In a nutshell
- Our in-depth Luminar Neo review tells you exactly what this AI-powered photo editor can do — and whether it’s worth switching from Lightroom.
- With just one click, you can completely retouch a portrait, swap out the sky, or simply give your photo more pop.
- Use our discount code SKYLUM22PLACES10 to save 10 percent. Click here to go to Luminar Neo.
What Is Luminar Neo?
Think of Luminar Neo as your personal photo workshop, where simplicity meets seriously impressive technology.
This photo editing software is like the cooler little sibling of Adobe Lightroom — and it stands out especially for its smart use of artificial intelligence (AI).
Those clever AI tools give you real support with everyday and tricky tasks — whether that’s correcting images, swapping out skies, or removing distracting objects from the background.
A real standout of Luminar Neo is how easy it makes being creative. Features like AI-powered sky detection and skin retouching help you fine-tune your images with minimal effort and surprisingly great precision.
Beyond the AI solutions, there are also classic editing tools for brightness, contrast, colors, and more — just like what you know from Lightroom and other photo editing programs. That makes Luminar Neo appealing to professionals too.
Our Experience with Luminar Neo
We put Luminar Neo through its paces for several weeks, and we’re genuinely impressed.
What stood out most was the speed and efficiency of the AI tools. Earlier versions of Luminar could be a bit sluggish — that’s no longer the case. We rarely had to wait for results.
The customization options are top-notch too: you can develop your own editing style and quickly access your favorite settings by saving custom presets.
Bottom line: Luminar Neo has become a real alternative to Lightroom. If you haven’t committed to a photo editing program yet, you should at least give it a try.
Lies auch:
The Interface of Luminar Neo
Luminar Neo is clean and incredibly easy to navigate — perfect for quickly polishing up your photos without a steep learning curve.
The interface is divided into three main areas: Catalog, Presets, and Edit. Here’s a quick rundown of each.
Catalog
The Catalog is your personal photo headquarters. All your photos land here after import.
You can sort them by the usual criteria — date, file name, and so on. You can also create folders and albums to keep things organized and maintain a clear overview.
In the Catalog area, you’ll also find your first useful tools. Generative tools let you remove distracting elements or add new ones, assemble panoramas from multiple shots, or upscale low-resolution images.
The Catalog is really clean and functional. The straightforward layout makes it easy to find what you’re looking for and select and rate your favorites.
Super handy for bringing order to a flood of photos!
Presets
Presets are your magic trick for stylish photos with just one click. Luminar even suggests suitable presets for you, or you can browse what feels like an endless selection of favorites.
Whether you want to give your images a consistent look or simply aren’t in the mood for long editing sessions — you’ll find everything here, from subtle color tweaks to dramatic transformations.
And the best part: You can save your own presets too. That way, you’ll build up a personal style in no time that can be applied to new photos in seconds.
Edit
This is where things get serious! The editing area is packed with tools — from basics like brightness and contrast adjustments to advanced features like curve adjustments and color management.
You’ll also find plenty of AI tools with a wide range of functions here. You can spot them by the small “AI” in their name: skin retouching, noise reduction, sky enhancements, and many more.
In the next section, we’ll walk you through a few of the AI tools worth knowing about.
Exciting AI Features of Luminar
Luminar Neo has a lot to offer for photo editing. We’d love to show you everything, but then this post would never end.
So instead, here are our top 4 most useful AI features — ones that aren’t just gimmicks but are genuinely relevant for everyday editing.
Sky Replacement
Say goodbye to boring skies! With Luminar Neo’s Sky Replacement feature, you can add dramatic sunsets or impressive storm clouds to your photos with just one click.
Thanks to the smart AI, the swap is so realistic and seamless that no one will notice the difference. You can still make your own adjustments on top of that.
This feature is what originally put Luminar on the map, and it’s still a real highlight — especially if you love photographing landscapes or architecture and the sky just isn’t cooperating.
Remove Distracting Objects
Distracting objects in your shot? No problem! With the “Remove Distracting Objects” feature, you can wipe out everything from random passersby to small imperfections in a flash.
The AI analyzes the surroundings and fills in the removed areas so the end result looks completely natural.
Think about how much time you’ve spent cloning in Photoshop to retouch portraits or wedding photos. Skip the tedious manual retouching and get clean, professional-looking images in seconds.
Noise Reduction
Do you often shoot in challenging lighting conditions? The Noise Reduction tool in Luminar Neo is about to become your new best friend.
It minimizes image noise effectively without losing important details, delivering clear, clean images even at high ISO values. Perfect when you want to photograph the Northern Lights at night or when there isn’t enough light indoors.
Older cameras in particular tend to struggle with image noise. With Luminar Neo, that’s one less thing to worry about — you can be a bit more relaxed about your ISO choice.
Generative Expand
Officially it’s not listed as an AI tool — and yet artificial intelligence is clearly doing the heavy lifting here.
With Generative Expand, you can seamlessly extend your photos at the edges. For Instagram, portrait-format photos work best in a 5:4 ratio. But cameras usually shoot in 3:2 or 4:3.
If you can’t or don’t want to crop your photo, Generative Expand lets you enlarge it by automatically adding content at the edges. This works surprisingly well and saves many a photo for Instagram and beyond.
