Adobe Photoshop Lightroom vs Photoshop Elements

by Gralio Mar 10, 2025

Lightroom and Photoshop Elements cater to different photo editing needs. Lightroom is a powerful tool for professionals with advanced features, while Elements offers a user-friendly experience for casual users at a more affordable price.

At Gralio.ai we help to simplify your decision-making process by offering detailed, side-by-side software comparisons like this one, to help you confidently choose the tool that aligns with your business goals.

This comparison was created by analysing 3258 reviews and 60 websites, saving 18 hours, 36 minutes of reading.

About

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is a powerful yet approachable photo editing software designed for professionals and enthusiasts alike. It offers a wide range of tools for managing, enhancing, and sharing your photos. Lightroom excels at both quick edits and in-depth adjustments, making it perfect for everything from simple cropping to detailed color grading.
Photoshop Elements is photo editing software designed for non-professionals. It offers a range of tools for enhancing, organizing, and sharing photos, balancing ease of use with powerful features. It's ideal for individuals who want to improve their photos without needing advanced design skills. Photoshop Elements helps you achieve professional-looking results with automated options and guided edits.

Summary

Main difference
Lightroom offers advanced features like RAW photo processing and color grading, ideal for professional photographers. Elements provides a simpler, more affordable option for casual users who prioritize ease of use and quick edits.

Relative strengths of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (compared to Photoshop Elements)

  • Advanced color grading tools for professional results.

  • RAW photo processing capabilities.

  • Non-destructive editing preserves original images.

Relative weaknesses of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (compared to Photoshop Elements)

  • Subscription-based pricing can be expensive.

  • Steeper learning curve.

  • Resource intensive, may require powerful hardware.

Who should use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom VS. Photoshop Elements

Adobe Lightroom is user-friendly photo editing software suitable for all skill levels. It offers powerful tools, presets, and excellent organization features. Users praise its intuitive interface and non-destructive editing, while some find the subscription costly and the software resource-intensive.

Photoshop Elements is user-friendly photo editing software ideal for enhancing and organizing photos. It offers guided edits and automated options, balancing ease of use with powerful features. Users love the intuitive interface and guided edits, while some find the interface cluttered and experience performance issues with larger files.

  • Best for small to medium businesses (1-1000 employees), suitable for large enterprises.

  • Ideal for Media & Entertainment and Marketing & Advertising.

  • Ideal for small to large businesses seeking user-friendly photo editing software.

  • A good fit for various industries, especially marketing, advertising, and e-commerce.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Photoshop Elements features

Supported
Partially supported
Not supported
Type in the name of the feature or in your own words tell us what you need

  • Color Grading
    Supported

    Lightroom supports advanced color grading with the Color Grading tool.

    Partially supported

    Photoshop Elements offers basic color adjustments. Advanced color grading is possible via third-party plugins.

  • Color Space Support
    Supported

    Lightroom supports RGB and can prepare images for CMYK printing.

    Not supported

    Photoshop Elements supports RGB (sRGB and Adobe RGB), but not CMYK.

  • RAW Photo Processing
    Supported

    Lightroom supports importing, editing, and processing RAW files.

    Supported

    Photoshop Elements supports RAW photo processing using the built-in Camera Raw editor.

  • PSD Support
    Supported

    Lightroom can import PSD files but cannot export them.

    Supported

    Photoshop Elements supports importing and exporting PSD files, but with limitations on advanced features and layers.

  • Color Correction
    Supported

    Lightroom supports color correction, including white balance, saturation, and hue adjustments.

    Supported

    Photoshop Elements supports color correction, including white balance, saturation, and hue adjustments.

  • Batch Adjustments
    Supported

    Lightroom supports applying adjustments to multiple images at once.

    Supported

    Photoshop Elements supports batch adjustments for brightness and contrast through features like "Process Multiple Files" and Camera Raw.

