Acorn assessment: Highly effective photo-editing device at a remarkably inexpensive worth

At a look

Skilled’s Score

Professionals

• Discount worth
• No subscriptions required
• Highly effective enhancing instruments
• Common app for Intel/Apple Silicon

Cons

• Not a lot assist for novices
• Requires macOS 14 or later

Our Verdict

People who find themselves new to photo-editing might favor an app that gives a bit extra assist and steering to get them began, however Acorn gives quite a lot of highly effective enhancing instruments at a worth that’s exhausting to beat. In addition to photo-editing, the app additionally consists of some helpful vector graphics instruments, together with exact typographical controls – and only a sprinkling of AI as effectively.

Worth When Reviewed

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Greatest Pricing In the present day

Worth When Reviewed

$29.99

Greatest Costs In the present day: Acorn

With increasingly software program instruments requiring month-to-month subscription funds it’s all the time good to see apps resembling Acorn that merely cost a one-time charge that permits you to maintain and use the app for so long as you need. Acorn was already sitting on our checklist of the greatest photo-editors for the Mac, and the newest model, Acorn 8 was lately listed by Apple as a Finalist for the 2025 App Retailer Awards. The value on the App Retailer is $29.99/£29.99, however you can too obtain Acorn 8 from the builders Flying Meat, and that model presents a 14-day free trial so that you could take a superb have a look at the app earlier than shopping for it. 

Acorn 8 is a common binary that runs on Intel Macs or Apple Silicon, however you do want macOS 14 or later to run it correctly. Should you’re utilizing Tahoe (macOS 26) then Acorn 8 offers you the selection of utilizing its conventional ‘traditional’ interface or switching to the brand new Liquid Glass look as a substitute. However in case you’re utilizing an older model of the macOS then there’s an archive of earlier variations of Acorn nonetheless accessible which you can strive with a purpose to see how they run in your Mac – though, in fact, these gained’t embrace the newest options which might be accessible in Acorn 8.

Flying Meat

Acorn 8 actually presents good worth for cash, because it consists of spectacular vary of photo-editing instruments that may match lots of its costlier rivals. There’s a easy palette on the left-hand facet of the primary enhancing window – often known as the Canvas – which gives fast entry to a regular set of enhancing instruments, together with rectangular, elliptical and freeform Choice instruments, and a Magic Wand for mechanically choosing areas by color. And, in addition to a traditional Crop device, Acorn additionally features a Perspective Repair possibility for cropping images which have perspective or distortion issues. 

You should utilize the Paint or Pencil instruments to sketch in just a few particulars of your individual, however Acorn additionally consists of some helpful vector graphics instruments for drawing shapes resembling rectangles, ovals and arrows. Model 8 launched a brand new Polygon device that permits you to freely create multi-sided shapes, and there’s a Bezier Pen for extra skilled artists who wish to create easy illustrations by hand. Deciding on any of those instruments prompts a second palette on the right-hand facet of the Canvas, which gives further controls for every device, resembling exact typographic controls for the Textual content instruments, or the flexibility to regulate the scale and elegance of the Paint brush with a purpose to create completely different brush results. 

Flying Meat

As you’d anticipate, there’s an in depth collection of filters and results that you should utilize to enliven your images and, in fact, there are new AI options as effectively. Acorn 8 doesn’t go overboard with its use of AI, nevertheless it does present a Tremendous Decision upscaling function that may improve the scale and determination of smaller photographs with out dropping readability or particulars.

There’s additionally an AI Choose Topic device that mechanically selects the foreground topic in a photograph and permits you to raise it away from the background. This works very well, rapidly and simply lifting out detailed components from a photograph or, alternatively, you should utilize the Masks Topic device to reverse this course of and utterly take away the background whereas leaving the foreground topic by itself.

Most of those instruments are fast and straightforward to make use of, however utilizing extra superior options, resembling masks and layers, does reveal the one weak point of Acorn 8. The app does appear to be geared toward extra skilled customers, and there’s not a lot assist throughout the program for people who find themselves new to photo-editing work. There are in depth Assist recordsdata on the Acorn web site, in addition to some video tutorials, however these usually simply bombard you with lengthy lists of options with out explaining how they work – so in case you don’t already know the way the brand new LUT function works (Look Up Tables) then Acorn’s Assist recordsdata gained’t enlighten you very a lot.

Rivals resembling Photoshop Parts do a greater job of serving to new customers with its step-by-step Guided Edits. However, in fact, Photoshop Parts is much more costly – and now requires a subscription as effectively – so Acorn 8 remains to be glorious worth for cash, particularly for knowledgeable customers who can dive straight in and benefit from its highly effective instruments.

Ought to You Purchase Acorn 8?

We’d prefer to see Acorn present extra assist for novices, nevertheless it’s exhausting to criticise an app that gives so many highly effective photo-editing instruments at such a aggressive worth. Acorn 8 will significantly enchantment to individuals who have already got some expertise of photo-editing work and wish highly effective instruments with out the endless value of Adobe’s Artistic Cloud subscriptions.