Zoner Photo Studio X Review: Is It Worth It in 2025?

Review: Zoner Photo Studio X – The Full-Featured Editor You‘ve Never Heard Of

When it comes to photo editing software, a few big names tend to dominate the conversation – tools like Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, Capture One, and ON1. But there‘s a lesser-known player that deserves your attention: Zoner Photo Studio X.

This robust program takes direct aim at both Lightroom and Photoshop, seeking to provide a complete photo editing workflow in one affordable package. I‘ve been putting Zoner Photo Studio X (ZPS) through its paces for several weeks now, testing it on thousands of RAW images. And I have to say – I‘m impressed.

Is it perfect? No. There are certainly a few weak spots and odd design choices. But on the whole, Zoner has built a responsive, feature-rich, and easy-to-use editor that delivers excellent value for the money. If you‘re in the market for a new RAW processor and photo editor, ZPS should absolutely be on your radar.

Let‘s dive into the details of what makes this under-the-radar program so compelling. We‘ll explore its core modules – Manage, Develop, and Editor – and see how they stack up to the competition. By the end, you‘ll know if Zoner Photo Studio X is the right editor to meet your needs.

The Hub of Your Workflow: The Manage Module

The foundation of any photo editing software is the ability to efficiently organize and browse your image library. This is where Zoner‘s Manage module shines.

With a customizable interface, you can set up the Manage module to suit your preferences, adjusting thumbnail size, displayed metadata, and more. I especially appreciate the ability to run multiple tabs – much like in a web browser. This lets you work with several groups of photos simultaneously without losing your place.

You also get great flexibility in where you store and access photos from. ZPS can work with images saved on your computer, on an external drive, or in the cloud via Zoner Photo Cloud or Microsoft OneDrive. There‘s also integration with Zoner‘s own online gallery service, Zonerama.

But my favorite feature is the Catalog. By adding a folder to your Catalog, ZPS will generate previews and let you browse your images much faster. It also unlocks features like sorting images by keywords or by location (if your camera captures GPS data).

The Catalog does require a bit of up-front work, as ZPS has to generate those previews. But it‘s well worth it in my opinion. Scrolling through even my largest photo sets is quick and responsive with the Catalog.

There are a few quirks in the Manage module. The search bar, for example, does double duty – displaying your current folder path AND letting you enter search terms. An odd choice, but ultimately not a deal breaker once you get used to it.

All in all, the Manage module is a pleasure to use. While not quite as powerful as Lightroom in terms of features like smart collections, it covers all the core functionality you need to keep your photo library tidy and easy to navigate. The Catalog in particular is a standout feature that helps ZPS feel speedy and responsive even with a huge image collection.

Powerful & Precise: The Develop Module

Of course, organizing your photos is only half the equation. A RAW processor also needs to provide a robust suite of development and adjustment tools. Here again, Zoner delivers.

The Develop module offers all the standard editing options you‘d expect, including exposure, contrast, white balance, sharpening, noise reduction, etc. All the usual suspects are accounted for. But ZPS goes a step further by providing ultra-granular control in some key areas.

Take noise reduction and sharpening, for instance. Rather than just applying these corrections evenly, you can target them to specific tonal ranges or even specific color ranges. So if you have a noisy green background but want to preserve detail in your non-green subject, you can do that easily. It‘s a level of precision I haven‘t seen in most other editors.

In my testing, the actual editing tools all performed extremely well. The sliders are responsive, the algorithms are effective, and everything feels properly optimized. Editing even high-resolution RAW files from my Nikon D850 never felt sluggish.

My one complaint is with some of the default rendering of RAW files. To my eye, the initial preview is a touch flat and dull compared to what I see from those same RAWs in Lightroom or Capture One. It‘s easily corrected, but it would be nice not to have to make those initial tweaks every time.

I also ran into some inconsistency with camera profiles and corrections not being applied automatically. ZPS does have a good range of built-in profiles, but I had to manually enable them in some cases. Again, a minor annoyance rather than a true problem.

Those small caveats aside, the Develop module is a joy to use. The sheer level of control, along with the snappy performance, makes it a powerful tool for refining your RAW images. You may need to spend a little time dialing in your own baseline settings, but from there, you‘ll be able to produce beautiful, polished images in short order.

Layers, Masks & More: The Editor Module

Zoner rounds out its trio of core modules with the Editor – essentially their answer to Photoshop. This layer-based editor is where you‘ll go for pixel-level retouching, compositing, adding text and graphics, and applying creative effects.

