Verdict: 4.5 stars ON1 Effects is both a standalone program, reviewed here, and a core component in ON1 Photo RAW 2026, ON1’s flagship photo editor. So why would you buy this one component and not the whole thing? Because, in my opinion, ON1 Effects is the best part of ON1 Photo RAW, and the standalone Effects version gives you all the same inspiring effects and powerful masking and adjustment tools but in an application you can slot into your existing Lightroom, Capture One or other workflow.
ON1 Effects
Adobe misses a huge chunk of photographic imaging styles like they don’t exist
Depending on who you ask, either Photoshop or Lightroom is the world’s most popular photo editor. I’d be inclined to back Lightroom, given that it’s clearly photography-focused, whereas Photoshop is really a design tool that also does photography. But both miss a huge part of the photography style spectrum – what I’m going to call ‘organic’ photography.
Get ON1 Effects 2025 free – but you’ve only got until January 12th
ON1 Effects is a key part of ON1 Photo RAW and comes with dozens of customisable photo effects and filters which can be combined in almost limitless permutations. This is the 2025 version not 2026, but it’s still packed with many of the latest AI features. Best of all, it can be used as a standalone application or as a plug-in from within Lightroom or Photoshop.