Towards the end of last year, ON1 released the latest version of its software. Its newest advancements are likely to attract even more people to it from Adobe’s Photography Plan for some very good reasons.
What Is ON1 Poto RAW and Is It Any Good?
The most important thing for every photographer is the quality of the image after raw development. I am pleased to say that it is possible to get outstanding results.
Eider on the sea on a stormy day, developed in ON1 Photo RAW MAX 2024.
I’ve been a long-time user of this software. It has a comprehensive range of tools that give superb results ,and it continuously gets better. Leading the way with innovations years ahead of the competition, its functions, like precise automated masking and AI-based noise reduction, appeared long before Adobe’s still hit-or-miss attempts.
If you are not aware of what ON1 Photo Raw is, here’s a very quick résumé. It is a comprehensive asset management tool that has a hybrid file browser and catalog. So, in that way, it is like Lightroom Classic’s Library module, but with an additional file browser. It’s also a raw development tool and a photo editor a bit like Lightroom Classic’s Develop Module and Photoshop combined into one program. ON1's editing is very much specialized for photography. That's unlike Photoshop, which has a far broader user base with numerous complex functions surplus to photo editing. ON1 is built by photographers for photographers.
When processing images, ON1 Photo RAW can be used by novices with single-click adjustments. But it also gives full control using layered adjustments, as required by more seasoned photographers.
Using ON1 Photo RAW as a file browser is quick and one can access photos that have not been imported into the catalog.
ON1's Features Worth Mentioning
Of course, it's impossible to include every last function of such a comprehensive program. But here are a few features that are worthy of mention.
Besides the AI Noise Reduction that works exceptionally well, ON1 Photo RAW also comes with extra features including an AI-driven resize tool that has taken its highly-respected fractals-based image enlargement to a new level. More about these functions can be found by searching Fstoppers for my historical reviews of previous versions of this software. It also has a portrait-enhancing tool that I think works as well as anything on the market and better than many.
The development tab will look familiar to anyone who has already adjusted raw images. Although in some ways similar in appearance, it has some differences from Lightroom. Firstly, there is a Midtones slider that Lightroom lacks. ON1 also groups tonal adjustments separately from color adjustments instead of jumping back and forth between them.
The AI enhancements speed things up when editing. I found especially useful its ability to identify and mask different features like sky, architecture, foliage, and water. But the big difference is ON1's Brilliance AI.
Is Brilliance AI Brilliant?
Brilliance AI analyses the image and applies adjustments to it.
This most recent release brings with it Brilliance AI, the biggest change to its latest release. The software examines the unprocessed image and, with a single click, uses AI to bring about first-rate results by applying local adjustments to the image. When I tried it, the results were impressive, and I was able to apply it to lots of images with no further work needed. If it wasn't quite right, it created a great starting point for small tweaks. I haven’t yet met any automated process, AI or otherwise, that gives me exactly the results I like with one click, but this got a lot closer than some and did far, far better than many.
Brilliance AI, NoNoise AI and Tack Sharp AI applied to a high-ISO image shot in low light that was originally underexposed.
ON1 did a fabulous job for standard well-exposed portraits, landscapes, and most wildlife shots. However, there were some areas that it did struggle with a little. I ran some deliberately underexposed portraits through the software and it didn’t make the images quite bright enough, but that was easily fixed by tweaking the exposure slider. Similarly, I have plenty of sunrise seascapes where I deliberately underexpose to prevent the sky details from blowing out. It didn't get the exposure right with those either, but again,it was easily fixed. Thirdly, I shoot abstract wildlife shots that show movement, especially birds in flight over water. No AI has yet learned what to do with those because they haven't been trained on them.
The following image shows one of the rare cases where it didn't perform so well. The former image was where Brilliance AI had been applied and the latter was adjusted to my taste after further quick adjustments.
ON1 Learns Your Style
I used the word “yet” before because the reason it didn’t quite get some of my photos right is that it hasn’t so far learned every unusual photographic quirk of my work. However, learn it does.
