The Best Culling Software for Photographers in 2026Excire Foto 2025 culling module in action

Culling a new batch of images can take hours, and for me, it’s an unrelenting slog. After reviewing hundreds (often thousands) of photos one by one, my eyes start to hurt, my head feels like it’s going to explode, and I no longer trust my ability to evaluate images accurately.  Your experience may not be […]

The Best Lightroom Plugins in 2026Lightroom Classic Library module with main grid

Lightroom ist ein vielseitiges Programm, das Bildverwaltung und Fotobearbeitung ideal kombiniert. Genau deshalb nutze ich es seit über fünfzehn Jahren – und bin immer noch davon überzeugt. Lightroom bietet viele großartige Funktionen, aber in manchen Bereichen stößt das Programm an seine Grenzen. Trotzdem möchte ich nicht darauf verzichten, da ich den reibungslosen Workflow sehr schätze. […]

Excire Foto Wins Best Imaging Software in the Photography News 2025 AwardsPhotography News 2025 Awards winner

We are pleased to announce that Excire Foto has been named “Best Imaging Software” in the Photography News 2025 Awards! After being nominated earlier this year, Excire Foto went on to take the top spot in a competitive category that included both photo-editing tools and photo-management software. Despite the impressive competition—Excire was up against popular […]

How Good Is Lightroom Classic’s New AI Culling? Testing Against Excire Search 2026

AI-powered culling software is not new. If you want to streamline your culling workflow with AI, you have a variety of standalone programs and platforms available: Imagen AI, Narrative Select, Excire Foto 2025, and Aftershoot, to name a few. But for dedicated Lightroom Classic users, none of these options are ideal; they exist outside of […]

Excire Foto Nominated for the Photography News 2025 AwardsPhotography News 2025 Awards Vote for Us with Excire Foto box image

We’re thrilled to share some exciting news: Excire Foto has been nominated for the Photography News 2025 Awards in the Imaging Software category! This recognition spotlights Excire’s impact on photographers of all levels, who use our software to organize photo collections, find images, and cull photoshoots. It’s also a testament to the quality of Excire’s […]

Announcing Excire Search 2026, The AI-Powered Plugin That Supercharges Lightroom ClassicExcire Search 2026 new panel

We’re thrilled to announce the release of Excire Search 2026, the latest and most powerful version of our AI-powered Lightroom Classic plugin. Designed for photographers who want to spend less time managing their image catalog and more time behind the camera, Excire Search 2026 is packed with new features that make photo management—and now video […]

Interview with Benjamin Josephs, Head of Press and Public Relations

With over 60,000 photos, the image archive of Rhine-County of Neuss was a real treasure trove—but a rather disorganized one. That is, until a software solution from Germany helped get it under control. We spoke with Benjamin Josephs, Head of Press and Public Relations in Rhine- County of Neuss, about the adoption of the Excire Foto Office Edition, the benefits it brings to daily work, and his close collaboration with the Excire developers.

We’ve Just Launched a People & Portrait Photography Competition (Judged Entirely By AI)Excire People in Focus photo competition graphic

Excire has turned 10 years old, and to celebrate, we’re launching our biggest-ever photography competition: People in Focus. The competition—which runs from June 1st through June 30th—invites photographers around the globe to submit people and portrait images of all types. And because a decade of building AI-powered photo-management software is a big deal (we think […]

Case Study: Science Park Kassel Optimizes Image Archive With Excire Foto Office Edition

Branche: Innovations- und GründungszentrumEinsatzbereich: Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, Social Media & GrafikdesignOrt: Kassel, Deutschland Herausforderung: Große Bildarchive, wenig Überblick Der Science Park Kassel ist ein Innovations- und Gründungszentrum auf dem Nordcampus der Universität Kassel. Seit 2015 bietet er auf über 6.000 m² Büro- und Werkstattflächen für Start-ups und Unternehmen mit Hochschulnähe. Im Bereich Öffentlichkeitsarbeit übernimmt Anja Pawliczek, Social […]

