Which version of Lightroom is best? Lightroom vs Lightroom Classic

Deciding which version of Lightroom is "best" for you is something that only you can decide. The two programs are really quite different, designed for different types of users.

Lightroom is designed to store everything in the cloud. The great benefit of this plan is that as soon as the images are imported they are immediately available to view and edit on all your devices, including your phone, tablet, computer, etc. And any changes made on any device will impact the image on all devices. If you subscribe to that plan you have 1 TB of cloud storage initially, and you can purchase additional storage if needed. It's possible to have local backup of the images on a computer, but the main storage is in the cloud.

Lightroom Classic is what I consider the more traditional Lightroom that has been available for more than a decade now. It utilizes a local catalog, stores images locally on the hard drive or other hard drives (internal or external), and enables you to share Smart previews in the cloud that do not impact the cloud storage allotment. Consequently, with that plan you are only provided with 20 GB of cloud storage in case you want to import images directly from your mobile device. But if you choose to simply create collections in LrC and share those collections it is possible to share an infinite number without impacting your 20 GB limit. Lightroom Classic has a greater feature set which some people appreciate while other people don't really concern themselves about. For instance, Lightroom Classic has printing capabilities, the capability to create photo albums to be sent to print, slideshow options, just to mention a few.

"I think" Lightroom Classic can be installed as a trial version from the Creative Cloud Application Manager, but I'm not sure. You will have to give it a try.

Hi,

Thanks for reaching out. To check out the differences between Lightroom Classic & Lightroom (cloud), please check: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/lightroom-feature-comparison.html

You can also check: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-cc/how-to/feature-differences.html

You can launch the Creative Cloud desktop app & check out if you see an option to install Lightroom Classic & start a trial for it.

Regards,

Nikunj