Among the presets is the My Style option. When you have developed sufficient images, around 200, and added the effects you like to them, the software can then predict the result you want. It will then add adaptive presets to the Style Advisor. You can then apply those adaptive presets to your photos, and ON1 will use them to achieve your signature look.
The My Style function is going to be fantastic for photographers who shoot bulk photos, such as wedding photographers, as it speeds up the workflow, especially so, as they can be applied to multiple images at once in the Browse module.
Before you get to that point, you can use the included ON1 Team presets in the Style Advisor. It has a selection of suggested styles that the AI has learned from the team at ON1.
The ON1 team's styles in the Style Advisor are a great place to start.
ON1 Photo Raw comes with a selection of other adaptive presets too. There are also more you can download from the ON1 website and, of course, you can create your own.
ON1 Photo RAW MAX
On1 Photo RAW 2024 MAX includes plugins for Photoshop, Lightroom, Apple Photo, and other apps. With ON1 Photo RAW MAX, it is no longer necessary to buy separate plugins as the program will integrate with them directly. Once set up, it worked seamlessly with the Adobe programs.
One significant improvement I noticed was the speed at which ON1 Photo RAW opens and works. Switching between modules was instantaneous. One of my bugbears for the Adobe software is the delays working between Lightroom and Photoshop and how long it takes for the latter to open.
Applying adaptive presets.
There have been some changes to the user interface, and this includes a vastly improved layers pane.
ON1 Photo Raw is more affordable than many of the apps on the market, which is great news considering the wide range of functions it has compared to others. I don’t think any other single program on the market has all the functionality that is available in ON1 Photo RAW, and you would otherwise need to buy three or four different apps to get anywhere near to being close to what is available here.
Furthermore, ON1 Photo Raw 2024, including the MAX version, is still available as a perpetual license that you can buy outright. You can also subscribe to it if you wish, and the subscription options bring you extra features including access to over 40 in-depth tutorials with the ON1 Plus Membership and cloud storage options. I tried a few of these lessons and they are first class.
Non-destructive layered editing on top of the raw file development.
Good use of AI that still leaves full control to the photographer.
Dual screen Support.
HDR, Panorama, Focus Stacking, and Timelapse.
A large number of adaptive presets and filters.
Superb AI masking that detects areas such as people, water, foliage, sky, architecture, etc.
Editing a photo with masked layers.
ON1 can learn your developing styles so apply them to your future photos.
Your editing data is not shared with ON1.
Works as a plugin for many programs.
It is cost-effective compared to other prime image processing tools.
The ability to automatically apply camera-based presets on import.
Superb customer support with usually speedy personal replies to queries.
Easy migration of Lightroom’s catalog to ON1.
You don’t need to pay a subscription if you don’t want to.
Large range of high-quality video tutorials on YouTube.
Automatic masking works exceptionally well in ON1, and there are plenty of options for adjusting the masks.
What Could Be Improved
I’m hard-pressed to find anything negative to say. I've tried a lot of different programs and most work well, and this is one of them.
Like all image-handling software, it is a big program. Consequently, you need sufficient computing power to drive it. Although the minimum requirements are less, they recommend 16 GB or more of RAM, an SSD hard drive, and preferably an 8-core or more processor. As image files get larger, then computers need to be beefed up to process them. So, maybe a lightweight version of the software would be something some users would welcome.
The default values of the Tack Sharp AI deblur are set a little too strongly, but the settings are adjustable.
The pedant in me wishes it used Raw in its name and not RAW.
I would not object to an option to opt in to sharing my image data to improve the AI.
In Conclusion: Should You Buy ON1 Photo Raw?
I’m in an unusual position in that I run far more photographic cataloging and raw development programs on my computer than most. That’s partly because I train people who use them and because I review the software too. I also swap between the programs because I enjoy experimenting. One da,y I will use Adobe’s offerings, the next DXO's, the following day ON1’s, and so on. If I were to have just one program on my computer, this would be a strong contender because of its versatility and superb results.
