If you're new or even "newish" to the world of Lightroom, you might be wondering why there were two Lightrooms - Lightroom Classic and Lightroom CC. In many ways, they were born from the same product, but there are some significant differences. (Most photographers have do prefer one over the other.)

Let's take a look at what those difference are:

1. What's in a name?

Lightroom CC is part of Adobe's Creative Cloud subscription model and has been for years. It was different than Adobe's other product, Lightroom 6. Then, about two years ago, Adobe introduced Lightroom Classic. It was an update to both Lightroom 6 and Lightroom CC, packaged as Lightroom Classic, a new standalone product. The interface is exactly the same as Lightroom CC. Still, it was a long-awaited upgrade/update and, in many ways, very different than any previous Adobe products. Photographers were left with Lightroom Classic and an updated Lightroom CC, confused yet?

The new Lightroom Classic was an expected upgrade with the same interface as earlier Lightroom versions, but with some new features. It offers more than the updated Lightroom CC.
The new Lightroom CC suddenly became software with a different target audience.

2. Features

As we said, there are some differences between Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic. In a nutshell, anything offered in earlier versions of Lightroom; you can do it in Lightroom Classic.

On the other hand, Lightroom CC is a very streamlined version of Classic, without as many advanced features and is pretty easy to learn.

Let's take a side by side look of a few key features:

Classic vs. CC:

Export file types: JPEG, TIFF, DNG, PSD, Original / JPEG
Create virtual, snapshots & actual copies: Yes / No
Edit unlimited photos with no extra charge: Yes / No, 1TB storage limit before a price increase
Printing module: Yes/No
Mobile editing: Yes, only as smart previews / Lightroom mobile Yes
Rename photos: Yes / No
Sync settings: Yes / No
Local adjustments (brush, gradient, radial tools): Yes / Yes
Adjustment history: Yes / No
Basic panel adjustments: Yes / Yes
Clarity and dehaze adjustments: Yes / Yes
Plugin support: Yes / No
HSL panel adjustments: Yes / Yes
Organize with folders: Yes / No
Smart collections: Yes / No
Face recognition: Yes / No
HSL panel adjustments: Yes / Yes
Split toning adjustments: Yes / Yes
Sharpening and noise reduction adjustments: Yes / Yes
Merge HDRs or panoramas: Yes / No
Edits syncs across devices: Yes, (smart previews & Lightroom mobile) / Yes
Original cloud backups: No / Yes
Splitting into multiple catalogs: Yes / No
Maximum photo view magnification: 11:1 / 2:1

3. Which one should you use?

Lightroom Classic is probably best for previous Lightroom users and advanced photographers. With a steeper learning curve and more features, it's a better choice for those who fall into those categories. Its most advanced features are ones that typically appeal to advanced photographers. Those include watermarks, plugins, and multiple catalogs.

Lightroom CC's target audience is more consumer-oriented that professional photographers who need Classic's more advanced and technical features. You can still produce terrific images with Lightroom CC, but why invest time and money on technical features you can live without? For example, why export PSD files when you can export as JPEGs?

4. Using both CC & Classic

Having distinguished between professional and casual users, we should point out that there are times when pros might want to use Lightroom CC. If you find yourself needing to edit content, including videos, in the field, CC allows for that while Lightroom Classic doesn't.

CC offers some pretty advanced post-processing features you can use out in the field. If you like to create, edit, and share content on the go for your social media account, it makes sense to have both Classic and CC.

5. Pricing

For one price, you can get:

Photoshop (image editing and compositing on desktop and iPad),
Lightroom Plan, (photo editing and organization on desktop and mobile)
Lightroom Classic (desktop-focused photo editing)
includes 20GB of cloud storage, Adobe Portfolio, Adobe Fonts, Adobe Spark, and access to the latest features and updates as soon as they're released:

As an annual plan, paid monthly — US$9.99/mo or

Annual plan, prepaid — US$119.88/yr.

You can upgrade to 1TB for an additional $10/month.

You can read more about Adobe's plans here.

6. Lastly

If you're starting out in photography or taking your photography more seriously, Lightroom CC probably makes more sense for you. If you're a professional photographer, you're likely already using Classic and thinking about adding CC to expand what you can do, especially as it relates to uploading on the go for social media purposes.

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