RAWmakase

RAWmakase is a free RAW photo editor built for photographers who want to leave Adobe Lightroom behind without leaving their work behind. It reads Lightroom Classic catalogs directly, importing ratings, flags, color labels, keywords, and compatible develop settings. Your presets and DCP/XMP camera profiles come with you too.

The interface follows the Library and Develop layout Lightroom users already know, so the learning curve is short. GPU acceleration keeps rendering fast. Edits are non-destructive: your original files are never touched, and every change is written atomically to a local catalog you own outright.

What it covers in the Develop panel:

• Tone and color: white balance (including Auto WB), exposure, Shadows, Highlights, Clarity, Dehaze, and curves
• HSL and color grading for fine color control
• Detail, crop, Transform, and lens corrections
• Spots and masks: Heal, Clone, brush, gradient, and range masks (actively improving)

Library side:

• Catalogs, folders, collections, ratings, flags, labels, keywords, and filters
• Folder relinking when you open an imported Lightroom catalog

Linux support is first-class, with native .deb, .rpm, and Arch packages. There's also a command-line interface for inspecting, rendering, exporting, and importing catalogs without opening the GUI, which makes it scriptable for batch workflows.

Compared to tools like Darktable or RawTherapee, RAWmakase's main differentiator is the direct Lightroom compatibility. If you've built years of presets and catalogs in Lightroom, those assets carry over rather than requiring a rebuild from scratch. Rendering aims for close, not exact, parity with Lightroom.

It's MIT licensed, free with no trial period or feature tiers, and the source is on GitHub.