Excire Foto Office Edition in Use at Haßberge Tourismus

Branche: TourismusTätigkeitsfeld: DestinationsmanagementAnwendungsbereich: Bildarchivierung und -recherche für Print, Website und Social Media Als Haßberge Tourismus e.V. sind wir für die touristische Entwicklung und Vermarktung der Urlaubsregion Haßberge in Bayern verantwortlich. Wir konzipieren und koordinieren vielfältige Angebote – von Wanderwegen über Kulinarik-Erlebnisse bis hin zu ÖPNV-basierten Tourenvorschlägen – und präsentieren diese auf allen Kanälen: Print, Website […]

Digital Asset Management vs Media Asset Management: An In-Depth Comparison

If you’re trying to determine the right platform for managing your digital assets, then you’ve likely come across two key terms:  Digital asset management, or DAM. And media asset management, or MAM.  Both DAM systems and MAM systems share plenty of features, but they’re designed for different use cases. As a result, MAMs contain specialized […]

How to Search for Photos in Lightroom Classic (+ AI Plugin)Lightroom Classic screenshot with the Excire Search by Text Prompt tool active

I’ve been using Adobe Lightroom Classic for over a decade now, and I genuinely like it—most of the time.  But while Lightroom Classic offers a great set of editing tools, and I do appreciate its all-in-one workflow capabilities, there’s one thing that Lightroom doesn’t do well: Photo search.  Yes, Lightroom lets you organize thousands, or […]

On-Premise Digital Asset Management: A Practical Guide

On-Premise Digital Asset Management: A Practical Guide  Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems are essential tools for organizations that produce and/or manage digital content—whether that’s photos and videos, logos and graphics, documents, or presentation files. So if your organization needs to maintain order, collaborate across users and departments, keep files accessible, and streamline workflows, a DAM […]

Case Study: Metallwerke Renner GmbH – Efficient Image Management with Excire Foto Office Edition

Unternehmen: Metallwerke Renner GmbHBranche: Metallverarbeitung / IndustrieprodukteAnwendungsbereich: Verwaltung und Nutzung großer Bilddatenbanken für On- und Offline-Publishing Herausforderung: Die Bilderflut im Griff behalten Die Metallwerke Renner GmbH ist spezialisiert auf die Herstellung von Abfall- und Entsorgungsbehältern für den urbanen Raum sowie für industrielle Anwendungen. Mit eigener Feuerverzinkung und Pulverbeschichtung bietet das Unternehmen alles aus einer Hand – und generiert […]

How to Cull More Images in Less Time (With and Without AI)

Culling is a necessary part of nearly every photographic workflow, and it’s especially important if you want to display your best photos or send photos to clients. But it’s also very time-consuming: culling a batch of 1000+ photos can take hours, and once you’re done with culling, you still have to edit your final picks […]

AI in Photography: Your Essential (and Balanced) GuideAI in photography image generated by DALL-E

These days, we photographers can’t go two minutes without encountering an opinion about AI. It’s usually negative and often extreme (e.g., “AI will ruin photography forever”), and I can certainly empathize. After all, one of the most well-recognized forms of artificial intelligence in photography—AI image generation—threatens to reduce the value of photography (and photographers) by […]

Announcing Excire Foto Office Edition: The Affordable Photo & Video Manager for Businesses

Big news from Excire—we’re thrilled to introduce Excire Foto Office Edition, a cutting-edge photo-management solution designed specifically for businesses and teams! After receiving countless requests from professionals in marketing, architecture, PR, museums, libraries, and beyond, we’ve built a network-enabled program that makes managing photos and videos across a shared database so much simpler. Excire Foto […]

It’s Finally Here! Excire Foto 2025 Offers AI Culling, Face-Tagging, Video, and MoreExcire Foto 2025 product box and main interface

We’re excited to release the latest version of our standalone photo-management program, Excire Foto 2025, which offers major new features for sorting, culling, and organizing files, in addition to our state-of-the-art search functions. Excire Foto 2025 pushes the boundaries of AI-powered photography software yet again, allowing photographers and content creators to accelerate (and even bypass) […]

