How much does Adobe Lightroom cost? Price and plan comparison (2026)

Adobe Lightroom is a modern program and mobile app for photo editing, created both for photographers and for people who just want to quickly and aesthetically improve the look of their photos.

It enables precise correction of light and colors, improvement of contrast, sharpness, and details, as well as using presets — ready-made settings that give photos a consistent and professional style with one click. 

Lightroom also allows you to organize photos into albums, catalogs, and collections, making it great for both everyday use and professional work. It is available in a mobile version, ideal for quick edits on your phone, and a desktop version offering a full range of professional tools.

Thanks to cloud synchronization, you can work on photos on any device and keep all settings in one place.

How much does Adobe Lightroom cost?

Adobe Lightroom is available only via subscription and comes in several plans that differ in content and cloud storage space. The simplest plan is Lightroom (1 TB), which includes only Lightroom in mobile and desktop versions along with 1 TB of cloud storage — it costs about 11.99 USD per month.

Next is the Photography Plan (1 TB), a package for more professional users; it includes Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, and Photoshop, and costs about 19.99 USD per month. There was also a Photography plan with 20 GB cloud, but it has not been available to new users since 2025.

Additionally, Adobe offers a free version of Lightroom Mobile, which allows you to use basic photo editing features, presets, and filters on your phone or tablet, though it does not include advanced tools, cloud synchronization, or full RAW file support.

Below is a brief summary of the plans:

• Lightroom Mobile (free) – basic photo editing features and presets, no full premium functionality
• Lightroom (1 TB)  – ok.  20,66 € / month (Monthly billing)
• Lightroom (1 TB) – ok. 14,98 € / month (Annual commitment)

Who is the free version for, and who is the paid version for?

If you are a hobbyist, take photos with your phone, or just want to occasionally improve a photo, crop it, adjust color, contrast, or apply a simple preset - the free mobile version of Lightroom (Lightroom Mobile) is often completely sufficient.

With it, you can edit photos on your phone/tablet, use basic tools to correct light, colors, crop, straighten — basically what’s useful for everyday photo editing for social media, blogs, or private albums. 

On the other hand, if you need advanced editing, work with RAW files, sync photos between your computer and phone, organize large archives, want to crop, mask, retouch, use cloud storage, or work on a more professional photography project - then the paid version (subscription; e.g., a plan with cloud and/or additional apps) offers many more possibilities.

In the paid version, you get access to premium features: RAW support, brush and selective adjustments, geometry tools, device synchronization — which translates to a more comfortable workflow and greater freedom when editing photos.

Lightroom or the default editing app?

If you mainly take photos with your phone and want to quickly darken, brighten, crop, improve color or brightness, or simply crop a photo before posting it on social media - the default photo app (or a simple gallery/editor on your phone) will often be the most convenient, fast, and intuitive. It doesn’t require installing extra software, has no learning curve, and is perfectly sufficient for basic edits.

On the other hand, Lightroom (even in the free version) offers significantly more editing options and control over the photo. It allows you to adjust exposure, contrast, shadows and highlights, tweak colors, play with tone and saturation, apply presets, and with the premium version also edit RAW files, use advanced tools (masks, selective adjustments), sync photos across devices, organize larger photo collections, and have cloud storage. 

That’s why, in my opinion - if you care about quick, everyday editing - the default app is often enough; but if you want more control, consistent style, better quality, you plan to edit many photos or do it more “professionally” - then Lightroom will be a much better choice.