10 Photo-Editing Apps Worth Installing in 2025

Looking for the best photo-editing apps in 2025—from pro-grade desktop suites to free mobile photo editor apps—so you can transform raw shots into scroll-stopping images? You’re in the right place. In this guide we break down the top AI-powered photo editors, Lightroom alternatives, and easy phone editing tools that dominate today’s market. Whether you need cloud-synced RAW editing software for client work, a quick one-tap filter app for Instagram, or a budget-friendly free photo editor, our curated list spotlights feature sets, pricing, and platform support to help you pick the perfect match for your workflow—and boost your creative output in 2025. 
(With honest prices, and several that cost exactly $0)

1. Adobe Lightroom

• Platforms: iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Web

• Price: US $11.99 / month for the 1 TB Lightroom plan, or US $14.99 / month for the Photography Plan that bundles Photoshop. Annual pre-pay remains US $119.88. 

• Why it stands out: Lightroom is still the gold standard for non-destructive RAW editing. In 2025 Adobe doubled-down on AI: the Generative Remove brush deletes power lines in seconds, while Firefly-powered preset suggestions scan your catalog and propose matching looks. All edits sync through Creative Cloud, so you can start on a phone, refine on an iPad, and finish on a 4-K monitor without exporting a single file. Integrated community tutorials, camera-matching profiles, and seamless hand-offs to Photoshop make it the most complete “camera-to-cloud” workflow in the business.

2. Snapseed

• Platforms: iOS, Android

• Price: Completely free, no ads and no in-app purchases. 

• Why it stands out: Google’s sleeper hit packs 29 tools—Healing, Perspective, Curves, Selective, HDR, and more—into a tidy 35 MB download. Its Stacks system works like Photoshop layers but auto-records every step so you can jump back anywhere in the chain. Update 3.0 (February 2025) added a portrait-relighting kit that analyzes facial geometry and lets you spin a virtual key-light around your subject. If you only install one free phone editor, this is it.

3. Adobe Photoshop Express

• Platforms: iOS, Android

• Price: Core tools free; Premium unlock US $4.99 / month or US $34.99 / year. 

• Why it stands out: Think of it as “Photoshop Lite + social glue.” You get layers, blend modes, content-aware erase, and the same Sky Replace panel found in big-brother Photoshop. The Premium tier now adds Generative Fill and 100 GB of Adobe cloud storage—handy if you’re already paying for Creative Cloud but want edits ready for Instagram in under a minute.

4. Picsart

• Platforms: iOS, Android, Web

• Price: Basic editor free; Picsart Pro currently US $7 / month when billed annually. Picsart

• Why it stands out: Picsart is part editor, part Canva, part TikTok. Drop a shot in, choose from hundreds of AI filters, add motion stickers, and export straight to Reels. The 2025 update brought AI Expand, which invents new background area so vertical pics can fill a 16:9 YouTube frame. If your workflow is “shoot->edit->post,” Picsart removes friction.

5. VSCO

• Platforms: iOS, Android

• Price: VSCO Plus US $29.99 / year (≈ US $2.50 / month); VSCO Pro US $19.99 / month for video support and commercial-use licensing. 

• Why it stands out: Film emulations are still the best in class—Kodak Portra, Fuji 160 NS, and Ilford HP5 all feel uncannily right. New in 2025, Tone Split lets you skew highlights toward one film stock and shadows toward another, then save that recipe for one-tap reuse. The in-app community remains refreshingly critique-oriented, not like-chasing.

6. Darkroom

• Platforms: iOS, iPadOS, macOS

• Price: US $6.99 / month, US $39.99 / year, or US $99.99 lifetime. 

• Why it stands out: No import step—Darkroom hooks straight into Apple Photos, edits original ProRAW files, and writes nondestructive adjustments back into the library. You get desktop-grade curves, batch copy/paste, and 3-D depth masks that auto-detect foreground and background on iPhone portrait shots. The UI feels like the native Photos app on caffeine—everything in reach, nothing wasteful.

7. Affinity Photo 2

• Platforms: macOS, Windows, iPadOS

• Price: One-time US $69.99 per platform, or US $164.99 for the Universal V2 Suite (Photo, Designer, Publisher) across all devices. 

• Why it stands out: Affinity is the only pro-level bitmap editor that still sells a perpetual license. Version 2 adds live mesh warp, compound masks, and 32-bit HDR compositing. Its Astrophotography Stack Persona aligns and averages night-sky exposures automatically—a favorite among Milky Way shooters. If you refuse subscriptions, this is your Photoshop.

8. Photomator

• Platforms: iOS, iPadOS, macOS

• Price: Free basics; US $7.99 / month, US $29.99 / year, or US $119.99 lifetime. 

• Why it stands out: Built by the Pixelmator team, Photomator leans hard on machine learning. ML Enhance corrects white balance, exposure, and color cast in a single click, while Subject Lift cuts a subject from background as a fully editable mask—great for composite posters. Deep iCloud Photos integration means edits are written back into your Apple library metadata.

9. Luminar Neo

• Platforms: macOS, Windows (mobile add-on available)

• Price: Perpetual desktop license US $119; cross-device perpetual US $159. 

• Why it stands out: Luminar is the king of one-click wow. SkyAI swaps gray skies for sunset panoramas; GenErase removes crowds and fills gaps with context-aware patterns; RelightAI rebuilds depth maps so you can brighten a backlit face without blowing out the horizon. The modular Extensions system now includes Focus Stacking and Panorama Stitcher, so landscape shooters can ditch multiple plug-ins.

10. GIMP 3.0

• Platforms: macOS, Windows, Linux

• Price: Free and open-source (current stable release 3.0.4, May 18 2025). 

• Why it stands out: After seven years of development, GIMP 3.0 finally switched to GTK 4 for a modern UI and added native AVIF/HEIF support, multi-layer selection, and non-destructive live filters. There’s full Python 3 scripting, and the plug-in library rivals Photoshop’s for niche tasks. If you love tweaking code—or just hate paying—GIMP makes pro-level editing totally free.

Which One Should You Install?

Whatever your budget—free, one-time, or monthly—there’s a 2025 editor tailored to your style and wallet. Install a couple, experiment with their strengths, and your photos (and clients) will thank you.