VSCOMPARISON
Selekt vs Photo Mechanic
Photo Mechanic has been the industry standard for fast photo browsing since the film-to-digital transition. Selekt is a modern alternative built for photographers who want AI-powered culling without the $139 price tag.
The short version
Choose Selekt if you want:
- Free culling with no image limits
- AI auto-tagging, face detection, and smart crop
- Built-in social export (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube)
- A modern, clean interface designed for keyboard-first workflows
Choose Photo Mechanic if you need:
- IPTC/XMP metadata editing and captioning
- FTP upload for news/wire services
- Direct card ingestion workflows
- 20+ years of industry trust
Feature comparison
| Feature | Selekt | Photo Mechanic |
|---|---|---|
| Photo culling workflow | ||
| Keyboard-driven interface | ||
| RAW file support (400+ cameras) | ||
| EXIF metadata viewing | ||
| AI-powered auto-tagging | ||
| AI face detection | ||
| AI smart crop for social | ||
| Social export presets (IG, TikTok, etc.) | ||
| Free tier available | ||
| Modern React-based UI | ||
| Apple Silicon native | ||
| Virtualized grid (50K+ images) | ||
| Lightroom XMP export | ||
| Windows support | ||
| IPTC/XMP metadata editing | ||
| FTP upload | ||
| Ingesting from cards |
= Coming soon
Pricing
Selekt
Free / A$16/mo for Pro
Full culling, tagging, and export on the free plan, plus 25 cloud AI analyses a month and 1 GB of cloud storage. Pro (A$16/mo) makes cloud AI unlimited and adds 10 GB of storage.
Photo Mechanic Plus
$139 one-time license
One-time purchase. Photo Mechanic 6 (browse-only) is $139, Photo Mechanic Plus (with cataloging) is $279.
Try Selekt free
No credit card, no trial timer. Import your library and start culling in under a minute.
Download Selekt