If You’re Going to Cancel Adobe for an Open Source RAW Editor – This is the One to Switch To

Two years ago the only free alternatives to Adobe Lightroom were RAW editors you could have read about in the 2009 edition of Linux User magazine. And now, here we are in the tail-end of 2026 and even my personal trainer has released an open source RAW editor. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m told it has an excellent core, and that I should be doing more reps.

Lately the headlines have been dominated by the Lightroom clone vibe-coded by Brandon Thomas as part of his ArtCraft suite and while it’s great seeing open source projects like this scoring headlines on global TV news reports, I think it’s also a shame that apps like RapidRAW are missing out on some well-earned glory – particularly since LightCraft is currently all hype and no substance.

It’s been six months since I last checked in on RapidRAW and over a year since I first reviewed it – and with a heap of notable new features, it’s high time we had a fresh look at a Lightroom alternative you can actually use today, not in twelve months time.