Luminar Neo vs Luminar AI which one is right for you?
Luminar Neo vs Luminar AI.
Luminar Neo is now a fully featured all round image editing platform and with the addition of version 1.2 now including HDR merge and dodge and burn and the newly announced Luminar Neo Noiseless AI which I have a post on here.
Updated review on Luminar Neo vs Luminar AI
We have now hit a stage where I no longer recommend you purchase Luminar AI as Luminar Neo is now far superior in every way to Luminar AI. There are a few reasons for this which I have listed below…
- Luminar Neo has a much faster AI engine.
- We are possibly also reaching a point where Luminar AI will no longer be sold as it’s just completely inferior now to Luminar Neo now so support for the product could start to decline over the next 12 months.
- Powerline removal AI, Relight AI, Dust spot removal and a few more additional features
- Expansion packs for Luminar Neo have completely changed not only the photography suite but the photography editing market.
- Clone and Stamp tool coming for Luminar Neo in September 2022 with horizontal perspective correction on the way too soon.
- Noiseless AI being integrated via an expansion pack along with HDR Merge is massive for Neo
So this has truly killed the rest of this older Luminar Neo vs Luminar AI review below 🙂
Luminar Neo Discount code
Luminar Neo Discount Code
My Luminar Neo Discount Code and free special gift worth €25.- to get the special offer click the show code button and then copy the code and then go to get offer. This will take you to the Skylum website but before you purchase the product pretend to leave the page and you will get a free gift included with your purchase....
More LessWhat exactly is the difference between Luminar Neo vs Luminar AI?
Well to answer that we need to look at both products separately first. So stick with me as I explain which one is right for you and why….
Don’t forget to check out my 2 videos at the bottom of the page where I compare the speed on Luminar Neo vs Luminar AI and my full Luminar Neo video review is not there yet and apologies for the delay but I am working on it right now.
Before we get to the software I am delighted to say that the nice people over at Skylum software have given me a discount code HAYES10 which can be used on Both Luminar Neo and Luminar AI right now to save you $10, €10 or £10.- on their software. See my Luminar special offer section just below to find out more.
Luminar AI explained quickly.
Luminar AI is as we all know is a Photograph Editing suite which in Skylum’s own words was designed to simplify editing a photograph in as few steps as possibly hence saving us time and making editing a lot easier for most people. The AI features of Luminar AI made it very easy to use and with features like Sky replacement and Portrait Bokeh AI it’s incredibly simple to do complex tasks. My full Luminar AI review here
Luminar Neo explained quickly.
Luminar Neo is a more complex image editor that has all the features of Luminar AI and more.
You will be able to add and edit layers as well as several other processing options to be added soon. So Luminar Neo is every bit as good as Luminar AI and better with far more growth space for you and your editing possibilities. I get more into the exact differences in further down the page but if you would like to read my full Luminar Neo review then please click here or read on for a more in depth explanation of both bits of software.
Luminar Neo in depth
Luminar Neo is now a complete editing platform and with the addition of HDR Merge and the Noiseless (coming soon) AI now it has complete taken over as the advanced editing platform from Skylum and my advice now is if you are thinking about which one might be better for you then just go for Luminar Neo you honestly won’t regret it.
Layers and Masking are both in Luminar Neo as well as Relight AI, Automatic Dust Spot Removal (review here), Powerline Removal and background removal making Neo a far more complex bit of software than Luminar AI. Again the addition of the extra expansion packs are all serious plus points for Neo here.
The big issue for Skylum is that it’s a Ukraine based company and as you no doubt are aware Russia invaded the Ukraine earlier this year and as a result there is currently a war going on in Ukraine.
Skylum also have several representatives based around Europe and they are working hard to continue to develop Luminar Neo. In fact they just released Luminar Neo update 1.2 so it might take them a small bit longer to release updates as a result of the war.
On a side note if want to support Ukraine and it’s people during this war or Invasion from Russia then buying Luminar Neo or Luminar AI from Skylum will help a bit.
Luminar AI in depth
Luminar Neo as a plugin
If you use Luminar as a plugin like I do then it’s only good news for you. The app works well with Lightroom and Photoshop just as Luminar AI did so no change there.
So Neo is far more complex, faster, it has a load of new features as well as Layers and masking making it already a superior product but the addition of the expansion packs could now really be a big game changer. The next question is…
What’s happening to Luminar AI now?
Well, Skylum have said Luminar AI is “Feature complete” in other words all the features are there so it is probably coming close to the end of its life and there won’t be a new feature added to the software. It will still obviously continue to work and continue to get new camera support for as long as it’s being sold (no timeline on how long more that will be though).
Luminar Neo vs Luminar AI Pricing
To get the latest and best prices for both Luminar Neo and Luminar AI then click here the discount code link below for the latest pricing and use my Luminar Neo discount code to save yourself a nice bit of money also.
Luminar Neo Discount code
Luminar Neo Discount Code
My Luminar Neo Discount Code and free special gift worth €25.- to get the special offer click the show code button and then copy the code and then go to get offer. This will take you to the Skylum website but before you purchase the product pretend to leave the page and you will get a free gift included with your purchase....
More LessExpansion pack and Luminar Neo pricing and Special Offers
AI Early Bird Pricing for new customers:
Early Bird for current Luminar Neo customers
You can switch to a yearly subscription for $69 during the first year, after that the cost of the subscription will be $99 instead of €119. Upon switching to a yearly subscription customers will instantly get HDR Merge feature, and Noiseless AI.
Lifetime Luminar Neo 2022 Extensions Pack for this audience will be priced at $179. instead of €299.-
Early Bird for Luminar Neo customers who purchased HDR Merge
Early Bird for owners of Luminar AI, Luminar 4, and Aurora HDR
I have also reviewed a few more photography editing apps including…
Topaz Labs plugins including (click on the name for the review) Sharpen AI, DeNoise AI, Gigapixel AI and Video Enhance AI as well as ON1 editing solutions including ON1 Photo Raw 2022, ON1 Resize AI 2022, ON1 NoNoise AI 2022 and check out my ON1 Promo code here for 20% off.
Conclusion and which one is right for you?
Skylum are seeing the question of Luminar Neo vs Luminar AI as the wrong question, it’s more of which one suits you rather than one of them it could actually be both and I could really see myself using both going forward.
The same way as I use Photoshop and Lightroom but for different things.
The one word of caution I will say to anyone buying photography editing software is don’t think just because you buy something now it’s going to stay valid for 2 or 3 years, those days are gone and software moves on at a fast pace.
Now in saying all that Once you buy Luminar Neo you own it and can use it for as long as you want there is no time limit on it.
Finally I am going to add what Skylum have said about Luminar Neo below.
When was Luminar Neo launched?
Luminar Neo was launched on the 17th of February 2022. You can see the full history of the Skylum product launches below.
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The original Luminar’s release date was on the 17th of November 2016
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Luminar 2018 release date was in late 2017
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Luminar 3 release date was on the 18th of December 2018
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Luminar 4 release date was on the 18th of November 2019
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Luminar AI release date was the 15th of December 2020.
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There was an earlier Luminar AI release date for early bird subscribers but the main Luminar AI release date was the 15th of December.
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Luminar Neo release date was on the 17th of February 2022.
I have three separate videos below so far on Luminar Neo.
Topaz Labs plugins including (click on the name for the review) Sharpen AI, DeNoise AI, Gigapixel AI and Video Enhance AI as well as a 15% off Discount code for their products here.
ON1 including ON1 Photo Raw 2022, ON1 Resize AI 2022, ON1 NoNoise AI 2022 and check out my ON1 Promo code here for 20% off.