The Editor module is, in some ways, the least polished of the bunch. The interface feels a bit cramped, with all the controls crammed into a panel on the right. I‘d love to see a more expansive layout that takes advantage of the full screen. The layer controls also have a few odd default behaviors, like all new masks being hidden by default.

But in terms of actual functionality? The Editor gets the job done. All the core retouching tools – clone stamp, dodge and burn, etc. – are present and work well. The various included filters, while not revolutionary, are fun and can produce nice results. And critically, the performance is excellent. I had no issue working with multiple large layers.

The real standout for me was the liquify tool. Often, liquify implementations in cheaper editors are laggy and difficult to control. Not so here. Pushing, pulling, and warping my images was responsive and easy, even when making drastic changes. The face-aware option is also great for quick portrait retouching.

On the whole, while the Editor module may not be quite as deep or feature-rich as Photoshop, it covers all the essentials. For the majority of photographers, it has everything you‘re likely to need. And the snappy performance means you can work quickly and efficiently.

Becoming a Photo Product Factory

While the Manage, Develop, and Editor modules are clearly the stars of the show, ZPS does offer a few other tools worth mentioning. Chief among these are the Create and Print modules, focused on helping you produce photo products.

In the Create module, you‘ll find templates for things like photo books, calendars, collages, and more. Each template comes with a guided wizard to help you import your images and customize the layout. The included designs are attractive and the creation process is easy to follow.

However, it‘s worth noting that these templates are branded with Zoner‘s logo and information. That may make them less appealing for professional or commercial use. But for casual users just looking to make a quick photo book for friends and family? They‘ll do the trick.

The Print module, meanwhile, helps automate the process of printing your images. You can select print size, configure margins and watermarks, and even print multi-page contact sheets. It‘s a convenient inclusion, especially for those who do a lot of in-house printing.

ZPS also includes a basic video editor in the Utilize Video module. It‘s not going to replace dedicated video editing software anytime soon, but it‘s a nice option for quickly assembling a slideshow or short video from your photos.

While I wouldn‘t call any of these additional modules truly essential, they‘re certainly nice to have. And for certain users, they could meaningfully add to the value proposition of the software.

Price, Value & Comparison to the Competition

That brings us to perhaps the most compelling aspect of Zoner Photo Studio X: its price. At just $5.99 per month or $59 per year, it‘s significantly cheaper than the Adobe Photography Plan (which includes Lightroom and Photoshop).

Now, there are some trade-offs for that lower price. ZPS doesn‘t have all the cutting-edge AI-based tools that we‘re starting to see in other editors, like AI-powered noise reduction, sharpening, or upscaling. If those features are crucial to your workflow, ZPS may not be the best fit.

But for core editing functionality? ZPS is an absolute bargain. You‘d be hard-pressed to find another editor that offers this level of capability and performance at this price point.

Compared to its main competitors, ZPS holds up remarkably well:

• It offers a more well-rounded feature set than Lightroom, including pixel-level editing that Lightroom lacks.
• It‘s far cheaper than Photoshop while still covering the majority of what most photographers need from that program.
• It‘s more stable and performant than Luminar Neo, which has struggled with technical issues in its Windows version.
• It‘s less expensive than Capture One while offering a comparable level of editing power.
• It‘s more approachable and affordable than DxO PhotoLab, though lacks that program‘s exceptional denoising and lens corrections.

In short, while it may not be the absolute best in any one area, Zoner Photo Studio X delivers an enticing blend of features, performance, and value. It‘s a versatile tool that can meet the needs of a wide range of photographers at a very competitive price.

The Bottom Line

So, is Zoner Photo Studio X right for you? If you‘re looking for an all-in-one photo editing solution that won‘t break the bank, it‘s absolutely worth considering.

This is a program that can take you from import to export with ease. The Manage module provides a solid organizational foundation. The Develop module offers precise, performant RAW editing. And the Editor module enables detailed retouching and creative adjustments. Add in the extra features like video creation and printing, and you have a well-rounded package.

Yes, there are a few areas where ZPS could be improved. Some aspects of the interface could use refinement, the default RAW rendering is a bit lackluster, and the absence of trendy AI-based tools may be a turnoff for some.

But on the whole, Zoner has crafted a compelling and highly usable editor. It covers all the core needs of a photographer, delivers strong performance, and does so at an affordable price.

If you‘ve been frustrated with the cost of Adobe‘s subscription plans, or if you simply haven‘t found an editor that quite fits your needs, give Zoner Photo Studio X a try. It just might be the dark horse competitor you‘ve been waiting for.