The Best Panorama App in 2025 ... is Completely Free?

After an exhaustive round of testing with specialised pano apps and the pano modes built into photo editors, I've come to the conclusion that the best is also completely free.

Chapters
00:00 Intro
02:11 TL;DR - Which App is Best
02:41 The Testing Procedure
03:48 The Specialist Apps
04:08 PTGui
06:19 Hugin
08:30 Panovolo
09:34 The Photo Editor Apps
09:54 Lightroom Classic
11:12 Photoshop
11:57 Affinity Photo
12:56 Capture One
13:54 On1 Photo RAW
14:39 Luminar Neo
15:25 Conclusion
17:13 Outro

[daemon]

I do appreciate a reviewer that's not afraid to call out shite. Thanks for taking the time.

[mjpt]

Today I took a series of 4 photos of my house from across the road. I shoot RAW and JPG. Because I wanted to quickly see how Hugin would work I just used the JPGs. Imported them into Hugin and followed the steps to stitch them together.

I looked at the finished image. Zoomed in, pixel peeped, etc., but I cannot see where the joins are. It really did a great job.

It still barfed on my beach shots but so too did LrC when I was using it.

I have Luminar Neo. It’s an older version that I paid a lifetime licence. There is an update that costs about $55 i think it is to upgrade to extra features including pano stitching. But I don’t bother if you think that it’s a PoS.

Hugin has now filled that gap left behind by LrC.

Thanks again Andy.

And so you realise that you’re my influencer (others I refer to as influenzas). So far I’ve bought Photomator, that backpack, Installed Hugin and got the lightning trigger that you referred me to recently, all based on your vids.

[redzeppelinuk]

Made me laugh out loud 😂 Been having a nightmare getting any results in Free Pano with the Air 3S using all of my goto's for the past 5 years, including Lightroom. I shall give Hugin a try .

Thanks for the laughs - you have a new subscriber 👍

[ponderingnugget]

This installment is filled with brutally honest and hilarious commentary. Thank you for that. I found it wildly entertaining. As someone who loves panos but doesn't get out to shoot that often I did invest in PT Gui back in 2015 when I purchased a "lifetime" version. It turns out that lifetime means to the end lifecycle of version 11. Having just recently taken up aerial drone photography, I went straight away to shooting panos I opened up my old version of PT Gui to find that it now crashes my computer for some reason. Searching for a recent upgrade, I was offered the stupendous deal of paying $212 to make my "lifetime" version of PT Gui current (version 13). The $212 is apparently only good for 1 year of upgrades before requiring a subscription renewal. Great, another subscription model from what was once a great company. PT Gui's greed sent me scampering to find a new stand alone option on those not so rare occasions that photoshop and lightroom screw the pooch on a stitching project. I extend to you my heartfelt thanks for this comparison review. I downloaded Hugin about half way through your video and intend to use it as a replacement for PT Gui if it proves up to the task. Cheers!

[ILParr]

AutoPanoGiga was fantastic if expensive but GoPro bought them (Kolor) out just to get their tech which included some great specialist hardware and shut them down in 2015. Still usable. Little Planet mode works well in most cases but not always. So delighted to see this review and will get Hugin and throw some 50 panel mosaics at it. Thanks!

[tomdearie]

Great run-down, Andy.
Exaclty what I was looking for. And it made me laugh. A toofer.
Cheers.
Tom

[mauriciolee]

Thank Andy for bringing Hugin to my attention. I totally agree with you that it's the BEST panorama software because it's FREE & the MOST EFFECTIVE. They say "'There's no free lunch!". Yes, there is but it's very rare. As of today February 18, 2025, this video of yours is the BEST that compares all the popular panorama apps such as Lightroom classic, Capture One, Hugin, Luminar Neo, On1, Photoshop and PT Gui.

[lphilpot]

Been using Hugin off and on since the mid-2000s when I was shooting lots of panos with my old Rebel XT (350D). These days it's usually Affinity Photo (I don't drone) but I've been known to install Hugin if / when needed. I've tweaked more than a few control points back before the auto modes were as reliable as they are today.

[paulcooper]

Thanks for the forthright view of these Andy. As always enjoyable and very clear.

[kcheg]

Enjoyed your somewhat blunt approach on Panoramas. I have had pano software years ago which was standalone and not bad for the price. Cant remember the name as too long ago. I had the ON1 software which in earlier days had an easy to use and find pano which for the most part was OK and simple to use with the exception of giving stepped results with horizons. On the new Max version its OK but it took a bit of digging to find in amongst all the standard options which clouded the issue quite a bit. Horizons still get stepped but it was repairable with a bit of effort. I'm interested in your freeby Hugin as it may lead to some improvements, even though the time factor to learn sounds like a challenge.

[daviddyephotography]

I had stopped doing panos for ALL THE REASONS you demonstrated here ! Excellent video and your verbal assessments are SPOT ON ! So, I will give Hugin a try for sure as it would be very difficult to do worse than what i already have Thanks a bunch !

[videomaker.hiperativo]

I'm in love with Huggin. Thx a lot!

[EugeneMaynard]

Thank you for the great heads up Andy! 🙏🏾I shall give it a go!👍🏾 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇸🇪🇹🇹

[cvijax]

Thank you for mentioning GPU fix. I could finally use Hugin on my Mac M2

[ShaneBaker]

Thanks Andy. I shall give Hugin a try.

[ScottRae]

The video I always wanted - cheers Andy! :D Been suffering with Lightroom for all my pano needs (many many abandoned panos with major stitching errors) without really appreciating that standalone options were available! Will have a play around with Hugin and see how I get on - may be another tool to wean me off Adobe! Actually.... was that the last remaining reason I still use it? Or was it the catalogue as well... hmm...

[elicemelo]

*_Likes from Brazil. Um novo inscrito. Excelente trabalho. Muito obrigado._*

[KeithJohnson.]

Well done & greatly appreciated! Again. If you’re taking requests for topics to consider I’d like to submit: Photo printers for at home use. I miss holding paper prints of favorite shots & am wondering if in your opinion there are decent printers at affordable prices.

[richardhaas]

I use Microsoft ICE most of the time for the simple ones.

[BURTBROWN]

Rectal probe with a TRAFFIC LOL!!! HILARIOUS