Verified online reviews show this to be a solid piece of software that most users find works well for them. It certainly works perfectly for me. There is a 30-day money-back guarantee, which gives you plenty of time to test it to see if it works on your system.
Like any software, you may find some programs that, subjectively, do one of these functions slightly better. However, I’ve found that ON1 Photo RAW hits the mark and outperforms other programs in many areas. For example, the noise reduction is far superior to Lightroom’s, the AI masking and image development gave far better results than Luminar Neo, and the catalog is more versatile than DxO PhotoLab or Capture One. Plus, it has a far wider range of functions than any single app, which makes it a superb choice for many photographers not only for the results it achieves but for its cost-effectiveness.
This isn’t saying those others are in any way bad programs; lots of users will be happy with them too. Nevertheless, ON1 Photo RAW 2024 is a superb option well worth consideration for those looking for a new asset management, raw development, and image editing tool rolled into one. You can buy ON1 Photo Raw by clicking here.
Earning a living as a photographer, website developer, and writer and Based in the North East of England, much of Ivor's work is training others; helping people become better photographers. He has a special interest in supporting people with their mental well-being through photography. In 2023 he became a brand ambassador for the OM System
'The most important thing for every photographer is the quality of the image after raw development.'
That's quite a sweeping statement as not all photographers shoot and process RAW. Besides for me the most important thing is the subject. No amount of editing will make up for an unappealing photograph. Of course I'm aware this article is an advertorial.
I disagree. Every photograph is the result of raw processing. Even if photographers don't record and develop raw files themselves, then the camera has processed it to produce a jpeg.
There's no advert; I am not paid by ON1. I test the software and publish what I find. Articles that are sponsored are marked as such.
Lot of caveats in there which reveal how very average Photo RAW actually is. DxO has the best demosaicing engine, LR does a far superior job of asset management. Both are more reasonably priced. LR's 'Auto' also utilises machine learning and does just as good or better job as Brilliance AI, the AI masking is massively inferior to LR's, the stack and blend tools in Photo RAW are sub-par and the noise reduction is woeful too. The kitchen-sink approach really lets the software down and the value-extras you get with the more expensive bundle are worthless.
I have On1 RAW, Adobe + DxO.
DxO has the best demosaicing engine , but lacks AI masking.Masking is the reason why I prefer to edit with ACR
The noise reduction to Adobe and DxO is superior to ON1.
I agree that DxO does an excellent job at denoising. I use that too. Lightroom as well, but that is far less effective.
I think the assets management of Lightroom is still excellent, but ON1 is too. It has the functionality of Lightroom plus the file browser that LR lacks. It certainly outshines what's available in any other program.
Despite your assertion, I think the NR in ON1 in Lightroom is far superior to Lightroom. Possibly, if you are not getting the results you want, it may be something worth spending time to learn it. It works differently from Photoshop and it means changing your approach.
I think DxO Photolab leads the market in the denoise area, but that doesn't mean anything else is bad, and ON1 is far better than you are making out.
Jo, this was not an advert, if it had been Andy's observation about caveats would not have been made. Sponsored posts are always labelled as such. Please check the validity of your false accusations before making stuff up..
Since you stated that NR in ON1 is far superior to Lightroom , can you go to this link , download the RAW file , and compare the NR vs LR and DxO. Let me know if On1 can beat them. there is edited photo from all 3 in the forum
No need to do that. I already published an article comparing the two programs against the raw files of different cameras. With a couple of small exceptions, ON1 gave better colour rendering across all camera brands I tested, it didn't oversharpen nor underexpose like Lightroom. Furthermore, I'm currently on assignment in Finland and on a sleeper train, so no access to either program. I also tested Capture 1 and DxO Photolab, they all performed better than Lightroom.
Three years ago, ON1 performed horribly on Windows (and my computer well exceeds their requirements) and I gave up on it. Money wasted. Is Windows performance any better now?
