What it does
Luminar Neo is a desktop photo editor whose AI tools handle sky replacement, relighting, background removal, noise, upscaling, and portrait retouching, with generative erase and expand.
Best for
Photographers who want AI cleanup and enhancement rather than synthetic images.
+ What Works
- +One-time licence available
- +Excellent relight and sky tools
- +Works as a Lightroom/Photoshop plugin
− What Doesn't
- −Not a text-to-image generator
- −Desktop-only and GPU-hungry
- −Extensions sold separately
Pricing
Perpetual licence from ~$99 one-time · Pro subscription ~$14.95/mo or $119/yr · 30-day refund
The Verdict
Wrong tool if you want to invent images; the right one if you want to rescue them.
How we tested
Every tool in the Image Generators vertical is run through the same prompt battery — twenty briefs spanning technical accuracy, aesthetic control, and edge-case handling. Scores weight output quality (50%), ease of use (25%), and value (25%).
Read the full methodology →