The best color grading software is the one organised around your job: a timeline if you are grading an edit, a library if you are developing raw stills, a plugin if you want a film look, a folder if one look has to cover a whole shoot. Almost every tool below can apply a LUT, so the feature list is not what separates them. If you want free color grading software for an edit, start with DaVinci Resolve: its free version reads the same LUTs as Studio.
Which color grading software fits which job?
The useful question is what the tool is built around, because that decides whether your job takes ten minutes or an afternoon.
| Tool | Organised around | Best at | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| DaVinci Resolve | A timeline | Grading an edit, properly | Free, Studio paid |
| Premiere Pro | A timeline | Editing, with Lumetri attached | Subscription |
| Final Cut Pro | A library | Editing on macOS, per-clip Mix | One payment, or Apple's Creator Studio subscription |
| Lightroom | A photo library | Raw develop, sync across a shoot | Subscription |
| Capture One | A photo session | Raw develop, tethering, colour editor | Licence or subscription |
| Dehancer / FilmConvert | A host plugin | Film emulation, grain, halation | Paid |
| BatchTone | A folder | One look across many files, per-file strength | One in-app purchase |
What is the best color grading software for video?
DaVinci Resolve is the serious answer for grading a cut, and the free version is not crippled: LUT support is identical to Studio's. Its weakness for a quick job is everything it asks for first: a project, a timeline, a render queue. Adding LUTs in Resolve covers the mechanics, and Resolve free vs Studio covers what the paid version adds.
Premiere Pro puts colour inside the edit through Lumetri, with two LUT slots that people routinely confuse. The Premiere LUT workflow covers which is which.
Final Cut Pro has the nicest per-clip control of the three: the Custom LUT effect's Mix slider is a real strength dial. Apple still sells it as a one-time purchase on the Mac and, since January 2026, also inside its Creator Studio subscription. Across a whole library it is still paste-attributes work, and Color Finale is the plugin people add when the built-in tools run out.
What is the best color grading app for photos?
Lightroom syncs settings across a selection very well and does not read .cube files; they have to be converted to profiles in Photoshop first, which is three applications per LUT.
Capture One does not read .cube files either. A LUT has to be converted to an ICC profile or a style by a third-party tool, and it is stills only, no video. Capture One vs Lightroom compares the two in more depth.
For the craft side of grading stills (contrast, colour balance, where a LUT fits), colour grading photos walks through it.
What is the best free color grading software?
DaVinci Resolve, if the job is grading an edit: the free version grades properly and reads the same LUTs as Studio. For raw stills, darktable is free and open source. For applying one look across a folder, free means ffmpeg on the command line: capable, with no preview and no per-file strength unless you write the filtergraph yourself.
What is the best professional colour grading software?
For professional colour grading, the tool most colourists use is DaVinci Resolve Studio: the same colour page as the free version, plus noise reduction, HDR grading and higher-resolution output. Baselight from FilmLight is the other name in high-end finishing, sold mainly to facilities. Both are built for a graded film, shot by shot, on a calibrated monitor.
Professional does not mean every job needs that tool. A colour grading tool for a feature and a colour grading tool for a wedding delivery of 600 photos are different things:
| Job | Professional tool | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Grading a film or a commercial | DaVinci Resolve Studio, Baselight | Shot matching, secondaries, windows, tracking |
| Grading an edit you also cut | Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro | Colour inside the editor you already use |
| Developing a raw photo shoot | Lightroom, Capture One | Raw processing, sync across a session |
| One look across a folder of files | A batch tool such as BatchTone | Files in, files out, per-file strength |
Is there a Cinema Grade alternative?
Cinema Grade is a colour grading plugin that lets you click and drag on the image to adjust colour, inside editors such as Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro. If you want the same idea without a plugin, the closest built-in options are the colour wheels in Final Cut Pro, Lumetri in Premiere Pro, and the colour page in DaVinci Resolve. If what you used it for was putting one look on many clips, a LUT applied in bulk does that job without grading each clip by hand.
What about film emulation apps?
Dehancer and FilmConvert are emulation engines with grain, halation and print characteristics more than general colour graders. They run as plugins inside a host such as Premiere, Resolve or Final Cut. Dehancer also plugs into photo editors such as Photoshop and Lightroom; FilmConvert's Nitrate is listed for video hosts only. Dehancer and FilmConvert cover what each does and how they are sold.
This category gets a lot of attention in "colour grading software" searches. It is also not what someone converting a card of log footage needs.
Are phone color grading apps worth it?
For clips that never leave the phone, yes: phone editors such as CapCut and Lightroom's mobile app handle a quick look. They get awkward when a shoot lives on a Mac, when the look is a .cube from a pack you bought, or when you need the same look on hundreds of files with a different strength on a few.
The batch tools
The category nobody lists. The job is one look, many files, no edit: no timeline, no library, no host, just a folder, a .cube and control over how much each file takes.
BatchTone does that on macOS:
- Drop in a folder of photos and clips together: JPEG, PNG, HEIC and TIFF stills, MP4, MOV and other common video formats.
- Pick a LUT from your library. Each one is previewed on your own first frame.
- Lower the strength on any file that needs less; the rest follow the global setting.
- Export JPEG or PNG and H.264 MP4 to a folder you choose, named before the run. Originals are never touched, and a JPEG's capture date, camera and GPS carry across.
It does not grade an edit and it does not develop RAW files, which is the trade: a narrow tool for the job the wide ones make ceremonial. The seven-day trial has everything unlocked, so you can try it on a real shoot before paying, then it is one in-app purchase.
Download BatchTone free on the Mac App Store
Choosing, in one table
| If you are… | Use |
|---|---|
| Grading a cut | Resolve |
| Editing and grading in one place | Premiere or Final Cut |
| Developing raw stills | Lightroom or Capture One |
| After a film look | Dehancer or FilmConvert |
| Editing clips that stay on your phone | A phone editor |
| Converting a card of log clips | A batch tool |
| Applying a house look to 400 JPEGs | A batch tool |
Common questions
What is the best color grading software for Mac?
For an edit, DaVinci Resolve or Final Cut Pro. For one look across a whole folder of photos and clips, a batch tool such as BatchTone, which runs on macOS 12 or later on Apple Silicon.
Do I need colour grading software if I shoot in a normal profile?
Probably not. These tools earn their place when footage is flat by design, when a shoot has to match across cameras, or when a look has to be consistent across hundreds of files.
Is colour correction the same as colour grading?
Correction makes the image accurate: white balance, exposure, contrast. Grading makes it intentional. A conversion LUT is correction and a creative LUT is grading, and the difference decides the order you apply them in.
Can one tool do stills and video?
Few do it well. Resolve handles stills awkwardly, Lightroom handles video awkwardly, and both treat the other medium as a visitor. Doing both in one batch is the specific thing BatchTone is built for.