Lies auch:
Luminar Neo Pricing: Subscription vs. Lifetime Plan
Luminar Neo offers two main pricing models: the Subscription Plan and the Lifetime Plan. Both have their pros and cons depending on your needs.
Subscription Plan
With the Subscription Plan, you get continuous access to all upgrades and always have the latest version of the software without any additional payments.
This plan includes all tools — the advanced AI photo editing tools as well as the professional tools. A key advantage is that you can use the generative tools — Generative Erase, Generative Expand, and Generative Replace — without any restrictions.
The biggest draw of this plan is the continuous updates and instant access to new features as they roll out.
The list price is 119 euros per year — but honestly, we’ve been checking in on Luminar regularly and have yet to see it actually charge that. There are almost always promotional discounts, so you typically pay 59 euros per year. That’s a much more reasonable deal.
Lifetime Plan
The Lifetime Plan gives you a permanent license for Luminar Neo. You get access to updates, bug fixes, improvements, and some new features.
Just note that major upgrades may require additional payments down the line. All tools are included here too — though the generative tools (Generative Replace, Generative Erase, and Generative Expand) are only available for one year.
Just like with the annual subscription, the lifetime license is almost always available at the sale price of 99 euros. The official list price is 219 euros.
Both plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee. So if you’re not happy within the first 30 days, you’ll get your money back — no risk.
By the way, we’ve got a way to save! Use the discount code SKYLUM22PLACES10 to save 10 percent. It works for both the subscription and the lifetime license.
Discount Code for Luminar Neo
Good news: with the discount code SKYLUM22PLACES, you save 10 percent.
It doesn’t matter whether you use it for the annual subscription or the lifetime license. The code even works when Luminar is already on sale.
Once you’re on the Luminar Neo website, navigate to the various plans. When you click ‘Buy Now’, you’ll find the option to enter a discount code in the upper third of the page — it’s a little tucked away, so keep an eye out for it.
Criticism of Luminar
There are a few minor downsides — though these relate more to the surrounding ecosystem than to the software itself.
Luminar Neo is a comparatively young program, and things do change from time to time as a result.
During our testing period, for example, Luminar’s logo changed, the pricing and licensing model was adjusted, and the extensions were folded into the core of the software — so you no longer need to purchase them separately.
Around mid-June, an iPhone app called Luminar Mobile was also introduced. We’ll be taking a closer look at that one too.
There’s always something happening at Luminar, but this generally benefits users. If you’re reviewing Luminar over a longer period like we are, though, you do have to keep checking whether something has changed.
Finally, there really is a nearly endless number of tools. Getting an overview takes some time — but that’s true of most photo editing programs.
Our Verdict
Whether you’re just getting started with photography or already have some experience, Luminar Neo is a great companion.
The software is super user-friendly and puts powerful tools right at your fingertips. The AI features make editing your photos almost effortless — you can achieve impressive results in no time.
And if you ever want to dive into the details, all the classic editing features you may already know from other programs are right there waiting for you.
Bottom line: Luminar Neo makes it genuinely fun to be creative and polish up your photos. We really recommend giving it a try.
Don’t forget our discount code and save 10% on Luminar Neo: SKYLUM22PLACES10
Questions and Answers about Luminar Neo
What's better — Lightroom or Luminar Neo?
It really depends on what you’re looking for.
Lightroom offers comprehensive photo management and a wide range of advanced editing tools — it’s the industry standard for a reason.
Luminar Neo, on the other hand, stands out with smart AI features that can genuinely speed up your editing workflow and make tricky tasks effortless.
Can’t decide? You can actually add Luminar Neo as a plugin to Lightroom and get the best of both worlds.
How much does Luminar Neo cost?
Luminar Neo is available at various price points. The one-time license has a list price of around $219 and the annual subscription is approximately $119.
Those are, however, the list prices — and in practice, you’ll rarely pay that much.
There are frequent discounts, so you can usually save 50% or more.
That means you can often get the one-time license for around $99 and the annual subscription for $59 per year.
Our discount code always works on top of that too! Save an extra 10% with: SKYLUM22PLACES10
What PC specs do you need for Luminar Neo?
The official minimum specs are: an Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 processor, 8 GB RAM (16 GB recommended), a graphics card with 4 GB VRAM, at least 10 GB of free storage space, and a current operating system — Windows 10 or macOS 10.14 or newer.
We tested Luminar Neo on a 2020 MacBook Pro with an M1 processor and 16 GB of RAM and had no issues with speed. Intensive AI tasks like upscaling do take a little time, but regular editing is fast.
Are there extensions in Luminar Neo?
Until the end of 2023, you could purchase individual extensions for Luminar Neo separately. Since then, all features have been folded directly into the core software — no extra purchases needed.
That said, you can still spend money if you want to. Additional presets or extra sky packs are available as optional add-ons.
What's the difference between generative tools and AI tools in Luminar Neo?
Luminar Neo has a whole range of AI-powered editing tools. With Sky AI you can quickly replace the sky, and with Enhance AI you can optimize your photos with a range of improvements.
The generative tools go a step further — they analyze your photos and add entirely new elements. There are three: Generative Erase removes unwanted objects and fills in the gaps naturally, Generative Replace swaps one element for another, and Generative Expand extends the scene beyond the edges of the original frame.
