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Which AI culling tool is right for you?
Aftershoot and Narrative both use AI to speed up culling. Aftershoot offers an AI-automated mode that makes a first pass for you, and an AI-assisted mode where every decision stays with you.
Narrative is human-led. Its AI ranks your photos and explains each assessment, and you make the final call. It never culls for you automatically.
Billed yearly, Narrative’s cull and edit plan starts at $20 a month and Aftershoot’s Select + Edit starts at $40 a month (as of November 2026).
Aftershoot is an AI platform for culling, editing, retouching and client galleries. Its culling tool groups duplicates, flags blur, closed eyes and blown exposures, and scores each image.
You can run culling in AI-automated mode, which surfaces your strongest picks for review, or in AI-assisted mode, which organizes and suggests while you decide. Its editing tool applies an AI profile trained on your past edits.
Two culling modes: Choose AI-automated culling for a first pass, or AI-assisted culling to keep every decision yourself. Duplicates are grouped, and blur, closed eyes and blown exposures are flagged.
Culling tools: Key Face Detection, People Filters to find someone by name, Survey Mode to compare up to 16 images, and a Cull to Target option to set a photo count.
Learns your style: Its AI learns from your culling choices, and personalized editing profiles are built from 2,500+ of your edited images.
Unlimited pricing: Every plan includes unlimited photos, with no per-image fees.
Works locally: It runs on Windows and macOS and processes images on your computer, so you can cull without an internet connection.
Automated mode makes the first pass: In AI-automated mode the AI builds your shortlist, so it is worth checking the rejected view for moments it passed over. Aftershoot says rejected photos stay visible.
Tools are priced separately: Culling (Select), editing (Edit) and retouching (Retouch) are separate plans at $10, $30 and $20 a month billed yearly, or $45 for all three (Complete).
Hardware requirements: Aftershoot says features like preview rendering and retouching may not work reliably on Intel integrated graphics or GPUs with less than 2GB of video memory.
Narrative is a professional AI photo culling and editing app, designed by photographers, for photographers.
Its AI checks focus, eyes and expressions on each main face, groups similar photos into Scenes, and ranks them. Every assessment comes with a reason, so you know why a photo was flagged.
It never culls for you. You review every image, and assessments never reject or delete a photo.
When you finish, send your selects to Lightroom, with an AI Preset applied if you choose.
Purpose-built culling: Eye & Focus Assessments, Close-ups, Scenes View and AI First Pass help you choose faster. These are on the Standard, Premium and Ultra plans.
Editing that fits your workflow: Narrative doesn’t replace Lightroom. Apply an AI Preset when you ship selects to Lightroom Classic or Lightroom CC, then finish there.
Creative control: Narrative ranks and explains, and you decide. Assessments are warnings, not verdicts, and nothing is deleted.
Offline support: After you sign in and download what Narrative needs, you can work offline for up to 30 days between sign-ins.
Local processing: Culling and assessments run on your computer. Photos are uploaded only if you turn on “Help improve Narrative” or train a Personal AI Preset.
Narrative
AftershootHuman-led: AI ranks and explains, you decide
AI-automated or AI-assisted, your choice
No
Yes (Cull to Target)
Scenes View with ranking (Standard and above)
Duplicate grouping
Eye & Focus Assessments and Close-ups Panel (Standard and above)
Key Face Detection, closed-eye and blur flags
Yes (Standard and above, Mac only for now)
Yes
One-click Ship + Edit to Lightroom Classic and Lightroom CC
One-click export to Lightroom Classic and Capture One
Lightroom Classic, Lightroom CC, Capture One and Photoshop (drag and drop on Windows)
Lightroom Classic, Capture One, Photo Mechanic and Adobe Bridge
Yes, up to 30 days between sign-ins
Yes, processes images locally
From $10 p/m (Lite, without AI assessments)
From $10 p/m (Select, AI culling)
From $20 p/m (Standard)
From $40 p/m (Select + Edit)
Photographer Jessica Whitaker, a Narrative partner, used Aftershoot for about three years before going back to Narrative.
In her comparison she finds that both tools leave the final call to you, and that entry-level pricing is close. The difference she sees is the path: with Aftershoot you review what the AI has sorted, and with Narrative you review every image yourself with AI assessments beside it.
She culled a 10,000-image wedding by hand in about two hours.
Aftershoot and Narrative both use AI to speed up photo selection and editing.
Choose Aftershoot if you want AI to make a first pass for you, an all-in-one platform with retouching and client galleries, or the option to cull to a set number of photos.
Choose Narrative if you want the AI to rank and explain while you make every call, with AI Presets applied in Lightroom.
Narrative’s Eye & Focus Assessments, Close-ups, Scenes and AI First Pass are on the Standard, Premium and Ultra plans. Personal AI Presets trained on your own edits are on Premium and Ultra.
Billed yearly, Narrative’s cull and edit plan starts at $20 a month, compared with $40 a month for Aftershoot’s Select + Edit (as of November 2026).
See which features each Narrative plan includes on the pricing page.
Aftershoot reports its own figure: most photographers see a 90%+ match with their own selections by the third or fourth shoot. It also says it scores each frame on 30+ factors.
Narrative doesn’t publish an accuracy percentage, because it doesn’t cull for you. It flags focus and closed eyes, finds the stronger frames in each Scene, and you choose what to keep.
Both tools keep lower-ranked photos visible rather than deleting them.
Narrative applies an AI Preset when you ship your selects to Lightroom Classic or Lightroom CC, and you finish and export in Lightroom. Standard includes unlimited editing with Narrative’s Core AI Presets.
Aftershoot edits inside its own app, including RAW adjustments, using an AI profile trained on 2,500+ of your edited images or one of its pre-built styles.
Yes. Narrative is a standalone app, so you can cull and rate without Lightroom, and your photos stay where they are.
It saves ratings and labels in XMP sidecar files beside your photos. Lightroom reads stars, color labels, tags and rejects, and Capture One reads stars and color labels.
To edit in your own style, train a Personal AI Preset on at least 1,500 photos you’ve edited and exported from Lightroom Classic. Personal AI Presets are on the Premium and Ultra plans.
Yes. New Narrative accounts get 30 days of Ultra, its highest plan, with no payment card needed.
Aftershoot offers a free 30-day trial with full access to its AI culling features, also with no credit card.