I've used the software for a few years (dating back to the original "OnOne" days (Version 4?)) up to the present, 2024 Max
2024 does seem to perform much better than 2023, but the filters still have a noticeable delay (~3 seconds from click to results) and the software does seem to lag. I feel that a lot of it is from them trying to incorporate everything into a single application instead of the original "plugins" idea that they released in the past.
My PC isn't top of the line: 64GB ram, Nvidia 3060 w/ 12GB Ram, i5-12400 (12-core), all M2 and SSD drives.. Photoshop runs great, Lightroom runs great, Luminar, Nik, DXO, all of the others run totally fine on it without issues, but On1 always seems to struggle a bit as if it's only taking partial advantage of the resources.
I feel that them moving from the plugins to a full blown application that replaces photoshop and lightroom may have opened them to another market but possibly pushed them away from the audience they originally catered to. I don't want to use it stand-alone, I don't want to replace photoshop with it, I just want to use the filters here and there within photoshop
I like and use On1 software. For most users willing to learn the rules On1 can substitute for almost, as in almost anything you can do in Adobes or other software with some tricks of its own in the Effects filters. AI noise reduction and sharpening are rarely best in class but usually deliver adequate results. The biggest ON1 caveat in my near daily experience using On1 is that its auto selection tools are, to be charitable, unreliable as they often fail to identify and select prominent image elements, not at all at the same level as what Adobes can do.
Sure reads like yet another advert from Ivor. In the end who cares? While processing is I suppose an important stage it’s the inherent creativity in the images that trumps all. This promoting of both OM cameras and On1 software had now gone beyond boring. In the end both are not that much of an important factor so stop banging on as though they are. I see the work of many well known photographers on a weekly basis and no one gives a toss about either gear or if they have used or not used any particular brand of software. I would challenge anyone to tell what camera or software was used to produce any particular print. It’s just not possible, so why keep on and on about trying to create some mythical differentiation where none in reality actually exists? You like Om and On1, that’s fine and good for you.
The whole point of review articles is to show that there are other viable options out there. This isn't the only software I have covered and, despite what some of the comments above state, you are right, when comparing similar functions, most of them perform acceptably. So far I have only found one exception that was hopeless at noise reduction.
Similarly with cameras. As I repeatedly stated in my articles, all brands on the market make good cameras that take excellent images. However, some models have different ergonomics and functionalities, and so reviews are worthwhile for those who might consider those important.
However, some programs have a greater range of features than others and ON1 has far more features than, say, Capture One or DxO Photolab, both of which are also excellent programs.
It's a pity people can't make comments without snide remarks as it instantly undermines their credibility as serious photographers.
Thank you for this ambitious undertaking -- taking as vast a software package as On1 PhotoRaw and squeezing it down into an amuse-bouche.
I used PhotoRaw the first time when it was first launched (whenever that was Anno Domini...maybe 2009?). It was risible.
It's come a long way since, and I actually purchased the 2024 subscription recently whilst in a dissipative fit. I think it was the snappy catalog and improved masking what brought me in. I am perpetually looking for LR and C1 alternatives, and I thought I had found the answer.
Weeks later the picture has changed somewhat; it remains a rather buggy program (just as one example, I find my image disappears not infrequently after zooming in, and I have to toggle the zoom back-and-forth to get it to return). And while the masking has indeed improved, I find I often have to play pinball with cursors, the various masking tools, and popup windows to get what I'm looking for.
I think I largely agree with several others here in this thread in that while PR is trying to be LR, C1, and PL all in one, the execution has left us with an app that doesn't excel in any one thing while leaving a great number of bugs, UI rabbit holes (Weeks in, I'm still unclear exactly how many masking tools there are, how exactly they differ, and why I have to deal with that bloody popup screen to boot), and spurious, outdated, and underperforming tools like Brilliance AI, which at the end of the day is just an "auto" button like every demosaicing app has had for years, usually hidden in an unobtrusive corner because, well, it's a really blunt tool.
