01
Its own app, not a plugin
No Lightroom, no Photoshop, no subscription underneath. Install it, add your scans, and you have conversion, library, editing and printing in one place. It opens in about two seconds.
Why Spool
Spool, next to
the others.
An honest look at how Spool compares with Negative Lab Pro, Lightroom, NegPy, VueScan and the rest, crosses included.
Four reasons people pick Spool
02
One click on the film
Spool estimates the film base on import, and you refine it by clicking the clear film between frames. No white-balance step, no flipped curves, no hunting for grey.
03
A library that thinks in rolls
Frames stay in the order they came off the film, numbered within their roll. Filter by film, camera or kind, see frames on a map, and track your keeper rate per roll.
04
Sync over your own network
Your desktop and laptop keep the same library straight to each other over home Wi-Fi, end-to-end encrypted, or through a folder on your NAS. Nothing goes through a cloud.
Cost
What three years
actually cost.
One licence, one computer setup, three years of use, in US dollars. Subscriptions use the cheapest annual plan.
Prices as listed by each maker in October 2026, before local taxes. Adobe's Lightroom plan is $11.99/mo billed monthly ($143.88/yr) or $119.88 paid yearly; it includes Lightroom Classic, which Negative Lab Pro needs.
Side by side
Feature by feature.
✓ yes, ~ partly, ✕ no.
| Feature | Spool | Negative Lab Pro | Lightroom Classic | NegPy | VueScan Pro | SilverFast Ai Studio | FilmLab | darktable |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost and requirements | ||||||||
| Price | $59 once ($99 regular) | $99 once + Lightroom plan | $119.88/yr subscription | Free | $79.95 once | $249 once per scanner model | $59.99/yr or $199.99 lifetime | Free |
| Yearly cost after buying | $0 | $119.88+ for Lightroom | $119.88+ | $0 | $0 updates after year 1 are paid | $0 new versions are paid | $59.99 or $0 with lifetime | $0 |
| Needs another app | ✓ Standalone | ✕ Lightroom Classic | ✓ Standalone | ✓ Standalone | ✓ Standalone | ✓ Standalone | ✓ Standalone | ✓ Standalone |
| Systems | Windows, macOS Linux soon | Windows, macOS | Windows, macOS + Lightroom on phone and web | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Computers per licence | 3 | 2 | 2 signed in at once | Any | 4 | 1 scanner model | All your devices | Any |
| Start-up | ~2 s to a working library of 500 frames | Lightroom's start-up, then about 5–15 s to open the plugin | a few seconds on a fast SSD; a minute or more with big catalogues, plugins or slower disks | — | — | — | — | usually quick; up to a minute with big libraries in some versions |
| Works offline | ✓ online once, to activate | ~ Lightroom checks in online | ~ periodic online check | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Conversion | ||||||||
| How it reads the negative | Measures the film base; profiles from real film stocks | Film-border white balance, then its own colour models | No converter: flip the tone curve by hand | Film and paper modelled in density space | Presets per film brand and type | NegaFix, 120+ film profiles | Automatic conversion | negadoctor: film base and D max, by hand |
| Steps to a positive, after opening a scan | 1 click the film base (an estimate is already applied) | 3 white balance on the border, open the plugin, Convert | 5+ invert the curve, then balance red, green and blue by hand | 1–2 pick film mode; auto density and grade | ~4 source, media type, film brand and type, preview | ~3 film maker, film type, exposure | 1–2 automatic, then adjust | 6+ white balance, crop, module, base picker, D max, corrections |
| Conversion controls and styles | ~ film base, film profile, eleven templates; then the normal edits | ✓ the most: colour models, tone profiles and dozens of sliders made for negatives | ✕ general sliders, working in reverse | ✓ paper grades, density, toners | ~ film presets, colour balance | ✓ NegaFix expert controls | ~ basic | ✓ many, all by hand |
| A whole roll at once | ✓ each frame metered on its own | ✓ | ~ copy one setting to all | ✓ roll-wide defaults | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ copy one setting to all |
| Colour and B&W negatives, slides | ✓ + instant prints and digital photos | ✓ | ~ by hand | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Library and editing | ||||||||
| Library | ✓ rolls in film order, frame numbers, film and camera filters, map, keeper stats | ✓ Lightroom's catalogue | ✓ full catalogue, keywords, map | ~ rolls, keep and reject | ✕ a scanning tool | ✕ a scanning tool | — | ✓ catalogue, tags, map |
| Preview while editing | ✓ computed in 32-bit float; the full-resolution scan loads as soon as a frame opens, not when you zoom: 1:1 view of the scan and the photo in 16-bit, even at 100 Mpx | Lightroom's: high precision, screen-size preview; 1:1 detail renders when you zoom | high precision, screen-size preview; 1:1 detail renders when you zoom | rendered on the graphics card | low-resolution prescan, then the real scan | low-resolution prescan, then the real scan | — | 32-bit float, screen-size preview; full detail recomputed when you zoom |
| Editing | ~ light, colour, curves, HSL, grain, sharpening, looks; masks and local adjustments soon | ✓ everything in Lightroom | ✓ full toolset, AI masks | ✓ dodge and burn with masks, toners | ~ basic colour and curves | ~ scan-time corrections | ~ basic | ✓ full toolset, masks |
| Posts for social media | ✓ a carousel or a post per photo, in bulk; white border, film caption, panorama across slides; captions filled from metadata (film stock, camera, lens, roll, date, frame number, photographer…); saved templates | ~ Lightroom export presets and watermarks | ~ export presets and watermarks | ~ borders on export | ✕ | ✕ | — | ~ watermarks with metadata |
