Adobe is in a unique position in this roundup. It has two (three, if you count both versions of Lightroom) very different programs in the test that each deserve to be here on their own merits – yet you get both for a single subscription fee via the Adobe Photography Plan. However cheap Adobe’s rivals might be, this still has to be just about the best value of all.
But Adobe’s Raw processing is not the best. It’s likely to be fine for most users, but Capture One and DxO PhotoLab are better, and DxO’s DeepPRIME high-ISO image processing is extraordinary. Neither is cheap, but the best rarely is.