Qualities

  • Value and Pricing Transparency
    -0.82
    Strongly negative sentiment
    +0.11
    Neutral sentiment
  • Customer Service
    +0.25
    Neutral sentiment
    No data
  • Ease of Use
    +0.85
    Strongly positive sentiment
    +0.55
    Rather positive sentiment
  • Reliability and Performance
    +0.45
    Rather positive sentiment
    +0.4
    Rather positive sentiment
  • Ease of Implementation
    +0.33
    Rather positive sentiment
    +0.5
    Rather positive sentiment
  • Scalability
    +0.37
    Rather positive sentiment
    -0.33
    Rather negative sentiment

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Photoshop Elements Pricing

No data

User sentiment

Strongly negative
-0.88
We couldn't find a pricing page for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.
No data

User sentiment

Rather positive
+0.43
We couldn't find a pricing page for Photoshop Elements.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Photoshop Elements review insights

3258 reviews analysed from

Users love

  • Intuitive and user-friendly interface.
  • Powerful photo editing tools and presets.
  • Excellent organization and cataloging features.
  • Non-destructive editing.
  • Seamless integration with other Adobe products, especially Photoshop.
  • User-friendly interface and ease of use for basic photo editing
  • Guided Edits provide step-by-step instructions for beginners
  • One-time purchase, no subscription needed
  • Powerful features for photo enhancement and organization

Users dislike

  • High cost of monthly subscription.
  • Resource intensive, requires powerful hardware.
  • Limited advanced editing options compared to Photoshop.
  • Occasional bugs and crashes.
  • Confusing file management system.
  • Difficult to find specific tools or features
  • Performance issues and occasional crashes, especially with larger files
  • Limited export options, particularly the lack of CMYK support for printing
  • Some users find the interface cluttered and overwhelming

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Photoshop Elements Ratings

  • G2
    4.6/5
    (2505)
  • Glassdoor
    4.3/5
    (10097)
  • G2
    4.3/5
    (766)
  • Glassdoor
    4.3/5
    (10097)

Company health

Employee growth

3% decrease in the last year
3% decrease in the last year

Web traffic

1% increase in the last quarter
1% increase in the last quarter

Financing

April 1984 - $3M
April 1984 - $3M

How easy is each product to learn for non-professional photographers?

Photoshop Elements is designed for ease of use with non-professionals in mind, offering guided edits and a simpler interface. Lightroom, while also approachable, has a broader range of features targeted at both enthusiasts and professionals, potentially making the initial learning curve slightly steeper for complete beginners.

Which product offers better performance for large, high-resolution images?

Adobe Lightroom is better suited for large, high-resolution images. It's designed for professional photographers and known for its robust RAW photo processing capabilities, color grading tools, and non-destructive editing, which are crucial for working with large files. While Photoshop Elements is user-friendly, users report performance issues with larger files, making Lightroom the preferred choice for demanding image editing tasks.

What are the advantages of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom?

Adobe Lightroom offers non-destructive editing, preserving original photos while allowing for extensive adjustments. It excels in color grading and correction, batch adjustments, and RAW photo processing. Its seamless integration with other Adobe products enhances workflow efficiency for users already within the Adobe ecosystem. Lightroom caters to a wide range of users, from enthusiasts to professionals, and is well-suited for various industries needing high-quality image editing.

What are the disadvantages of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom?

Lightroom's disadvantages include the high cost of its monthly subscription, its resource-intensive nature requiring powerful hardware, limited advanced editing options compared to Photoshop, occasional bugs and crashes, and a confusing file management system.

Alternatives to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Photoshop Elements

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Page co-authored by
MK
Michal Kaczor
CEO at Gralio

Michal has worked at startups for many years and writes about topics relating to software selection and IT management. As a former consultant for Bain, a business advisory company, he also knows how to understand needs of any business and find solutions to its problems.

TT
Tymon Terlikiewicz
CTO at Gralio

Tymon is a seasoned CTO who loves finding the perfect tools for any task. He recently headed up the tech department at Batmaid, a well-known Swiss company, where he managed about 60 software purchases, including CX, HR, Payroll, Marketing automation and various developer tools.

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