Lightroom vs Google Photos: Which One Is NOT Worth the Money?

By Ann Young 11 days ago, Apps and Software

Testing Adobe Lightroom against Google Photos, I came to one quite obvious conclusion: Adobe Lightroom is recommended for those, like myself, who process images on a daily basis and for photographers in particular. It is enabled in many ways of dealing with huge collections of your photographs and color correction.

On the other hand, since Google Photos is such a simple and user-friendly platform, whatever user is willing to get his/her snaps stored, shared, and slightly edited (proper size/resolution/light color edits) with no stress, definitely need to install it on all devices.

Final Verdict:

When directly comparing these two programs, the first thing you’ll notice is that Google Photos is not exactly a photo editing software for PC or Mac. Meanwhile, Lightroom is the better for highly demanding users who want full control over their image collection and need an expansive editing toolset.

Head To Head Comparison

Lightroom

lightroom logo

Google Photos

google photos logo

Rating

★★★★☆ 4.5/5

★★★★☆ 4/5

Best For

Photographers who need advanced editing and organization features

Users who are looking for a simple way to store and organize photos

Free Version

Free trial

✔️

Price

$9.99/mo

$9.99/mo

Users’ Level

Professional photographers and advanced users

Casual users

Platforms

Web, Windows, Mac, iOS, Android

Web, Windows, Mac, iOS, Android

Lightroom vs Google Photos: Pros & Cons

Pros Cons

Lightroom

Efficient AI editing tools

Subscription model

Seamless image management

Limited mobile functionality

Batch editing

Presets for fast edits 

Integration with other Adobe products

Google Photos

15 GB cloud storage

Privacy concerns

Automatic backup of photos and videos

Slow backup and syncing

Easy sharing

Limited free storage

Search functionality for photos

Non-destructive built-in editor

Editing

lightroom editing

I have always relied on Lightroom for editing and managing my large photo collection of wedding and family pics. It’s capable of non-destructive editing and offers powerful adjustment options as well as a lot of automation features like AI presets, which are perfectly suited for professional photographers.

google photos editing

Google Photos is a user-friendly platform that comes with basic tools for editing, giving me less control over the final look of my images compared to what Lightroom provides. Overall, Lightroom’s editing tools improved my workflow to a large extent and helped me achieve the desired results for my projects, with Google Photos I just make screenshots cut or add some text on images.

Organizing

lightroom organizing

In my experience as an event photographer, Lightroom offers more robust organizing tools compared to Google Photos. Lightroom allows me to easily categorize and filter my photos using keywords, ratings, and flags, making it simple to locate specific images quickly not to mix all events in one collection.

Additionally, Lightroom's ability to work with RAW files and its seamless syncing across all my devices have proven to be essential for me.

google photos organizing

While Google Photos is convenient for cloud storage and sharing, I prefer Lightroom for its advanced editing capabilities and comprehensive file management options. Overall, Lightroom is my preferred photo organizing software that I use for handling my enormous image libraries. Google Photos is a better choice if you don’t do photography as a business.

Sharing

google photos sharing

When pitting Lightroom vs Google Photos, I have found that the former offers more powerful sharing capabilities compared to the latter. While Google Photos can be used for conveniently sharing images via links or messaging apps, Lightroom's ability to create online galleries that can be viewed by anyone with a link is a standout feature. That is super-useful for the couples I work with who can share their photos with family members very quickly.

lightroom sharing

Additionally, Lightroom's integration with Adobe Creative Cloud supports seamless collaboration and sharing projects across any number of devices that is great for me because I can start editing in the studio and finish it at home on my home laptop.

Integrations

Lightroom

lightroom logo

Google Photos

google photos logo

Adobe Creative Cloud

✔️

✔️

Zapier

✔️

✔️

Google Drive

✔️

✔️

Flickr

✔️

Home Assistant

✔️

Price

Lightroom

lightroom logo

Google Photos

google photos logo

Free Version

Free Trial

✔️

Paid Plan

$9.99/mo

$9.99/mo

Compatibility

Lightroom

lightroom logo

Google Photos

google photos logo

Windows

✔️

✔️

Mac

✔️

✔️

Web

✔️

✔️

iOS

✔️

✔️

Android

✔️

✔️

Support

Lightroom

lightroom logo

Google Photos

google photos logo

Email

✔️

✔️

Chat

✔️

✔️

Social Media

✔️

Help Center

✔️

✔️

Community

✔️

✔️

Top Alternatives

  • affinity photo logo
    Affinity Photo
    $69.99
  • dropbox logo
    Dropbox
    $9.99/mo
  • darktable logo
    Darktable
    Free
  • capture one pro logo
    Capture One Pro
    $24/mo
  • pixelmator pro logo
    Pixelmator Pro
    $49.99

Final Thoughts: Overall Winner

So, after several features tests that I tried between two tools, I would recommend using Lightroom. Providing just basic features of management in clouds and basics image corrections, Google Photos has been so far behind Lightroom since it doesn't have advanced editing capabilities and customization features provided.

If you need a software used in editing photos for beginners, download Lightroom. It is helpful in storing, organizing, and editing photos across devices with no limits.

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