How to Organize Photos: The Ultimate GuidePerson sitting on a bed surrounded by photos struggling to get organized

Image organization may not get the same level of attention from photographers compared to, say, post-processing, but it sure is important – assuming you ever want to find, edit, and share your images weeks, months, and years from now, that is! Because here’s a hard truth:  A disorganized photo collection is effectively worthless. If you […]

The Essential Guide to Photo TaggingTags on Getty Images photo

If you’re serious about keeping your image database both organized and searchable, then I highly recommend you incorporate tagging into your workflow.  As a photographer myself, I can understand why image tagging is generally viewed as tedious, time-consuming, and downright unpleasant; after all, who wants to spend hours each week carefully applying tags to images […]

The Best Google Photos AlternativeThe best Google Photos alternatives Lightroom

Keep your photos safe and secure with a robust backup solution! A comprehensive exploration of image backup options for photographers.

Excire Foto 2024 Update Adds Powerful New FeaturesExcire Foto 2024 major update

Exciting news from the Excire team: Today, we release a major update to our flagship image-management program, Excire Foto 2024. Existing Excire Foto 2024 users will receive the update free of charge, while new users can purchase the program for a significant discount ($149 USD versus the usual $189 USD) through May 5th. The new […]

“Impressive,” “Powerful,” “Effective,” “A Breeze” – ExpertPhotography on Excire Foto 2024

Afte extensive testing, the ExpertPhotography team highly recommends Excire Foto 2024. In their Excire review, they emphasize the software’s seamless integration with Lightroom Classic’s image-management features, sophisticated facial recognition, and the impressive nature of how the Analysis tool breaks down your photos. ExpertPhotography also featured Excire Foto as the best photo management software and as […]

Best Photo-Editing Software for PCs in 2023 (Free and Paid)

If you want to produce polished, refined images, there’s no way around it: you must edit your photos. But as a PC user, whether you’re exploring the world of photo editing for the first time or you’re looking for an alternative to your current post-processing program, picking the right photo editing software can be a […]

Excire Foto test from PetaPixel: clear buy recommendation!PetaPixel testet Excire Foto

Excire Foto Test David Crewe vom Foto-Magazin PetaPixel hat Excire Foto 2022 auf Herz und Nieren geprüft und eine klare Kaufempfehlung ausgesprochen: „Solltest du es kaufen? Ja, wenn du eine umfangreiche Bibliothek mit Zehntausenden oder sogar Hunderttausenden von Fotos hast und diese effizient durchsuchen möchtest.“ Seine Kaufempfehlung richtet sich zwar eher an professionelle Anwender, doch […]

Excire Search 2 + Excire Foto - power duo for Lightroom usersExcire Foto + Excire Search 2

Das Lightroom-Plugin Excire Search 2 macht es möglich, die Excire KI-Technologie auch in Adobe Lightroom Classic zu nutzen. Trotzdem arbeiten viele Lightroom-User zusätzlich mit der Standalone Bildverwaltung Excire Foto. Warum es sinnvoll sein kann, Ihre Fotos mit diesem Powerduo zu verwalten, lesen Sie in diesem Beitrag. Warum Excire Search 2 + Excire Foto? Welche Vorteile hat […]

DigitalPHOTO evaluate image management Excire Foto "very good"

Das DigitalPHOTO Magazin hat die Bildverwaltung Excire Foto 2022 getestet und die Note „Sehr gut“ vergeben. Software-Redakteur Jörg Rieger Espíndola schreibt: „Excire Foto ist zur Fotosuche ein absolutes Highlight, auch in der aktuellen Version zeigt die Anwendung den Mitbewerbern, wie intelligente Fotoverwaltung unter Windows oder macOS funktioniert. Die Erkennungsrate ist selbst bei komplexen Motiven erstaunlich gut und blitzschnell.“ Hier […]

fotoMAGAZIN awards Excire Foto 2022 as „Product of the Month“ and with 5 stars

Das fotoMAGAZIN hat Excire Foto 2022 in Heft 7/22 genauer unter die Lupe genommen und die neueste Version der KI-gestützten Bildverwaltung als Produkt des Monats und mit 5 Sternen ausgezeichnet. Das Fazit des Tests: „Excire Foto ist ohne echte Konkurrenz. So einfach verschlagworten, recherchieren und flexibel Personen finden kann sonst kein Programm, das die Bilder ausschließlich lokal verwaltet. Auch […]

EXCIRE Foto 2022 is here! Now with an integrated duplicate finder and PSD support!

