Some won't be pleased to learn that, like Adobe's software, Zoner Photo Studio is only available via subscription. Perhaps most notably, the company has eliminated most of the sluggishness and instability we saw in previous versions. Since our last review, the company has updated Zoner Photo Studio X with new color tools, performance improvements, full-screen work mode, shared online albums, customizable previews and thumbnails, video editing tools, background blur, local edits, and raw format support for most popular cameras.

For those who want to combine Lightroom workflow and Photoshop layer editing in a single, less-expensive program, it's a viable option, but it's not as state-of-the-art as either of those Adobe products. You also get online storage and shareable galleries for your subscription price. The program boasts a tabbed interface and decent output options. The company's Zoner Photo Studio X is a full photo workflow and image editing program, meaning it can stand in for both Lightroom and Photoshop. Though it's not as familiar a name as Adobe, Zoner has been developing photo editing software for nearly as long, since 1993.