Available worldwide
What is darktable?
Darktable is a free, open-source photography application providing non-destructive raw image development and editing. It functions as a virtual darkroom and lighttable, managing photos in a database with professional color management, GPU acceleration, and optional AI-powered features.
darktable pricing
Plans, per-tier features and add-ons, dated and linked to live pricing. Pricing changes often; always verify at source before you rely on it.
Free, open-source
darktable
Free- Non-destructive raw image editing
- Virtual lighttable and darkroom interface
- Digital negative database management
- Professional color management for print output
- GPU-accelerated processing
- AI-powered features: denoise, upscale, object masking
- Editing modules: local contrast, contrast equalizer, retouch, liquify
- Lua scripting API for customization
What darktable does
The capabilities that matter for design & creative software, normalised so it lines up with every alternative. “-” means we haven't confirmed it, not that it's missing.
- Raster / photo editing
- ✓
- Vector illustration
- ✗
- DTP / page layout
- ✗
- Digital painting
- ✗
- Platform breadth
- Linux, Windows (10+), macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon), FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD
- CMYK / print production
- ✓
- PSD / AI import
- -
- Real-time collaboration / cloud
- ✗
- Generative AI features
- ✓
- Plugin / template ecosystem
- Lua API for scripting and extensibility
- Pricing model
- Open-source (free)
- Free / open-source available
- ✓
Platform & deployment
Independently observed- macOS
- Linux
- Windows
- Self-hosted
Security & compliance
Known vulnerabilities: 0 (0 in the last 12 months) sourcea count reflects scale & disclosure, not quality
darktable alternatives
Other design & creative software we track, ranked by the same independent score.
- Affinity PhotoProfessional photo editing without subscription costslow · 38%
- Affinity DesignerCross-platform design application for vector and raster graphicslow · 38%
- Affinity PublisherPage layout application combining typography, image editing, and vector graphics capabilitieslow · 4%
- CanvaAn online tool for creating and publishing visual designs without requiring specialized design skillsmedium · 73%
- PhotopeaBrowser-based image editor that processes files locally without uploadsmedium · 52%
- KritaFree and open-source digital painting software designed for professional and amateur artistshigh · 76%
Compare darktable
Side by side against other design & creative software, attribute by attribute, with a source on every value.
The Vioscale score: one lens on the evidence
Not user reviews and not a paid placement: a confidence-weighted blend of the independent signals below (adoption, activity, security posture, and more), which you can sort and re-weight yourself. Vendors can correct their listing but can never move their rank, and stars are weighted low as a vanity metric. It is one way to read the evidence for darktable, not the verdict.
| Signal | Score | Weight | Contribution | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Development activity | 63 | 0.09 | 5.9 | ✓ |
| Capabilities | 67 | 0.07 | 4.7 | ✓ |
| Release cadence | 58 | 0.05 | 3.0 | ✓ |
| Security score | 53 | 0.04 | 2.2 | ✓ |
| Stars | 78 | 0.03 | 2.0 | ✓ |
| Integrations | 0 | 0.08 | 0.0 | - |
| Dependent projects | 0 | 0.06 | 0.0 | ✓ |
| Security posture | 0 | 0.06 | 0.0 | - |
| Package downloads | 0 | 0.14 | 0.0 | - |
| Developer Q&A activity | 0 | 0.06 | 0.0 | - |
Computed . Re-weight it by intent, or see the full method.
All data & sourcesshow ↓
Every value we hold, with its source, retrieval date, and confidence. This is the evidence behind the score: don't trust it, verify it.
Activity
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Commits last 30d | 100 | mediumsource · 2026-08-26 · 65% |
Adoption
Features
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Capabilities | Cmyk print: Yes · Dtp layout: No · Generative ai: Yes · Pricing model: open_source · Free available: Yes · Raster editing: Yes | mediumsource · 2026-08-16 · 60% |
Language
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Primary | C | highsource · 2026-08-26 · 90% |
License
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Spdx | GPL-3.0 | highsource · 2026-08-26 · 95% |
Market
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | PrimaryMarkets: … · AvailabilityScope: global · AvailableCountries: … · NotAvailableCountries: … | highsource · 2026-08-16 · 75% |