Your photos usually aren’t gone the second they disappear. Deleting a file just tells your computer that space is free again and the photo itself often sits there, untouched, until something new gets saved on top of it. We tested the leading photo recovery software for Windows and Mac, checking how deep each one scans, which photo formats it picks up, how easy it is for someone with no tech background, and how much you can get back before it asks you to pay.
Our Top Picks
Stellar Photo Recovery is our top pick overall, especially for beginners and photographers who shoot RAW. If you want no limit and don’t mind a more technical interface, PhotoRec is free and unlimited. EaseUS suits people recovering more than just photos. Disk Drill fits creators who want built-in protection against future data loss. DiskGenius fits IT professionals managing drives and partitions.
How We Chose the Best One
We didn’t just look at price. We checked whether a tool only reads from your drive instead of writing to it, so it can’t cause more damage while it searches. We paid close attention to format support, especially for professional RAW formats like CR2, NEF, and ARW, since a tool that can’t read your camera’s files isn’t much use to a photographer. We also looked at whether the free version shows real results before asking for money, and how good the support is when something goes wrong.
Quick Comparison of Photo Recovery Software
| Tool | Platform | Free Limit | Formats | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stellar Photo Recovery | Windows & Mac | 10 files (100 MB each) | 300+ formats, incl. CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, DNG | Beginners, photographers |
| PhotoRec | Windows, Mac, Linux | No limit | JPEG, graphics, ZIP, Office, PDF, HTML | Anyone who wants free recovery |
| EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard | Windows & Mac | Up to 2 GB | 100+ formats, incl. RAW, video, documents | Home users, businesses |
| Disk Drill | Windows & Mac | 500 MB for Windows only | 100+ formats, incl. RAW | Photographers, creators |
| DiskGenius | Windows | Paid | 1,000+ formats | IT professionals |
Attention – Do this before Using Any Tools
Stop using the affected drive right away, since every new file you save risks overwriting what you are trying to recover. Save recovered files to a different drive, never back onto the one you are scanning. Run a free scan first so you know what’s actually recoverable before paying for anything, then set up a regular backup routine so you’re not back here again.
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5 Best Photo Recovery Software list:
1. Stellar Photo Recovery
We recommend Stellar Photo Recovery first. The reason behind it is simple: you shouldn’t need to understand computers to get your photos back. Open it, pick what you’re looking for, choose the drive or card, and watch the results show up in a live preview before you save anything.
What really makes it stand out is how much it does for photographers specifically. It reads over 300 file formats, including RAW files from nearly every camera brand, such as Canon’s CR2 and CR3, Nikon’s NEF, and Sony’s ARW. Most free tools stop at a handful of common formats. Stellar doesn’t. That’s part of why we named it the best general photo recovery software this year, pointing to its huge device support.
The free version is enough to see whether it’s actually finding your photos before you pay anything. It also includes a deep scan mode for complex recovery cases, lets you pause a scan and pick it back up later, and can recover from BitLocker-encrypted drives. Real support is available by phone, chat, and email, and paid plans come with a 30-day refund window.
The free cap is limiting if you’ve lost a large batch of photos at once, and deep scans on bigger drives take some time. Even so, for most people trying to recover deleted photos without a headache, this is the tool to start with.
2. PhotoRec
PhotoRec earns its spot for one reason: it’s genuinely free, with no caps and no upsell hiding behind the free version. It’s open-source, runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and finds lost files by scanning for file patterns rather than relying on the drive’s file table, which is why it can still work on drives that have been reformatted or badly damaged.
The tradeoff is the interface. It’s closer to a command-line tool than a modern app, so it takes patience if you’re not used to that kind of software. Support comes from community forums rather than a help desk, and it covers fewer formats than the paid options on this list. Still, if cost matters more than convenience, nothing here beats it.
3. EaseUS
EaseUS has been around for years, and its free tier still holds up well. You can recover up to 2GB, though the starting limit is 500MB unless a promotion unlocks more. It isn’t limited to photos either – it also picks up documents, video, and audio, so it’s a good option if a crashed drive took more than just your pictures.
The interface can feel a little busy the first time you use recovery software, and getting the full 2GB usually means sharing the product on social media first. Bootable recovery media is locked behind the paid version, too. Still, if you need to recover a mix of file types rather than just images, EaseUS covers more ground than most free tools.
4. Disk Drill
Disk Drill keeps its interface simple but adds a few extras most tools on this list skip. On Windows, its Recovery Vault feature works quietly in the background, protecting files before anything actually goes wrong, worth a look if you’ve already lost data once. It also supports a wide range of file systems, including NTFS, FAT, exFAT, APFS, and HFS+.
The free Mac version only lets you preview files rather than recover them, and the Windows free limit sits at 500MB. Some of its better features are Windows-only, and the full toolset means upgrading to Pro. Still, for photographers and creators who want an easy tool with some protection built in, it’s a solid pick.
5. DiskGenius
DiskGenius isn’t really built for someone who just wants their photos back and nothing else. Alongside recovery, it packs in partition management, disk cloning, backup tools, RAID recovery, and hex editing, all in one Windows app. That’s exactly why IT teams reach for it when the storage setup is more complicated than a single drive.
It’s Windows-only, and the interface can feel like a lot if you’re a casual user just trying to grab a few photos. Advanced recovery features sit behind a paywall too. But if you manage drives and partitions professionally, it does more than any single-purpose recovery tool can.
Final Verdict
Stellar Photo Recovery is our pick overall. It’s the easiest tool here to use, it supports more RAW formats than any competitor on this list, and many other independent reviewers named it the best general photo recovery software of 2026. If you shoot on a DSLR or mirrorless camera, start here.
If cost is your only concern, PhotoRec is free with no limits, though it asks more of you upfront. Whatever you choose, download it from the official site – third-party pages sometimes bundle in malware or fake “recovery tools.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Which free tool has no limits at all?
PhotoRec is the only one on this list with unlimited free recovery.
Is free photo recovery software safe to use?
Yes, as long as you download it from the official vendor’s site. All five tools scan in read-only mode, meaning they read your drive without writing anything back to it.
Can I recover photos that were permanently deleted?
Often, yes. Deleted photos are usually just marked as free space rather than erased outright, so recovery software can pull them back before that space is overwritten.
Do these tools work on formatted SD cards?
Yes. All five can recover lost photos from formatted SD cards, memory cards, and USB drives.
Do I need technical skills to use these tools?
Not for most of them. Stellar, EaseUS, and Disk Drill are built for everyday users. PhotoRec and DiskGenius lean more technical.
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