Bottom Line: I think On1 PR is a fantastic generalist app for people who do not have certain specific/ professional demands, be it speed, reliability, or best-in-class X (masking, culling, tethering, de-noising). If any of that applies, then you're still going to need LR, C1, or PL.
I agree that professional phootgraphers like me, a tiny minority compared to the vast numbers who read the article, might use different programs to achieve certain results. (The coments in this thread represent less that 0.1% of the people who read it.)
I certainly do employ various programs. Like you, I use DxO Photolab but its catalog is nowhere near as good as ON1's and it lacks AI masking. Its editing capabilities - as opposed to its raw development - are limited. Capture One, apart from being costly, similary is lacking when it comes to editing.
I disagree with your inferred suggestion that ON1 does nothing well. I find it outperforms Lightroom - the basemark most people use for performance - in many areas. For example, Adobe's AI masking is weak in comparison, leaving halos and not accurately finding edges. When trying to get LR to differentiate between the low contrast differences of sky and the sea on seascapes, it often fails, while ON1 succeeds every time; it's water detection is spot on. Lightroom's noise reduction leaves images soft and sharpening is just downright ugly, unlike ON1, Topaz, and DxO. ON1's portrait tools are also superb and simpler to use than Photoshop's. It's AI resizing also outperforms Photoshop.
Yes, for noise reduction DxO probaly is minutely better, and Topaz's result swing depending upon the image. But, as the previous commenter says, nobody would tell what people use. Furthermore, with the advancements in sensor technology, it's a function that is becoming less important.
The vast majority of photographers and readers are not professionals and many would not invest in the array of programs that I have, so would need to choose one. Over the last few years I have taught hundreds of amateur photographers and in all that time only met two who use more than one image processing package.
For the range of functions that perform so well, and outperform most of the other programs in one way or another, ON1 is a great choice.
Verified online reviews show this to be a solid piece of software that most users find works well for them. It certainly works perfectly for me. There is a 30-day money-back guarantee, which gives you plenty of time to test it to see if it works on your system.
'The most important thing for every photographer is the quality of the image after raw development.'
That's quite a sweeping statement as not all photographers shoot and process RAW. Besides for me the most important thing is the subject. No amount of editing will make up for an unappealing photograph. Of course I'm aware this article is an advertorial.
I disagree. Every photograph is the result of raw processing. Even if photographers don't record and develop raw files themselves, then the camera has processed it to produce a jpeg.
There's no advert; I am not paid by ON1. I test the software and publish what I find. Articles that are sponsored are marked as such.
How well does the noise reduction and sharpening compared to Topaz AI? I realize Topaz doesn't work with RAW, but it's a useful benchmark comparision.
Topaz is good too. I use that as well. I found both far superior to Lightroom and on a par with each other.
Topaz works well with RAW and if you doesn't send RAW you even get the info that your results will be better by sending RAW.
Lot of caveats in there which reveal how very average Photo RAW actually is. DxO has the best demosaicing engine, LR does a far superior job of asset management. Both are more reasonably priced. LR's 'Auto' also utilises machine learning and does just as good or better job as Brilliance AI, the AI masking is massively inferior to LR's, the stack and blend tools in Photo RAW are sub-par and the noise reduction is woeful too. The kitchen-sink approach really lets the software down and the value-extras you get with the more expensive bundle are worthless.
I have On1 RAW, Adobe + DxO.
DxO has the best demosaicing engine , but lacks AI masking.Masking is the reason why I prefer to edit with ACR
The noise reduction to Adobe and DxO is superior to ON1.
Thanks for cutting through the advertorial so succinctly to what we want to know.
I agree that DxO does an excellent job at denoising. I use that too. Lightroom as well, but that is far less effective.
I think the assets management of Lightroom is still excellent, but ON1 is too. It has the functionality of Lightroom plus the file browser that LR lacks. It certainly outshines what's available in any other program.
