Pricing
$79 a year. That’s it.
No newsroom licence. No AI upsell. No “contact sales.” You shouldn’t need an institution’s budget to work like a pro — that’s kind of the whole point.
You can’t buy this yet. The app has a 14-day trial and takes licence keys, but there is no checkout yet, so licences are not on sale. These are the intended prices, published now so nobody finds out later. Beta keys are free.
Annual
Recommended$79a year
The price, presented first because it is the one that makes sense.
- Every feature. There is no “pro” tier and no upsell.
- Support for cameras that do not exist yet
- Ongoing releases while you subscribe
- macOS and Windows on the same licence
Monthly
$8–10a month
For a season of work, or if annual is not how your year is shaped.
- The same everything, billed monthly
- Cancel whenever the season ends
- Exact figure lands with checkout
Founding member
$59a year, forever
Beta users keep this rate permanently — not for the first year, permanently.
- Grandfathered for as long as you keep it
- Everyone in the beta qualifies
- Free until checkout exists
The honest bit
What you’re actually paying for
Three things, and they are all treadmills rather than one-off costs:
- Cameras that don’t exist yet. Every new body brings a RAW variant. Supporting it means getting a real file, writing or fixing the parser, and running it through the harness before it goes on the format page. That happens for as long as cameras keep shipping.
- Releases, not just fixes. Collections, contact sheets and saved presets are all missing today. They get built because people are subscribed, and they arrive for everyone who is.
- Someone answering you. On a Saturday, from the person who wrote the code. That stops being possible if nobody pays for it.
For comparison: Photo Mechanic is $149.00 / year or $299.00 one-time, including one year of updates and support, and Photo Mechanic Plus is $249.00 / year — read on Camera Bits’ own pricing page on . We are not claiming to be better, only a lot less — the full comparison lists everything they still do that we don’t, which is worth reading before you decide on price alone.
Beta founders keep $59/year. Forever.
Questions
About the money
Why a subscription? Photographers are sick of them.
Because the work never stops. Every new body ships a RAW variant that has to be parsed and tested against a real file — a treadmill for as long as you use the software, not a one-off cost. A perpetual licence prices in a year of that and then goes stale. We would rather charge less, keep shipping, and let you leave the moment we stop earning it.
What happens if I stop paying?
You stop getting updates and support. What happens to the last version you paid for is not settled — a JetBrains-style perpetual fallback is on the table, and we will not promise it casually. When it is decided it gets written here, and it will not change retroactively.
Is there a trial?
Yes: 14 days, fully featured, no credit card, counted from the first time you open the app. When it ends the app asks for a licence key; giving us an address in the app adds one more week, once. Beta testers get a key with no clock on it.
Why can’t I buy it right now?
The app already has the trial and takes licence keys, but there is no checkout on this site yet, so licences are not on sale. We will not put up a buy button before it works end to end. Leave an address and you get the founding price when there is one.
What about tax and invoices?
Checkout will run through a merchant of record, which means VAT and sales tax are handled properly wherever you are, and you get a real invoice for your accountant. That is a deliberate choice over rolling our own payments.
Is there a discount for students, or for multiple machines?
Not decided yet, and we will not pretend otherwise. Ask on the waitlist form and it goes into the pile that shapes the answer.
Get in before there’s a price.
Everyone in the beta keeps $59 a year, permanently. That is the entire founding-member offer — no tiers, no countdown, no urgency theatre.
We’ll email you when Lamplit can be downloaded, and about your trial. Product news only if you tick the box and confirm. No list sharing, ever.