No, Aftershoot is not free. It offers a 30-day free trial with no credit card, then charges a flat monthly fee for each module you use, with unlimited photos. Culling on its own, Aftershoot Select, costs US$10 a month billed yearly or US$15 month to month.
If you want culling software that stays free, Selekt's free plan has no time limit, and FilterPixel gives you four free projects. We make Selekt, so every Aftershoot detail below links to Aftershoot's own pages, checked on 26 September 2026.
What Aftershoot costs after the trial
| Module | Billed yearly, per month | Billed monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Select (culling) | US$10 | US$15 |
| Edit | US$30 | US$35 |
| Retouch | US$20 | US$25 |
| Complete (all three) | US$45 | US$55 |
Every plan processes unlimited photos, and Aftershoot lets you pause a subscription for up to three months, which suits seasonal work such as weddings.
What Aftershoot Select includes
Select covers AI-driven selections, duplicate grouping, and key face detection. It has two modes: fully automated culling, where the AI makes the first selection for you to correct, and AI-assisted culling. Selects export to Lightroom, Capture One, Bridge, and Adobe Camera Raw.
Free alternatives to Aftershoot
- Selekt Free runs on Mac and Windows with no time limit. It includes unlimited culling and export, on-device focus, exposure, and blur scoring, groups for bursts and similar frames, and cloud face checks such as closed-eye flags for 100 photos a month. Pro costs A$16 a month (about US$11) and makes cloud AI unlimited for everyday shooting.
- FilterPixel gives you four free projects, with photo limits that depend on the culling mode. Like Aftershoot, it proposes a selection with AI for you to review.
- Adobe Bridge, digiKam, and darktable are free, but they do not score or group your photos.
The biggest difference is who makes the first selection. Aftershoot can make it for you automatically. Selekt does not: it groups frames and flags problems, and you pick. It can shortlist a target number of frames when you ask, but nothing is marked until you confirm. If you want an AI to propose the whole selection, Aftershoot or FilterPixel will suit you better. Our guide to free photo culling software compares every option.
Is Aftershoot worth paying for?
If automated culling cuts your correction time on the work you shoot, US$10 a month billed yearly is modest next to a wedding fee. Use the trial on a complete job, not a sample: count the picks you change, check the moments it missed, and look at how the selects arrive in your editor.
If you would rather make every pick yourself, a free culler may already cover you. See Selekt vs Aftershoot for a feature-by-feature view.