Despite your assertion, I think the NR in ON1 in Lightroom is far superior to Lightroom. Possibly, if you are not getting the results you want, it may be something worth spending time to learn it. It works differently from Photoshop and it means changing your approach.
I think DxO Photolab leads the market in the denoise area, but that doesn't mean anything else is bad, and ON1 is far better than you are making out.
Jo, this was not an advert, if it had been Andy's observation about caveats would not have been made. Sponsored posts are always labelled as such. Please check the validity of your false accusations before making stuff up..
Since you stated that NR in ON1 is far superior to Lightroom , can you go to this link , download the RAW file , and compare the NR vs LR and DxO. Let me know if On1 can beat them. there is edited photo from all 3 in the forum
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/67316061
Here is the result from Adobe:
https://3.img-dpreview.com/files/p/E~forums/67318762/832689f96456453b91b...
No need to do that. I already published an article comparing the two programs against the raw files of different cameras. With a couple of small exceptions, ON1 gave better colour rendering across all camera brands I tested, it didn't oversharpen nor underexpose like Lightroom. Furthermore, I'm currently on assignment in Finland and on a sleeper train, so no access to either program. I also tested Capture 1 and DxO Photolab, they all performed better than Lightroom.
I guess you know that Lightroom got AI Noise reduction 1/2 year ago ?
The old one was trash in comparison.....
Yes indeed. I agree the old pre-AI version was even worse.
Three years ago, ON1 performed horribly on Windows (and my computer well exceeds their requirements) and I gave up on it. Money wasted. Is Windows performance any better now?
It's better now, but I fully agree with Andy Hutchinson's take on it above. A lot of tools, but mostly mediocre results.
I've used the software for a few years (dating back to the original "OnOne" days (Version 4?)) up to the present, 2024 Max
2024 does seem to perform much better than 2023, but the filters still have a noticeable delay (~3 seconds from click to results) and the software does seem to lag. I feel that a lot of it is from them trying to incorporate everything into a single application instead of the original "plugins" idea that they released in the past.
My PC isn't top of the line: 64GB ram, Nvidia 3060 w/ 12GB Ram, i5-12400 (12-core), all M2 and SSD drives.. Photoshop runs great, Lightroom runs great, Luminar, Nik, DXO, all of the others run totally fine on it without issues, but On1 always seems to struggle a bit as if it's only taking partial advantage of the resources.
I feel that them moving from the plugins to a full blown application that replaces photoshop and lightroom may have opened them to another market but possibly pushed them away from the audience they originally catered to. I don't want to use it stand-alone, I don't want to replace photoshop with it, I just want to use the filters here and there within photoshop
No. Impossible to have any decent runs on an I5 even with full SSD's and 16MB ram with Nvidia 4k card. LRC has no problem with that configuration.
Does it do focus stacking?
yes...
I like and use On1 software. For most users willing to learn the rules On1 can substitute for almost, as in almost anything you can do in Adobes or other software with some tricks of its own in the Effects filters. AI noise reduction and sharpening are rarely best in class but usually deliver adequate results. The biggest ON1 caveat in my near daily experience using On1 is that its auto selection tools are, to be charitable, unreliable as they often fail to identify and select prominent image elements, not at all at the same level as what Adobes can do.
Sure reads like yet another advert from Ivor. In the end who cares? While processing is I suppose an important stage it’s the inherent creativity in the images that trumps all. This promoting of both OM cameras and On1 software had now gone beyond boring. In the end both are not that much of an important factor so stop banging on as though they are. I see the work of many well known photographers on a weekly basis and no one gives a toss about either gear or if they have used or not used any particular brand of software. I would challenge anyone to tell what camera or software was used to produce any particular print. It’s just not possible, so why keep on and on about trying to create some mythical differentiation where none in reality actually exists? You like Om and On1, that’s fine and good for you.