Wir freuen uns, Ihnen Excire Foto 2022 vorstellen zu dürfen, die neueste Version unserer vielfach empfohlenen, KI-gestützten Software zur Fotoverwaltung und Fotosuche. Wir haben auf die Wünsche unserer Nutzer gehört und unter anderem einen einzigartigen Duplikatefinder in Excire Foto 2022 integriert, mit dem Sie noch mehr Ordnung in Ihr Fotoarchiv bringen. Mit dem neuen Duplikatefinder […]

Team Kaplun on Excire Analytics

Miho vom Kreativ Studio Pavel Kaplun hat sich unser neues Excire Analytics genauer angeschaut und demonstriert, wie Sie mit dieser tollen Erweiterung wichtige Erkenntnisse sammeln, um ein besserer Fotograf zu werden. Die Details dazu erfahren Sie in seinem sehr sehenswerten Video: Zum Video   Video is in German – we recommend to enable Google subtitles.

Excire Analytics is here!

Nutzen Sie Excire Analytics, um tiefere Einsichten in Ihre Fotogewohnheiten zu gewinnen, bessere Kaufentscheidungen für zukünftiges Fotoequipment zu treffen, aus den Auswertungen zu lernen und Ihre Fotoskills zu verbessern. Haben Sie sich auch schon einmal gefragt, mit welchem Equipment oder welchen Einstellungen Sie Ihre am besten bewerteten Fotos gemacht haben? Welche Kamera-/Objektivkombi Sie auf Reisen […]

New video from Pavel Kaplun about Excire Foto

Miho und Pavel von dem Kreativ Studio Pavel Kaplun teilen ihre Erfahrungen mit Excire Foto nach einem Jahr der Nutzung. Wie sie ihre Datenbestände, welche über neun Terrabyte umfassen, mit Excire Foto beherrschen und über welche Features sie sich ganz besonders freuen, erfahren Sie in diesem sehr sehenswerten Video: Zum Video Video is in German – we recommend to […]

Deepening the partnership with Intel

Wir freuen uns darüber, bekannt geben zu können, dass wir unsere Partnerschaft mit Intel vertiefen konnten. Eine Spezialversion von Excire Foto ist nun Bestandteil eines Bonuspaket

Excire Foto Test in Digital Photo

Digital Photo Redakteur Jörg Rieger hat sich unsere neuste Excire Foto Version genauer angeschaut und seine Eindrücke in einem Artikel zusammengefasst

Excire photo in the new DOCMA

In der aktuellen Ausgabe der DOCMA, dem Magazin für Bildbearbeitung, gibt es neben vielen weiteren interessanten und spannenden Artikeln einen Beitrag zu Excire Foto.

Raw Academy tests Excire photo

Thomas Hintze hat auf seinem YouTube-Kanal der Raw Akademie unsere neueste Software Excire Foto einem ersten Test unterzogen.

Excire Foto Office Edition

The Excire Photo Office Edition is a special solution for companies and team use. In addition to the usual AI power for simple and intuitive photo management, it has the following additional features:

  • Hide option for irrelevant keywords
  • Function to adopt folder names as keywords
  • Sharing via SFTP
  • Two-stage role concept
  • Right-of-use period as a supplement to the metadata and corresponding filter option
  • Shared database on a network drive

Language & version

Supported languages

German & English

Current version

1.2.3

Minimum system requirements

Processor

Mehrkernprozessor mit 64-bit und AVX Unterstützung
Multi-core processor with 64-bit and AVX support. Older AMD processors like the AMD Phenom™ II X6 1100T and AMD Phenom™ II X (also known as AMD Athlon II X4 640) are not supported. Intel Core 2 Duo processors are not supported.

