Redlamp is a native, open-source RAW photo editor for Apple Silicon, built from scratch in Swift and Metal. Lightroom's workflow, with no subscription and no cloud.
Like so many others, I started out editing in Photoshop and moved to Lightroom. It was simpler and more focused. It felt less powerful, and it was, but it was the better tool for me. I owned it, and I paid to upgrade whenever a new version was worth it. Then Lightroom became a subscription, and things got confusing: Lightroom Classic, Lightroom, Lightroom Mobile, a web version, different feature sets, cloud and no cloud. I adapted, but I wasn't happy.
This isn't about criticising Adobe, which has essentially defined the gold standard in several industries. I've worked for very large companies myself, and I understand how decisions like these come about, and how hard it can be to do the right thing even when it's obvious. I just want there to be a real alternative.
Hi Pedro, I know first hand about the "and things got confusing" times. I started in photography / Lightroom right when they were pushing Lightroom CC. Finally after years of literal FOMO, I left town for the week, got a hotel room, and just learned everything about Lightroom Classic and how to migrate over to it during that week. True story.
My product question for you is what sort of guidance do you have to help photographers migrate? For example, will they have to start over with their keywords, ratings, etc.?
I'm surprised no one made this sooner! I will be testing this out tonight.
I have longed for a Lightroom Equivalent without the cost.
built from scratch in Swift/Metal rather than wrapping an existing engine is the part that surprises me, RAW decoding is the kind of thing I'd expect to outsource to libraw or dcraw and spend your own time on the UI instead. what made you go all the way down to writing your own decoder - was it a performance ceiling with the existing libraries, or more about not wanting a GPL dependency sitting under an MPL project, or something else entirely
About Redlamp on Product Hunt
“Native, open-source RAW Lightroom alternative editor for Mac”
Redlamp launched on Product Hunt on October 7th, 2026 and earned 88 upvotes and 8 comments, placing #18 on the daily leaderboard. Redlamp is a native, open-source RAW photo editor for Apple Silicon, built from scratch in Swift and Metal. Lightroom's workflow, with no subscription and no cloud.
Redlamp was featured in Open Source (69k followers), Photography (143.5k followers), GitHub (41.4k followers) and Photo editing (1.5k followers) on Product Hunt. Together, these topics include over 65k products, making this a competitive space to launch in.
Who hunted Redlamp?
Redlamp was hunted by Pedro Gomes. A “hunter” on Product Hunt is the community member who submits a product to the platform — uploading the images, the link, and tagging the makers behind it. Hunters typically write the first comment explaining why a product is worth attention, and their followers are notified the moment they post. Around 79% of featured launches on Product Hunt are self-hunted by their makers, but a well-known hunter still acts as a signal of quality to the rest of the community. See the full all-time top hunters leaderboard to discover who is shaping the Product Hunt ecosystem.
Want to see how Redlamp stacked up against nearby launches in real time? Check out the live launch dashboard for upvote speed charts, proximity comparisons, and more analytics.
Pedro Gomes