The whole point of review articles is to show that there are other viable options out there. This isn't the only software I have covered and, despite what some of the comments above state, you are right, when comparing similar functions, most of them perform acceptably. So far I have only found one exception that was hopeless at noise reduction.
Similarly with cameras. As I repeatedly stated in my articles, all brands on the market make good cameras that take excellent images. However, some models have different ergonomics and functionalities, and so reviews are worthwhile for those who might consider those important.
However, some programs have a greater range of features than others and ON1 has far more features than, say, Capture One or DxO Photolab, both of which are also excellent programs.
It's a pity people can't make comments without snide remarks as it instantly undermines their credibility as serious photographers.
Ivor,
Thank you for this ambitious undertaking -- taking as vast a software package as On1 PhotoRaw and squeezing it down into an amuse-bouche.
I used PhotoRaw the first time when it was first launched (whenever that was Anno Domini...maybe 2009?). It was risible.
It's come a long way since, and I actually purchased the 2024 subscription recently whilst in a dissipative fit. I think it was the snappy catalog and improved masking what brought me in. I am perpetually looking for LR and C1 alternatives, and I thought I had found the answer.
Weeks later the picture has changed somewhat; it remains a rather buggy program (just as one example, I find my image disappears not infrequently after zooming in, and I have to toggle the zoom back-and-forth to get it to return). And while the masking has indeed improved, I find I often have to play pinball with cursors, the various masking tools, and popup windows to get what I'm looking for.
I think I largely agree with several others here in this thread in that while PR is trying to be LR, C1, and PL all in one, the execution has left us with an app that doesn't excel in any one thing while leaving a great number of bugs, UI rabbit holes (Weeks in, I'm still unclear exactly how many masking tools there are, how exactly they differ, and why I have to deal with that bloody popup screen to boot), and spurious, outdated, and underperforming tools like Brilliance AI, which at the end of the day is just an "auto" button like every demosaicing app has had for years, usually hidden in an unobtrusive corner because, well, it's a really blunt tool.
Bottom Line: I think On1 PR is a fantastic generalist app for people who do not have certain specific/ professional demands, be it speed, reliability, or best-in-class X (masking, culling, tethering, de-noising). If any of that applies, then you're still going to need LR, C1, or PL.
I agree that professional phootgraphers like me, a tiny minority compared to the vast numbers who read the article, might use different programs to achieve certain results. (The coments in this thread represent less that 0.1% of the people who read it.)
I certainly do employ various programs. Like you, I use DxO Photolab but its catalog is nowhere near as good as ON1's and it lacks AI masking. Its editing capabilities - as opposed to its raw development - are limited. Capture One, apart from being costly, similary is lacking when it comes to editing.
I disagree with your inferred suggestion that ON1 does nothing well. I find it outperforms Lightroom - the basemark most people use for performance - in many areas. For example, Adobe's AI masking is weak in comparison, leaving halos and not accurately finding edges. When trying to get LR to differentiate between the low contrast differences of sky and the sea on seascapes, it often fails, while ON1 succeeds every time; it's water detection is spot on. Lightroom's noise reduction leaves images soft and sharpening is just downright ugly, unlike ON1, Topaz, and DxO. ON1's portrait tools are also superb and simpler to use than Photoshop's. It's AI resizing also outperforms Photoshop.
Yes, for noise reduction DxO probaly is minutely better, and Topaz's result swing depending upon the image. But, as the previous commenter says, nobody would tell what people use. Furthermore, with the advancements in sensor technology, it's a function that is becoming less important.
The vast majority of photographers and readers are not professionals and many would not invest in the array of programs that I have, so would need to choose one. Over the last few years I have taught hundreds of amateur photographers and in all that time only met two who use more than one image processing package.
For the range of functions that perform so well, and outperform most of the other programs in one way or another, ON1 is a great choice.
“Why is (lists two things) a replacement for (lists two things)?”
What's the deal with ON1's plugins? Are they going to update them with 2024 versions? Or are they bailing on that market?