Operating system

macOS 11 (or newer) or Windows 10 (x86 & 64-bit) or Windows 11 (x86 & 64-bit). Note: The Windows version is not optimized for Snapdragon or ARM processors.

Memory

Minimum 8GB RAM is required. However, 16GB or more is recommended.

Hard disk

The Excire databases require about 250 MB for 100,000 photos.
The preview storage will then be about 25 GB
at the highest quality, including raw formats,
and when a preview is generated for each photo.

Excire Search 2024 - Trial

Language & version

Supported languages
German, English, French, Italian & Spanish
Current version

4.0.0

Minimum system requirements

Processor
Multicore processor with 64-bit and AVX support Older AMD processors like AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1100T and AMD Phenom(tm) II X (also known as AMD Athlon II X4 640) are not supported. Intel Core 2 Duo processors are not supported.
Operating system
macOS 10.14 (or newer) or Windows 10 (64-bit) or Windows 11 (64bit)
Memory
8GB RAM. However, for large catalogs (> 100,000 photos) we recommend 16GB or more
Hard disk
375 MB of free hard disk space for the base installation and additional memory for image signatures. For example, an Adobe Lightroom catalog of 100,000 images requires about another 800 MB of additional memory.

Excire Search 2024

Excire Search is the perfect solution for all Adobe Lightroom Classic users. The smart Lightroom plugin analyzes and tags photos automatically and extends Lightroom with powerful AI search functions. With just a few clicks, Excire Search finds exactly the photos you are looking for. This makes image management fun again and hours of image searching a thing of the past. 

Available for Windows and macOS and now brand new in the 2024 version with integrated duplicate finder!

Language & version

Supported languages
German, English, French, Italian & Spanish
Current version

4.1.3

Minimum system requirements

Processor
Multicore processor with 64-bit and AVX support Older AMD processors like AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1100T and AMD Phenom(tm) II X (also known as AMD Athlon II X4 640) are not supported. Intel Core 2 Duo processors are not supported.
Operating system
macOS 10.14 (or newer) or Windows 10 (64-bit) or Windows 11 (64bit)
Lightroom (Classic)
Version 6 (or newer)
Memory
8GB RAM. However, for large catalogs (> 100,000 photos) we recommend 16GB or more
Hard disk
375 MB of free hard disk space for the base installation and additional memory for image signatures. For example, an Adobe Lightroom catalog of 100,000 images requires about another 800 MB of additional memory.

Excire Search 2022 - Trial

Language & version

Supported languages
German, English, French, Italian & Spanish
Current version
3.1.1

Minimum system requirements

Processor
Multicore processor with 64-bit and AVX support Older AMD processors like AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1100T and AMD Phenom(tm) II X (also known as AMD Athlon II X4 640) are not supported. Intel Core 2 Duo processors are not supported.
Operating system
macOS 10.14 (or newer) or Windows 10 (64-bit) or Windows 11 (64bit)
Memory
8GB RAM. However, for large catalogs (> 100,000 photos) we recommend 16GB or more
Hard disk
375 MB of free hard disk space for the base installation and additional memory for image signatures. For example, an Adobe Lightroom catalog of 100,000 images requires about another 800 MB of additional memory.

Excire Foto 2024 - Trial

Note for existing Excire Foto customers: Excire Foto users have to keep in mind for testing that the previous Excire database will be modified when the program is started for the first time. Thus a switch back to older versions is not possible without a backup. We therefore recommend creating a backup before using Excire Foto 2024. How to do this is described here.

Language & version

Supported languages
German & English
Current version

3.2.0

Minimum system requirements

Processor
Multi-core processor with 64-bit and AVX support Older AMD Prozessoren like AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1100T und AMD Phenom(tm) II X (also known as AMD Athlon II X4 640) are not supported. Intel Core 2 Duo processors are not supported.
Operating system
macOS 10.14 (or newer) or Windows 10 (64-bit) or Windows 11 (64bit)
Memory
Minimum 8GB RAM is required. However, 16GB or more is recommended.
Hard disk
The Excire Foto databases will take up approx. 250MB for 100,000 photos, and the previews approx. 25GB if highest-quality previews are generated for each photo.

