Bridge vs Lightroom – Which is Better? Detailed Comparison with Pros & Cons

Bridge and Lightroom are both products by Adobe and today, we’ll analyze what both of them have to offer. 

While Lightroom is a standalone product from Adobe, Bridge comes included with full versions of Photoshop. 

Before we have a detailed look at both, let’s look at a brief overview of what each product is capable of. 

Features	Bridge	Lightroom
Pricing	4 and a half stars	4 stars
User-Friendliness	4 stars	3 and a half stars
File Organization	5 stars	3 stars
Image Editing	2 and a half stars	5 stars

Now that you have some idea of what each tool is like, let’s delve deeper to determine how you can use them as an online course creator. 

Adobe Bridge Review – Robust and Simple to Use

Adobe Bridge is essentially a file browser/manager that does a great job of organizing a huge number of files. 

If you have a ton of different files related to your online course and you have trouble keeping track of them, you can make use of Adobe Bridge to make things easier.

With Adobe Bridge, you can tag, sort and manage all types of files contained within any folder you choose. 

While Bridge does include some basic image editing tools for color correction, it’s nothing when compared to Lightroom. 

Adobe Bridge lets you work with a ton of file formats including: 

• JPG
• PNG
• TIFF
• AI
• HTML
• PDF
• INDD
• DOC
• DOCX
• ODT

And many more. 

Bridge’s interface is also constantly synchronized with your file system. 

This means that any changes you make within your file system will instantly be reflected within Adobe Bridge’s interface. There won’t be any restarting or refreshing required. 

Adobe Bridge even lets you print directly without needing to have your images exported to other programs.

Pros	Cons
• Easy integration with all other Adobe tools • Comes free with Photoshop • Neat and intuitive interface • In-depth file management options • Supports many file formats	• Contains very rudimentary image editing tools

Benefits of Adobe Bridge

When you create an online course, sometimes the files can get too many to handle. 

It’s something that you’ll find very difficult to do with just Windows Explorer. 

Bridge helps you organize files in a number of different ways such as sorting them by: 

• Date
• Format
• Size

And many other options. 

Not only that but the program also features an Image Review mode, which you can utilize to check which pictures you want to use where in your online course. 

The program also lets you label them, assign ratings and also, rename them. 

We didn’t even talk about the fact that it’s very easy to get to since it doesn’t technically cost anything. 

You get it for free when you opt for a subscription to Adobe Photoshop. 

While its image editing features are fairly basic, it still features the Adobe Camera Raw engine which not only synchronizes images effectively but also helps process files more quickly. 

The interface of Adobe Bridge is intuitive and very easy to get the hang of too. 

This is highly important because as an online course creator, you want to have a file browser that you can just pick up and immediately get use out of. 

Adobe Bridge allows you to organize and manage files in a much more effective manner as soon as you pick it up. 

Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Adobe Bridge

Pricing

As mentioned earlier, Adobe Bridge is provided to you free of cost when you opt for a subscription to Adobe Photoshop. 

Pros	Cons
• Access to tools that make course creation easier • Reliable source of income • Don’t have to worry about marketing • Flexible work-week • Tons of benefits	• It’s a full-time job  • Will require you to relocate to either Portland, Oregon or Orlando, Florida

As an online course creator, you’ll most likely need Adobe Photoshop and other tools within the Creative Cloud suite anyway. 

Hence, Adobe Bridge is something you’ll just get for free with the package.

User-Friendliness

As briefly stated earlier, Adobe Bridge was designed to make file organization a lot easier. 

It’s very intuitive to use and it has many options to organize files in any way you want such as by name, by file size, by format, etc. 

In addition to being a great file browser, it’s important to note that it’s automatically synced as well. 

This means that any changes you make to files within your hard drive will be immediately reflected within Adobe Bridge’s interface.

File Organization

File Organization is pretty much the area where Bridge shines. 

It’s the main purpose that most people use Bridge for which is why it’s not really appropriate to compare it to Lightroom. 

This is because Lightroom is mainly an image editing tool while Bridge is mainly a file manager.

Image Editing

As mentioned earlier, Adobe Bridge contains the Adobe Camera Raw engine and some basic image editing options. 

While these options are enough to correct color and make some basic changes to RAW files, it’s not nearly enough for what you’d typically need if you wanted to edit an image drastically. 

For that, you’ll need to turn to Adobe Lightroom. 

What Do the Customers Think?

People love Bridge for its simplicity and ease of use. 

It’s very easy to set Adobe Bridge preferences which ensure your files are already sorted the way you want as soon as you import them. 

People also love how you can easily preview RAW images with it without having to open Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom. 

Here are some reviews we found online: 

Best Adobe Camera Raw Tool to Organize Files 

The best Adobe Camera Raw tool to organize files is Adobe Bridge as it features an intuitive file browser along with the Adobe Camera Raw engine which makes it super easy to preview and make minor edits to RAW images.

