaos. It brings photos together and makes your digital life more beautiful, more insightful and it brings memories back to life! We focus on the 2 biggest ones: Adobe Lightroom and Corel Aftershot Pro 3. They are both full-fledged photo managers and editors. Both programs give you a better understanding of all your photos. You collect photos from your mobile devices, your professional camera and e.g. photos on your NAS. You work with the RAW photos to bring them to an even higher quality!

To make your choice a little easier, we have looked into both programs. A photo manager is not meant to be a huge editorial tool but you can combine them. Are you looking for a photo editor as well? We have also looked into that for you: Which editing software is the best? 

Explore more photos, create albums, sort and manage

Adobe Lightroom CC and Corel Aftershot Pro 3 are both designed to help you manage your photos. They both do this in more or less the same way. You can rate photos by giving them stars, you can add information and rank the photos in different ways.

There are several options to ensure that you quickly find the right photos again. Lightroom CC also has the option of face recognition, Aftershot Pro 3 does not. By using tools like Lightroom or Aftershot you manage all your photos in 1 program: the photos from your (compact) camera, those from your mobile phone, your vacation photos etc. All your work in one place gives you peace and the programs provide the overview. 

The summary - Lightroom vs. Aftershot

There are functional differences where Corel wins over Adobe, but also vice versa. What features do you think are important? Below is the summary. Look further. Often you start with Aftershot or Lightroom and then you want more. Why not immediately buy the photo manager in combination with an editing program? This combination discount is listed in the 2nd table.

Functionality Adobe Lightroom Corel Aftershot
Additional plugins (software extensions) available?
Suitable for older & slower computers
Suitable for highest quality, RAW, photos
Discover all your photos, create order out of chaos
Photo editing
Supports high quality raw material from iOS (HEIF/HEIC)
Facial recognition
Support for new cameras included *
Synchronization with your mobile / tablet
Linking to external software
Adobe Photoshop only

Link unlimited applications
 

* Corel works with fixed versions. This means that you should check carefully whether your camera is supported. If it is supported now, it will stay supported! However, if you buy a new camera it is not guaranteed that it will work with Corel AfterShot 3. Corel will have to update the software to support the latest cameras. But whether that happens (and when it happens) and if your new camera is included can not be predicted. There is a chance that you will have to purchase the latest version of Corel Aftershot and then simply import all existing photos and albums to Corel Aftershot 4 (as soon as that version is available).

The cost.

With Adobe, you pay annually for your software. But you also get a lot in return. With Aftershot, you may even have to repurchase if you buy a new camera.

Is it possible to save on price? Yes, buy Lightroom and Photoshop from Adobe in 1 license via the Photography Plan. This will save you significantly on the cost. If you want to buy Corel Aftershot and Paintshop PRO together to have more editing options then unfortunately there is no bundle. However, it must be said that Corel by definition is already somewhat cheaper due to its one-time purchase*.

Licensing structure Adobe Lightroom Corel Aftershot
License Type Annual subscription
Every year you have to renew again.
One-time purchase
1 time payment.
Number of installations 2 computers
Mobile devices always included
1 computer
No mobile/tablet support
Software updates included
Support for new cameras included *
Available (at discount) in processing bundle Adobe Photography Plan
Lightroom & Photoshop
Corel Paintshop PRO Ultimate
Aftershot & Paintshop PRO