Lightroom vs Lightroom Classic : Which one is Better For You in 2024

Are you still confused about choosing between Lightroom vs Lightroom Classic and wondering which one suits your editing needs best? This dilemma is common, even among professional photographers who often struggle to differentiate between the two.

Given this ongoing confusion, we’ve decided to shed light on the unique features of both Lightroom and Lightroom Classic, offering insights through our years of experience. Stick with us for a detailed comparison that will help you choose the best tool for your needs, budget, and editing experience.

Adobe Lightroom Classic, as its name implies, is a classic desktop application launched on February 19, 2007. It saves our image files directly onto the computer’s hard drive or an external drive, focusing primarily on RAW editing. The software features various modules tailored for specific tasks such as organizing, developing, and printing images, allowing users to create slideshows, books, and web galleries with ease.

While Adobe Lightroom Classic enables users to edit videos both online and offline, it does not offer synchronization options for editing work across mobile or tablet devices.

Lightroom, also known as Lightroom CC (where CC stands for Creative Cloud), is a cloud-based editing tool designed for seamless syncing across multiple devices, such as phones and tablets, allowing users to edit their photos online effortlessly.

Unlike Lightroom Classic, it has a more simplified interface that offers limited editing and image organization features. However, it excels in album and folder management, thanks to its AI-powered keyword search tool, making it easy for users to find what they need quickly.

To help you make an easier choice, we’re highlighting some key features of Lightroom Classic so you can confidently decide without any hesitation. These standout features make Lightroom Classic an ideal option for handling photo and video editing tasks:

Lightroom Classic provides various modules for tasks like creating books, slideshows, and printing. With handy keyboard shortcuts, you can quickly switch between these modules and apply settings efficiently. This speeds up the editing process, making it an ideal choice when handling large volumes of photos or videos.

If you’re accustomed to Lightroom’s older version and appreciate its familiar, comprehensive interface, then Lightroom Classic would likely be your preferred choice. As someone who has used Lightroom for a long time, I stick to it because of features like the import dialog, which lets me easily bring in presets and rename files.

Additionally, the ability to download, purchase, and export presets is a huge advantage, especially for bulk editing tasks, making it an essential part of my workflow.

Since Lightroom Classic is built for desktop users and stores files locally on your hard drive, importing and exporting large volumes of files becomes hassle-free. There’s no need to pay for cloud storage like in Lightroom CC. You can easily organize your edited photos and videos into different collections by creating separate folders. Plus, with everything stored locally, you can access your data offline whenever you want, without needing an internet connection.

One of the standout features of Lightroom Classic is its compatibility with third-party plugins, which significantly enhances its capabilities. These plugins offer extra customization tools and a variety of presets that aren’t included in the standard Lightroom Classic package. Popular plugins often integrated with Lightroom Classic include:

There are certain advanced features of Lightroom CC that force us to use it. Let’s examine some of its features in detail:

Lightroom CC offers a clean and simplified interface, making it easier to apply presets and adjust basic settings such as color grading, brightness, contrast, and white balance. Its unique, touchscreen-friendly design allows you to easily move sliders and interact with buttons using touch controls, whether on a tablet, phone, or other touchscreen devices.

This simplicity makes it user-friendly for beginners and quick adjustments. However, when it comes to watermarks, some may explore unofficial options, though these often come with risks, so it’s always better to stick to the official versions.

One of the standout features of Lightroom CC is its advanced masking tool, which allows us to hide or alter objects within photos or videos seamlessly. With this tool, you can replace backgrounds or edit specific areas by applying different colors to the mask.

What’s even more impressive is that the tasks typically done through third-party plugins in Lightroom Classic can be easily managed with the built-in mask options in Lightroom CC, making it a powerful and versatile tool for detailed editing.

Lightroom CC simplifies the learning process by offering advanced editing tools like color enhancement, noise reduction, and exposure adjustments. Its user-friendly design includes sliders for easy control over each effect, making it accessible even for beginners.

With these powerful built-in tools, the need for third-party plugins is minimal, as users can manually fine-tune everything to their liking. This combination of simplicity and control makes Lightroom CC a highly efficient choice for photo editing.

Lightroom CC offers a fantastic feature that enhances your experience with its cloud storage. If you have a large photo collection, its image recognition and AI-driven keyword search tool makes finding specific images a breeze. The AI-based object browsing and face recognition features operate through distinct algorithms but work seamlessly together, helping you sift through various folders and albums to locate the photos you need efficiently.

Lightroom seamlessly syncs with cloud storage, ensuring that our images, metadata, and edits are automatically backed up. This means you can access your photos and videos from various devices, including computers, smartphones, and tablets. As a result, you can effortlessly view and edit your content without the hassle of manually transferring files between platforms.

Non-destructive image editing ensures that all your edits are automatically saved to the cloud server, even if you close Lightroom midway through. For instance, if you finish part of your editing on your mobile device, you can seamlessly continue your work on your computer that’s synced with your mobile. This transition won’t affect your previous edits. Additionally, you can easily find installation and usage instructions for Lightroom on our website if you want to use it on your PC.

If you’re a casual photographer dealing with a lot of photo and video edits but don’t require advanced editing, Lightroom Classic is a great fit for you. Its local storage means you won’t incur extra costs for unlimited file storage. Plus, you can easily integrate plugins to import advanced presets, making your editing workflow smooth and efficient.

On the flip side, if you’re an advanced photographer looking for sophisticated editing tools and a variety of templates without the hassle of integrating plugins, Lightroom CC would be the better choice. If you’re still unsure between Lightroom and Lightroom Classic, consider trying both for a short period. This way, you can familiarize yourself with their interfaces and features, allowing you to pick the one that best suits your editing needs.