Adobe Lightroom Review – Flexible with a Ton of Features

Similar to Bridge, Lightroom also features the Camera Raw interface which enables it to preview and edit RAW files with ease. 

Unlike Bridge, Lightroom features much more advanced image editing tools that you can utilize to make significant changes to your images. 

It allows you to create internal folders and also add tags, keywords, and ratings to your photos and videos for easy organization. 

It’s not as easy to organize files with Lightroom as it is with Bridge but it does get the job done to an extent. 

Lightroom has an extremely large community behind it and you can find a ton of assistance regarding any issues you may have while you use the tool. 

Pros	Cons
• Mobile version available • Large community • Easy batch editing tools • Extensive image editing features •  Budget-friendly	• It can become frustrating to constantly import and export files  • Can take relatively more time to get used to

Benefits of Adobe Lightroom

Firstly, Adobe Lightroom is fairly cheap to get. 

You can get it as part of the Photography plan offered by Adobe which costs $9.99 per month. 

It’s important to note that you also get Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Bridge with the Photography plan along with Adobe Lightroom. 

The Camera Raw interface ensures you can easily import and export files with the Lightroom catalog and edit them in a meaningful way. 

Unlike Bridge which has some basic image editing tools, Lightroom boasts advanced editing features for deep color correction, color grading, scaling, cropping, and much more. 

Lightroom is also available on Android and iOS which is highly convenient so you can work on your online course while on the go. 

Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Adobe Lightroom

Pricing

You can get Lightroom for fairly cheap as part of Adobe’s Photography plan which costs $9.99 per month. 

Since you also get Photoshop and Bridge as part of the plan, we feel this is more than a generous subscription. 

User-Friendliness

While Lightroom does feature an intuitive interface, it can still take the average person some time to get used to it. 

If you’ve never done image editing before, you may have to spend some time learning what all the sliders mean and what exactly they’re used for. 

Lightroom’s import/export cycle is also fairly annoying since it can take a long time to import and export large numbers of files. 

File Organization

In terms of file organization, Lightroom can get the job done but it’s definitely no Bridge. 

You first have to import files and RAW photos that you want to manage and then add them to the Lightroom catalog. 

Lightroom’s interface is also neatly organized so you can manage files effectively and also conveniently transition into the editing interface for any photo you choose. 

Image Editing

Photo editing is really the area where Lightroom shines because that’s primarily what it was designed for. 

If you want to make basic changes such as contrast, brightness, etc. to an image, all the sliders are available on the left-hand side. 

When it comes to advanced features such as color grading and correction, you have access to Hue, Saturation, and Luminosity sliders along with a Levels graph. 

Of course, you also have typical scaling tools available too such as for correcting orientation, leveling, cropping, and much more. 

What Do the Customers Think?

Adobe Camera Raw makes it very easy to process photos so they’re ready for editing within Lightroom. 

This is something that customers highly appreciate since it makes it very easy for them to organize and edit files all in the same breath. 

Its batch editing features are also highly praised since it makes it super simple to apply the same changes to hundreds of files with one click. 

Here are some reviews we came across: 

Best Adobe Camera Raw Tool to Edit Images

The best Adobe Camera Raw tool to edit images is Adobe Lightroom thanks to its advanced editing features, color grading tools, and masking capabilities. It can take some time to get used to but once you do, there are limitless possibilities to what you can do with your RAW photos.

Lightroom vs Bridge – Buyers’ Guide

Pricing

When it comes to image editing tools, you don’t want to spend a ton of money but at the same time, you want to have enough features that make the purchase worthwhile 

As a new online course creator, we recommend that you don’t go above $50 if it’s a one-time purchase and doesn’t go above $20 per month if it’s subscription-based.

User-Friendliness

User-friendliness is something that you should look for in every tool and equipment you opt for across your online course creation and selling journey. 

This is because you want the majority of your time to be spent on the creation and perfection of your online course.

You don’t want to spend a ton of time learning other tools. Hence, you should strive to find tools that are easy to use. 

This is so you can immediately pick them up and use them without having to waste time learning them. 

File Organization

When you create online courses, you may become overwhelmed by the sheer number of files that start to pile up. 

In this case, your image editing tool needs to have an easy-to-use file organization component that can help you sort and manage files in an effective manner.

Image Editing

It’s always handy to have a tool that can conduct deep color grading and correction on your images when you develop an online course. 

When you add images to your course content, you may find that some modifications may be required for them to look presentable. 

Be sure to go for a tool that has extensive options to edit images.

Adobe Bridge vs Adobe Lightroom – Final Verdict

This brings us to the end of our post for Lightroom vs Bridge. 

In the end, we must say that there’s really no point comparing these two tools as they’re mainly used for two completely different purposes. 

Bridge is mainly utilized for file organization while Lightroom is used to import photos and edit them extensively. 

Also, since you can get both of them for an affordable price with Adobe’s Photography plan, you don’t have to choose one or the other. 

What do you use Bridge and Lightroom for? Let us know in the comments below.