DxO Photolab is an advanced photo editing software by the French company DxO.

According to their website, the software is designed for and by the photographers to handle raw images, noise reduction, and automatically correct optical flaws. And it’s pretty good at what it claims.

In fact, the tool boasts some cutting-edge features to make some local adjustments and enhance your image quality.

For example, the improved U Point Technology can help you make automatic local adjustments to your photos and removes the need for masking.

Similarly, the Prime Noise Reduction feature wipes out noise from your high ISO images. And using the Clearview Plus Local Contrast, you can add immense clarity to blurry images.

That said, there are still some areas where DxO Photolab leaves the users asking for more.

And what are these areas?

Well, to know that, let’s take a deep dive and go through its benefits and cons in the following section.

Let’s go.

DxO Photolab Pros

#1. The main strength of Photolab is its cutting-edge editing features. And they’ve literally made it 2-fold better by introducing some great addition and improving the U Point Technology.

The U Point Technology or Color Point is basically used to make some local adjustments to your image.

It helps you play with the light, color, and small details of a photo using a multi-setting equalizer.

For example, you can use the tool to balance the exposure of your image, blur a particular area, brighten/darken specific areas of your image, etc.

Just select a ‘Control Point’ or an area where you want to make some adjustments. And DxO Photolab automatically extends the changes around your select point within an adjustable radius.

In addition to this, the feature also comes with a brush tool and smart automatic repair.

The brush tool can be used to correct specific areas with a high degree of precision.

On the other hand, the smart automatic repair helps you weed out odd elements and replace them with a matching area of the image.

And the best part?

The ‘Control Point’ technology is available with both – Essential and Elite versions of the software.

Apart from this, some other notable features are the Prime Noise Reduction, DxO Clearview, Optical Correction, and Photolibrary.

The Prime Noise Reduction function is my personal favorite that I often use while editing high ISO images.

It removes any sort of noise from your photos, and every time I use the tool, I come up with surprising results without losing the sharpness of the pictures.

Similarly, the Clearview feature is added to improve the image quality of blurry pictures. You can use the feature to clear out foggy or blurry images.

At last, Optical Correction or Lens Correction is to strike out optical flaws like low sharpness, distortion, and vignetting.

As you apply the feature, DxO Photolab does its job automatically with you, always having the freedom to regulate the intensity.

However, the only catch is, most of these features are reserved for the Elite edition of the software.

But overall, DxO Photolab is an excellent software to do some advanced level editing.

#2. DxO Photolab allows you to share photos on social media sites right from within the software.

In fact, while exporting the image, you can select different file formats and then either download to your computer or share it on social media.

#3. Thanks to cross-platform, DxO Photolab runs smoothly on Windows as well as Mac computers.

And the best thing is?

The software can be run on more than one machine. If you own the Essential edition, you’re allowed to use the same product key on two different PCs.

On the other hand, the users of the Elite edition can install the software on three computers.

DxO Photolab Cons

#1. No doubt, DxO Photolab could be a darling for veteran photographers. But it’s certainly not an apt tool for amateurs or entry-level users.

The software clearly mentions on its website that it’s an advanced photo editing software.

And even though the user interface of the software is a bit cleaner than many advanced tools, it’s still daunting for a novice photo editor.

In addition to this, it has a steep learning curve. Thus, you would need to go through the in-house tutorials several times to find your way to different functions.

#2. Feature-wise, DxO Photolab might sound like a complete photo editing solution, but the reality is far from this.

The software lacks many of the effects and filters that you can typically find in other top programs like Adobe Photoshop.

Moreover, you can’t change the background of your image or perform some essential functions like merging photos or playing with the color contrast.

In short, DxO is perfect for photo processing but not quite strong in editing small details.

#3. DxO Photolab doesn’t have dedicated apps for Android and iOS. So, the software is completely irrelevant for someone who often edit photos on his/her smartphone.

#4. Unlike Adobe Photoshop, DxO Photolab doesn’t provide cloud space to users.

DxO Photolab pricing plans and payment methods

DxO has a straightforward, one-off pricing plan for all its products, and Photolab is no different.

The company offers two different versions of the software – Essential edition and Elite edition.

While both the variants are more or less the same, the Elite edition comes with some additional attributes.

For example, Prime Noise Reduction, Clearview Plus, DCP Color Profile Support, multiple exports, presets, etc. are limited to the Elite version users.

And that’s why it’s a bit more expensive than the Essential edition at $199. The Essential edition, on the other hand, costs just $129.

As for payment methods, you can pay the one-time fee via credit cards or PayPal.

Do I recommend DxO Photolab?

DxO Photolab is an image processing tool that comes with some excellent features like noise reduction, U-Point Technology, Prime Clearview, Optical Correction, and more.

Plus, the one-time fee makes it more reasonable than most of the subscription-based programs.

So, if you want a program to process your photos, then definitely go for it.

But that being said…

If your object is to edit small details of your images, then you should skip this tool and look for a better option like Adobe Photoshop.