ON1 Photo RAW (2026) review

Date:
Fri, 07 Aug 2026 13:05:00 +0000

Description:
ON1 Photo RAW 2026 offers a heck of a lot of enticing features for
organizing, cataloguing and editing digital stills into a single package.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Sorting,
managing, editing, and sharing your photographs is a job and a half, often requiring multiple apps just to get on top of the workflow.

Ive tested several software packages that do a very good job at merging practically every tool you need into a single app, but whats bugged me is
they only cater to Windows users. Which is why my interest was piqued by ON1s Photo RAWs multi-platform capabilities (well, for Windows and Macs - sorry Linux users). So lets take a look at it. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here: ON1 Photo Raw at ON1 for 79.49 ON1 Photo RAW 2026: Pricing & plans (Image credit: Future) No subscription model You purchase the software outright Generous trial period, money back guarantee, what's not to like The ON1 Photo Raw has a flash sale ending today (August 7), with 50% off - you
can check it out by clicking here .

More and more companies have jumped to subscription plans - I'm never a fan
of this.

Well, ON1 are having none of that, and its Photo RAW app is only available to own outright. Full price, it costs a very fair $100.

When you consider you can use Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop for $20 a month, not only will you be saving money with Photo RAW after only 5 months. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting
your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

The software also comes with a very generous 30-day free trial (email address required, but not your credit card details). If you purchase it and conclude its not for you, theres also a 30-day money back guarantee. That means ON1 want to be certain youll only buy their software if youre delighted with it.

You can see what's on offer here . Pricing & plans: 5 / 5 ON1 Photo RAW 2026: Interface (Image credit: Future) Plenty of tools When all on display, youre not left with much space for photos But thankfully you can hide sidebars at will I found Photo RAWs interface to be very well thought out, polished and designed. Perhaps a little too polished, as some actions and concepts werent immediately obvious to me.

Like a little hollowed out blue circle being a tick box, or clicking on a menus header would collapse or expand its content. But it just takes a few seconds to figure it out and then youre flying.

There are numerous sidebars on either side, the thinnest one furthest to the left is contextual, depending on the module youre in. Selecting Home shows
you some recent photos youve worked on, along with those available in
recently opened folders. Youll also find links to helpful tutorial videos.

Browse reveals the guts of your local hard drives, with every single folder youve ever created ready to be accessed, and also offers access to online storage from Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive

Edit is where youll work on your photos, and selecting that icon will also reveal additional icons down that sidebar.

If youre ever puzzled about what a particular icon does, hover over it for a few seconds to reveal a tool tip popup window, complete with a short
audioless video illustrating what it does.

When a tool is selected, a toolbar at the top of the interface will offer specific parameters for that selected tool. The other three sidebars can be customised - you can choose if some tools are displayed in the left or right one, or you can remove them from view altogether offering more space to the shot youre working on.

By default, the large sidebar on the left is for your presets and layer work, while the one on the right is for your regular color correcting tools, and similar. A small sidebar on the far right contains options to share your work either online or by printing it. Interface: 4 / 5 ON1 Photo RAW 2026: Editing (Image credit: Future) Tools are easy to use Many are made better with the clever use of complex algorithms designed to improve your work rather than supplant it Now, to start, I downloaded a series of free RAW files from Signature Edits ( check out the website here ).

If youve done any color correction youll recognise all the sliders present in the Tone and color section on the right, which allow you to make satisfying alterations to an image in next to no time.

But if that just takes too long for you, just above those sliders is a Brilliance AI button. Activate it, and complex algorithms will do the necessary changes for you. But unlike many other AI features from competing software, this doesnt need to be the be all and end all of the process.

Expand Brilliance AI to reveal sliders to enhance or tone down those
automatic changes, including some very clever masking options to focus your changes on specific sections, such as people, animals, the sky, and more. You can also just go back to Tone and color sliders to make any further alterations yourself.

Adding Filters is as easy as selecting one youd like and using one of its preset Styles. As before youre also free to make manual changes thanks to the available sliders, if youre after a more unique look. Its good to know you
can add as many filters as youd like to an image. (Image credit: Future) When it comes to masking, Photo RAW has some complex algorithms ready and waiting to work for you, in the shape of Super Select AI. Clicking on that tool (in the thin left sidebar) lets the software analyze your image. This should only take a couple of seconds. You can then isolate a specific area of an image, modifying it while leaving the rest untouched.

The level of precision you can have with masks is quite extreme. For example, adding to your selection, solely focussing on small sections of your image such as a subjects eyes, adding a filter to the entire shot, and then
removing it for one or two specific areas. You can get amazingly detailed
with your alterations.

And if that isnt enough, youre able to work with layers, just like you can with Photoshop, superimposing photos on top of others, masking areas, revealing others, adding text. Although to be honest, being used to Photoshop and the like, that section did feel a little too bare in comparison.

What you can do with Photo RAW is remarkably intensive, and it uses those complex algorithms it calls AI in a way that enhances your creativity rather than take over the process, and that can only be lauded. Should I buy ON1 Photo Raw? Image 1 of 3 (Image credit: Future) (Image credit: Future) (Image credit: Future) Image 1 of 3 View Original Image 2 of 3 View Original Image 3 of 3 View Original Buy it if... Youre looking for software to organize, manage, alter and share your photos, love the idea of a perpetual licence,
and appreciate AI being used as a clever and intricate tool rather than a replacement for your actual vision. Don't buy it if... You are too wedded to Adobes suite of creative software, or your editing needs are too casual to take advantage of the level of complexity and precision Photo RAW offers. For more creative tools, we tested the best photo editors . ON1 Photo Raw: Price Comparison 79.49 View We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices powered by



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