Excire Foto is our top choice for the best photo management software in 2023. It’s a specialist photo management software. And the well-curated tool set takes the sweat out of photo management. It makes a photographer’s life a whole lot easier! [ExpertPhotography is supported by readers. Product links on ExpertPhotography are referral links. If you use one of these and buy something, we make a little bit of money. Need more info? See how it all works here.]
What is the Best Photo Management Software?
We’ve compiled a list of the best photo management software in 2023. We’ve included specialist tools for photo organization. And there are hybrid programs that also have enhancement and editing tools. There’s photo management software for every photographer. Excire Foto may be the best photo-organizing software we have ever tried. When you add a folder of images, Excire uses artificial intelligence (AI) to keyword them for you. You can then search your catalog using terms you may never have thought of, like “atmospheric” or “bokeh.” The software also takes things a step further. It recognizes people and their ages—individually, in pairs, or in groups! So you can search your library for “a couple of elderly females not smiling.” The keywords are batched in categories. They easily break down into acute searchable terms using the keyword hierarchy pane. This makes finding the picture you are looking for easy and fast! You can, of course, add your own keywords and organize folders and galleries manually. But you might find you don’t have to. There aren’t even basic editing tools. But you can send pictures from Excire to your image editing app of choice. You just have to right-click on the thumbnail. Excire Foto can also connect to Dropbox and Google Drive. This software is not for those who want built-in editing tools. But it’s fantastic for organizing, cataloging, and keywording huge libraries across multiple drives. You can read our full review of Excire for more info. Adobe Lightroom is an all-in-one photo management and editing solution. You can import images to a mobile device while on a shoot. And when you open Lightroom on your desktop back home, the files, folders, keywords, and edits will sync. If you are importing images from an SD card, you can set the location, rename the files, and add keywords. The ability to create and manage folders lets you stay organized. And with the LrTag plugin (purchased separately), AI will look at your photos and keyword them for you. You can flag your images in five different colors and rate them out of five stars. Aside from folders, you can add photos to Collections. A collection can be made up of images from multiple folders. And creating a Smart Collection will automatically add images by attribute. Say all five-star photos or pictures with the keyword “boat.” On top of Lightroom’s organizing capabilities, it has powerful photo editing tools built-in. The latest update includes advanced masking tools. This includes Select Subject and Select Sky. And there are several other options:
Exposure controls Color controls Lens correction profiles Detail enhancement Spot healing
Adobe Lightroom is fantastic for beginners and pros alike. Both users will use Lightroom’s in-depth organizational tools, editing capabilities, and printing tools. But it is only available with a monthly (with Photoshop) or yearly subscription. So if you want a one-time buy, it’s not for you. Luminar Neo is Skylum’s most advanced and complete photo editing and management software. It uses the power of AI to streamline the photo management process. Once complicated processes now have one-click solutions. The AI technology makes Luminar NEO one of the best photo management tools in 2023. Neo evaluates your images during the import process. It recognizes different types of images and adds appropriate tags. The auto-tagging is consistently accurate. And that makes it easier to find and organize your images. Neo also recommends presets that suit your images. It recognizes a portrait and suggests specialist portrait presets. The same goes for landscapes and other types of photography. You can also create your own presets for faster editing. Luminar Neo is also packed with incredible AI editing tools. There’s a powerful and accurate powerline removal tool. So you can remove complex networks of powerlines with just one click. And the sky replacement AI tool is just as impressive. Skylum has also incorporated AI into the masking features. And there’s a background removal feature for portraits. You can read our full Luminar NEO review for more info. ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2023 is an all-in-one photo manager and editor. As a mid-priced subscription package, it has advanced workflow features. These help you rank and manage your files. Auto Advance helps you update metadata and add keywords. It automatically goes to the next image. So you don’t need to move your hands from the keyboard! People mode uses AI to recognize and label faces in your catalog. You can apply pre-loaded sets of keywords to your photos. And there’s a duplicate files finder to help manage your disk space. You can browse and use files straight from Dropbox or Onedrive. And you can also batch rename, watermark, or auto-crop multiple images in seconds. Editing in the Develop panel is advanced. You can use layers, tone curves, brushes, and gradients to finesse your image’s final look. You can also record the editing process into an Action and apply it to other images. The Develop panel is also compatible with Photoshop plugins. This allows you to achieve results that rival Adobe’s heavyweight photo editing software. ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate has AI-enhanced image management and Photoshop-style editing. So it’s the best photo organizer for Windows users who want powerful, built-in editing. Capture One was initially built as tethered capture software. It was specifically geared for medium format, Phase One cameras. It has since become one of the best photo-organizing software packages available. It has powerful image editing and native Photoshop file format support. So it is the biggest competitor to Lightroom. You can keyword images and organize them into folders inside Sessions and Catalogs. You can also make Smart Albums. And they update according to their search terms, ranging from keywords to lens types. Keyword libraries also help tag multiple images simultaneously. And you can save keyword libraries for future imports. Its image editing capabilities are like Lightroom. Capture One is designed for huge files and is lightning-fast in rendering changes. Color control and sharpening are the most comprehensive of the software on our list. This software has four different incarnations: The first three brand-exclusive offers are a few bucks a month cheaper than the full program. But they all have the same organizing and editing tools. Movavi photo editing software automatically sorts your images by date and GPS coordinates. You can then put your pictures into albums and add tags. This enables you to view all photos with a particular tag regardless of where the file is stored. Facial recognition makes viewing your photos in person easy. It has a browser function like Apple Photos. Using the Places tab, you can sort your images by location. It uses the geolocation information stored in your pictures. And the Find Duplicates and Find Similar commands are great. They help thin out your library and save disk space. You can do basic edits like cropping and resizing in this photo organizer software. And the Movavi Photo Editor also has further enhancing options for your images. Adobe Photoshop Elements is a great place to start if you’re new to photo management software. It’s a simplified version of Adobe Photoshop. It gives you excellent creative features for editing and organizing your photo library. But you don’t need years of experience like with Photoshop. It’s the perfect software for beginners. The AI-powered tools help you manage your photo library. It examines your images and adds the correct tags and keywords. This helps you keep everything in order as your photo library expands. The guided edits are the best way to get started editing your photos. They take you through each edit step-by-step, so it’s ideal for absolute beginners. And the results are also fantastic. Then you can do your own edits when you’ve mastered the software. The companion app allows you to organize and edit photos from your smartphone. You can edit images on the go. And you can upload your edits to social media with just a few clicks. Corel Aftershot Pro 3 makes your life easier. It’s a simple, easy-to-use software for organizing, managing, and editing your photographs. It doesn’t have advanced editing tools. But it does give you quick solutions for enhancing your images. You can work with RAW files from all the major camera manufacturers. Those include Nikon, Canon, and Sony. And you get modular camera profiles. This means you get specific options for each camera brand. The editing tools help you add watermarks to protect your work. And there are tools for recovering lost highlights and removing blemishes. The software is fast, accurate, and reliable. And you don’t need a degree in computer science to use it. So it’s well worth the price! Cyber Link PhotoDirector is another outstanding all-in-one software for photographers. It has sophisticated AI tools that streamline photo management. And you also get a wide range of tools for enhancing and editing your images. The AI tools include face tagging. So you can tag a face in one image, and the AI engine will recognize the same face in other images. You can also create smart collections. And plenty of tag and keyword features help you search your library. The editing tools are just as impressive. You can create high dynamic range (HDR) images with just a few clicks. The same goes for multi-exposure shots. And you can create stunning panoramas without much fuss. There’s also a catalog of frames, filters, and stickers for fun photo edits. They’re ideal for livening up your social media. Corel PaintShop Pro is more graphic design software than photo management software. But it’s still a great option if you need help getting your photo collection in order. Plus, you get excellent editing features if you want to get creative. The management features include catalogs, galleries, and tags. And you get a full set of creative features for more advanced editing. You can even draw images from scratch using its art tools. And, of course, you have all the basic tools for cropping and resizing. The editing scripts are one of the key features of PaintShop Pro. It records your edits into scripts that you can apply to other photos. This speeds up the editing process considerably, saving you time and money!
Conclusion: The Best Photo Management Software
Excire Foto is the best photo management software right now. It is a powerful yet user-friendly program with many features to help you manage your photos. With its advanced search functions, you can quickly find your needed photos. The tagging capabilities make it easy to find related photos in just a few clicks. Excire Foto is an excellent choice. It’s for any photographer looking for reliable and easy-to-use photo management software. But you also have Lightroom CC if you want something extensive. And there’s Luminar Neo if you want advanced AI editing tools.
