Darktable vs RawTherapee
Comparing two open source alternatives to Adobe Lightroom. Use the comparison below to decide which one fits your needs.

Darktable
GPL-3.0Open source photography workflow application and raw developer for organizing, editing, and exporting large photo libraries.

RawTherapee
GPL-3.0Powerful, cross-platform open source raw photo processing program and a strong alternative to Adobe Lightroom.
Side-by-side comparison
Darktable | RawTherapee | |
|---|---|---|
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Self-hostable | No | No |
| GitHub Stars | 13,393 | 4,274 |
| Forks | 1,509 | 429 |
| Open Issues | 655 | 1,053 |
| Last Commit | Nov 4, 2026 | Nov 1, 2026 |
| First Released | Mar 21, 2012 | Aug 11, 2015 |
| Categories | ||
| Tags | — | — |
GitHub stars over time
GitHub stars over time
Darktable13,393
RawTherapee
Similar open source alternatives

TagStudio
Tag and organize photos and files in place, with a tag library stored next to your folders instead of a proprietary catalog.
Alternative to:
Eagle
Eagle
LightCraft
Open-source, clean-room reimplementation of Adobe Lightroom in Rust — photo library and raw development, local-first.
Alternative to:
Adobe Lightroom
Adobe LightroomAI-assisted

Tropy
Desktop app for organising, describing and annotating photographs of archival research material.
Alternative to:
DEVONthink
DEVONthink