Try a Free Lightroom Alternative
The Develop workspace in Photobun is a free alternative to Adobe Lightroom for editing RAW photos. It uses the panel layout and slider names Lightroom users know, imports Lightroom and Camera Raw .xmp presets, and runs in your browser with no subscription and no sign-up. Photobun is an independent product and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Adobe. Lightroom is a trademark of Adobe.
How to Try a Free Lightroom Alternative
- Drag your RAW files onto the page; they open in the Develop workspace. Add JPEGs with File › Import Photos to Develop.
- Rate and flag the shoot in the Library grid, then switch to Develop to edit.
- Import your Lightroom or Camera Raw .xmp presets, or set Basic, Tone Curve, HSL and Color Grading by hand.
- Sync settings across the set and batch export JPEG, PNG or WebP.
Familiar panels and names
Basic, Tone Curve, Color Mixer (HSL), Color Grading, Detail, Lens Corrections, Transform, Effects and Calibration follow Lightroom's names and ranges, so your habits carry over.
Bring your presets
Import .xmp presets saved from Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw and apply them with one click. Settings without an equivalent are skipped, and you can save your own presets.
Library, ratings and batch work
Grid and filmstrip views, star ratings and flags, copy, paste and sync settings, and batch export with resizing and file naming.
Free and private
No subscription, no account and no upload. RAW files are decoded in your browser with LibRaw and stay on your computer.
A Lightroom subscription makes sense for professionals who use the whole ecosystem, but many photographers mainly need to sort a shoot, fix exposure and colour, and export JPEGs. A free Lightroom alternative that keeps the same vocabulary lets you do that without a monthly fee or new terms to learn.
Photobun is open about the gaps: there are no AI masks, no automatic lens profiles, no sync between devices and no phone app. Distortion and vignetting are corrected by hand, and DNG files can use their embedded lens corrections. Edits, ratings and presets are kept in your browser, not in a cloud account.
What you get instead is a fast start: open a page, drop in your RAW files and edit. Photos up to about 50 megapixels work comfortably. Because Develop and the Photoshop-style layer editor live in the same app, you can go from a developed RAW to a retouched composite without exporting and re-importing.
Frequently asked questions
Is Photobun a full replacement for Lightroom?
It covers the core workflow of culling, developing and exporting RAW photos. It has no AI masking, lens profile database, cloud sync or mobile apps, so check those against your needs.
Can I use my Lightroom presets?
Yes. Presets saved as .xmp files from Lightroom or Camera Raw can be imported. Supported settings are applied and the rest are ignored, so compare the result with the original look.
Which cameras are supported?
Photobun uses LibRaw, which reads RAW files from about 1,200 cameras, including Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, OM System, Panasonic and Pentax, plus DNG. Fujifilm X-Trans files take longer to decode.
Can I retouch and use layers too?
Yes. Click Edit in Photobun to open the developed photo in the layer editor, with layers, masks, adjustment layers and healing tools. Camera Raw Filter also works on any layer.