Three AI photo editors for Lightroom Classic, compared on what matters day to day: price, where your photos go, culling and editing. Retoucan is ours, so we've tried to be fair to the other two.
Imagen AI edits in the cloud. It's light on your computer and has ready-made profiles from well-known photographers, but your photos or smart previews are uploaded and you pay per photo or by subscription.
Aftershoot runs on your own computer and covers the whole job, from culling to editing, retouching and client galleries, on a paid subscription. It wants a reasonably powerful machine.
Retoucan is free and open source. It runs on your computer and does the first-pass edit in Lightroom Classic, learning from catalogs you've already edited. For culling it pairs with Lightroom's built-in Assisted Culling. It's younger than the other two and has fewer features.
| Imagen AI | Aftershoot | Retoucan | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Paid, per photo or subscription | Paid subscription | Free |
| Where editing happens | Imagen's cloud | Your computer | Your computer |
| Internet needed to edit | Yes | No | No |
| Learns from your past edits | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Ready-made styles | Profiles, including from known photographers | Profiles | Your Lightroom presets and profiles, plus ten film looks |
| Culling | Yes | Yes | Pairs with Lightroom's Assisted Culling |
| Retouching | Yes | Yes, on its Retouch plan | AI masks for subject, skin, teeth, eyes, sky |
| Open source | No | No | Yes (MIT) |
| Account needed | Yes | Yes | No |
Compared October 2026. Plans change often; check imagen-ai.com and aftershoot.com for current prices and features.
your computer is older or slower, you want a profile from a photographer whose style you like, and you're comfortable with photos going to the cloud and paying per photo.
you want culling, editing, retouching and galleries in one app, have a capable computer, and are happy with a subscription.
you already work in Lightroom Classic, want edits that learn from your own catalogs, would rather not pay per photo or add a subscription, and want your client photos to stay on your drive. See how Retoucan works.
It depends on how you work. Imagen AI edits in the cloud, so it runs well on modest computers but needs a fast connection and uploads your photos or smart previews. Aftershoot runs on your own computer and bundles culling, editing, retouching and galleries in one subscription. Both are paid. Retoucan is a free, open-source option that edits locally in Lightroom Classic and pairs with Lightroom's Assisted Culling.
Retoucan is free and open source under the MIT license. Imagen AI and Aftershoot offer free trials but are paid products.
Aftershoot and Retoucan both process photos locally. Imagen AI uploads photos or smart previews to its cloud for editing.
More detail: Retoucan vs Imagen AI · Retoucan vs Aftershoot