| Dust and scratches | ✓ automatic; scan lines and Newton's rings too | ~ Lightroom's healing, by hand | ~ healing, by hand | ✓ automatic or painted | ✓ infrared, on scanners that have it | ✓ infrared (iSRD), on scanners that have it | — | ~ retouch, by hand |
| Print preparation | ✓ a few clicks, straight from a roll — no layouts to build; your printer's own paper sizes, layout to the millimetre, borders and captions, print-only corrections, paper profiles, proof at final size up to 70×100 cm | ✓ Lightroom's Print module; layouts set up by hand | ✓ Print module, soft proofing; layouts set up by hand | ✕ export only | ✕ | ✕ | — | ✓ print module |
| Test prints | ✓ test strips for brightness, warm/cool and black point; bands of one frame or whole copies; 2–12 steps, spread fully adjustable, each labelled | ✕ one print at a time, by hand | ✕ one print at a time, by hand | ~ test strips on screen | ✕ | ✕ | — | ✕ |
| Contact sheets | ✓ a whole roll in one click, no template to build; whole frames never cropped; 1–12 across, gap and frame numbers adjustable | ~ Lightroom's grid layouts, set up by hand | ~ grid layouts in Print, set up by hand | ~ as files | ✕ | ✕ | — | ✕ |
| Scanning and camera tethering | ~ limited to a few devices for now, more on the way; any scanner via its save folder | ✕ | ~ camera tethering | ✓ Plustek, Coolscan, SANE | ✓ most film scanners | ✓ the model you bought it for | ~ camera capture | ~ camera tethering |
| Sync and devices | ||||||||
| Sync between your computers | ✓ direct over home Wi-Fi, encrypted; or a NAS folder | ~ through Lightroom | ✓ through Adobe's cloud | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | — | ✕ |
| Cloud storage and access from anywhere | ✕ your network only, by design | ~ through Lightroom | ✓ 1 TB included | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | — | ✕ |
| Phone or tablet app | ✕ iOS planned | ✕ | ✓ Lightroom mobile | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Send photos to someone nearby | ✓ to any Spool on the same Wi-Fi | ✕ | ~ shared cloud albums | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | — | ✕ |
| Maturity | ||||||||
| Track record | ~ new, in beta, one developer | ✓ established, large community | ✓ industry standard | ~ young open-source project; unsigned builds | ✓ since 1998 | ✓ decades of scanner support | ✓ established | ✓ mature open source |
| Updates included | Until version 1 | Within version 3 | While you subscribe | Always, free | One year | Within the version | With the plan | Always, free |
| How updates arrive | ✓ automatically, inside the app: shows what changed, installs in one click, library and edits untouched | ✕ by hand: download link by email, close Lightroom, run the installer | ✓ through the Creative Cloud app | ✓ notice in the app, one click | ~ update prompt in the app | ✓ notice at start, installs from the app | — | ✕ download the new installer from the website |
— means we could not confirm it from the maker's own pages. Start-up times for other apps come from user reports on their forums and vary a lot with the computer. Steps are counted from each app's getting-started guide, after the scan is open, leaving out settings that are remembered between frames. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.
Negative Lab Pro, Lightroom, NegPy, VueScan, SilverFast, FilmLab and darktable are trademarks or names of their respective owners. Spool is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them.
What sets it apart
Where Spool
stands out.
The things no other app on this page does all at once.
- Scan to print in one app. Conversion, a roll-by-roll library, editing, printing and posts, with no Lightroom, no plugin and no subscription underneath.
- Colour measured from the film. One click on the film base, profiles from real film stocks, and every frame of a roll metered on its own, not one setting copied onto forty pictures.
- A library that thinks in rolls. A folder of scans is split into rolls and numbered frame by frame. New scans from your scanner's folder land in the right roll, and Studio shows your keeper rate per roll, camera and film.
- Printing made for film. A contact sheet of a whole roll in one click, test strips for brightness, warm/cool and black point, and a proof at final size up to 70×100 cm, without building a single layout.
- Sync and sharing without a cloud. Your computers keep the same library straight to each other over home Wi-Fi, end-to-end encrypted, or through a NAS. Send photos to any Spool on the same network in a click.
- Posts in bulk. A carousel or a post per photo, with captions filled from each frame's film, camera, lens, roll and date.
- Buy once, works offline, opens in two seconds. $59 for three computers, no account, no sign-in. Your originals are never changed.
Which one
Pick the one
that fits you.
You already live in Lightroom
Negative Lab Pro. It converts inside the catalogue you have, and you keep every Lightroom tool.
You want free and do not mind tinkering
NegPy or darktable. Both are open source; NegPy is built for film, darktable is a full raw editor.
You want the scanner's infrared cleaning
VueScan or SilverFast. They run almost any scanner, and you can still bring their files into Spool.
You scan with your phone
FilmLab, the only one here with phone apps.
You want one app for the whole roll
Spool. Convert, sort, edit and print without a subscription or a host app, with your library kept in step on every computer at home.
Judge it on your own film.
Every feature is free to try. The only limit is 36 conversions, a whole roll.