Excire Search 2022

Excire Search is the perfect solution for all Adobe Lightroom Classic users. The smart Lightroom plugin analyzes and tags photos automatically and extends Lightroom with powerful AI search functions. With just a few clicks, Excire Search finds exactly the photos you are looking for. This makes image management fun again and hours of image searching a thing of the past. 

Available for Windows and macOS and now brand new in the 2022 version with integrated duplicate finder!

Language & version

Supported languages
German, English, French, Italian & Spanish
Current version
3.1.1

Minimum system requirements

Processor
Multicore processor with 64-bit and AVX support Older AMD processors like AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1100T and AMD Phenom(tm) II X (also known as AMD Athlon II X4 640) are not supported. Intel Core 2 Duo processors are not supported.
Operating system
macOS 10.14 (or newer) or Windows 10 (64-bit) or Windows 11 (64bit)
Lightroom (Classic)
Version 6 (or newer)
Memory
8GB RAM. However, for large catalogs (> 100,000 photos) we recommend 16GB or more
Hard disk
375 MB of free hard disk space for the base installation and additional memory for image signatures. For example, an Adobe Lightroom catalog of 100,000 images requires about another 800 MB of additional memory.

Excire Foto 2024

Excire’s flagship program boasts dazzling new features and enhanced AI technology. All-new tools offer AI-powered free-text search, GPS-search, and intelligent aesthetics assessment of individual photos. Additionally, AI upgrades ensure better results in facial recognition, similarity search, and automatic keywording.

Excire Foto 2024 retains all core features from Excire Foto 2022, and the Excire Analytics extension is now fully integrated into the new program.

Highlights of the 2024 version include:

  • X-prompt AI for powerful free-text image search
  • X-tetics AI for instant evaluation of photos
  • GPS-based search and editable GPS coordinates
  • Intuitive slideshow maker for professional photo displays
  • New status labels for folders and collections
  • Improved AI-search performance thanks to revamped AI models

Excire Account Management and Activation

Language & version

Supported languages
German & English
Current version

3.2.0

Minimum system requirements

Processor
Multi-core processor with 64-bit and AVX support Older AMD Prozessoren like AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1100T und AMD Phenom(tm) II X (also known as AMD Athlon II X4 640) are not supported. Intel Core 2 Duo processors are not supported.
Operating system
macOS 10.14 (or newer) or Windows 10 (64-bit) or Windows 11 (64bit)
Memory
Minimum 8GB RAM is required. However, 16GB or more is recommended.
Hard disk
The Excire Foto databases will take up approx. 250MB for 100,000 photos, and the previews approx. 25GB if highest-quality previews are generated for each photo.

Excire Foto 2022

Excire Foto 2022 is a powerful and innovative software designed for easy photo management and quick content-based browsing. Numerous smart features help you get organized and find the photos you are looking for.

These are the highlights of the new 2022 version:

  • Duplicate finder with numerous setting options
  • Support of PSD files
  • match accuracy for similarity searches is now adjustable
  • the maximum number of search results has been increased to 50,000
  • Support of Windows network paths


We recommend Windows users to install the Microsoft Raw image extension: Download

Language & version

Supported languages
German & English
Current version

2.2.4

Minimum system requirements

Processor
Multi-core processor with 64-bit and AVX support Older AMD Prozessoren like AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1100T und AMD Phenom(tm) II X (also known as AMD Athlon II X4 640) are not supported. Intel Core 2 Duo processors are not supported.
Operating system
macOS 10.14 (or newer) or Windows 10 (64-bit) or Windows 11 (64bit)
Memory
Minimum 8GB RAM is required. However, 16GB or more is recommended.
Hard disk
The Excire Foto databases will take up approx. 250MB for 100,000 photos, and the previews approx. 25GB if highest-quality previews are generated for each photo.